Friday Finishes

Two finished quilts are heading off to new homes today!

Red Fans, 56" square, 8/2016

Red Fans came to me as mostly finished fans that needed to be squared up.  My Sister probably pieced them in the 70's. After a false start with different background fabrics, it languished. The blocks were brought to quilt group and no one wanted them. Finally my stash was searched, and a single background fabric was found (cream with a blue motif.)

I drew up the fans in EQ7 to draft a background piece and finally cut them out and stitched up the blocks in the same day. Backing fabric (already pieced, the right size) also found in the stash, recycled from a quilt that was un-quilted and finished with a different backing. The finished quilt is going back to my Sister.

Fishy Strips, 44" x 34.5", 8/2016

Fishy Strips came from my collection of batik strings. The sets were made from similar colors, the bodies at an angle and the tailfin horizontal. Cut with a melon die, appliqued with triple zig-zag. Without fusible, the triple zig-zag required a tear-away interfacing to keep from puckering. It has a stronger look than the regular zig-zag stitch (which didn't need interfacing in the sample.) The quilt is being donated to charity.

My Many Trips quilt is well underway. I'm using Bonnie Hunter's technique, using 5 3" strips with 5 consistant colors: indigo, grey, cobalt blue, white with black and teal. This is my "use the good fabrics" quilt, a controlled scrappy quilt for my bed. The strip sets are sewn and some tubes are sewn and sliced for re-assembly.

Another charity string quilt is in the planning/starting phase, Blue Strings Shaded, with 7" strips to be sewn in light, medium and dark mixes. The blue strings seem to multiply faster than others.

Happy Learning Quilt

This quilt was a lot of fun to make, mainly because the quilt police in my head were told that it would be a learning quilt. Several different techniques were tried out and change of design was allowed. It makes me smile, and that was the goal. 

Garden Party, 63" x 63"

The quilting was completed in three steps - the background quilting was done on the longarm, including the sashing. The spaces between the appliques are small, so the pebble design was also small. Stitch in the ditch was done on my small machine, as there is much better control. I left the quilt un-trimmed, and headed out of town for a vacation

Close up of quilting

Since the quilt hadn't been trimmed, it was easy to re-load it on the longarm to quilt the appliques. The batting used was puffy but stable (Soft & Brite), and the pebble quilting looked good, but I was wary about quilting the appliques applied with fusible. It was the lightest fusible I could find, and with the interfacing on the background fabric they seemed rather stiff. The quilting went fine, and really brought the quilt to life. The pattern is by Laura Heine of Fiberworks.

Friday Finishes

This is an accumulation of finished quilts from the last couple of months. The Garden Party quilt is being bound and I'll photograph when finished, and a fish quilt of my own design is in progress.

Pink Charity Strings, 47” x 37”, quilted with Orange Peel

Blue Charity Strings, 47” x 37”, quilted with freeform waves

 

Ducky strips,   43” x 43”, quilted with clamshells

Chevron tablerunner,   32” x 12.25”, quilted with Christmas Holly

 

Double Square Star,   38.5” x 38.5”, quilted with freeform waves

 

Yellow/orange/cream charity,   40.5” x 40.5”, quilted with plain paisley

 

 

 

Petal Progress

Best laid plans...finally posting about my progress on Garden Party, uploaded the new photo, and found the previous, in-progress photo that hadn't been posted. Most of the fabrics used were sample sizes, smaller than a fat quarter, and my process was to fuse the fusible to the pieces, then trace the patterns onto them. There was actually very little waste, though I did discover that after carefully washing all of the pieces, when extras were needed I missed that step, and the fusible did not adhere to the non-washed pieces, requiring pins.

Petal sets

This morning I finally found the hang-up with my Photoshop program not launching without a restart (it has two listings in Task Manager that need to be deleted), so now editing my photos will be less frustrating.

It’s been quite a few years since I’ve done a fusible applique quilt. I’m taking a learner’s attitude, not worrying that each block is done exactly the same. A few of the petals were accidentally reversed (learning point #1 – use an opaque label on clear plastic templates rather than a pen to label so letters & numbers aren’t reversed), but if they fit on the block I kept them as-is.

I did some practice with my machine’s stitch regulator, using it for the first time, and stitched down the 36 tiny hearts on each block before doing any other stitching, so as not to lose any of them. If I were making the blocks again, I would probably just spiral stitch over the whole areas of them, rather than stitching a heart shape in each one. The rayon thread is a light variegated color and gives them some shimmer.

Scraps were used to test different stitches, and I still ended up changing some of them. The scalloped satin stitch with a point, mirrored, gives the petals a soft edge. Matching bobbin thread helps keep the colors clear, and I’ve limited the variegated threads because of this too (learning point #2.)  My machine’s tie-off works differently with each type of stitch, so I’ve learned to tie-off by just moving the block around to stitch in the same place. Most threads are brought to the back and tied before trimming. Though I do love the satin stitches, they are slow to stitch out compared to buttonhole stitch.

