Monday, September 28, 2015

Design Wall Monday - 9/28/15


DESIGN WALL MONDAY -
Check out all of us who link up with Judy L. -
At Patchwork Times on Mondays.
We have some awesome stuff on our walls!
Well, THEY do - ME - not so much sometimes - ;))
===



On my wall today -

Something new - ;))


I'm still trying to quilt some tops -

But I found a link to a new tutorial in my inbox -

From Liz Katsuro at Jelly Roll Fabrics - HERE -

For a Quarter Log Cabin Block and Quilt -

And just HAD to try it - ;))

If you go to her website and enter your email address -

She will send you a free copy of her -

4 Easy, Impressive Jelly Roll Quilt Patterns -

And you will be on her emailing list for Sales and Free Tutorials - ;))

Her patterns use Jelly Rolls, of course -

And are VERY user friendly - ;))

And - NO - I am not related -

Nor am I being compensated in any way -

I just like her stuff - ;))

===

I redid the binding on the Halloween Windmill -


And the corners came out better this time -

But they don't photograph very well - sorry - ;))


Since quilting and binding -

Don't really count as being on my "Design Wall" -

I had another excuse to start a new project -

As if I need an excuse - ;))

===

AND - as a side note -

BOB has seen a similar block -

Referred to as a HALF Log Cabin Block -


But has never quite figured out -

How you can make a WHOLE Log Cabin Block -

Using only TWO of them - :))

But then again - it's probably just me - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -



Monday, September 21, 2015

Design Wall Monday - 9/21/15


DESIGN WALL MONDAY -
Check out all of us who link up with Judy L. -
At Patchwork Times on Mondays.
We have some awesome stuff on our walls!
Well, THEY do - ME - not so much sometimes - ;))
===



On my wall today -

Same as last week - ;))


I had sewn the binding on the Halloween Windmill -
But the corner miters were messy -
So I took it off to "do-over" - ;))


It's not like I don't know how -

I have a page/tab at the top of my blog -

LHQ - Binding -

With several tutorials -

So I really have no excuse - ;))

I can do better - ;))

But then again -

Murphy might be messing with me - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -



Friday, September 18, 2015

Not much - but some progress -


I haven't done much this week - yet -

But I did get the Halloween one bound - ;))


I think the back looks kinda cool with the orange thread -
And the loopy flowers - ;))


And wouldn't you know -

Not one of the corners wanted to miter nicely -

Maybe next time - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -



Monday, September 14, 2015

Design Wall Monday - 9/14/15


DESIGN WALL MONDAY -
Check out all of us who link up with Judy L. -
At Patchwork Times on Mondays.
We have some awesome stuff on our walls!
Well, THEY do - ME - not so much sometimes - ;))
===



On my wall today -


I got the letters sewn down -
And the panels together for the top - ;))

Unless you have the same kit -
You probably wouldn't notice -
That my turkey only has ten feathers -
Not twelve - ;))

The kit provided a template -
But I had an 18-degree Stack-n-Whack(R) Fan Ruler -
So I used that instead - ;))


On the Free-Motion Quilting front -

I have been using the Batik Placemats for "warm-up" -
The light blue thread blends right in -
And there are a bunch of areas to fill in - ;))


I finished quilting the Cottage Wall Hanging -
Using a cream-colored thread -
And trying several different patterns - ;))




I also finished quilting the Halloween one -


Trying to do a Free-Motion "loopy-flower" thing in the pinwheels -


The photos are crappy - sorry -
But the flowers (and bloopers) show better on the back -
Because of the orange thread on the black fabric -


If only I knew what I was doing - sigh - ;))


I need to bind these two -

Then tackle the pile in the corner - ;))


And I keep hearing these voices in my head -

Practice - Practice - Practice!!! - ;))

Done is better than Perfect!! - ;))

Practice doesn't make perfect -

Perfect practice makes perfect!! - ;))


Those voices could be really annoying -

If I wasn't having so much FUN - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -



Thursday, September 10, 2015

In the meantime -


Before I dug out the quilt that I showed you in my last post -

I got the letters done on the Turkey Day Wall Hanging -


And I spent most of a day trying to get my Husqvarna Lily 555 set up for Free-Motion Quilting - :))

What a waste of time!! -

I couldn't seem to get the tension right -


And after breaking several needles -

I finally gave up -

And switched it out for my White Jeans Machine - ;))

