Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
I finished the binding on the Sealife Quilt-let the other night. I still haven’t embroidered my name on the back, but will work on that this evening.
Now I just need someone to take this piece and the BAMaQG Color Round Robin to Austria for me. Or mail it from an EU country. It is much less expensive to do it that way.
I finished another MetroScape block. This is the second to last one and I should be able to get a start on putting the quilt together soon.
I didn’t cut my regular Hunting and Gathering pieces, because I was afraid I wouldn’t have enough fabric for the blocks. I am pleased that I have plenty and will be cutting the pieces I need for various other projects soon.
I started binding the Sealife quilt-let the other day. I made a couple of bindings on a Saturday a week or so ago, so they were ready to go. After finishing off the Christmas mat, I got busy on the quilt-let.
It is going pretty well. I can’t remember the last time I bound a quilt that had flannel as its backing. I like it. The threads sink right into it. It is a little difficult to get the needle in, but not terribly so. Once that is accomplished the stitching goes easily.
I think I forgot to put a label on this one, so I will have to do some hand stitching. It’s been awhile.
I didn’t plan on putting up a Design Wall Monday post, but somehow I just felt like it.
This is a bigger view of my design wall with some added bonuses that I don’t normally show.
I’m linking up with Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, the relatively new hosting site of Design Wall Monday.
I finished another MetroScape block the other day. I am closing in on finishing the blocks and think I am ready to put the quilt together and be done with it.
I am still pleased with the way these pieces are coming out. I am just ready to move on Who Am I? is on my big design wall and it is starting to call to me again.
I was able to up my donation block production in October a little bit, which makes me really happy. I did forget to bring the blocks for the past couple of months to the meeting, however, so I will, with any luck, have a huge pile to bring in November.
I am working through some of the 2.5 inch squares I cut with the Accuquilt at Craft Night a few weeks ago. Going through one color scrap pile limits my options, though. Design challenge, right?
I told you about Mrs. K’s Spiky 16 Patch blocks some time ago. Not long after, she sent me a photo of the quilt she finished.
I love it! I wouldn’t have chosen that gold, but it is fabulous. did you notice the triangles forming a circle around the center – or suggesting the center? I love that!
Also the corners are highlighted, which is fantastic as well. Great job all around.
I need to get back to my units. I have a bunch of 16 patch blocks and HRTs made and haven’t made anymore of the spiky blocks.
As mentioned the other day, I finished longarming the Christmas Mat.
I am pleased with the design and pleased that all I have to do is bind. Friend Julie thinks that a red binding would work. I agree, which means rummaging around in the my reds to find the right one.
Now I have two things to which I need to make and apply binding.
Enjoy some spooky sounds for your celebration!
Hooray! The Undercover Maker Mat is complete!
My plan is to use this mat at Retreats and Sew Days. I tend to put the tools I am using on the right side of the machine so they are easily at hand and don’t interfere with the fabric ‘products’ on the left. This works relatively well, but at Retreats, things can get knocked off the table or I don’t really have space to put tools in their usual location. It won’t really work at home because I have a cabinet even though I could use it since I don’t have a lot of space on the right side of my cabinet.
I didn’t adjust the size at all, though I thought about it. The size of the mat, as you can see, fits my machine pretty exactly. I decided that my portable table didn’t need a mat underneath it. I also didn’t want a giant thing. It is usually better for me to make adjustments after I have made the project according to the pattern at least once.
I think that this item will be a good gift as well.
Mrs. K, an avid and valued reader of this blog, gave me a gift last week. It is kind of thread catcher. She called it a bubble pod.
Mrs. K said that the pattern is by Beth Studley. She is, apparently, a UK designer, but the pattern is PDF, so easily downloadable even if you have pay in pounds. With holiday swaps coming up, this would be a great choice for a small project.
It is really cute and great for catching threads. I think it would work on a sewing machine mat instead of the cup shapes that are often suggested.
She chose some very fun fabrics – the grey is a Tula Pink and the inside is a wonderful.
Thanks, Mrs. K!
