Finished quilting the purple and blue squares quilt

Sunday morning was my morning to sleep in from doggy duty.  Unfortunately, she got loose and came running up the stairs to leap on my bed.  She was going so fast and I was not fully awake to stop her, that she landed right on top of my face with her front paw landing on the space between my lip and my nose.  With her weight and speed she was going, her nails actually drew blood.   I count myself lucky though, because if she had landed just a 1/4" higher it may have been fatal for me.  It was close enough though, that I felt sick for about an hour afterwards.

Needless to say I took it easy for a while.  Had my tea and caught up on some emails and stuff.  When I finally got going I wanted to make the best of the remaining morning, before having to run around with the kids for various things.

What I did was practice my free hand quilting.   The purple and blue squares quilt was small enough to work with.  I did an edge to edge design using the blocks as my outline and did this curvy line grid design.  I think it is part of or known as MacTavishing, but I could be wrong.  Sorry if I am wrong, but I didn't learn this from a book or online so not sure from what source it comes from.

This is a donation quilt.  I will be giving it to a lady at our guild that looks after Project Linus quilts.  

Sunday mid afternoon, I trimmed the quilt.  It's now ready for the binding.  I plan to use a very soft yellow for the binding.  It will go with both the front and the back fabric.

So, now I have another quilt done from my top 12 list for 2017.  We are almost done January, so I have a head start on a finish for February.

1. Quilting-Lise's Dresden plate quilt (commissioned)....

2. Quilting-Sabryna's yellow nine patch quilt (family)....need to add fabric to backing

4. Main work-Mel's romance & roses quilt (family)....

9. Main work-Purple star quilt (my own)....started sewing the blocks 

10. Main work-Grey, black & bright quilt (charity)....

11. Main work-Log cabin quilt from Sharon (charity).... 

5. Handwork-Reconstructed Dresden plate quilt (my own)....9 full blocks left to appliqué
7. Handwork-Mini pumpkin wall hanging (my own)....

6. Paper pieces-Xmas pineapple blossom quilt (my own)....

8. Leader/ender-Bonnie's mystery quilt (my own)....moving along

Total number of quilts completed - 2
Total number of quilts left to be completed - 10

Completed quilts:

3. Spools quilt (my own)

12. Purple & blue squares quilt from Carol (charity)

Organizing quilts to be quilted

I took some time last week to organize the quilt tops ready to be quilted.  Here are some of them.  

Not much room for anymore and not all of the quilts are there.  I really need to have/find some time to do some serious quilting.  Some of the tops are waiting until I can do some more practice, with free motion quilting.

On another note, I love this block that Bonnie Hunter shared with us.  Her fabrics choices are funky together.  Gorgeous.  I hope she makes this one into a full quilt for one of her future books.  This is one that I seriously would want to make to use up a bunch of my scraps.  All the blocks different colours.  I believe it would be stunning when put together.

I am off to catch up on some reading for the business.

A bit of this and a bit of that

Right now it seems as though I have no real direction.  I have been doing a bit of this and a bit of that. I'm still making progress, but it's scattered.

Though my purple stars quilt is my main work, I haven't worked on it for a while.  I did manage to get the sashing attached to all the completed blocks.  I have a total of six out of thirty completed.

I got distracted by a pretty pile of purple and blue blocks.  Today I did get the top done.  This one is going to be a simple, small baby quilt.  I have a quilting design I want to practice that uses squares.  The backing fabric is already picked out and both top and backing are waiting in line to be quilted.

While I was cleaning up a bit in my quilting room, I went and got myself into some more trouble, with another distraction.  

I pulled out the pretty and bright log cabin blocks that my friend Carol given me to finish.  In the past few days I have been seeing all sorts of inspiration both at the quilt guild meeting and on Pinterest.

