WIP Wednesday - Playing Catch Up

Yes, I know it's Thursday. That's just how my week is going.

I finally feel as though I've recovered from December, and found some time this week to get into my sewing room. I walked in there a few times, moved a few things around, and walked out. I didn't even know where to start. 

Saturday I cleared off my work space, wound some bobbins and threaded my machine. I took some photos and wrote the post about our trip to California.

Sunday I was finally able to cut and sew. I cued up some of the many podcasts waiting in my app (well hello Sandy!) and started in on the last two blocks for the Twilters Bee.

Frances requested these wonky stars in orange and blue. I agreed with these colors only because I adore her. It came out pretty cute, although making something wonky seems harder to me than making it right the traditional way.

Alida is also using stars, but let us pick whichever kind we wanted to make. I chose this Diamond Star from Quilter's Cache. Warning: the cutting instructions leave out the two 3 7/8" squares of each color. 

It felt so good to get back to my machine. Here's hoping that 2018 will find us all creating more and bringing more beauty to the world! What are you working on?

Queen Bee!

This month it is my turn to be the Queen Bee in our Twilters swap, and I had such a hard time picking a block design. Every time I saw someone else's choice, I was like Rachel in Friends when she hears Monica's baby name.

Then I started down the path that always leads me to ruin - planning some elaborate original design. (I have a stack of UFOs to explain how that ends if you haven't seen this episode before.)

Finally, I've settled on a block that won't be too difficult for any of my hive, that won't send them digging for some super specific fabric in their stash, and will get me moving toward a quilt I've always wanted.

I'm asking for 16 Patch blocks made of 2" finished squares. My only other request is that you don't repeat any fabrics. I'm sure I will end up with some duplicates in the final project, but this will help reduce them and keep the quilt totally scrappy.

Just in case anyone needs instructions:

Cut a 2 1/2" square out of 16 different fabrics. 

Sew them together in pairs,

and then into four patches. Press in opposite directions so the seams nest.

Sew the four patches together into pairs,

and then into the finished 16 patch block. Voila!

This makes a great leaders and enders project while you are sewing something else. If you are having fun and would like to clean out a few more scraps, feel free to make more than one. Send it to me or start a postage stamp quilt of your own.

Thanks for swapping!

#MachineQuiltingBlogHop - We Have a Winner! And a New Feature!

Our #MachineQuiltingBlogHop has ended and we have a winner!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Please join me in congratulating Carolyn, aka CaroChristi on Instagram. She will receive a copy of The Ultimate Guide to Machine Quilting by Angela Walters and Christa Watson. 

I'm so thankful to Vicki, Kristin, and HollyAnne. We had so much fun hopping along and encouraging one another, that I think you may see a brand new hashtag and weekly(ish) feature on some of our blogs called #MachineQuiltingMonday.

I also really appreciate the support from Angela, Christa, and Martingale. They shared our posts and, of course, donated the books for our raffles.

This has been a great experience, giving me more confidence in my quilting and my ability to improve with regular practice.

I hope you've enjoyed it as much as we have, and keep practicing!

WiP Wednesday - Where Was I?

It's WiP Wednesday, and I'm back to The Pit Boss's Turning Fifty quilt. I've been distracted for awhile. First I had to finish the String Spider Web quilt for the East Cobb Show.  Then I've been quilting a lot for the #machinequiltingbloghop. Plus the monthly blocks for the Twilters bee swap.

This week has been the usual Independence Day celebration with the cousins and more food than should be legal, but I've been sneaking some time in the mornings before everyone else is awake to do a little bit of sewing. I've managed to make two more blocks, so I'm halfway done. 

I have to go back to work tomorrow. One of the team service projects is to pack lunches for kids in need. The team decided that we should decorate the lunch bags to make it a little more fun, and they handed out plain white bags so we could all pitch in. I decided that this was as good a chance as any to practice free motion quilting designs! 

What are you working on? 

#MachineQuiltingBlogHop Week 10 - Swirling Butterflies

Welcome to our grand finale, Week 10 of the Machine Quilting Blog Hop!

