My (apparently) Monthly Post

My goal really is to post at least once a week, not once a month!  And yet again, once more I’m saying… can’t believe it’s been so long since I posted anything!….

So, what have I finished while I haven’t been blogging?

Jessica’s quilt!

It’s a super cool modern scrappy quilt that I just love, but I can’t post the photos of the finished quilt until she sees it first…that’s only fair!  But here’s a preview, as I loaded it on the frame... I loved it the moment I saw it, and I can't wait to share it!

While I was working on Jessica’s quilt, I had a lot of trouble with a cone of YLI cotton thread.  It’s the second time I’ve used this cone, and I thought that it was the new batting I was using the first time.  This time was very difficult also, and I was not very happy with the tension on the back.  And then…I was almost finished, only 1 1/2 rows left to go on the panto and the thread kept shredding, every 3 inches or so!  Not only that, when I checked the stitches on the back of the quilt, they were almost railroad tracks in some areas….oh, great….NOT!!!  So, I decided the easiest way to remove almost an entire row of stitching would be to remove the quilt from the frame and work on it while on my lap.  Not only that, I didn’t want to take a chance that something else might happen on this quilt.

Note to Self:  do not remove the quilt from the frame and expect to be able to line it back up properly later.  Yes, Self, even if you have a trick for it.

I ended up retiming the machine, then ran into more trouble, and eventually the machine jammed on me!  I mean HARD!  The needle hit the metal casing and everything!  Of course, it threw it out of time again….so that made me REALLY nervous about putting Jessica’s quilt back on so I decided to test it out on another one instead.

Lynn’s quilt!

This is a quilt that our small group put together when one of our members had been having health challenges.  I made 2 of the 15 blocks, which I’d mistakenly thought I’d posted photos of because I thought they turned out so darn cute!

Once we got the top together, I quilted it using freehand echo quilting around each of the 12" blocks.  There are feathers in the borders and a heart motif in the sashings.  Feathered hearts with cross hatching are in each of the four corners.  Quilted with Wonderfil's Tutti Frutti thread on top, So Fine in the bobbin and Warm and White batting.

Lynn absolutely loved it, as did I!  If you’re interested in getting a closer look, I’ve posted photos of the individual blocks on my website.

Tracey’s quilt!

I was lucky enough to receive another modern design to quilt in a lovely pink, yellow and zebra stripe.  It got a large overall meander, and I used Brytes 30# in hot fuscia pink in the bobbin, which I’d never done before.  This was after all of the jamming and tension problems, so I was nervous that would be a problem, but it wasn’t.

The back was made specifically so that the quilt could be turned down to coordinate with the sheets and other bedding.  The blocks weren’t perfectly centered in the back, but I liked that they could make a coordinating trim at the top, if desired.

Crafting Related

As if I didn’t have enough to do, I joined Dishcloth Mania, which is a knitting forum on Ravelry.  I’ve been hopelessly behind on that challenge ever since!  But talk about some beautiful patterns!  Since I’m not big on applique, I take this with me to work on at lunch or other down times.

On the spinning front, I bought some Corriedale wool roving and started practicing, and think I might have figured out the motion!  This was after one of the great gals at Puffy Mondae’s took a few minutes to show me how to use a drop spindle, and it was very easy to apply the motion to my wheel….enough to fill a bobbin full of a strand of various thicknesses!  Now I’m considering having them tune up my wheel and glue the sides onto two of the bobbins that have come unglued.  They also had a large bobbin on consignment when I went in, and I’ve been wondering if I should snatch that up…hmmm?

Techie Stuff

…and sidetracked, yet again, by another project, which is that my website needs updating…again…

I have an excuse….

I knew time was flying by and that I had been neglecting my blog; it’s been an entire month since I last posted…and it’s been because I just have been so busy that I haven’t had time to write it all down!

I finally finished my 10 Minute Block quilt…the one I call my “practice” quilt because I practiced 6 different quilting techniques on each of the blocks.  I really love how the colors worked so well together, especially since all but the border and backing fabric were from my stash.  I convinced a friend of mine to make more of these blocks, to practice the technique, and I will practice quilting on that one, too.  She’s skittish about making the decision about the borders, so I’ll have to add those when I get it back from her.