I've decided to assemble these blocks in a reversable quilt fashion.  Plus, I am going to set the blocks on a diagonal with the dark sides together and the light sides together to create columns going up and down the quilt.  I am going to use one fabric that contains many of these colours to make a border of sorts, with half squares triangles.

So far, I already have eight blocks quilted!  It's all in my head right now, but I am hopping that the end results will be just an nice when the quilt is done.  You'll have to let me know what you think.

Purple and blue squares quilt

I have again been distracted from working on my Purple Stars quilt.  For some reason I am delaying them.  I don't know why, because I really do want to see that quilt completed.

So what distracted me this time?  Seeing a pretty little pile of nicely trimmed blocks ready to be sewn together into a quilt.  That is what has grabbed my attention, this time.

I have all the pairs sewn together and laid out on my table.  I even have the bottom six rows assembled in rows and assembled to each other.  This quilt is going to be a small, simple baby quilt and is made with all donated fabrics, which will be donated to Project Linus when done.

I am thinking that I have been so busy these days, that my brain was just wanting to have some mindless sewing, or at least that is how I am justifying it!!!  Don't burst my bubble and let me continue to think this way, ok!  ;)

Finished quilting my Spools quilt

I finished the first quilt from my top 12 priority list.  That is one for January.  Eleven more months and eleven more quilts to do.  It may be touch and go, about getting them all done, as some of these quilts still have a lot to be done on them.  I am up for it!

This is my spools quilt.  I really enjoyed making this quilt, with all the variety of fabrics in there.  This quilt I am keeping for myself, for now.  I can't bare to part with it.  It is so cheerful!

I really like how the quilting turned out.  This was quilted on my longarm using a pantograph from Urban Elementz by Tracey Russell and Patricia Ritter called Pergola.  The design has a soft and feminine feel to it.

On the back you can see the texture better, especially because the backing is a soft grey.  The picture almost looks like a black and white photo, but it's not.  That is the backing colour.

I am chugging along....slow, but steady.  Today I had to finish the binding to this quilt, as I am taking it along to the guild meeting tomorrow.  I've been working on something else today too, but that will be for another post.

So here is my progress on my top 12 list for 2017.  

1. Quilting-Lise's Dresden plate quilt (commissioned)....

2. Quilting-Sabryna's yellow nine patch quilt (family)....next in line to get quilted

4. Main work-Mel's romance & roses quilt (family)....

5. Handwork-Reconstructed Dresden plate quilt (my own)....9 full blocks left to appliqué

6. Paper pieces-Xmas pineapple blossom quilt (my own)....

7. Handwork-Mini pumpkin wall hanging (my own)....

8. Leader/ender-Bonnie's mystery quilt (my own)....started sewing on this one

9. Main work-Purple star quilt (my own)....started sewing the blocks together

10. Main work-Grey, black & bright quilt (charity)....

11. Main work-Log cabin quilt from Sharon (charity).... 

12. Main work-Purple & blue squares quilt from Carol (charity)....started sewing rows together

Total number of quilts completed - 1
Total number of quilts left to be completed - 11

Completed quilts:

3. Spools quilt (my own)

Finished quilting the shadow quilt

This is called a shadow quilt.  The strips where given to me by a friend that no longer wanted them.  The strips were sew in groups of five for the whole width of the fabric.  I went and bought some black to go with this.  I cut the half square triangles along the length of the strips and attached them to the black half to make the squares.

This pattern can be laid out in many ways.  I just decided to do it the traditional way.

This is a charity quilt that I will give to my guild at the end of the month.  I tried my hand at doing a pantograph by hand instead of computer.  It turned out good.  I can see some wobbles, but when you look at it as a whole, they are not so noticeable.

I still find it easier to do free motion designs with loops or stippling than I do following someone else's pattern, but that is what practice is for.  I have to get my brain and hand coordinated where my hands and arms go through the motions enough times that it gets saved to memory in my brain.  I think I also need to relax a little bit more too.  That sometimes helps make things smoother.

