I love to share my Quilting projects with other Quilters. My goal is to share my progress on projects that I am working on. I would love for you to follow along with me during my endeavors. I hope you enjoy watching me tackle new techniques and projects. Hopefully you can learn from my "hiccups" and mistakes and make your journey easier.
This is my 660th post! Wonder if I can make 1,000 someday! LOL Things are moving right along in getting the finishing the huge backlog of quilts quilted, Today I finished quilting a BOM that I made in 2013!
I used a backing fabric that has a very pretty swirling pattern and compliments the quilt. I also decided to do larger meandering rather than the smaller meandering I had been doing on the other quilts. I do free motion quilting on my HQ16, which is not computer driven. She is now 18 years old and with Clays assistance she runs better than when I purchased her! Now as the Operator if I would quilt forgetting things I should before quilting a quilt…….The mistake I made on this one – I did not run a stay stitch on the border and I had a small issue while quilting. I do wish I would have done the smaller meandering, but the quilt is quilted and I am happy!
Tomorrow I will do the binding and load the next quilt for quilting on Monday. Not sure which one it will be!
Have a great Sunday and do some Slow Sunday Stitching !
Happy Friday – I love Fridays as it provides me time to look back over the week as to my accomplishes! This week I have quilted all but 6 of the quilts that I am clearing out.
Yesterday I finished the last of the backs for them and then decided to do some rearranging. I moved all the applique quilts that will be hand quilted to the Den where I have my Z44 hand quilting frame. I decided it would be nice to have them displayed rather than hanging on a hanger. I may start on hand quilting sometime this summer after all binding is finished!
Now I only have 6 quilts hanging (along with the backing and the batting for the 2 white quilts not he left) waiting for their turn on the long arm! The clothes rack is destined to the garage for storage when all I am finished with the quilting.
I then moved all quilts that need hand binding to the Music/Overflow fabric room in the house. I have the 4 quilts that the binding had to be redone in December that I have to hand bind, along with the 3 that Rebecca sent me a couple of weeks ago.
When I have caught up on my quilting, a major dusting will take place in my 2 Studio rooms! I also need to straighten my fabric stash as I have been pulling fabrics here and there and they need to go back to where they belong.
So today – I have nothing planned except to just do what I feel like doing. I will start quilting tomorrow and hope to have the 6 quilts completed by the first of February!
Have a wonderful week-end – we will be watching all the NFL playoff games! Especially the Dallas Cowboys.
Happy Hump Day! No walking today – yesterday I did over 13,000 steps so I figured I could take a day off since it was high high humidity and warm temperatures before the cool front decides to cool things off. No rain though.
Monday evening I decided that I needed a break from quilting. With the remaining 6 quilts to finish I also had 6 backs to prepare. So yesterday I selected and completed 3 backs for the following quilts.
I will finish the backings for these today or tomorrow. I will be using matching fabric for Boo’s and Bat’s but Moda Muslin or Bella Solids for the 2 quilts with a lot of white.
I will start quilting again either tomorrow or Friday. I hope to have one of the quilts loaded this evening.
Monday I remembered that I used to do bias binding for my quilts rather than cutting 2” strips WOF. So, I cut a piece of red fabric for the binding for the R&G Easy Peasy quilt that was 18” x WOF, and then cut into 2” strips. There numerous ways to cut bias binding but this is how I was shown how to do it in 2005. I also cut my bias strips using this method for my applique (stems) but they are cut at 3/4” wide.
I like my binding to be the same size on both sides of the quilt and always hand stitch the binding to the back of the quilt. The bias binding will give more than cutting the strips on WOF.
I took a picture 2 years ago of all the quilt tops I had waiting to be quilted! I think I have it narrowed down quite a bit. There were 40 at that time and then I made a few more! When the last 6 are completed there are 10 left to be hand quilted!
From This:
To This: (includes 3 with backings and the 3 on the left need backing prepared)
Quilts for Hand Quilting Remaining
I am hoping that by 1 February that the Clothes Rack will be dismantled and stored in the garage.
I really thought I had the day going my way UNTIL I started quilting my Red and Green Easy Peasy quilt that had a problem before getting it loaded. But I fixed it yesterday and the quilt was ready for me to quilt today!