Today we are finishing up the hop and working on Chapter 3 of The Ultimate Guide to Machine Quilting by Angela Walters and Christa Watson, Swirling Butterflies. 

I'm going to apologize right now for the quality of the pictures. It has been raining here for days and days, and the whole cloth is already tricky to capture. I did my best.

We saved this chapter for last thinking that it was the most challenging, and that making a whole cloth quilt would be the magnum opus of our machine quilting hop. In some ways this is true, but there are definitely other designs that were much more difficult for me. I find the free motion "doodling" to be very relaxing and freeing, versus the specific lines required when doing a pattern. 

I broke from the book in that I didn't trace a design like Christa and Angela did. I started out by cutting a 13" square of this pale gray fabric that I picked up at City Square Quilts. I pressed guidelines into it so I would have something to aim for.

Then I used a Crayola washable marker to draw some circles. In retrospect, I wish I had done two things differently: first, I should have used a compass to be a little more precise. You can see that I just eyeballed it and traced around some plastic bowls. Second, I wish I had drawn more circles because they really were helpful.

Then I just started playing with thread. I used this gorgeous pale blue Aurifil thread called Mint Ice (2800) in the 50 weight that I originally used in Royal Squares. I stitched the center flower design first, using my pressed guidelines to help make the petals all about the same size and evenly spaced. 

I then stitched some scalloped edges. I did microstippling inside the first scallop, and went around the outside scallop a second time to give it a little more depth. I think these are so pretty, and gives the finished product a lacy look.

Here's where I wish I'd had at least one more circle drawn. These spirals got a little out of control, but I do love the pebbling that fills in the gaps between the spirals and the scallops.

I added a leaf design between the spirals. I regret these because they are not on the guidelines but also not evenly spaced between the guidelines. They're also not all the same size. Again, this is where more circles would have helped. 

I finished up with some of the cursive L designs to fill the area around the spirals and leaves. Last I went around the edges with switchbacks to finish it off. 

These small quilt sandwiches are so great for this purpose. I was able to practice and see what works. I learn which things are worth taking the extra time that it takes for precision and which things can be left imperfect. 

Don't forget to enter the Rafflecopter drawing for your own copy of the book, and be sure to visit Vicki, Kristin, and HollyAnne to enter their drawings. That's right - Martingale gave us 4 books to raffle! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Have you been quilting along with us? What have you learned? Do you think a weekly or monthly link up would be motivating and inspiring? How should we keep this good momentum going? Let us know what you think, either in the comments or on your favorite social media channel using the hashtag #machinequiltingbloghop. 

This has been so much fun for me, and my stitching has improved already. It's true what they say - practice makes progress! This hop has kept me sewing and pushing some boundaries. I really do hope to keep it up and continue to improve my skills.

Thanks for playing along. Check back later this week to see who won the raffles!

WiP Wednesday - String Blocks for the Queen

It's WiP Wednesday and this week I'm recovering from vacation by catching up with my Twilters bee blocks for June. Nothing like the last minute, right?

This month is Carmit's turn to be queen, and she requested these cute string blocks and even wrote up a tutorial for how to make them. These are perfect for using up strings and strips leftover from binding or when you square up a quilt. 

I started pulling all of the different colors together to see what I had. This is when Bonnie Hunter's Scrap User's System really comes in handy. It felt great to get this 1 1/2" strip bin cleaned out.

I had fun making these, but it's got me thinking. My turn to be queen is in October, and I have no idea what block to request. Any suggestions for a good scrappy swap block? So many of my favorite ideas have been taken. There's no rule that I can't pick an "encore," but I'd like to do something different.

My design wall is a little stagnant. Once the Machine Quilting Blog Hop is done next week I can get back to The Pit Boss's Turning Fifty quilt. Speaking of the hop, have you entered the drawing to win a copy of The Ultimate Guide to Machine Quilting? The Rafflecopter widget is in the post right before this one. Be sure to visit Kristin, Vicki, and HollyAnne for more chances to win.

What are you working on this week?