This quilt was a challenge for me to quilt, because I practiced all free motion or used rulers I’d purchased but haven’t used.  I really want to get out of the rut of thinking I can only do pantographs;  I really like the consistency of a panto, it’s just that I want to develop more confidence in my custom quilting, and the only way to do that is to practice!

I’m working on making enough, and varied, projects that I can have a table at one of the local Saturday markets.  I picked up a roll of strips I’d started stringing together last year when I’d put together several to make  a lasagna quilt.  Being in a hurry, and relying on my newly formed habit of using straight of grain borders, I thought *maybe* I could get away with just sewing the borders on as I went, then cutting them off at the bottom.  Nope.  See these wavy things??  I recently saw something describing them as “friendly”!…and they sure are!  So, no quick and easy quilt to make available here.

In fact, this is so obvious that I decided I really need to write a tutorial to post for future reference, when someone asks “why shouldn’t I just sew on the border and cut it off at the end?”  Needless to say, it’s still on the design wall!

I even got my garden in two weeks ago!  It was a beautiful day and I took a chance in planting my tomatoes, zucchini and cantaloupe, but they are all doing well.  I added a couple of extra feet on either end of the garden and I still have room to plant at least 2 more mounds of….something!  I haven’t quite decided what it should be yet…maybe cucumbers?…but I need to get it finished before it’s too late!

Earlier in the year I thought I was going to teach a class in the upcoming Boise Basin Quilt Show in June.  I started putting together a project for the class, but we won’t have access to actual sewing machines, and I’m not a hand sewist, so the project stalled.  Well, in an attempt to actually clean up the pile of blocks from my cutting counter and the longarm table, I finally started putting some of the blocks together, and collected the rest of my experiments into a bag for later use.  I found a really great border and I can’t wait to get that on (properly this time) so I can get a photo posted.  It’s really quite feminine and very easy!

I finished working on this customer quilt this weekend.  It’s got a purple flannel back and I used a variegated purple and teal thread on it, which really perked it up.  The panto really was able to pull in some of the fullness and it came out beautiful!

I started another customer quilt on Sunday, which is going quite well, and I’m almost finished with it.  I’m loving how the Anne Bright design is coming out and  I can’t wait for my customer to see this one!  Two more in the queue, so there hasn’t been any time to work on my personal projects or Bronco Quilts, of which I have several ideas!

All that, and I still want to sit down at the spinning wheel again and try drafting fibers again, now that I borrowed a couple of books from the library and got some great ideas.

I need more hours in the day!

I’ve Had an Amazing Day!

Wow…I learned a new skill today!  Spinning!

I am so proud to announce that I bought a 40 year old Ashford spinning wheel on Thursday night!

I’ve oiled it and tightened up the screws, then buffed it out this morning.  It still makes a bit of noise when spinning, even though I oiled every place I can see or think of!  All I can say is ..more oil is needed…somewhere!!

I spent the morning with my friend Diane, of Russet Lodge Knits, who has given selflessly of her skill and passion for knitting and spinning, learning the basics of spinning yarn from a raw fleece! 

Seriously, the woman should write a book! 

She even worked a bit of my raw fleece for me on the carding combs her husband makes, so I could practice spinning!

Of course, being true to my nature, I gave her an opinion on what she should have in the to-be-determined book!  Hee hee!  I would totally pay full price for such a book!

I haven’t gotten the hang of spinning just yet, but getting close…I *might* be a left handed spinner, even though I am right handed….and I seem to want to spin counter-clockwise, to form an S-curve, rather than the Z-angle clock-wise angle.  Maybe that is the machine, maybe that is me….I do seem to do everything backwards!

