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 -
A Drunkard's Path block -
It's a test block - and didn't come out too badly - considering the fact that I'm not that great at sewing curved seams. One of the "scrap" quilts that has been dancing around in my head and on my "to do list" for years is a Drunkard's Path variation - so I dug out the pattern/picture and my die and cut the muslin pieces. The rest will be cut from scraps as I go along - but the muslin ones will be my "control" to let me know how many more of each shape I need to cut to complete the blocks. There will be a couple hundred of them - to finish at 4" - so I should be pretty good at sewing curved seams by the time I get them all sewn - ;))
I also tested the Maxi-Lock Serger Thread on a scrap to the side of the Ladies - and liked it. I didn't have to mess with the tension at all - just wound a bobbin and put the cone on a thread stand. I did all of the "ditch" quilting on the Ladies and now it's ready for some Free-Motion quilting - ;))
Not much else to show you - a whole lot of "behind the scenes" stuff was going on this past week. Some organizing (the crumb blocks/trays - and some other projects half-done) - some prep work (the Drunkard's Path blocks - and the de-construction of some ties) - and some "ditch" stitching (the Ladies) - ;))
Last week flew by and it's Monday again already -
We'll see if I can get some more FUN stuff done this coming week - ;))
Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -
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 -
Crumb blocks in a possible maybe layout - as a block of 4-patches - on point -
Imagine a neutral/muslin sashing between the units with a crumb in the middle -
I have an idea for an alternate block but don't have one worked up yet - ;))
In other news, I layered/fuse-basted the June Wedding Sudoku and stitched in the ditch of every single seam. Yeah, I know - boring - and I have said before that I thought that it was a complete waste of time and that I wasn't going to bother if I intended to do an all-over FMQ design - BUT - I want to do a block-by-block FMQ design and the "ditch" quilting should stabilize it so that it doesn't get all tweaked before it gets quilted - ;))
Here's a close-up so that you can maybe see the various white-on-white and white-on-cream fabrics - they really are pretty in real life - and the gold sashing seems to work well. I used Superior Threads - Bottom Line - 60 wt. lint-free Polyester in the bobbin and YLI - Clear - 100% Nylon as the top thread - ;))
AND - I got the Ladies layered/fuse-basted - and added pins for extra stability - ;))
I used a very pretty batik for the backing - didn't bother to piece it - just one big chunk. And I found in my stash of threads - what I think is a perfect color match - but it's a "Serger Thread" - Maxi-Lock Serger Thread - on a 3000 yd. cone - 40 wt/2 ply - 100% Polyester Serger Thread.
I thought I could use this as the bobbin thread with the Clear Nylon as the top thread - when I do the "ditch" quilting with my walking foot - but before I do -
I have a couple of questions for anyone who might have a couple of answers -
Question(s) - Do you know of any reason why this would NOT be suitable for use as the bobbin thread? - It says that it's a 40 wt. (slightly thicker than the 50 wt. that I use for piecing) - and that it's a 2 ply polyester - but what makes it a "Serger Thread" as opposed to any other polyester sewing thread? - And does it HAVE to be used ONLY in a serger - or can it also be used in a regular sewing machine? Have you ever tried it? Did it work? - ;))
Let me know what you think in the comment section below -
I'll test it before I actually use it - but I'm curious and want to hear your thoughts and/or experiences with it -
Thanks - ;))
Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -
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 -
More little Crumb blocks -
And while they have been quietly accumulating - my pile of quilt tops that "need to be quilted" has been sitting there - waiting patiently for me to get back to practicing my Free-motion quilting. I keep walking right past it - which isn't getting any of them done - so yesterday I pulled out the blue placemats - they needed a bit more quilting in the bottom section - and I got them done - finally - ;))
A clamshell stencil/pattern filled the area nicely. I like how the blue thread blends in and hides some of my boo-boos - and they're not perfect - but they're quilted - ;))
It's funny that I had forgotten how much FUN plain old "quilting" can be -
Whether I'm using a walking foot or a darning foot -
Stitching straight lines or curvy lines -
With or without marking the quilt top -
Doing it free-form style or trying to follow the lines -
And I totally forgot how much I ENJOY doing it -
Now that I know that I CAN do it -
I just need more practice -
So that's the plan for now - ;))
Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -
I made a lot some more crumb blocks - and I counted 101 Dalmatians already - so I should probably give some thought to what I'm going to do with them - soon - ;))
I thought that I could maybe set them together using an alternate block -
And dug out my little orange hourglass blocks -
But I didn't think that they looked that good once I put them on the design wall - the orange/neutral was OK - but they seemed too busy for me with nowhere for the eye to "rest" -
