Happy Friday!

Have I mentioned how much I love piecing with Aurifil thread?  It always amazes me how long a spool will last, it's almost shocking when it's finally gone!

I stayed up way too late last night trying to get a block done for a comfort quilt.  Of course, I’m not making just one block, I have to do some production piecing!  Now I’m wondering what I’ll do with the extra blocks!  Hmmm…  Anyway,  I’ve got to pick one more strip of fabric to add to it and then I’ll post the finished block.  It's really cute!

Part of what took so long is that I'm also making this into a tutorial so I can post it on my website as a free download.  I’m inspired by people like Bonnie Hunter and Mary from MaryQuilts.com, they do such wonderful work and are so giving with their patterns, talent, and time.

I took today off work to get some chores done, but the Quilt Guardians need a walk first.  So, on with my day!

Vera’s Family Heirloom

This is the quilt that I was working on last week.  I’m really glad I went with the Variety panto on it, instead of Brocade!  Anne Bright converted the digital patterns for me to paper, since I don’t have a computerized system.  Wasn’t that nice of her?

Now that this one is finished, I still need to quilt the “practice” quilt I made so that I didn’t make a mistake on this one!  Sort of backwards, huh?

I’ve decided, though, to turn it into a showcase quilt and do a few rows of several pantos so I can show customers how they will look stitched out, and then I won’t run into this problem again.  Now I just need to decide if I want to use my Winline bamboo batting that I’m dying to use, or go with a cotton poly, something that would probably be used more often by my customers.  Such dilemmas, eh?

I probably won’t get to it in the next couple of weeks, though, because I am going to MQX West!  I’m lucky to have family in the Portland area, so I’ll be staying with them and it just turns out that my uncle will be turning 70 at the end of that week!  They are going to have a family reunion of sorts, so I need to get a different project done to take with me.  Better get sewing!

Oh, and just for the heck of it…I gotta share a photo of Hunter and Gizmo….they just need to learn how to relax!

Testing a Quilt Pattern

I decided to test the quilting pantograph pattern that my customer picked for her quilt on a quilt top of my own.  I’m just not convinced that it’s right for her quilt, because it is really open and airy.  If I chose the wrong design, I’ll be picking stitches…on someone else’s quilt no less… and I really don’t want to pick stitches!

So, I created a quilt top out of some leftover 10” blocks (I also cut some new ones) that had been used to make a top using the 10 Minute Block method.  Talk about a stash buster!

I have to say, I wasn’t very pleased with it to begin with, but I think it’s OK now.  I am excited to quilt it to see how it turns out!  I’m not sure what color of thread to use, though, so that’s another decision.  I think I may use a leafy green fabric for the backing, and while it doesn’t really go with the design overall, it’s…THE…BACK!  OK, I think I’m all settled now, and the perfectionist in me may let go of it after all..

I’m also thinking I may do 2-3 rows of the initial panto to see how it works, and then switch it to another panto; that way I’ll have a “sampler” of sorts to show my customers so they can see the actual quilting design and have a better idea of what they are choosing.

So, until my customer quilt is finished, the pink and white quilt is on hold.

My Latest Quilt–The Process

I recently saw an article about The Process Pledge, where the author encourages us to write about the decision process that goes into making a quilt.  Well, I’m not going to take the pledge itself, but I’ve been working on a quilt this week while I’ve been on vacation, and now that I’m to the point of adding the borders, I’m not sure what to do.

I’ve had this quilt on my mind since last Christmas, and finally started it this weekend!  I bought a package with a variety of hot pink 2” strips at the quilt guild garage sale table some time previously. The colors just lend themselves to a Rail Fence design, and I bought some white fabric with a butterfly print to go with it.  Really simple, and what a “pop”!  I just LOVE hot pink!

Because I was excited to get started, I got sewing and started cutting without an exact plan, aka a pattern, and wouldn’t you know it, I ended up *one* block short!  When I first started, I trimmed the blocks to one size, realized that I didn’t like how that looked, and cut them to the current size.  Of course, I had used up all of the fabric that would make an identical block, so what do to?  No sweat…I improvised!  Isn’t this a cool block?  The name of the quilt was determined at this very point: “Odd Girl Out”.

So, here’s what I finished today!

Now that I’ve gone through the pain, I’ll be writing up the pattern and posting it on my website;  I don’t want to have to go through all that for nothing!

Now for the border, right?  I had considered simply adding a thin border of hot pink, and then more white fabric to make it bigger.  However, I wanted to see what else I might do with it, so I turned to my, er, trusty EQ7 software program.  OK, I’ve had the program for awhile, but I am just not very comfortable with it.  The more I use it, the more I’ll learn it, right?

So, here are a few variations that I’ve come up with so far:

Diamonds on point, with butterfly applique blocks in the corners.  Now, since I don’t really go after applique projects, this is a stretch for me, but I think it’s really cute!

 

 

 

 

This is an easy square in a square border.

 

 

 

 

 

This is a flying geese border with the butterfly applique blocks in the corner again.

 

 

 

 

I am also interested in a ribbon border, but I haven’t been able to figure out how to get that to work in the program, though, so no picture of that.

Which one do you like best?

My practice piece

Thought I'd share with you my practice freehand piece, which is two pieces of fleece, no batting.  I'm going to use it as a back car seat blanket for when I have the dogs in the car.

It's the first time I've done this background fill on more than a 12" block and it's the first time I've used the non-stitch regulated mode on my machine.  I want to say it’s an Irena Blum design, but I really can’t remember where I saw it first.

I'm practicing it because I'm going to put this design on a baby quilt that is just darling, and I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out, or how to manage the size and density (that's still a bit of a challenge), but I really like it!

I still need to post photos of the past couple of customer quilts, but have run out of time this weekend.  We got a new-to-us “puppy”, Hunter, a 4 year old Shih Tzu to join the Quilt Guardian team.  So, he is a Quilt-Guardian-in-Training!

Summer Progress

I showed you a sneak peek of Jessica’s quilt in my last post.  I really love how this turned out, and am really happy to share the final quilt!  I used Anne Bright’s pantograph, Variety, in a dark cherry brown thread.  Jessica wanted that “poofy” look, so we used a high loft polyester batting.

Because the top is busy, it’s hard to see until you get up close.

The pattern is much easier to see on the back of the quilt.  When Jessica picked up the quilt, she was about ready to have a baby girl.  I wish their family all the best, and I can’t wait to see the new little one.

I took these photos of my garden this evening.  I don’t know why I’m surprised that the zucchini is ready for picking “already”…it’s been 2 months since I planted it!

Still, I think these are the largest zucchini plants I’ve ever seen!  And I grew them!  I know I tried something different than previous years, but I can’t remember what the variety is.

Here is my first harvest:

…and here are my first “billy clubs”!

I’ve done two more quilts since Jessica’s, but will have to wait to post those pictures until this weekend.  I’ve been way too busy lately, and I’m missing out on my sleep!  That is just bad news all the way around!

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…