Now, I am going to ship the fleeces I bought on Craigslist.com to a professional processor, Spinderellas.com,  for cleaning and carding.  I’ve heard that they provide a good service and the product that comes back is very nice.  I spoke with them on Friday; being a newbie, they answered all of my questions and even gave me some idea for blending one of the fleeces I purchased to enhance it, something I hadn’t thought of previously.  They have a lot of great information on their website, so I would highly recommend looking at it if you are interested in processing fleece.

Diane writes knitting patterns, and even has a sock Knit-Along going, using a pattern she wrote herself (she has several for sale on Ravelry)!

I SO want to learn to knit socks…but then, knitting cuts into my quilting time!  Oh, that, and the fact that I keep reversing the sides of my sock, so that I have reversed sides in the outside of the sock …sigh!  I blame the sock affliction all on my friend Christine…

Yes, I could process the wool myself…but as I keep reinforcing to Diane, I am a Quilter who knits, not a Knitter like she is, (yes, with capitals!), and I can have it back in 2-4 weeks and keep quilting!  So, I plan to have my fleece boxed up and in the mail on Monday!

I have been considering bringing my Bronco quilts to several of the summer markets, as well as the spinning wheel, to work on some of the yarn production there, if I don’t have a quilt related project I can bring.  Bown Crossing is a possibility, which is a part of the Indie Works project, or  maybe the Eagle Market, but I haven’t contacted them yet (I’ll post the links later in the week)

Using Up the Stash!

Woo Hoo!  I actually got the borders on two of my own projects…AND took pictures!

I made the tops awhile ago, when I was playing with what I’ve heard described as a Lasagna Quilt, and they’ve been hanging around waiting for me to finish them. 

They are a nice size to use for baby quilts, or lap or stadium quilts, since they don’t drag on the ground, but you can still tuck them around your legs or even your feet if you want them to, like when I’m sitting at the computer.

They are quick and easy to do, too, and I love that the finished quilts can look amazingly different, just by adding borders.  I must confess, though:  I added the borders by simply sewing them onto the existing top.  You know, the sure-fire way to create a wavy border!  And that’s what I got on the pink top, so I will probably have to fix those wavy borders.  I figure that’s a great tutorial to post on my website, because I’ve been asked about this before and why it’s bad practice.

I guess once I fix the border I can move these off the Current Project List…oh, wait, I guess I have to decide if that includes the quilting and binding, or if that only means tops.  Hm….

All of this came from my stash, too, including  the backing I want to use.  It’s a US Post Office print of 37 cent stamps that say I “heart” you .  I’ve had it about a year, I just couldn’t pass it up from the clearance bin at JoAnn’s when I saw it.  It’s really a bit smaller than what I’d normally say is OK to try to use for a project that is going on the long arm frame, but I’m going to make it work, probably by adding a fabric “leader” to the length, because the colors are  just perfect!

I haven’t yet decided what backing to use on the one with the dark purple border yet.  Maybe a pink or yellow flannel….

I think I’m going to use up some of my larger leftover scraps of batting I have accumulated, to continue the theme of “use it up”!  Sure didn’t make any sort of visible dent in my fabric stash, though!

Focus on Finishing…sort of!

This weekend was way too short!

I’ve been so focused lately on trying to get everything done that I want, and need, to get done, that it seems that nothing actually gets finished, everything seems to be in various states of completion…and I’m finding that frustrating right now.  I feel like I’m just *this close* to having something to show for my efforts, but it’s just not ready yet.  I guess that’s how I end up with several projects in progress at a time!  Oh, that, and the fact that ideas pop into my head, one right after another, and I don’t have enough time in the day to do them all!  Or I need to learn a new skill in order to even start….

I ended up working on the computer for most of yesterday, rather than getting into the Quilt Cave as I’d intended, then stayed up far too late trying to finish up a separate computer project, so I slept away half the morning.  That’s just Robbing Peter to Pay Paul…hmmm…maybe I need to make that quilt to remind myself not to do this anymore….!

Today, though, I finished one of my customer’s quilts that I’d started last weekend, although I haven’t had a chance to take pictures yet.  Once I finished it and trimmed it up, I started auditioning border fabrics for two small baby quilts that I’ve had hanging in my closet for awhile.  I got news that one of my cousins just had a baby girl, and I’d like to send them a quilt, and I’m thinking one of these would be perfect!  That is, after all, why I made them!