Lily is great for machine applique and quilt-in-the ditch -

And the White Jeans Machine was already set up for FMQ -

But I wasn't in the mood to switch out machines -

Even though it was just a matter of taking Lily out of the special table -

And putting the White Jeans Machine in - ;))

Should have done that in the first place!! - ;))


Much better!! - ;))



And as a side note -

I have my own version of a Supreme Slider(TM) -

Because a while back I sewed the dang thing to the quilt -

When it decided to come "un-stuck" from the machine bed - ;))


I probably could/should have taped it down -

But now I use an 18" x 26" - Non-Stick Oven Liner instead - :))

It's much larger (and cheaper) than the Supreme Slider(TM) -

And just as slick/slippery - ;))

I cut out a little hole where the needle goes up and down -


Stuck it to the extension table with removable double-sided tape -

Then used clear mail packing tape to tape down the front and back edges - ;))


Taping it to the extension table -

Allows me to remove the whole thing -

When it comes time to change the bobbin - ;))


Now it's time to practice - practice - practice!! - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -





Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Slight diversion -


I was emailing back and forth with Julie - My Quilt Diary - the other day -

"Talking" about a bunch of different things - ;))

She does all of her sewing and quilting BY HAND -

And I am totally in awe of her hand sewing and hand quilting -

And how much more productive she is than I am with four sewing machines - ;))

During our little chat -

I remembered that I had a quilt top in my collection -

That I did a LOOOONG time ago -

BY HAND -

Just to be able to say that I did - ;))
In my collection of unfinished tops, I have a quilt that is hand-pieced. It is a sampler quilt and I made it a LONG time ago - just to be able to say that I made one "by hand". I don't remember if I rotary cut any of the pieces - but I do remember tracing around templates and sewing on the drawn line. It seemed to be MUCH easier to make the pieces fit and the points match. The seam allowance didn't matter one bit - you just sewed on the line - easy. I really enjoyed the hand stitching but I got in a hurry toward the end and sewed the borders on by machine. I also used it to learn how to hand quilt - and was lucky to get four or five stitches to the inch at the time. I set it aside and got better at hand quilting - but I never went back to finish it. I should dig it out and take another look at it - see how much more I need to do. - ;))
Sooooooooooooo -

I dug it out -

And realized that I did NOT rotary cut it -

I used the templates given in the book -

And sewed it all BY HAND - ;))


The book is Leisure Arts Craft Leaflets - Leaflet #1179 -
Teach Yourself To Quilt -
Step-By-Step Instructions -
Design by Patricia Eaton -
(c) 1988 by Leisure Arts -



The templates were provided -



And hand-sewing instructions were given - ;))


I sewed all nine blocks - BY HAND - ;))



And I have quilted 3-1/2 of the blocks BY HAND already -




So now, boys and girls -

Repeat after me -

SQUIRREL!!! - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -


Monday, September 7, 2015

Design Wall Monday - 9/7/15


DESIGN WALL MONDAY -
Check out all of us who link up with Judy L. -
At Patchwork Times on Mondays.
We have some awesome stuff on our walls!
Well, THEY do - ME - not so much sometimes - ;))
===



On my wall today -


And a Halloween panel - ;))


I dug out the Batik Placemats -


The Cottage Wall Hanging -


The Purple/Green/Black -


A placemat that wasn't on the list -


A practice piece -


And the No-Waste Windmill (Pungkin Peer Charm Pack) - ;))


That should do for starters - ;))

With the exception of the last one -

They all have the "stitch-in-the-ditch" part done -

So they are ready for some Free-Motion Quilting - ;))

Now I'm going to sound like those annoying radio/TV teasers -

"NEXT UP is blah-blah - BUT FIRST..." -

BOB thinks that there should be nothing between NOW and NEXT -

And often wonders what part of NEXT do they not get?? -

But it DOES seem to apply here - ;))

In my last post I said that I was Switching Gears -

So NEXT UP I want/need to practice my Free-Motion Quilting -

And get some of my projects QUILTED -

BUT FIRST -

I want to finish sewing down the letters on the Turkey Day Wall Hanging -
And get that together -
So that I have another project ready to go - ;))


I think that if I practice my FMQ on some of the smaller stuff -

And then work on some Halloween and Thanksgiving projects -

That I should get better at it -

And hopefully have enough confidence -

To tackle some of my Christmas stuff - ;))