But it wasn’t finished with me yet! Here are the problems I experienced quilting it! Evidently the backing was not measured correctly as I only had 2” on each side! I did not realize this until it was loaded. I refused to redo the back so I just had to live with the problems it caused me! There were 4 times I ripped out some stitches! Ran out of bobbin thread 3 times, and to top it off I was not happy with my meandering. It took me 5 hours and a tired back but it is quilted! I squared it and tomorrow I will cut the strips for the binding.
I will not quilt tomorrow, but will get the binding Sewn on R&G Easy Peasy and prepare the backs for Boo’s and Bat’s and Southwest Texas Stars quilt. Tuesday will be a quilting day. The next 2 quilts are smaller and should go quicker. There will be PLENTY of backing this time
There are 4 quilts remaining to be quilted after finishing the 2 above. They will be started later in the week as I am beginning to get quilting burnout!
It is a nice morning with temps in the 40’s and a great morning walk! I took 2 days off and really enjoyed the walk today. I love the days when I can start with the walk and be able to stick to my daily “to do” list. Productivity is important in retirement along with a “mild” schedule. It keeps me young and healthy (well, except when the extreme weather changes happen) !! LOL. Yesterday I spent the early morning visiting HEB – and left them a hefty amount of funds but saved about $35.00 with store coupons. I shop for the month and hopefully won’t see much of them again this month! (HA! won’t happen)
If you keep up with me I am on a mission to finish my “to be quilted” stack. Rebecca has finished 3 of the 12 quilts I sent her and I have now finished 9 projects, with 2 in the process of getting the binding them. I received the following 3 on Thursday!
I first want to show you the beautiful work that Rebecca did on York Lodge, Irish Mist, and Radiant Feathered Star. She is an amazing woman who has perfected the art of Edge to Edge quilting. I know of no other long arm quilter who takes the time to do each quilt and have them turn out absolutely perfect! The quilts will be entered in a local quilt show this year!
York Lodge (Quilt, Quilting, and Back)
Radiant Feathered Star (Quilt, Block and Back)
Irish Mist (Quilt and Back).
Next on the list of completions that I am quilting. Of course, I am only doing a Free Motion meandering on the quilts that I did not send to Rebecca. These are the fun quilts I made that will not be entered in any quilt show.
My Celtic Table Runner – Completed and in place!
The Geo Quilt – I am half way through the binding.
Backing
Blue Breeze Easy Block Quilt – Binding on and being worked.
Mrs Potts is completed!
I have completed 9 projects with one more being loaded today and the remaining 6 hopefully can be completed sooner than later! Check out the previously completed quilts.
I also was having issues with the Blue Easy Peasy binding – I prefer to use a 2″ strip for my bindings. This provides the same size of the binding on the top and back. It is tricky but it really makes the difference, especially when those darn Judges are checking for full bindings. Quilting my backlog of quilts is allowing me to get back into the swing of things. There are so many things to remember.
I started the binding on Blue EP only to begin to have problems with the Walking Foot and keeping my seam line straight. I had to put blue tape on the machine for a guide, and then realized I had been using the walking foot for my Husqvarna Sapphire sewing machine – not the one for my D1 Husqvarna. Error corrected!
Some ripping had to happen to get it right.
I was very careful in ripping the sew binding because I had used the last of this Moda Blue fabric in the quilt. I set the machine for a 1/4″ (at least I thought it was accurate) but when I started sewing the binding down last night I found that it was off about 1/8″ all the way around. It was going to be very hard on my hands to get the binding correctly sewn down.
At first I thought that I would just continue on with the hand binding, but today I decided that the best fix was to trim the edge of the quilt by 1/8″ – and it works!!! I have now adjusted the machine to sew an accurate 1/4″ so I will not have that issue again. It will become critical when I start squaring and adding binding to the quilts Rebecca has quilted because they are my quilts for quilt shows. If you look closely, you can see how I like the back of the quilt to look when I finish binding. The binding is the same size on the top and bottom!
Easy Peasy in Blue.
