Little Basket Quilt

I finished another little quilt -

This is a Jo Morton pattern. The quilt is 20" x 24" and the basket blocks are 3".
Wendy (Inky Threads) and I each made the quilt (she finished her's a while ago)- her's is here.

I used cotton batting, with 100Wt Invisafil thread for the quilting.

Tip - Recently some people have asked me how to progress from meandering to other designs when free motion quilting. Continuous Curve, as shown in the above photo, are a great progression. I have found that they are a fabulous quilting design to develop good control of where you are stitching - something that is very important when quilting feathers (click here for more details).

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!❤

Practice, Practice, Practice

I have been practicing free motion quilting (PPP - the only real way to getting better) - I am trying out different designs.

This time I was trying out echoing the feathers (I realized with 100Wt thread the distance between the echoes should be quite small - less than 1/8").

I was also practicing layering the feathers.

Since we tend to do a better job practicing on an actual piece, I made this art quilt - I thought it would be interesting to pair a contemporary art quilt, with a more traditional quilt frame. It is 15" x 20".

I made this "Stupendous Stitching" piece to attach to the whole cloth quilt. It is 4" x 10.5", with machine and hand embroidery, couching, quilting, and beading. I used a rattail binding to finish it.

On the whole cloth quilt I left the area behind the embroidered piece puffy,

so that it would look like it was floating. I used a layer of cotton batting, with half a layer of wool batting on top.

The quilting on the whole cloth is done with Invisafil 100 Wt thread. I used a #80 Titanium needle (the same one that has been in my machine for a while).

I only roughly marked where the feathers were to go (because I wanted them to appear to come out of the couched lines on the embroidered piece), and I used a Hera marker to mark the grid for the Cathedral Windows background.

Tip - Don't be too critical of your work as you are quilting. You might be pleasantly surprised when it is all finished - keep quilting.

When I was quilting I thought all the echoing hid the feathers, but now that it is finished the feathers stand out fine.

Flocks of geese heading south - not a good sign (we are expecting a big snow storm this weekend!).

I managed to catch two nuthatches at the bird feeder - they are so fast.

The partridge flock were doing a funny "hoppy" walk through the yard (not their normal funny, regular walk that reminds me of the Partridge Family tv show). When they came close I could see that their little feet were covered in mud - poor things.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!❤

Block 8 THQA 2012

This week we are making an easy Shoo Fly block.

For this 7" block you will need -

Print A (mine is green) -

                          2 - 3+1/4" squares, for the easy half square triangles - HST
                          1 - 2+7/8" square, for the centre

Print B (mine is orange) -

                          2 - 3+1/4" squares, for the easy half square triangles - HST
                          4 - 2+7/8" square, for the sides

Start with the easy half square triangles using the 3+1/4" squares (instructions found here).

Trim the four HST to 2+7/8".

The remaining squares and HST are arranged like the above photo, and sewn together like a regular nine-patch.

Sewing the units in to rows, and the rows together.

I pressed the seam allowances in opposite directions.

Trim the block to 7+1/2" square.

This block was made the same way.

For this one I made a Snowball variation, by switching the colours of the 2+7/8" squares.

 All three blocks together.

Thanks for sewing along and have a great day!❤

Stitch Notebook

I bought another Craftsy class - this time Stupendous Stitching!

We started by making a "Stitch Bible" - a note book of all the stitches on our sewing machines, to use as a reference for creating Stupendous Stitching. The notebook is 8"x10".

Here are all my pages (143 stitches - I have a Husqvarna 870 Quilt sewing machine). Each stitch was stitched on the default setting, then with a change in the stitch length and then a change in stitch width.
I have had my sewing machine for a couple of years, and never even tried most of the stitches (I bought the machine for its great quilting features). It was fun to see how all the stitches came out and how they changed.

the inside of the note book

close up of the cover

The Craftsy class said that Stupendous Stitching involved couching (I have a couching foot for my sewing  machine, but you don't need one), fancy machine stitches (never used mine), hand stitching (embroidery - my first love), and quilting (my newest obsession) - I knew this would be the class for me! And I loved it! I am currently working on a bigger piece.

I noticed on Carol Ann Waugh's website (she is the class instructor) that there is a link for 50% off the class (and for her other Craftsy class too) - so the class is only $14.99 (the links can be found here) - I wish I had known that (although I did buy the class for 25% off).

The front and back covers of the notebook have Rattail Binding - here is a link to a Youtube video by Carol Ann Waugh for the binding.

We had a little visitor yesterday (along with the snow), he stared at us for a long time, maybe he was hoping to come in.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!❤

Keeping Up

I was inspired by Raewyn (Love to Stitch) to get caught up, and keep up before the end of the month.

I finished the October Small Quilt from Kathleen Tracy's (A Sentimental Quilter) small quilt group. This one is from Kathleen Tracy's Civil War Sewing Circle book.

It is supposed to have 12 blocks, but I only made 6. It is about 12" x 15".

I added lots of quilting.

I stitched in the ditch first - ESS

I marked a 1/2" grid with a ruler and a Hera marker,

and quilted Cathedral Windows. I love how the hexagon flowers look like they are trapunto. I used a layer of cotton batting with a half layer of wool batting on top.