At least that's the plan - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -



Friday, September 4, 2015

Switching gears -


This month I thought that I would "switch gears" -

And try to get some of my projects Quilted - ;))

Gee - what a concept!! - haha - ;))

My favorite part of quilting is making the blocks -

Sewing little pieces together to make bigger pieces -

Watching the colors play against each other -

Watching the puzzle pieces all come together to make the block -

And chasing that elusive 1/4" that I seem to lose on a regular basis - ;))

Sewing the blocks together gets to be unwieldy at times -

As the tops get bigger and bigger -

And I seem to get bored with the project after the top is done -

BUT -

I guess at some point I should actually QUILT them -

Or at least I should TRY to quilt them -

To finish them up - ;))

I can't afford to send them out to be quilted any more -

Retirement has seen to that -

So -

I figured that I could use SuzieQ to piece the backings and make my Scrap Hearts -

And use Lily to "quilt-in-the-ditch" -

Then switch to my White Jeans Machine to do some Free Motion Quilting - :))

I have some good Free-Motion Quilting books in my library -

And I signed up for one of the Craftsy classes on Free-Motion Quilting -

Which should help when I get to that point - ;))

So I checked my list of UFOs - Projects - and Squirrels -

And just about choked on the number of "unquilted" tops that I have to quilt - ;))

Yikes!! - ;))

===

Need Quilting -
  • Sampler Quilt
  • Watercolor Heart
  • Top/White
  • Red/White/Blue
  • Purple/Green/Black
  • Pre-Stenciled Wholecloth
  • Lion - H
  • Lion - C
  • Lion - J
  • Cottage Wall Hanging
  • No-Waste Windmill (Pungkin Peer Charm Pack)
  • FMQA - Practice Quilt
  • Jelly Beans
  • LTRTCWSA 2012 - "Do You See What I See?"


Top/Heart/Scrap Card made -
Need Back - Sleeve - Binding - Label -

  • B/W/R - Red Cosmo
  • B/W/R - Red Stripe
  • B/W/R - Black Cosmo
  • B/W/R - Black Stripe
  • B/W/R - Multi
  • Rules
  • Placemats/Throw
  • LTRTCWSA 2013 - Christmas Sudoku Quilt
  • Valentine's Day Sudoku Quilt
  • St. Patrick's Day Sudoku Quilt
  • Easter Sudoku Quilt
  • May Flowers Sudoku Quilt
  • LTRTCWSA 2012 - Folk Art Christmas Tree


Top made -
Need Heart - Scrap Card -

  • Ladies
  • Scrappy Tripping
  • Orca Bay RED - Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Quilt - November 2011
  • Floral Applique
  • LHQSQ - LHQ Sampler Quilt
  • O Happy Christmas
  • Christmas Embroidered Blocks - Table Runner
  • I Spy Quilt x 2
  • Easy Street Detour Around The World
  • Batik Placemats (8)
  • 9-Patch Pizzazz
  • January Sudoku Quilt
  • June Wedding Sudoku Quilt
  • July Americana Sudoku Quilt
  • Halloween Sudoku Quilt
  • Thanksgiving Sudoku Quilt

===

I feel a bit overwhelmed at the moment -

But I think that if I start off with some of the smaller ones -

Like finishing off the eight Batik Placemats -


And then just practice - practice - practice -

I could work my way up to some of the larger ones - ;))

Who knows -

Maybe by Christmas -

I'll know what I'm doing - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -



Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Thanksgiving Sudoku -


So I got the sashing and cornerstones on as planned - ;))


And then added the borders -

Ta-Dah!! - ;))


Here's a close-up of the top left corner - ;))


The borders are a bit narrower on this one -
Since they were determined by the width of the strip in my stash -
Which started out as a regular 1/4 yard length -
But which shrunk when it was pre-washed - UGH!! -

BUT -

I would much rather have it shrink BEFORE I sewed it to something -

Than AFTER - ;))

That's why I try to pre-wash everything except Jelly Rolls -

And why I toss my 5" Charm Squares -
And small scraps in the salad spinner - HERE - ;))

Anyway -

Today is the first day of September -

And I'm switching gears - ;))

I want/need to get some of my tops QUILTED -

Before I run out of year -

And have nothing to show for it - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -



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