My next quilt was scheduled for quilting Friday, the Red and Green Easy Peasy quilt top. But as I took a rest break before I started loading the quilt, I happened to see an problem with 2 blocks when I had put the top together! Whew! A Good Friday the 13th! I would have been screaming and pulling hair if I had not caught this before I started quilting it. So after correcting Blue EP, I took the 1 and 1/2 hour to rip the 3 blocks out of the quilt and correct the mistake. If you look closely you will see where I had 2 blocks turned the wrong way where the diamond pattern is not correct.
The 3 blocks removed.
All is corrected now and I am going to prepare the backing and load this quilt. When it is quilted I will only have 6 quilt tops to machine quilt! The remaining 10 quilt tops are candidates for hand quilting, but sometime in the future!!!
It is time for me to get with the program and fix a back for this puppy, get it loaded, and end the day with a quilt ready to go in the morning! After Red Easy Peasy quilt I have 2 smaller ones to quilt and would like to have them done by next Tuesday!
Good morning! It is a great morning for walking. Yesterday it was more summer like, today – in the 50’s with the North wind blowing on and off. Good walk! It is Cedar Allergy time here and last week was not fun. Today maybe my body has had enough to let the immune system fight it as it did not bother me that much during or after my early walk. Once the count gets to over 15,000 I feel it!
For the next month and into the remainder of the year, I will be working on getting 20 quilts quilted, squared and the binding hand done. This count did not include the 7 projects I had been working on. Here is my list of quilts to be done and until the 10 that I will be quilting are completely finished I will not make any new quilts (but there will be a list of “want to” make will be done eventually).
I am happy to say that I have 5 of the 7 completed that I started in mid-December 2022.
The remaining 2 will be worked on today and I will be loading another quilt today for quilting. (Mrs Potts and Celtic Table Runner)
I am so happy how this table runner turned out. I started it in 2004 (I think), quilted it the first time in December 2022 (which did not please me at all). I ripped it out (4 hours) and decided it needed a border. I found this beautiful piece of fabric in my stash and added it. Clay fixed the Regulator on the HQ16, I used Warm and Natural batting, and decided to quilt over the Celtic Design. It is stunning. The Celtic Design is 1/4” bias binding and hand needle turned applique. A Celtic design is very time consuming, but so pretty. I took a Class from Nancy Chong when I was very new to needle turn applique. I learned from Robyn Pandolph, Nancy Chong, and of course Elly Senkiewitz (was the Queen of Applique back then) to enhance my needle turn applique skills.
I used a Screen Print from Hoffman that I had purchased about 15 years ago for the backing. I was trying to save more of the fabric for other quilts, so I chose to add the 1895 Hoffman Batik in the middle. The table runner measures 25” x 48”!
This is my next quilting project – getting ready to load it. The quilt is 60” x 60” and will take a little longer – I am hoping that I can complete it today! In between quilting (during a rest time) I will be binding on the above projects.
This is the backing for the Geo quilt. I had previously thought I would use the green for one of the quilts that I sent to Rebecca, but changed my mind. I am happy to have found a use for it. When I finish this quilt today, I will be down to 8 quilts that I will be quilting. Rebecca has finished York Lodge, Irish Mist, and Radiant Feathered Star. I will post pictures of them next week after I receive them. Balance for quilting total – down to 16! (But those perky 10 that need to be hand quilted are still hanging around).
I am limiting my time on the computer, but still reading all the bloggers posts as time allows.
Have a wonderful Sunday and a great week ahead. Life in the country has finally returned to a normal, peaceful, non-eventful life and I am praying that it will stay that way the remainder of the year, which by the way appears to be racing ahead – already 8 days into January! WOW!
It is a NO GOAL year – only a List of To Do’s Everyday!
I have made many many quilts in 21 years, but things changed in 2014 and I fell behind in quilting all the tops I had made and continued to make through 2022. This madness has to stop. I have no idea what I am going to do with all of these quilts as I have at least another 40 in the house that are finished and numerous quilts that I have gifted to friends and my Cousin Susan. This year there will be no stated goals. What I will do is prepare a Post when I have a finished quilt to showcase. I love making quilt tops, but until I can get things under control, I will not be making tops for awhile. Here is where I am.