I also used this stencil (marked with quilt pounce),

looks like DNA strands

but added some extra details - Cindy Needham style!
Since the Craftsy class it has been interesting to think of different ways to use the few stencils that I have.

In the corners I added a feather swirl. You can see that the binding was already sewn on, but not stitched to the back yet (I don't usually cut the backing and batting to size before I bind a quilt, and so there was space to hold the quilt when quilting). Adding the binding before quilting makes sure that the design fills the area, and won't get cut off.

I used a white board to figure out how the design was going to work.

The hexagon flowers were quilted with a feather wreath. They are such tiny hexagons (3" across) that I left the centres puffy, with no quilting.
Graph paper to make hexagons can be found here, the link is from the book, and a great site to bookmark.

                                    

I also finished the September Small Quilt of the Month -  This quilt is free on Kathleen Tracy's web site. It is 21" square. Just cotton batting in this one, I wanted the crinkled look.

I like the fabric I used, but I realize now that some of them are too close in colour value, and so the quilt looks odd. Oh well, live and learn!

                                   

I thought this quilt would be a good opportunity to try out some different quilting designs. I quilted designs that I had never quilted before. I thought that the shapes in the big squares looked like sea weed. Sometimes I end up with designs that I can use again, and sometimes not, but it is all fun. I did FMQ a quote from Diane Gaudynski around the border - Keep quilting, your work gets better everyday, just to try something else new.

I love quilting small quilts, it is the perfect time to try different designs, threads etc.

It is so nice to be all caught up! I even wrote, and scheduled to post, the next 2 quilt along block posts this week!

All the quilting on the above two quilts was done with 100Wt Invisafil thread. 

100Wt thread is so wonderful to quilt with. You don't get thread build up when backtracking, and it blends right into the fabric. 

One 2500m (2734yds) cone of Invisafil cost me $12, and will last for a very long time.

This 200m (219yds) spool of 100Wt silk thread has a price tag of $6.95! (I bought it much cheaper as part of a sale pack, and was surprised to see the price.) This spool will not do too much quilting.

I don't really see any difference when quilting with the polyester or the silk. To me, it makes much more sense to have fun doing lots of quilting with the inexpensive thread. 

Tip - If you don't like the look of your quilting, try 100Wt thread, it is surprising how much better your quilting can look with a really fine thread.

I have seen a bit of "talk" in blogland about how long people have been free motion quilting. I have been FMQ for about 7 years. I started with just meandering (and using a walking foot for straight line quilting - all my quilts were quilted the same way or else hand quilted).

My first machine quilted piece

You can't see the meander in the border - the thread matched perfectly to hide the quilting.

I discovered quilting blogs about 4 years ago, and I knew it was time to try something new!

The next photo is of the first quilt I designed with EQ6. It is also the first time I tried quilting something different - feathered wreathes!! I had to start with the hardest design.

They are pretty sad! But I proudly display the quilt to show how far I have come. I quilted this quilt exactly 4 years ago. You can see the pieced blocks have no quilting (they are only small blocks and there is quilting in the ditch around all the blocks), after the odd wreathes I was done free motion quilting this quilt.

Soon after I discovered Diane Gaudynski's web site, blog and books, and with lots of practice, the look of my quilting really changed. Thanks Diane!!❤I owe it all to you! 

Thank-you to every one that left such kind comments on my latest piece. Your words of encouragement mean so much to me!❤

Happy Halloween

 Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!❤

Block 7 THQA 2012

For this week I chose a Twelve Triangles block.

For this 7" block you will need - 

Print A (mine is the green dots) -

                     2 - 4+3/8" squares, cut in half on the diagonal

Print B (mine is the red print) - 

                     1 - 4+3/4" square, cut in to 4 on the diagonals

Print C (mine is the yellow "tree" print) - 

                      2 - 2+5/8" squares, cut in half on the diagonal (my squares are cut on the 

                                       opposite diagonals to keep the pattern lined up - just me)

Print D (mine is the orange dots) - 

                       1 - 3" square (this is the centre)

All the same weekly rules apply. Remember to use scant 1/4" seams (my blocks came out smaller than my other blocks, but that is probably due to the fact that I lost my 1/4" sewing foot and had to buy a new one!)

No quick tricks this week! All the twelve triangles are sewn around the centre Print D square. I did trim the triangle points with a point trimmer.

Start with the Print C triangles.

I sewed the opposite triangles on first, and pressed the seam allowances away from the centre,

then added the other triangles, and press the seam allowances away from the centre,

to make a square.

Keep adding all the triangles around (you get the idea), just be careful not to stretch the triangles on the bias.

Print B is next.

Lastly, the Print A triangles -

 Trim the block to 7+1/2".

This version was made the same way.

 For this version I used the same fabric for B and D.

 All three (this is closer to the actual colour).

I laid the blocks out with the fabric I have for the setting triangles and border. I still haven't decided which fabric I will use, might even alternate the zig-zag rows.

Keep posting your block pictures on Flickr - they are lovely to see all together.

Thanks for sewing along and have a great day!❤