Speaking of finishing projects, earlier in the week I was excited to find more of the white and pink border fabric I had purchased to complete the flannel quilt.  Yesterday I realized that the amount that was cut was actually less than I’d asked for, but I can also use that initial amount of fabric I’d purchased to complete the project.  So now I just need to find it, then cut and add the borders.  Now, where did I put that??  The backing was purchased awhile ago and the perfect thread arrived last week with my Superior Threads order.  I’ve been thinking I should do an overall meander because it’s so busy, rather than a pantograph design, although on flannel, a design could be really interesting.  I’m still not sure if I should use cotton batting or cotton/poly, though, considering the nature of flannel, that is.  It sure would be nice to have this done in the next couple of days, so I can take it to the Guild meeting on Thursday!

Borders are sort of a stumbling block for me, although I’m not quite sure why.  Maybe it’s the pressure of putting them on so that they aren’t wavy when I’m quilting them.  Or maybe, it’s knowing that the borders can make or break a quilt; they add such personality!  Or maybe it’s just the perfectionist in me….

In any case, I wish I had another day to play…

Keeping Busy

Where does the time go???  I thought it was just a few days ago that I last posted!

Where to begin?

I completed my customers’ three lap quilts, which you can see in my quilt gallery

and this *darling* pink and white 9 patch baby quilt, which she is giving to her new grand-niece.  I quilted it with the Valentine Hearts panto by Gali Design.

 

She promptly brought me two more quilts when she picked those up!  I was thrilled!  It sure is nice when someone likes your work and has confidence in your ability.

I was also able to get another customer’s first lap quilt completed, all in freehand feathers.  I really like how you can see them on the back of the quilt.

I’ve also been working on wrapping up a project to create a website for a law firm in Helena, Jackson, Murdo, & Grant P.C  Disclaimer here, my mom is a partner in the firm, so yes, I do have some affiliation!  It’s been a great learning experience and I am even more interested in the prospect of taking on other customers.

I’ve also been playing with the possibility of a website re-design of my own.  I like a lot of the features I currently have, but the current site design just doesn’t *grab* me!  I have been adding new items to the photo gallery, including my pantograph library, and making the thumbnail images larger, and I want to put my own store back online.

I’ve been investigating additional software packages, too, so I can add more features and take advantage of some new ideas I have…you might say I’m on a software binge!

Most people don’t see any correlation to software, programming, databases or computers to quilting, but I really think they have similar traits.  Some of it is science and some of it’s art, and you take the basic building blocks of what you need and you can come up with some of the most interesting, varied, and unexpected outcomes all starting out with the same pieces.  It’s amazing, it’s creative, and it’s powerful.

No wonder I like them both!

Pink Flannel Quilt

I started this quilt on Christmas break.  It’s a controlled scrappy pattern I found in Quilt Magazine and the minute I saw it, I wanted to make it.  It’s not often that I see a flannel quilt in a magazine, either, but it completely goes along with my goal of working from my stash.  I have plans for at least 2 more of these in flannel, and I might be able to clear out a cupboard!

I’ve been working on customer quilts so I had put it aside, but I had a few minutes last night and finished adding the inner border.  I’m not sure why, but borders are not my favorite step!  I modified the pattern a bit to use a single piece of fabric, rather than piece the border, and I got the flannel at JoAnn Fabrics’ half off sale.

Now that I’m looking at it, though, I’m not sure this border is the right fabric for this quilt, and I’m not exactly sure why.  Maybe it’s not a dark enough pink?  Maybe it just needs a different pink?  Maybe it’s the plaid style design against the squares?  It’s not “bad”, it just doesn’t speak to me.

Of course, I feel compelled to use the fabric, not accumulate more, but I’ll probably have to visit the fabric store this weekend to see if I like anything else better.  Or, maybe I should just go back to the pattern and piece the border.  It’s not like I don’t have a bunch of squares already cut.  Hmm…..