#MachineQuiltingBlogHop Week 9 - Migration

Welcome to Week 9 of the Machine Quilting Blog Hop!

Today we are working on Chapter 10 of The Ultimate Guide to Machine Quilting by Angela Walters and Christa Watson, Migration.

Once again I pulled out an orphan block from the Modern Blocks hop. Line Up by Angela Yosten is one that I always liked, but wasn't sure how to use. 

For this block, I decided to use a heavier weight thread so that the quilting would really show. I had this perfect pale pink 12 weight spool that I won at QuiltCon in the Aurifil booth. 

I learned a couple of things about this thread. First, it really does make the quilting stand out. In this case, I think it's a good thing, but you would have to be really careful and rip out any mistakes. 

Before you think I am somehow magical and managed to keep my stitch length perfect all by myself, let me tell you the second thing I learned. Free motion quilting with this thread is not really a thing. I tried but could not get it to work. It's really meant for sashiko and embellishment.

I ended up doing the whole block with my walking foot. This took longer and would have been nearly impossible on a larger piece, but since it is just a 12" block I made it work.

I'm so glad I did because I love how this turned out. My square spirals never look right when I use FMQ, but these created a texture that makes me so happy!

Getting the tension right was tricky. I think I'm going to make this into a small pillow so you don't see the back. Sneaky!

I hope you're hopping along with us and improving your machine quilting. Just in case you don't already have the book, Martingale has generously donated a copy of the book for each of us to give away. You can enter in the Rafflecopter widget below. Be sure to visit Vicki, Kristin, and HollyAnne to see what they did this week and enter their giveaways as well.

Next week is the last week of the hop when we will revisit Chapter 4, which is whole cloth FMQ. I have some ideas but haven't started quilting yet, and I'm trying not to be too anxious about it. You'll have to check back next week and see how it all turns out!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

#MachineQuiltingBlogHop Week 8 - U-Turns

Welcome to Week 7 of the Machine Quilting Blog Hop!

Today we are working on Chapter 8 of The Ultimate Guide to Machine Quilting by Angela Walters and Christa Watson, U-Turns.

For this chapter I went back to the Halloween/Autumn UFO that I worked on in Week 6. A lot of the designs in this chapter are ones I've already done, just in different types of spaces. I hadn't really tried ribbon loops yet, and thought they would be perfect for the outer border of this little quilt.

True confessions: I didn't do a lot this week because The Pit Boss and I just returned from our 25th anniversary trip. Also, I dropped my machine off for service before we left and just got her back. Sorry for the lack of quilting!

The book is available for purchase at the Martingale site, and we have some exciting news coming up at the end of the hop. Only two more weeks!  Don't forget to visit Vicki, Kristin, and HollyAnne to see how they handled the designs in this chapter. 

Please jump in and join us on your favorite social media channel using the hashtag #machinequiltingbloghop and post pictures of your progress. No blog required! 

#MachineQuiltingBlogHop Week 7 - Exploding Star

Welcome to Week 7 of the Machine Quilting Blog Hop!

Today we are working on Chapter 7 of The Ultimate Guide to Machine Quilting by Angela Walters and Christa Watson, Exploding Star.

I learned Christa's technique for quilting a continuous spiral in the class I took with her back in February, and I've been looking for an opportunity to practice it again. I thought this Turnaround star block from the Modern Blocks Hop would be just the thing to show it off.

An Aurifil spool is about the perfect size to start this, and my Clover white pen shows up on the deep blue.

I chose a variegated blue thread, which I think gives the design some interesting movement. The only downside is that the wobbles are more pronounced, but I just keep reminding myself that this is practice. I didn't finish because my bobbin ran out, but you get the idea. I really do love the effect of this design, and it's not hard, although you do have to take your time and go slowly.

This book has been so helpful for me to see different ways to quilt specific areas and shapes, and it's still on sale at the Martingale site. Don't forget to visit Vicki, Kristin, and HollyAnne for their take on Exploding Star.

Please jump in and join us on your favorite social media channel using the hashtag #machinequiltingbloghop and post pictures of your progress. No blog required!