I found myself in a very big problem of having over 40 quilts to be quilted last year. I knew that 12 of the quilts would be entered into Quilt Shows, so I sent them to Rebecca to quilt. But just having a quilt quilted is not the end. There is trimming, making binding, sewing binding on the top, then hand quilting the binding down.
I will have a total of 21 quilts that will be quilted in the next 2 months and this includes the 12 quilts that Rebecca is quilting for me and 9 that I will quilt. I will be hand binding all of them. I will then have 10 more tops to quilt by hand IF my hands hold out. Altogether I have 31 tops to be quilted by Rebecca or myself and do the hand binding.
I thought about setting goals for this list, but then I thought, “well, that will be a stress bomb” to meet a deadline, and take the joy out of quilting. I do not want to sit all day and do hand work, so I am just going to list my 35 quilts to complete the hand work/quilting and just take one at a time and not work on goals, but actually finishing the job.
I will be quilting on the long arm during the day and when I finish a quilt I will immediately cut the binding, sew it on, and put it on the list for hand binding. I will only do the hand work in the evening, unless I am not feeling well or just want to sit in a chair all day (which is not me). After I finish quilting the 9 quilts and have them completed (binding), I will then think about making more tops. This is my list to follow as I do quilting and binding.
The following quilts are being quilted by Rebecca and will be returned for me to trim, prepare the binding, sew the binding on and then hand bind.
York Lodge
Irish Mist
Star of Chamblie (Feathered Star)
Pat Sloan Globetrotting
Stonefields
OMIGOSH
Brinton Hall
Cozy Christmas
Alexander Bean Pot
Stars Around the Garden
Sentimental Stitches
My Surprise Quilt (Blue)
The following quilts will be quilted by me.
Mrs Potts (quilted, waiting on binding)
The Geo Quilt
RSC Quilt
Capital T Quilt
Rosemary Young’s BOM
Boo’s and Bats
Southwest Texas Stule
Easy Breezy Blue Birds
Easy Breezy Red Birds
The following quilts are candidates for hand quilting.
Mount Mellick
Nesting
Stars Across Texas
A Year of Flowers and Holidays (Sierra Vista AZ Guild BOM)
Colonial Ladies
A Merry Christmas To You
Sweet Stitches
Jacobean Lights
A Quilter’s Dream (Linda Ballard)
A Bountiful Life
There is no way that all the hand quilting will be done soon, nor all the hand binding completed in the next 3 months, so instead of assigning a “Date to be Completed” I will take them one at a time. I will choose them from my list and work on them in MY TIME to prevent me from stressing over an artificial dead line. At least within the next month, all but 10 will be quilted and that is a big weight lifted off my shoulders. As long as my back holds up, I should be able to have the 9 finished by the end of January or before. Time will tell.
From now on when I make a quilt I will quilt it, bind it, and not hang it up to quilt later. If it is a special quilt, it will go to Rebecca!
For now I have finished Radiant Star Wall Hanging, binding and all!
I am on a mission to finish quilting the last of the quilts that have been hanging around for awhile. I have finished most of the older tops in 2022, but there are still another 10 to long arm quilt and 8 that should be hand quilted……oh well. I sent 12 additional quilts to Rebecca for quilting and when they return the binding party begins.
This month I have finished 7 projects (one is in the process of being re-done). I have had some issues with my HQ 16, but hubby worked on the Stitch Regulator yesterday and the machine is working better than it ever has. Today I will work on a practice quilt checking out the Regulator. I had switched to Manual mode and it worked OK for the projects, but that Regulator allows me to be a bit more creative, like writing my name on my playtime practice quilt.
I quilted 3 quilts and 2 of the have the binding completed, the remaining 5 require binding to be cut and sewn on. Of the 4 smaller projects, 2 gave me serious problems. The Table Runner had the stitches ripped out yesterday and I am planning to add a border today and then quilt it again. I will then start getting the binding process for the 5 quilts.
