Eleanor Burns and a Prize

* Give away closed*

When I was asked if I would be willing to do some pattern reviews for a few of Eleanor Burns' new patterns, I considered it for a nano-second and said, "YES!" 

Are you kidding me? 

Come on! It's Eleanor Burns! Need I say more? 

I didn't think so. =)

Alas, it was not Eleanor who asked me...Maybe someday I will get to meet this inspirational and very talented lady. 

On to the topic at hand....Up to this point in my quilting {ahem} career, I've yet to buy a pattern and then make the quilt. I intend to, obviously, otherwise I wouldn't buy the pattern in the first place, however, after I get it home I become intimidated as I read the instructions. After trying to decipher them for a while, I end up folding them back up and putting them away to look at it "another time." Those other times have yet to happen.  

Another challenge for me is picking out the fabrics for a project. Up to now, I have almost always used  fat quarter bundles or other precuts for my quilts. I much prefer to let the fabric designers do all the hard work of deciding what goes with what. Doing some reviews for her patterns is going to stretch me in that area and I think it's a good thing,

 So, without further ado, here is my first review. 

 My first pattern is a Dresden plate variation called a Grandmother's Fan. The pattern (#1276) comes with  instructions to make both a table runner and a quilt and it also comes with the acrylic template to make the blades. Normally you would remove the protective paper covers on the ruler before you use it. I left the paper on the ruler for a reason. There will be more on that later. 

 As I have mentioned a time or ten, I love Dresden plates, but up to now, I haven't done a Grandmother's fan, so I was excited...and intimidated, to give this one a shot. Why intimidated? It's on point. I have only done one quilt on point and it was hard, so I chose to do the table runner instead of the quilt. I reasoned there would be fewer triangles to deal with that way and fewer chances to mess it up. 

Cutting the fan blades

I really didn't need to worry, however, the instructions were very clear on how to put it together and I didn't need my seam ripper at all! The instructions also include which way to press the seams, which I really appreciate. Within 4 hours, I had a table runner top that measured 49" x 20 1/2" unfinished. As a matter of fact, it has taken me much longer to write this post than it did to sew the table runner! *grin*

All that's left is the borders.

There is an option to add piping to the quarter circles, which would have added a nice touch. It was Black Friday when I made this and not worth it to me to brave the crowds to buy piping or cording to make my own. 

Finished top

The pattern is labeled as "easy," and I agree that it is easy, however, I don't consider it a beginner pattern only because of working with pieces that are cut on the bias. I do think this pattern would be a great choice for a quilting class in order to teach new quilters how to sew with pieces cut on the bias and showing them how to sew blocks on point. 

If you have any questions about the pattern that I wasn't clear on, please feel free to ask. =)

If you would like to win this pattern, just leave a comment telling me how you found my blog or how long you have been coming here to visit. I am hoping those who are more shy will come out to say, "Hi." =)


✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸
This is very important:
Please make sure you are not a "no-reply" blogger (see button in my side bar to learn how to check to see if you are or not) or I won't be able to contact you and I will have to draw a new name.
✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸


I will draw a winner on Wednesday the 30th of November.

Talk to you soon!! =)

* Give away closed*

When I was asked if I would be willing to do some pattern reviews for a few of Eleanor Burns' new patterns, I considered it for a nano-second and said, "YES!" 

Are you kidding me? 

Come on! It's Eleanor Burns! Need I say more? 

I didn't think so. =)

Alas, it was not Eleanor who asked me...Maybe someday I will get to meet this inspirational and very talented lady. 

On to the topic at hand....Up to this point in my quilting {ahem} career, I've yet to buy a pattern and then make the quilt. I intend to, obviously, otherwise I wouldn't buy the pattern in the first place, however, after I get it home I become intimidated as I read the instructions. After trying to decipher them for a while, I end up folding them back up and putting them away to look at it "another time." Those other times have yet to happen.  

Another challenge for me is picking out the fabrics for a project. Up to now, I have almost always used  fat quarter bundles or other precuts for my quilts. I much prefer to let the fabric designers do all the hard work of deciding what goes with what. Doing some reviews for her patterns is going to stretch me in that area and I think it's a good thing,

 So, without further ado, here is my first review. 

 My first pattern is a Dresden plate variation called a Grandmother's Fan. The pattern (#1276) comes with  instructions to make both a table runner and a quilt and it also comes with the acrylic template to make the blades. Normally you would remove the protective paper covers on the ruler before you use it. I left the paper on the ruler for a reason. There will be more on that later. 

 As I have mentioned a time or ten, I love Dresden plates, but up to now, I haven't done a Grandmother's fan, so I was excited...and intimidated, to give this one a shot. Why intimidated? It's on point. I have only done one quilt on point and it was hard, so I chose to do the table runner instead of the quilt. I reasoned there would be fewer triangles to deal with that way and fewer chances to mess it up. 

Cutting the fan blades

I really didn't need to worry, however, the instructions were very clear on how to put it together and I didn't need my seam ripper at all! The instructions also include which way to press the seams, which I really appreciate. Within 4 hours, I had a table runner top that measured 49" x 20 1/2" unfinished. As a matter of fact, it has taken me much longer to write this post than it did to sew the table runner! *grin*

All that's left is the borders.

There is an option to add piping to the quarter circles, which would have added a nice touch. It was Black Friday when I made this and not worth it to me to brave the crowds to buy piping or cording to make my own. 

Finished top

The pattern is labeled as "easy," and I agree that it is easy, however, I don't consider it a beginner pattern only because of working with pieces that are cut on the bias. I do think this pattern would be a great choice for a quilting class in order to teach new quilters how to sew with pieces cut on the bias and showing them how to sew blocks on point. 

If you have any questions about the pattern that I wasn't clear on, please feel free to ask. =)

If you would like to win this pattern, just leave a comment telling me how you found my blog or how long you have been coming here to visit. I am hoping those who are more shy will come out to say, "Hi." =)


✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸
This is very important:
Please make sure you are not a "no-reply" blogger (see button in my side bar to learn how to check to see if you are or not) or I won't be able to contact you and I will have to draw a new name.
✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸


I will draw a winner on Wednesday the 30th of November.

Talk to you soon!! =)