Happy National Quilting Day!

Though I haven't written for a while, I really have been busy at the machine when possible.

Here is what I'm working on this week.  It is a super secret project, so am only showing you wnat is under my needle.  It is further along as I finished the all over quilting on 2 of the sections this week.

I've also made a few of these Foster Care Bags that our church ministry called Seams of Love has been working on.  Foster kids often leave their homes with their belongings in garbage bags if they even have anything they can take with them.  These bags will help them carry some of their essentials and give them a bit of dignity!

It is purely coincidental that both of these projects have a lot of blue and red in them!

Next time I'll tell you how these came to be and where I'm going with them.

You may remember that I started a 4-patch project at last year's Friend's Mini Retreat.

I'll tell you about my tumbler leader ender project then, too.  Here is a preview.

Hope you are having a super National Quilting Day and, yes, that is an actual day and it is always the 3rd Saturday in March.  Happy Quilting!

Until Next Time,

XOXOxoxoXOXO

Lois

A Sew Day and What I've Been Doing

My sister called a couple of weeks ago or maybe more to ask where I've been.  She says she keeps up with what I'm doing mostly through my blog.  Yes, that means I'm not a very good correspondent and I rarely call anyone.  It's not that I don't want to, but we live across the country from each other and there is that whole time difference.  Arizona doesn't participate in Daylight Savings Time, so half the year there is a two hour difference and half the year it's only 1 hour.  By the time I decide I should call in the evening, it's too late where she lives.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Seriously, I've just been busy with this that and the other.  Here are a few of the things I've done in the past few weeks.

First I was invited to a sew day at Evelyn's.  Evelyn had just returned to Arizona from Wisconsin where she spends part of the year.  She is not exactly a Winter Visitor as she has a home here, but it is just a lot cooler in the Summer in Wisconsin and she has a home there, too!  She and several others get together occasionally to sew and this time, they asked me to join them.  Though I was only able to stay part of the day, it was a great time and I got a lot done, too!

 

This is Evelyn busily stitching away.  Evelyn does mostly art quilts.  She is collaborating with a Wisconsin quilter and they enter quilts in shows together.  Her house is chock full of quilts on the walls and draped over furniture.  There is a LOT to see at Evelyn's house!

 

 

This is Judi.  She makes the most incredible miniatures you would ever want to see!  She was hand piecing the most amazing mariner's compass block.  And it was for Sue!  Judi's work is accuracy with a capital A! Tiny pieces with sharp points to die for!

 

 

Tari was piecing blocks. Her lamp is in the way, so we cannot see them.  I cannot remember what block she was working on. She kept her nose to the machine and worked away all day!

 

 

Sue was busy squaring up her applique blocks.  Sue also is a long arm quilter and probably produces more quilts or quilt tops in a year than anyone you know.

 

 

Here is a close up of one of the blocks Sue was working on.  There are pieced blocks in the quilt as well.  It is a lovely soft palette and will be beautiful when completed.

 

Also present was C.J.  She is Sue's cousin and arrived later in the morning.  Her name isn't really C.J., it is Judy.  Since there was already a Judi in the group and since this Judy is Sue's cousin, the group refers to her as C.J. which is short for Cousin Judy as it's less confusing that way.

 

And what was I working on that day?  Sewing the blocks together for this quilt.

 

 

Since that day, I have set the strips together and shortened the vine strips as the star block strips were not quite as long.  Remember I did the vine strips when I was teaching vine and leaf applique so the quilt had not been designed at that point.  I just randomly selected a length for the vine strips.

 

 

The first border has just been cut and placed on the design wall.  It is not stitched yet.  I really like the multicolored striped on the black for this inner border.  Stay tuned for what the outer border will be.  I also have a tutorial almost ready on how to hand piece eight pointed starts that will be coming soon as well.

 

In addition to doing that, I unstitched in excess of 1,200 inches of quilting in the border of another quilt.  I was just not happy with the way it looked so it had to go.  Here is what replaced it.

 

 

It is finally bound and ready to go.  As it is 100" by 100", it took a bit of time to do all of that picking out stitches and re-quilting! I cannot show you the rest of the quilt as it will appear in a magazine.  I'm still working on the directions for it.

 

So that sort of brings you up to date.  I will try not to take such a long leave from my blog again.  I really missed you and hearing from you.  You make my day when you leave a comment so please let me know what you have been doing or what you think about what I've been doing.

 

 

Until Next Time,

xoxoXOXOxoxo

 

Lois















Quilt Backs Can Be Beautiful Too!