The Celtic Table Runner is the one that I had quilted, did not like how it looked and ripped all stitching out yesterday. I have found some contrasting fabric to add to the runner that will really make it stand out. The fabrics I used are batiks and it is too hard to hand quilt batiks. I made this back in 2008 and too much of a newbie to realize that.
The Feather Star and the Celtic quilts were quilted with Hobbs batting. I regret using it because I do not like the look. I have always used Warm and Natural Cotton batting but had purchased the Hobbs to try it, but I am not happy with the look, so I will only continue using cotton batting on the remaining quilts. In getting back to quilting on the long arm, I really had some “remembering the rules” moments. So the remaining quilts will probably go much better.
I will be working on my goals for 2023 this week. There are 2 goals that will come first – my everyday morning walk and taking time to just “relax” without deadlines. Goals and deadlines are wonderful incentives, but they can cause us all stress, of which no one needs.
HAPPY NEW YEAR and the enc of 2022! As usual, I am late with my posting, But I have a good excuse. Tuesday and Wednesday and part of Thursday was spent on the phone all day with my favorite people – Apple and Verizon. But by Thursday all was fixed – they were super fast – only 2 months to get thing correct! Clay has changed our Verizon Signal Booster back to what we had before Verizon sent us their 4G Booster. We get a better signal with our Yogi system that he put in a few years back. So the chapter is closed on iPhone problems.
This is the last time Linda will be our Host for TDT! She was great in her job as being our TDT Host. Somehow, even though I am late in posting, she kept me going and striving for achieving my wishful goals. I thank her for all the hours spent providing us a place to post and/or set small goals to complete our projects! Have a wonderful 2023 Linda!!!
When I started quilting again, my 2005 HQ Regulator acted up, so I went to the Manual mode. That worked great for the first 2 quilts. But I had issues with the 4 small wall hangings and Mrs Potts quilt. Today Clay worked on the Regulator. It was not staying on the track, so being the Genius he is, he fixed it and now it is working wonderful. In fact better than ever! I loaded a practice quilt and the tension and Regulator mode is working absolutely wonderful. Here are the first 2 quilts I have completely finished (includes Binding)
This quilt was made in 2019 with a SAL.
Bunny has been around a long time!
The next quilt was Mrs Potts. I had nothing but problems with it. I first loaded a backing of 200% muslin from Hoffman, but Ms HQ did not like it and definitely did not like the fabric I used in this quilt for the border and background! It takes about an hour or more to load a quilt on a long arm and getting everything set up, so you can imagine what fun it was to have to start over with different backing fabric. But I did get it quilted and I am not happy with it. One other thing I did was to change to some Hobbs polyester batting that I had bought a few years back. I do not like the look of the quilt with that batting. I have always used Warm Cotton Batting or the White Cotton batting from the Warm Company. I regret using the Hobbs. Mrs Potts will have binding tomorrow. It be sew on by the D1 and I will hand sew the remainder.
This wall hanging was made from a block from a Civil War Bride Pattern. I am very pleased with how I quilted it on my D1. I will be doing the binding for it tomorrow. It will be sewn on with the D1 and I will hand sew the remainder. I used my Warm and Natural batting and it really turned out pretty! I love the grid quilting on it.
This is a French General pre printed Embroidery pattern. I purchased it in December 2017 and came home with the Flu to start 2018 sick! But this is another of my favorites and pleased with how it turned out. I used my Warm and Natural Cotton batting – it quilts up so nice!
Feathered Star was made in 2013 as a test block. I started hand quilting it and gave up on that because this block just needed to be done! I started machine quilting it with the D1, following the marking I had made for hand quilting. Well, that did not work out at all, so I decided to just pitch it. It stayed in the mesh trash “can” until later in the afternoon when Clay told me I should rip it and start over. So I did – it was not fun, but I did it and then decided to quilt it on the HQ 16. That was also a big mistake because I used the wrong batting again on this wall hanging. Hobbs and I definitely do not like each other. I think I have a new home liked up for the 3 packages I have remaining.
I do not think this top can hold up to another ripping as I know that I am not, but who knows. When something doesn’t look good to me, I know it would not look good to others. It too was sewn with Hobbs batting. I just do not like the look. Maybe it is better for hand quilting. When I quilted it I was still having issues with tension and overall quilting with HQ16!