Last year I bought fabric to make a Christmas mat. The intention is that we will lay this mat on the floor and put our Christmas tree on it.
I was supposed to work on it and finish it last year, but stuff happened and I didn’t do it. I was able to use a friend’s longarm last week and I got the thing quilted. It isn’t finished.
My friend has a new HQ Amara on a large frame. I was excited, but also apprehensive as it has been a long time since I longarmed anything.
My intention was to free motion, but I ended up decided on a computerized pattern. Since the fabric is just one length of yardage – no piecing it didn’t seem necessary to spend a bunch of time on it. I thought choosing a computerized pattern would make the process go faster. Overall it took us about 2.5 hours to quilt a 41 x 44 inch sandwich. My friend is still learning and the software isn’t as intuitive as I expected it to be*.
We both worked on it and I was finally getting the hang of moving the quilt from a finished line of quilting back to the right to start the next line (no, it doesn’t do it itself) when we finished. I was glad to finish, because it was exhausting. I am VERY grateful to my friend for helping me quilt the thing and also for just getting another project quilted.
*SIL n.2 and I have discussed how longarm computer software manufacturers don’t have the market to make really great software. If longarm software sold as much as something like Microsoft Word, then there would be more development, but the market just isn’t that large. It is a shame, but business is business.
I spent some time away sewing this past week with Friend Julie. I didn’t get to sew as much as I thought I would because I had some social and professional obligations to conduct as well. Still, I made progress and that is a good thing.
As mentioned the other day, I started the Undercover Maker Mat along with the sew-a-long going on @Lillyellasworld. Julie worked on it, too, and spurred me along. I always feel discombobulated when I sew somewhere else, but I got myself together and started working on the pockets.
I had dome some work on them, but hadn’t finished the big pocket piece. I threw in a bunch of fabrics, so I would have some options if what I thought would work didn’t end up working. That was a good idea as I had to play around with fabrics until I got a combination I liked. My first group of fabrics is shown above. Somehow I found it to be too light or too much of the Michael Miller London Portfolio fabric. I also wasn’t sure about the turquoise binding.
I decided on the above combination. It has a good amount of London Portfolio, but some dots and Martha Negley as well. I did not make the foundation pieced center. I forgot to make it at home and don’t really like foundation piecing anyway, so it was easy to decide to fussy cut instead.
I was surprised that Kathleen knew the pattern, but she had made one and was using it for her longarm head. I shouldn’t be surprised She knows and makes all of the most popular modern patterns. She used some really nice fabrics.
I got a question about nesting seams from a guild member the other day. She wanted to know whether she should nest seams or not. Nesting seams has a purpose. You don’t just press seams open because the Modern Quilt Guild or someone else says you should.
Press seams open when you want to reduce bulk. This is often used in garment sewing.
Nesting seams is used to line up your seams. You will get better and easier precision if you use this technique. Caroline of SewCanShe writes on her blog post “Nesting your seams will help you get your perpendicular joints matched up and with practice the intersections will be perfect looking…. most of the time. :)” People say they don’t care if their seams are aligned. I care and so I nest seams unless there is so much bulk that it is impossible.
If you press seams open you are also in danger of developing holes in the quilting process. I press my seams open when I make pieced backs to reduce bulk. When I press my seams open I backstitch at the beginning and end of each seam line to prevent holes.
Sometimes, like in a Four Patch block, there can be quite a bit of bulk in the areas where the four patches meet. You can ‘pop’ the seam to also reduce bulk. Check out the tutorial on how to do this with images illustrating the technique.
I find it easier to get good precision when I put my quilts together using ‘Chunking’. Check out the tutorial.
Resources:
And many others
The creativity posts I have been posting on Fridays will return soon.
I finally got enough squares to make an interesting post for you. The last time I posted was in August, so not horrific, but long enough. I am not cutting up fabric and the pace I should be. I keep just piecing.
You’ll notice the MetroScape fabrics mostly missing. I am waiting to finish the top before I cut up many squares, because I’d rather have those fabrics missing from FOTY 2018 than not be able to finish the MetroScape quilt. I think I’ll have plenty.