Here is a close up of the quilting.  The quilt just needs the binding now.  I have it already sewn on by machine and waiting for some time to finish it by hand.

Completed block #1 for my Purple stars quilt

At the end of the year I had decided what I was going to do with my UFOs.  I set a list of my top 12 priority quilts/wall hangings.  I determined that I was going to start with my Purple stars quilt, as my main work and work on my Xmas Solstice star quilt as the leader/ender.

Well......we are now the middle of the month and I finally got started on piecing my blocks.  I finished block #1, seen below, with the sashings attached.  I had about six other blocks completed from before and decided to add the sashings to all of them too.

While working on the blocks above, I also worked on my leader/ender quilt and managed to get all of these done.

I like both these quilts and want to see them done.  I would love to use the Xmas quilt by the end of this year.  It would be nice.  We will see how long I can work on these two quilts before I get distracted yet again with something else.

I do have to make some blocks for the guild.  I have been asked to host a presentation.  They wish me to show them how I do my reversable quilt blocks and how I put them all together.  I will have to make blocks in various stages of completion for the next guild meeting the last Monday of January.

This will be one distraction and as life always does, I am sure there will be more distractions thrown in there.  That is what makes life interesting!

Storage for my longarm needs

Yesturday I had a vacation day.  So, I took advantage of the time.  First stop was IKEA for an armoire to hang customer quilts waiting to be quilted, plus space for backings.  You just have to love IKEA.  They have something for everyone and their needs.  Sometimes you have to look at things in a different way or for a different purpose.  Like my cutting board I have in my quilting room.  The intended use was for a kitchen island with storage.  It works great in my quilt room!

Here is my progress before breaking for lunch.  Maddie finds it boring while I assemble the armoire, so she sleeps on the coach.

After lunch I head back down to the basement where I have my longarm.  I finished the armoire, just in time to go pick up my daughter from the subway after school, and because I was already out, I dragged her to Home Depot to pick up some MDF board and some PVC pipes.  I have a plan for more storage and organization.

First thing I worked on, before I quit for the night, was with the PVC pipes.  I have been searching for a way to store my batting out of the way and get it off the floor.  If you enlarge the photo above, you will see the rack I made to hold my batting, to keep it up and out of the way.  This way it is also easier to access when I need it.  I just unroll it!  

Now I just have to make another one, for the smaller roll of batting.  Unfortunately, it didn't happen last night, because it was getting late, I was tried and I glued the pieces incorrectly.  Once you fuse the pieces with the glue, there is no getting them apart.

Today I continue, but first I head back to Home Depot for the four pieces that I oops'ed on.  I still didn't get the second PVC pipe rack done yet, but instead I completed the shelf unit I made with the MDF board.  I had already designed the unit, to fit snug between my drew units, that I picked up at IKEA, a while back.

As I knew what I wanted I planned out the pieces per 4'x8' sheet and had the guys there cut them.  All the pieces were cut with eight cuts, that's $8.00 in total to have them cut the boards.  It was well worth it!  Can you imagine dragging out all the machinery/tools I would need and cutting the pieces in this freezing weather.  Not for me.  Plus, because they were cut already it was easier to transport it home.

All I had to do was pre-drill all the holes and screw the unit together.  I even made the legs, in order to have this unit match the height of the drawer units.  I think it is looking good so far.

Here is a picture of the unit.  Now all I have to do is determine where I want the shelves, prime and paint the whole unit.  This really cleans up the space and provides me with much needed storage.

I am almost done with this room.  Just some small odds and ends.  That makes me happy!!!

My first real practice piece, completely freehand

I joint an online Facebook group called Beginner Longarm Quilters.  They are a very supportive group with both beginners an experienced Quilters.

The Admin group came up with a competition of sorts, to help beginners to practice.  It gives you some direction, instead of just doodling.  I thought it was great!  They are teaching you new things, different designs and how to use them.  