This project is the 2nd quilt from Hell being quilted! I made this Celtic table runner around 2008. I made a bad decision on quilting this one – Yup -I used Hobbs batting. When I finished making it, I was going to hand quilt it. Has anyone ever hand quilted batiks? I did one time and that was enough. So it sat all this time waiting for me to do something, even if it was wrong (and it was). I had to add extra fabric on both sides of the beautiful orange backing fabric before I could load it. That took more time. I measured the batting, noticing this time how easy it stretched, but I was on a mission to complete this one so I ignored my gut feelings. After I loaded the quilt, I then decided that I did not want to quilt over the applique. What a mess I had. It looked horrible. AND when I got to the end of the quilt I was short 3 inches of batting! Grr. So today for the first day of 2023 I ripped it! It took me about 4 hours to do so, which included removing the lovely threads.
After ripping the quilting I knew if this table runner was to be quilted the correct way, I would have to fix a new backing, use Warm and Natural Cotton batting, and add a border. I found the neatest batik in my stash to use for the border and backing, so I quickly became inspired to try again with quilting it. With the Stitch Regulator working I may be able to quilt around the applique, or at the very least, the quilting will will look much better. I will also load the quilt differently which will make a big difference.
Each of these projects have helped me remember certain things about long arm quilting. First – it takes to prepare the quilt, time load the quilt, then to remember all the steps required before starting, things such as double checking backing and batting to make sure both are measured correctly. Then there is the “basting of the top and continuing to baste on the left side with each turn. Tops that have ‘piano keys’ for a border must have a stay stitch around the quilt.
I am happy that I have 5 of the 7 completed and they are acceptable. I loaded another practice quilt for Clay to check out how the Regulator is working. I will finish playing with it tomorrow and add the borders to the table runner. I hope to get it quilted tomorrow and start on making the bindings for French General, CWB Block, and Celtic Table Runner. Feathered Star is up in the air!!!
For next TDT I hope to have more quilts finished and I definitely need to go through my batiks and get them back in order. I really need to make a baby quilt and will start that – PROVIDING the rest of my quilting goes better than the issues I had with the first 7! I will be doing a lot of binding this year as I already have 4 waiting for me and possibly 3 coming in from Rebecca! I guess I will make it a goal of having all of the bindings done on the 12 that Rebecca is quilting and the hand work completed by June or July.
This is the next quilt to be loaded and quilted. It is not one of the important ones (they start after I finish this one). I will need to select backing fabric and cut the batting and then load the puppy! Wish me luck.
Have a great first week of 2023 and enjoy stitching. My goal for the year is to relax, stay away from any Drama, and just enjoy the safety of our home.
May all your days be Merry and Bright, and all your Christmas’ be Blessed
I started a quilt in 2018 called York Lodge. The pattern came from a Quiltmania book. You can see the start of the project here, and here, here, and here, It was a labor of Love (Hum). From 2018 until a few months ago, York Lodge patiently waited through the thick and thin of life until this October when I asked Rebecca to save me and quilt 12 quilts for me. The very first one that she has completed is the infamous York Lodge! It is a beauty and will be shown next year if I can find a Quilt Show to enter.
Here he is in all his Glory. I am sure that Rebecca will be doing a post on it and when she does I will link everyone to the time involved in producing this beauty! THANK YOU REBECCA FOR A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS PRESENT.
I do believe I have a winner here. I will not get the quilt back until January 2023, but that is fine. I just cannot get over the beautiful work that Rebecca does with a quilt!
Have a wonderful Christmas Eve as I will now start adding borders to Ms Potts quilt, load it for long arm quilting (nothing compared to Rebecca) and try to get the 3 wall hanging done on the Domestic today! (Finger’s crossed).
I decided to just lump them altogether! Here we are in the middle of the Deep Freeze for 4 days. But we are lucky, the wind is dying down and the sun is brightly shinning! We might hit 32 between now and 4 and then a nose dive in temps. I am enjoying the day of not keeping my schedule to walk each day. I have been walking and quilting since Monday and today is binding day and doing 3 pieces on the Domestic Husqvarna D1! Hopefully I will have all done by the time to head into the house. (You know me and goals – especially when we have weather extremes). It is hard to believe that about 6 months ago the Temperature was 115 – now it is 17…. That is a 98 degree change – What a weather change!!!!!