I worked one thread color at a time on all nine blocks. With the many trips through my machine the fabric edges kept fraying, partially because the interfacing used was 1/2" narrower than the 20 1/2" background fabrics, and eventually I zig-zagged all of the edges (learning point #3.)

Garden Party blocks

A light brown-grey border/sashing fabric is on order, the only piece (other than fusibles and interfacing) purchased for this project, and a couple of backing options have been pulled from the stash too.

 

Finish - A - Long

Congratulations to all the Finish-a-Long winners. I completed several of my goals, and then did not do a tally post, since it felt like a failure not to complete all of them. The reality for me is that external goals do not motivate me to create. Since my weekly work sometimes includes quilting on challenging quilts for others, my personal projects need to have a specific purpose or just be fun to work on. The completed projects not on my list during the time period were both satisfying and made me feel guilty. Sewing needs to be fun.

I'm working on a large applique wall hanging that is at times fun and challenging. I'm using Jane Sassaman's technique of interfacing the back of each block and machine stitching the fused pieces down. I used lightweight fusibles for both. I'm getting a bit of distortion as the large 20.5" blocks are stuffed into a small opening, but not as much as without the interfaced backgrounds. I did some testing of stitches on scraps but am being relaxed enough to make changes as I go.

I used my BSR - Bernina Stitch Regulator for the first time on the tiny hearts on each block - 36 dime-sized hearts per block. I did them first as they were more likely to fall off than the larger pieces. The stitching is messy, but they are secured. I explained it to my husband as being similar to learning to write with my left hand - pushing the fabric around as opposed to moving a longarm machine.

Jelly Roll Race, 50" x 63", quilted with butterflies


The Jelly Roll Race quilt is finished. I used a solid red for the binding, one of my go-to options when coordinating prints are not in my stash. Kona solids made a nice firm binding.

Ducky strips still needs binding and will be dark blue.

Two small string quilts are in the works, one blues and one pinks. I'm using some aged sew-in interfacing as foundations, as it gives strength to charity quilts. I'm stitching rectangles that will have solid strips at each side to square them up and also minimize bulk when sewing them together.

Learning about my UFO’s and the in-between projects

I’ve been trying to analyze how my UFO’s develop. Some are just a bundle of fabrics that need to become a project. Some have been started and I’ve hit a stumbling point. Some of them are inherited UFO’s. If there is a goal for a project – a gift or charity quilt, they are more likely to get finished.

Two inherited projects are on their way out the door, to someone who wants them. I spent 5 years hand piecing an EPP diamond star queen-sized quilt with fabrics that I didn’t love (a gifted UFO), and relating that to why this project has been sitting for several years is clear.

One of my FAL goal projects, the chevron tablerunner, has all the blocks finished. This project did teach me about chain cutting. With a large cutting mat it works to lay out a bunch of pieces to cut apart and then move the ruler from place to place. Saves wear on the cutting mat by not being in the same spot.

One in-between project is a small charity quilt with oranges and yellows. This used up some small leftover pieces, and some larger coordinates. There are 8” squares, 4” squares and 4” four-patches.

The portable design wall is done. I found inexpensive wide tablecloth vinyl with a flannel backing, squared it up and hemmed.

Double Square Star

Another in-between is a Double Square Star quilt. I divided a bundle of 8 Sunprint FQs into two groups of four colors. They’re a quirky print. Four FQs plus some white 2 ½” strips will give a 36-block small quilt. The white sashing has two stich and flip triangles. If I make a quilt from the other four FQs I might use a 3” strip instead so the points at the edges have a bit more breathing room.

Knitting and crocheting has been ongoing. I’m knitting on my third charity hat using yarn purchased online that turned out to be rather drab, mainly grey (good color for men.) Also finished is another crochet scarf.  As I make my way through my yarn stash, I’m staying away from yarn sales and resolve to make purchases in person.

A new project in the works is Garden Party by Laura Heine, an applique flower and butterfly quilt. I saw it at the Sew Expo but didn't buy it while there. It was gifted to me for my birthday (early), and a small collection of bright fabrics is coming together.

Over the Top Finish

This quilt is just crazypants, but it was a fun learning quilt. Besides making the crazy-pieced blocks (nine at once) in Katie Pedersen's class, I learned to re-check the block size before cutting sashings, used the Sashing Stars ruler set from Marti Michell for the first time, and found that basting spray really is the way to go with spiral quilting. I played with the points in EQ, and decided  to place only one star point on the interior sashings.

Over The Top, 38" Square, 2016

Angular spiral quilting - starting from a square in the center - is a bit different than the round variety, but this quilt was asking for more angles. I love how the dense quilting feels - sturdy and soft at the same time.

For 2016 I'm trying to keep the mindset of "Stay Teachable", as there is always something to learn.