Basically, they got together to design six 12" blocks joint together by 3" sashings and cornerstones.  You don't actually make a quilt, but instead you draw it on a plain fabric or in my case I just used my channel locks and sewed the pattern of the blocks right on the fabric.  I felt it was faster for me to do it that way.  They give you suggestions as to how to quilt it, but you could also do your own thing on them if you wish.

I reviewed the assignment for the first block and the video that accompanied it, and away I went to try it on my practice fabric. The block below is an Irish chain block. It is difficult to see the chain parts.  I may have to colour the chain parts so that it can be seen, but this is really only a practice piece.  Only I needed to know where the "pieces/parts" were to quilt it.

I definitely have a lot of practicing to do, but for my very first real quilting on my longarm, doing designs I've not done before, I think it looks good.  For the borders I chose patterns that I saw online that I wanted to try out.

This next picture is of the second practice block.  The block is a churn dish, also known as a shoo-fly block.  On this block the designer had us doing different designs from the first block.

I really enjoyed doing these two practice pieces and as soon as I find a bit of time, I want to do the remaining four blocks.  I plan to treat this as my before picture and down the road as I improve, I can see the progress that I have made, when I take the after picture.

Enjoy your day!

Finished quilting my Spider web quilt

I have a spider on my quilt!!!  It's a spider on my spider web quilt.  OK, ok, soooooo.....I have a weird sense of humor.  But that is what makes life interesting.  It certainly keeps everyone on their toes!  It's a cute spider too, as it has a curly queue thingy on its back.

This is my spider web quilt.  I started this quilt back in Nov/2013.  I finished the top in 2014.  It doesn't take me long to make a quilt, if I want to get it done, however getting around to quilting it is another story.  I put it down to being busy quilting for others, that when I am done theirs, I am more in the mood to do piecing.

However, this year is going to be different!!!  Now that I have my longarm, I plan on finishing my quilts faster, so that I can enjoy using them.

This close up is a better representation of the colours.  I used a lot of bright and cheerful fabrics for the spider webs and they are emphasized further by using the deep moss green to surround them.  I really like the mood of this green and my current favourite colour, a cross between deep violet, magenta, red wine, with a touch of purple.

Here is a picture of the backing, where you can see the quilting better.  The design is an edge to edge design from Urban Elementz.  For this quilt I used 100% cotton batting, but I am thinking that I like the little bit of puff that you get from the 80/20 Hobbs a bit better.  To late now, but I think I am a convert.  The 80/20 also gives the quilt a little more flow/drape and is a bit lighter weight. The thread I used was Glide, Prickly Pear on the top and Mango on the bottom.

This is already my second finish of this new year.  I am looking forward to a very productive year this year and I am off to a great start.  Tomorrow I will share with you my third finish of the year.

Productive cutting day

I feel good for everything that was accomplished today.  I am in my happy place, relaxing with the music on, reading what other quilter's are up to on my groups in Facebook, while in my quilting room.  I cannot say enough, for having the majority of the day to spend in my quilting room, catching up and getting things done.

First thing I wanted to finish was cutting up the parts for my Canadian Northwind quilt.  Over the past few days, between other things, I managed to cut up all the red pieces (1008 pieces in total).  Today, I ironed and cut up all the white pieces ( another 1008 pieces for a grand total of 2016 various scrappy red and white HSTs).  The container is all organized and packed ready to go.  Waiting for some available time so that I can start sewing them.

As I was still in a productive mood I started cutting and finished cutting, all the blocks for the purple and blue blocks quilt.

These were given to me as a top only.  This was someone else's UFO (UnFinished Object), given to me to finish.  It will be a charity quilt.  The problem was that the quilt was wavy and did not lay flat.  The blocks were not all cut the same size, nor were they sewn with a consistent seam.  So...I started by taking the top apart.   As the fabric is not cotton I took the time to iron and starch every piece before I started trimming them down to size.