I started with Quilt Number of 13 that required long arm quilting. (I thought it was 10 – think they are growing in the other room). I first quilted a practice quilt on Sunday. Nothing to show on that one but I just need to add a border (to be done totally by machine)!
Quilt Number 1 was loaded on the long arm on Monday and I was very happy to get started! I had decided to stay with the Manual setting and get away from the Regulator and definitely will not be buying a new longarm! Things started well and after finishing the first row, I decided to check things out! In my pea brain I decided to slow the machine down to “50” instead of “60”. BIG BIG MISTAKE. It looked like this….
Until I looked at the back and the tension was a mess! So I ended up with this…..
And then this…..
It took over 2 hours to rip, clean threads off the top, batting, and back, and then prepared the quilt for re-quilting – this time I changed the speed back to “60”. Then I gave up for the day!
On Tuesday I started again and finished quilting it! I finished the binding Wednesday evening. I call it Floating 4th of July! I made the quilt with Lori’s Land of the Brave QAL! Check it out here. I love this block and called it Floating 4 July Quilt. I was trying to remember where I got the pattern and when I made it – October 2021! What would I do without my posts to refer back to where and when I made a quilt!!!!
Lessons Learned from quilting this quilt!. 1). Never end with piano key borders without doing a Stay Stitching, 2) Do not change the speed of the Manual mode unless you have checked the tensions. 3) Check back to see when I made the quilt top and 4) Do not try to “practice” on a quilt when one is not capable! (Top and bottom border)
Quilt Number 2 is one that I made in 2002 or 2003 or there about! It was from a Fons and Porter magazine. This time I learned to leave the Stitch at “60” and basted with smaller stitches at the top and sides. I knew it was about an inch off from being “squared” but did not worry about it. I know there are some Moda fabrics in it but not sure about the rest. I am calling it “The Bunny Quilt”. The quilt measures 53” x 63”.
I am getting better with the Manual Mode…
Quilt Number 3 is a smaller quilt that Jaydee and I were making together a few years back called Ms Potts. Baltimore Applique Society (BAS) was having a LONG quilt along and we decided to join in. We started in late 2015 and quit in 2016 where my blocks sat around for awhile. We both became bored with the quilt and decided to quit toward the end of 2016. About a year ago maybe 2 years ago I put the blocks together and it has been hanging there for me to hand quilt – won’t happen. So now I have 2 borders to add to the quilt and she will be loaded and quilted tomorrow. The quilt will end up approximately 53” or 54” Square! I will NOT try to quilt around the applique. I will quilt a meandering stitch. I am just not proficient in custom work. Maybe next year I will take some time to work on that. This is not a Show Quilt, just one that Jaydee and I made together. Ah the memories! I should be finished with this one by tomorrow evening! Great Christmas Eve present for me! 3 of 13 will be done!
Before I leave all, here are some pictures of our cold winter weather!
We got out to the Studio about 6:30 AM – it was 17 with wind chill of 6! This is ICE inside my windows, not outside!
Clay fed the birds and they are still eating. This is the bird bath! He was able to crack the ice in a small area so they could get some cold water! It is 3PM and still frozen!
I am wishing all a very Merry Christmas this year. I have made peace within myself about our neighbor Mark Crist’s passing, about the way our Government is killing America, and the Illegal Aliens taking over our Country. I have, and will continue to do so every day, to give it to God. There is absolutely nothing I can do about the people in Power who absolutely hate America. They will be judged by God at his time and place, not me!
Here is a saying that can help, although there is no forgiveness for what is happening, just turning it over to God. There are many times I refer to this saying.
I want to enjoy the days I have left in this world peacefully and the only way I know how is to just say “OK God, this one is yours, I do not want it anymore”. I have quit watching the news, but do keep up with it through the Internet. America will never be able to totally recoup from this disaster, but the majority of us are God fearing people and know that he has a plan and we need to just wait and let it play out!