There have been no idle hands in my house.  It seems there is always something waiting to be done.  In between painting about 150 clothespins for "birdie" legs and cutting out 220  birdies and 220 birdie wings. (Yes, I'll show you the final project one of these days.) I've been busy machine quilting.

I can only show you the back for now, but after it is published, I'll show you the front, too.

 

You have seen this back before it was quilted.  The bobbin thread is just a neutral ecru color since there were so many different pieces and colors of fabric in the back.  They do not match up with the blocks on the front so neutral was the way to go.  You can see the quilting better on the darker fabrics.

 

 

But I do like the relief you can see on the light sections, as well.

 

What I do not like is the border.  It is the rolling part you see on the lower edge of the above photo.  I think it is going to come out.  I know!  Hours of quilting, but before I put the stippling that was planned in, I need to be happy with what will be highlighted when the stippling recedes and the curves "pop".

 

What would you do?  Leave something you don't like or spend more hours picking it out?

 

 

You may see part of the problem with the border looking at this closer up photo of the dark blocks.  The border quilting is too small a scale now that the center is done.  I'm also not happy with the quality of the quilting in the border.  The border was quilted first because I thought it was what I wanted and I was still undecided on the interior.

 

Once the interior was finished, I decided the border just didn't cut it at all.

 

Can you see why now that you are looking at it again?  Yep, just not the right scale.  Sigh!  Where is that seam ripper?  I'd better get started.  Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike "unstitching" something?  It's my least favorite, but it's necessary sometimes.

Hope you are all beginning to experience some Fall weather.  Unfortunately it's still 104 degrees here today.  Won't be needing to use a quilt for a while yet!  Have an absolutely fabulous day!

 

Until next time!

 

xoxoXOXOxoxo

 

Lois

 

 

 

How to fit 100 inches into 7 inches

It seems there is never enough time and you, my friends, are often the ones ignored as things other than blogging take over my time!

This week I've spent parts of two days with those nasty things doctors want you to do -- you know, a physical and then blood work.  These are not my favorite things to do!  Besides my doctor's office is almost an hour away, so it takes far more time than the few minutes they spend with you in the examining room!  Next week, there is the last thing --  that dreaded, but necessary mammogram!

When there IS time, I've been quilting, but I can't really show you the whole thing as it will eventually be in a magazine.  Just took a few photos to let you know how I fit a 100 inch square quilt into the 7 inch harp on my Bernina.

All of my quilts are quilted on a domestic machine and while I'm not an expert at this, I have done quite a few so have learned a few tricks.

The first stitching I do on any quilt is what I call bones quilting.  Although the quilt is pin basted, it needs to be stabilized so that it won't shift during any of the free motion quilting that comes later.

Before putting it through the machine, both sides need to be rolled toward the center.  Each quilt is different, but in this case, the bones quilting was diagonal from corner to corner of the blocks for this part of the quilting.

 

The rolls are fairly loose because if they are too tightly rolled, the roll is stiff and hard to manage.

 

 

You can see the roll on the left side of the quilt in this photo.  The items to the left of the machine really should be removed from the desk while I'm quilting.  They tend to get knocked over or on the floor which is not a good thing! When I get to the free motion quilting, I use more of a "fluff and stuff" method to get the quilt through the harp, so that's when things really need to be moved!

 

 

My ironing board is lowered and placed behind the desk where the machine is.  The quilt would pull the quilt if it were allowed to hang over the back of the desk.

 

 

You may not be able to tell, but there is a rectangular padded board on top of a standard ironing board which really helps as it is 48" long and 16-1/2" wide. The quilt gathers up on the ironing board while I'm quilting.

 

So that is how a 100" quilt fits into a 7" harp on a Bernina that is quite a few years old.  In fact, I have a newer machine that was purchased primarily because it has a bigger harp, but the Bernina is still the one I enjoy machine quilting on the most.

 

Do you have any tips for quilting on a domestic machine?  Most of what I've learned was just learning by doing.  In fact when I started I was told by a very famous machine quilting teacher that taking a class would cut the learning curve a lot.  Unfortunately, I was in the midst of writing my Pine Tree Quilts book and had no time for a class, so it was learn by doing.  Sometimes, that's the best way to learn.  When you make mistakes, you learn not to do it that way again.

 

I'd love to hear if you have any brilliant tips on machine quilting on a domestic machine.

 

Until next time,

 

xoxoXOXOxoxo

 

Lois