These are also now finished and ready to go.  At least, this purple and blue blocks quilt is a quilt on my list of 12 to be completed this year.  So, I am feeling good that I have started in on this one.

Today actually started at 12:00 midnight, so technically I also have a finish to report for today.  Though, I still consider it to be yesturday, as it was done just after 1:00 am this morning, which I consider to be late last night.  But I will share that finish with you when I can get more clear pictures.  Stay tuned.

My Mom's Christmas wall hanging

While at my mom's for Christmas I spied her Christmas wall hanging.  Sorry about the blurry pictures.  The lighting where it was hanging was not very good.  Below my mom's wall hanging is a picture of the pattern cover.  I think my mom did a great job on this one.  This was her first appliqué ever, though she does have experience in sewing.

This pattern is call Dash Away by Bee Creative Studios. The wall hanging measures 38" X 59".

This next picture does not show the true colour of the fabric, which is actually a deep faded blue.  However I wanted to share with you the quilting I did in it, on my domestic sewing machine.  At the time I quilted this, I was fairly new to quilting.

To start off with I did in the ditch around all the main pieces (ie moon, clouds, stars, reindeers, and Santa with his sled).  For the sky I was trying to do a dense filler that would also provide some movement.  I did a back and forth motion that resembles waves.  The clouds are not seen well here, but they have sporadic upward arcs.

For the moon, I went around and around the inside of the moon, all the way to the centre.  The sled gold rim I echo stitched and  the sled itself Was done with large swirls.  My mom later went back and added the fancy gold threads, by hand, to complete the sled and the reindeer antlers.

Very pretty mom!

Happy 150th birthday Canada

This year Canada celebrates it's 150th anniversary.  Quilter's all across Canada are encouraged to mark the occasion with a red and white quilt. Fabric lines have been made with this in mind.  Most of the fabrics have red maple leaves that represent the leaf on our flag.  Some have Canadian themes, like hockey and other stuff.

I am joining in on the challenge to make a red and white quilt to mark the occasion.  I have been collecting red on white and white on red fabrics for a while now.  This gives me just the right incentive to start cutting them up. 

Above is my drawer with fabric lined up and block pieces in the back.  Below is all the smaller pieces I took out of the back of the drawer to start cutting up.

I have decided to make a quilt by Marsha McCloskey's Quick Classic Quilts called Northwind.  I thought I would name my quilt Canadian Northwind.

I will be making my quilt larger.  I did all the calculations already.  In my quilt, I will have 168-6" blocks, laid out in rows of 12 blocks across and 14 rows down.  With the borders this will make the final size 88" X 100".

This means I will need to cut a total of 168 large white half squares, 168 large red half squares, 840 small white half squares and 840 small red half squares.  Of these 840 red and white half squares I will need to make 504 red and half square triangle blocks, and put all the blocks together.

A lot of this can be done as leader/enders, so my Winter Solstice Star quilt will have to share my time.

I know what some of you may be thinking.....that I don't need to start yet another quilt.....but you would be one of the few.  Most Quilter's get it and are cheering me on.  I am aiming to finish this quilt this year, so I will need all the encouragement I can get.  Wish me luck!

One last push to end the year

I tried to give it one last push yesturday, to get another quilt completed before ringing in the New Year, however that did not happen.  I worked on the 16-patch pinwheel quilt, which is a Christmas gift to a long time friend of my daughters.  She is practically like my own daughter.  While they were younger, they were inseparable.

The quilt itself is fairly busy, so I am doing an all over pantograph design on it.  You can see the quilting better on the border.  The design is called Whole Lotta Love by Patricia E. Ritter, through Urban Elementz.

I finished the quilt today and trimmed the edges ready for the binding.  Here are a couple more pictures.  This first one is the backing where you can see clearly all the hearts.

I was able to get a better angle of the quilting on the front, so you can see all the texture the quilting provides.  It looks great and really improves the quilt.