Notice – this is a Two for One Post – Saving on your time! LOL Check out other HQAL Stitchers and of course Slow Sunday Stitching with Kathy!
How to begin,,,, Well Looking back over this year, I started with Bronchitis, still I was hoping for a smooth year. Hum, that did not happen and neither have any of my goals for the last six weeks happened! BUT, NEVER FEAR, we only have 13 (oops unlucky number) days left of this tremendously wonderful year to go. I have started on part of my handwork goals and SHOCK AND AWE – I have loaded my practice quilt and about half way through it. So it looks like the last 13 days (oops unlucky number again) will be peaceful and quiet and I will finish it today and hopefully load a REAL quilt.
With that lovely opening statement, walking was pleasant at 41 degrees this morning. I tried coming to the Studio and to have a cup of Java before the walk, but I will confess I am going to try to get the walk done before Java! I do believe that the prediction for the SA area is FREEZING COLD – 18 Degrees on Friday with little change through Christmas. All of the cold weather makes me want to just sit and sew on my hand projects, but until I finish my lovely practice quilt and a REAL quilt loaded, no hand work during the day. So with all this blabbering, here is what I have done (please do not laugh).
Practice quilt halfway finished (no gifting here – probably a nice mat for clay when he is working on something outside). I wanted to make sure I picked a fabric that I would never need (Kona Orange) and some beautiful Blue thread that I could see the stitches. I did have an eye opener when I started working on the quilt. The machine was just a humming and stitches, circles, etc were doing great. Then I realized I was not using the Regulator. (I wonder if this happened because I turned 78 on Halloween?). So I put it on that setting and talk about seeing a difference. Circles were not evenly stitched, meandering was not very smooth, etc. I have a feeling that the Regulator is not working properly (probably just needs an adjustment) so I am going to go to the manual setting and quilt my quilts. This last year when I was cleaning up a lot of UFO quilts that needed quilting, I thought I noticed problems but figured it was me. Well, it is not me, but I do not want to purchase a new machine, (OR DO I). I purchased the machine in 2005 and it really works great – no computer, etc, I have not priced the new ones, but do not know what I would do with my old one, so I will use it until it just falls apart, or I fall apart! Cheaper that way and that way I can justify sending quilts to Rebecca to do the hard work! Yea a 2022 decision made! Besides, I bet they are all plastic parts made in China.
Next (and don’t laugh) I started Block 8 of Moda Holiday SAL…. of course I realized that I left a leaf off the background (fixing it after this post). See the “leaf”(?) on the bottom left corner with the needle and to the right inside the heart there is a big space….. Need I say more? (Another 78 screw up!).
And here we are with In My Garden blocks. There are 4 identical blocks and the 5th will be the center block and have nice size carrots to applique. I am doing all the stems on the 5 blocks and yesterday I cut out all the leaves for the blocks 1 thru 4. A total of 56 leaves I will prepare the Flowers after all Stems and Leaves have been applique.
A blogger had a link to a Harriet Hargrove book on Borders. There was a picture of a quilt in the book with what I call “ribbon border” that I want to make sometime (maybe on the 6 Medallion blocks that are still waiting for me to make a quilt with them). I showed the picture to Jaydee and she directed me to another Border book by Judy Martin and Marsha McCloskey and told me that it was available on Amazon (used of course). So I will have plenty of examples of borders and directions to chose from. Here is a picture of the quilt. I am not sure, but I think THINK that the border is made with Squares in a Square! The effect is made by color/fabric placement. The block is a Snail’s Trail block.
Here’s hoping that everyone stays well this Holiday Season so that everyone’s Christmas and New Year’s Eve can be enjoyed.
I think my 2023 New Year’s Resolution will only be that my Walk is Number 1 and after that each day whatever happens happens! I am going to work very hard in getting 10 quilts quilted by New Year’s Eve. Then I can say I had a very productive year! (PS – the “baby” quilt is on hold for January 2023! No Squirrels are allowed between now and then.
This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another. If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below. Kathy, Margaret, Deb, Nanette, Sharon, Karrin, Daisy and Tracy
Chopin - A Passionate Quilter From Texas 