I liked the alternating "frame" illusion that the hourglass blocks provided - so I made up another bunch of blocks - this time in dark charcoal gray and muslin -
I would have to watch where the darker bits go so that they don't get lost in the gray - but I kinda like it - it gives the eye places to "rest" and isn't so busy -
OR - I could check my stash for another "orange" to pair with the muslin -
OR - look for another tone-on-tone color -
But then again - I could just sew them together in 4-patches to "up" size them - sash them with something - and be done with it - ;))
So - like I said -
Now what? - ;))
Maybe I'll just "keep on keeping on" and make a bunch more -
Some mindless sewing -
While I practice my Free-Motion Quilting -
Gotta get back to that - ;))
It's not like I have to decide today -
And it's not like it has to be a certain size -
And it sure isn't like I'm EVER going to run out of crumbs - ;))
Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -
Yesterday I got a comment about my cutting a piece BEFORE adding it to a crumb block - so I thought maybe I should clarify a bit - ;))
For crumb blocks - I usually gather a bunch of bits and pieces - crumbs - and sew them together willy nilly - to get bigger pieces - or I may sew a bunch of crumbs to a long strip and then cut off the sections - and I may even straighten an edge here and there as I go along - but mostly it's mindless sewing of one thing to another -
And I keep going until the "crumby bits" get bigger and bigger -
Until they eventually get to about the size I want them to be -
Then I square them off like I showed yesterday -
And maybe add some more to one side or the other or both -
Like I did to the purple one in the middle -
But it all depends on the shape of the "crumby bits" and what I need to finish it - ;))
Some "crumby bits" wind up "squarer" than others -
And some might have weird angles -
So sometimes I DO want/need to cut a special piece to square it up -
Before I add more to it or trim it down to size - ;))
Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -
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 -
A bunch of little Crumb blocks -
So far I have 58 -
And counting - ;))
Last week I was on a roll -
And took some photos to show you how I cut some of my weird angles -
In case you might be interested - ;))
This purple piece looked like it would square this section off nicely -
So I flipped it over -
Moved the purple piece to the bottom so that I could see the angle of the other piece -
Marked the angle with my yellow chalk marker -
Set the ruler's 1/4" mark on the yellow chalk line -
Cut it - 1/4" past the yellow chalk line - for the seam allowance -
Stitched it -
And Ta Dah! -
It's That corner is ready to trim - ;))
There's still plenty to keep me busy -
And I have no idea what I'm going to do with them -
Just having some fun with some mindless sewing -
With no real plan -
Yet - ;))
Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -
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 -
Part of a CRUMB block -
Guess you could say it's been a CRUMBY week -
Sorry - I couldn't resist - ;))
I got the rest of my little Hourglass Blocks from last week all sewn together -
And put them in a baggie for "later" -
And then I decided to play with my scraps - ;))
I have most of my scraps sorted by COLOR -
And I usually separate out my NEUTRALS -
But I had a bunch of scraps that had been sorted by SIZE/SHAPE first -
And those were the ones that I wanted to play with - ;))
I had two bins of baggies with CRUMBS - CHUNKS - SQUARES - TRIANGLES - STRIPS - STRINGS and SELVAGES - with the intention of using them in a variety of projects -
CRUMBS - CRUMB blocks
CHUNKS (bigger CRUMBS) - use for die cuts depending on size
SQUARES - don't know yet - crumbs maybe
TRIANGLES - CRUMB blocks OR Foundation Paper Pieced CORNERS
STRIPS - CRUMB blocks or STRING blocks depending on size
STRINGS - CRUMB blocks or STRING blocks depending on size
SELVAGES - a pillow - later - or maybe never - ;))
And the question was whether I wanted to sub-sort those now by color -
Or not - ;))
I decided that I would just let them be mixed up color-wise -
And started sorting the STRIPS by width -
Some are die-cut - some are not - and some are "between" sizes -
The shorter ones to be used in CRUMB blocks -
And the longer ones in STRING blocks - ;))
Starting with the smallest pieces and working my way up to the bigger ones -
I began making CRUMB blocks when my OCD kicked in some more -
And I sorted the sets by the length of the longest side -
The side I always add the next piece to -
(Ending a sentence with a preposition - ooh - my high school English teachers would be shaking their heads - I think I've done it twice so far - :))
Anyway -
It sounds really fussy - BUT it was FUN and RELAXING -
AND made it a WHOLE lot easier to match up CRUMBS for the next "addition" -
Either another CRUMB block of the same size - or one of the sorted strips - ;))
With each new piece that I add - the "longest side" changes -
And the CRUMB block gets put in a new pile according to the new size -
All nice and neat and organized - ;))
You might be laughing at me right now -
But it keeps me busy -
And it keeps BOB out of trouble - ;))
Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -
