Stress Free-motion Quilting

Finally, something really relaxing! Aren't these cute feathers?

I made my goal, but what a crazy way to get some UFOs off my to-do list!!!  I finished all three of the quilts that I intended to show at my local quilt guild's show this weekend - just in the nick of time.  Literally, I stayed up three nights in a row to almost midnight, then woke up at 5:00 a.m. to go to work (not to mention the first week of school at a new job/school -- yes, I am crazy).  Thursday night I fell asleep sitting upright with a needle in my hand stitching the binding on quilt number three.  I set the alarm for 4:00 a.m. and Friday morning I stitched like a madwoman until 5:45 and FINISHED it!!  We had to be out of the house by 6:15 a.m. for Dean's knee surgery. 

So, short story long, I loaded another carpenter star for a customer/friend and am having fun doing mindless whimsical feathers - no SID, no rulers (at least not so far), and very few thread burying episodes.

I'll have pictures of the third quilt posted soon.  

Star Quilt Done... It doesn't look too bad either...

I have had this on the frame for a lonnnnnngggg time. 

 I attempted curved cross hatching for the very first time.

 It is very difficult to photograph black fabric. 

 I had lots of stand and stare moments, I asked my friends on MQR for their opinions, I even asked my husband his thoughts.  All in all, I think I like the way it looks - particulary the back.  Hey, my husband even gave one of his biggest compliments... "wow, that's cool."   I used at least five thread colors, and I believe that I can now consider myself experienced at burying threads! 

Now just some binding by hand and a sleeve for the local quilt show.  I may hang this quilt in our living room for awhile.  I have always loved black quilts.

How to determine if your quilt is loaded squarely... the wrong way

This is what I have been working on for a very long time.  Four thread colors, lots of indecision, lots of learning (I have never done curved cross hatch), lots of ruler work, bright contrasting thread on black fabric.  So I get this crazy idea to attach the clamps (that I bought a year ago and have been too chicken to try) so that I can create some straight lines edge to edge in the outside sashing.  I was thrilled as I was going along until I got to the last third.  As you can see, I learned that my quilt was not square.  At least it was not loaded squarely.  Ugh!   More lessons learned.  

Deadlines...16 days left

I submitted three entries to my local quilt guild's quilt show. There will be over 220 quilts entered. I have one 99 percent done, one 80 percent done, and the final one has been pieced. I do have a quilting plan for it as well.

I have just returned from a vacation in Wisconsin visiting family and friends, and am officially back at work after my seven week summer vacation. It went by so fast. I think I spent at least two of those weeks quilting my wholecloth!

Pictures coming soon.

What I've Been Doing

I'm finally tackling some of my WIPs and PIGs.  First, I recovered this ottoman in zebra print.  I have another larger ottoman, but haven't yet figured out what fabric to use.  I like this corner of my family room, but have more work to do with other corners. 

I apologize for the poor quality of the pictures.  They were taken with my iPhone.

I finally made little pillowcases for Devin and Corinne.  I've had the pillow forms for six months. 

This last poor-quality picture is one I took of myself wearing my new ruffly scarf that I made from an old nightgown.   It's called a T-shirt scarf, and there are tutorials for several versions on other blogs.  This could have been called a no-sew project, but I ran just a few stitches to tack it together.  It's a great way to add some spark to a plain t-shirt. 

Life is Full of Coincidences and Wonderful Blessings

Okay, so this is NQR, but it's a pretty neat story.  So, first for the exciting news -- my fourth grand (in less than four years) arrived one week ago!  His name is Landon, which is also our last name or surname, and our eldest of two daughters is doing great.  He has an older sister (ugh, maybe second mother), Corinne, who just turned 3. 

Okay, so here's the coincidence...  Our younger daughter is an RN, and just transferred from ICU to postpartum at the same hospital that this baby was born.  Uh huh, you can guess, right?  Her very first day on the new job, no more than one hour into her first day in postpartum, and she gets to observe her nephew's birth, and her preceptor/educator was her sister's nurse!  How convenient that mom waited until her sister clocked in, huh? 



Decision Making for Indecisive People Like Me

I'm much better at following patterns than creating my own.

Imagine being me...  you go to bed and envision tomorrow's quilting plan.  You are pretty sure what you want to do with your next quilt. 
You export a picture of it from your camera to your laptop or Ipad,
you draw on it with a drawing program and a stylus,
and then you bring out your plexiglass and dry erase markers, lay them over the quilt, you work out different scenarios for each section,
you ask the experts at MQR for their advice,
you get excited,
you start quilting,
you wonder,
you quilt some more,
you question yourself and your thread choices,
you remove stitches,
you quilt some more,
you remove stitches,
you change thread colors,
you quilt more,
and DAG NAB IT, that dang indecisiveness has gone far beyond "creeping in" - it has taken hold of your head and you are frozen - you can't decide if your quilting decisions are right,
so you clean the kitchen,
you eat a snack,
you check out a couple blogs,
you want to remove the quilt from the frame and work on something else.

Here is a solution that I just came up with this morning...

I slow the speed of the machine WAAAAY down, and quickly "draw" out something on the machine.  It's not permanent.  It can be easily removed.  You can really see what your plan will look like on the fabric. 

I wish I would have thought of this earlier before I stitched eight squares...  Oh well, once again I am friends with the seam ripper and tweezers.  I guess I'm a glutton for punishment too.

Wholecloth....lessons learned #3

Well, here it is.  It's gone from the frame to the table.  I am not done with it yet, so I'm sure I'll have many more things to learn.  ha!   First of all, I really do like it  The front is a celery green, and the back is a royal blue, with lime green thread.  The lighting wasn't the best, obviously I'll have to learn how to take better pictures before it's all done.  There are so many errors in this quilt, it's a shame.
Back to the lessons. So...  here we go:

1)  Don't pebble all the feather stems.  I wanted to leave some unfilled, but once I had done it to one quadrant, I then realized I must do it to all those same feathers. 

2)  Make sure you've got a good audio book going while you bury and tie off those threads.  It really helps.  I've always suspected that I am a bit twisted, (if you read my older posts you'll learn that I actually loved  "skinning" a queen sized quilt) because I was really starting to enjoy all that tying and burying.  Uh?

3)  All crystals are not alike.  I am planning on adding some crystals to this, and I think the first set I bought at JoAnns are the wrong type, they're not adhesive.

4)  When you start a project like this, make sure you have lots and lots of time.  I couldn't even begin to count the number of hours that has gone into this, beginning with learning how to create feathers, then drawing the wholecloth, then marking, yadda, yadda.

5)  Get your design perfect, and mark it perfectly before you begin stitching. 

Where do I go from here?  Well, I'm still learning about this, but I believe I need to

1)attach the crystals first

2)get it wet, and then I'm going to attempt to remove the pencil lines that I idiotically drew on the fabric (before I starched it).

3) if I cannot get the pencil marks out, I am going to paint those areas with a textile paint.

4) block it (I've never blocked a quilt so this will be another learning experience.

5)  bind it.

If you have any suggestions or tips for me, please comment, I need all the help I can get.

Wholecloth.....lessons learned #2

The wholecloth is coming along quite nicely.  Here's a couple more lessons I've learned along the way:
1)  Use a spiral eye needle when burying threads.  (I just ordered mine and am saving my burying until they are received.
2)  Wear your glasses when stitching pebbles. 
3)  Sit down on a chair, stool, or something when stitching those pebbles.
4)  Match the thread color to the fabric.  (Have I said that enough?)
5)  Do not attempt to stitch pebbles after consuming wine.

Stay posted for the finished product!

Wholecloth.... lessons learned #1

I finally got to load my wholecloth.  Less than 25% done and I've got a running list of lessons learned.  Here we go:
1)  Match the thread to the fabric.
2) Match the thread to the fabric.

3)  Use So Fine (#60 weight) or thinner

4)  DO NOT use a pencil to mark your fabric.

5)  The main plumes need to be larger than any fill you are planning on using.

6)  Make sure you have replaced your cone of thread on the the thread holder (after winding the bobbin) before you take off at full speed. 

7) Match the thread to the fabric.

8)  Save the "thread burying or tying off" for long-winded phone calls to save you time.  I'm all about saving time.  I NEVER seem to have enough for my quilting projects.

Stay posted for lessons learned #2.