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Showing posts from 2014

Finally, a Finish

Hooray!

Finished the Top

What do you think?  It's finished, well, the top is, at least. It really didn't take very long once I used it as leaders/enders between other projects. :) Working on my bean bags and trying to perfect my machine applique. Anyone have a Husqvarna Diamond Ruby (or any of the Gems line) that appliques?  Which stitch do you use as a blanket stitch? Just wondering.  So, I found a watermelon table runner that I'm going to start, finish more bean bags, finish a king-sized quilt (I call it HD), On the Go! baby quilt and some July 4th stuff. That should keep me busy, right? 

On the Go!

I started a new quilt today, well, yesterday, I washed, dried, and ironed the fabric, so today I started to cut, but didn't get to sew yet. There's a bunch of applique and I'm hoping to learn the Brother Scan and Cut that I bought awhile ago to cut the shapes. It's for my daughter-in-law's sister's first baby that's due in mid-July. Wish me luck in getting it done on time.  I did sew today. I finished sewing the rows on my Pinwheels for Pop quilt and even one of the borders. It really looks great. I felt I did an excellent job on my points, just a few were off a bit and, maybe, one, should be re-done, but...well, not re-doing it. HeeHee I used my bean bags as leaders and enders so I got quite a few done today.   I read a blog awhile back that she explained that she belonged to a monthly fabric club to build her stash and I can't find the blog again, any one remember reading it and whose blog it was?  I'd love to get fabric every

Pinwheels

I've been working on my Pinwheels for Pop quilt that I'd hoped to be finished (top, at least) for Father's Day, but that didn't happen. So, close, but no luck. I'm hoping to get back to it this week.  I've decided that I want to build my stash. What do you think of these fabric clubs where they send you FQ/yardage of colors/fabric lines, etc., once a month? Anyone use and could recommend one? Hoping to get back into quilting very soon. 

My Blogging Bad

Ugh, I know you know what I'm about to do, apologize for not blocking for such a long time. I'm sorry...that's done! Moving on. Catching up.  Today, I've been working on my Bean Bags. I just wanted to. I should be planting and cleaning and household stuff, but that's not very interesting or rewarding. LOL I've been toying with the idea of replacing my HQ Handiquilter for a newer model, but the idea of selling my current one first makes me question why, now that it's upgraded and serviced and it's like new. Sign. I just bought a Brother Scan and Cut for my Baltimore applique projects, hoping to speed these up a bit. I love the process of all the cutting of FP and the cutting all the fabric, but I do want to get some of them finished. LOL  If you have any fabric cutting tips for the SnC, please share in the comments section. I have "Analysis Paralysis" - which mat to use, whether I need to starch or not, etc. ! I'm one of

ALYOF - March

I had decided a year ago that I'd make these alphabet bean bags for my grandchildren. This is my first set and would love to finish them. So, I had already made the bean bag inserts, so these are the outside covers. Wish me luck on finishing the first family's batch.   Linking up to " A Lovely Year of Finishes! "

ALYOF for February

I finally finished the binding after  a couple of years of using and washing it. Trust me, don't try this at home. The unfinished portion was unraveling and the batting had started to expand, so it was more difficult to stuff in it. I'd carried it around in the car thinking I'd have a project if I ever had the time. Unfortunately, something spilled on it and I felt the need to wash it. Not a good idea.  So, I'm linking up to Shanna and Melissa's A Lovely Year of Finishes! Check it out. Keeps me on track, well, sort of. 

Dino's Done

Well, the quilting is, now I have to fix my spike and fix a pucker, but I'll do that on Ruby Deluxe. It was actually too thick for the HQ16 to handle. I may go ahead and trim it so it's easier to handle. Here it is on a king-sized bed, but it's a double. Still need to add buttons and some hand embroidery. This was a time intensive quilt. I learned a lot of about long-arm quilting and I wish I could do it over because I would have made a plan for the quilting so there wouldn't be as much over stitching as I ended up doing. Can't see it from 10' away so I'm dealing with it. I'm going to make a ton of bean bags so the kids can practice their letters. Next project, after and in between, the valances, shams and wall hanging Dino's.  I did a very bad thing, I stopped into a shop which is now an HQ rep and was shopping for the Fusion and I stopped this for my studio. I'm going red, white and black, so, hopefully, it will blend i

More Dino's

Sorry, I've been away and just now getting back to my Dino's. Next to last border and then it's binding here I come!!! I just can't decide whether or not to upgrade to an HQ Fusion. What do you think? I need a certain amount in order to buy my Fusion. Not keen on packing it up so I'd like to sell it locally.  HQ 16 stitch regulated (7 years) with Pro-Stitcher with current updates Art and Stitch Software Front and Rear Handles Adjustable Table (up to 12' setup, can be set up smaller) Ruler Base Bobbin Winder Laser Stylus Bobbins & Needles Original Leaders Manuals What else should I include in my "ad" that you might want to know?   What if it doesn't sell? I'm so excited I might get a new one. Fingers crossed. 

Two Borders to Go

Well, I finally have finished the top and bottom borders and the inside. Two side borders, binding and some buttons and 3D feet to add and I'll be ready to give the quilt to my grandson. I had to rip out the bottom border as I did crosshatching 1.5" and it was just too dense for my liking, so I re-did them and used a 3" crosshatch design. I've outlined all the letters and paw prints after I crosshatched.  I will be taking a break from this project for a couple of days to spend with family, so I won't have much to report until Tuesday. 

Plugging Away

Among other tasks, I worked as much as I could on my dinosaur quilt. Ripping out mostly; my fingers are numb from pulling and pulling. Also, I'd practiced with my ruler in the bottom border with crosshatching at 1.5" and now I've decided they need to be 3" so I will have even more ripping out to do. I am going to go over all of the quilt and look for flaws and bird nests made of thread and put it back on my HQ one more time. Phew!!! I'm really ready for an E2E pattern next quilt. LOL

Help! Look What I Did

Just know that I've been steadily working on my Dino's quilt and I need to rip out a ton of the bottom border...and now this. I cut one of the spikes on the backs of one of the dinosaur by accident. How do you think I should repair it?  It's right at the seam, think I could just hand stitch it closed? If I removed it and put in a new one, I'd have to hand stitch a blanket stitch to put it back in. Ugh. It's already sewn and the background block has been quilted. I'd have to make another orange spike, remove the cut one and hand sew it back in. Not something I'm excited about.  I also accidentally used my black permanent Sharpie and got a couple of marks on another dinosaur. Ugh, times two. So need to get this one DONE. 

ALYOF - February Goal

This is one of my very first quilts and I've been using it and washing it and it's been in every room in the house. Well, two sides of the binding have never been sewn. Since I'm going to be away for a week in February, I chose this to finish this month. I will be very happy to have it done.  I'm still trying very hard to finish the Dino's quilt. It's a cold winter and he needs it. LOL  All the backgrounds behind all the dinosaurs are finished. I need to outline the dinosaurs and then crosshatching the side borders. Decide whether or not to applique in the dinosaurs themselves or leave them plain. I don't want it to be too densely quilted, but I'm not sure the dinosaurs won't be baggy after a few washes. Thoughts? I'm linking up to A Lovely Year of Finishes from BitterSweet Designs and Fiber of All Sorts . Join in!! 

NewFO Challenge 2014

This is my new challenge for the NewFO Challenge from Cat Patches.  I'm not sure I'll get this one done, but I'd love to finish this before Valentine's Day. It's a kit I just bought called Hugs and Kisses and will use the tutorial here . Guess I need to add it to my to-do list!  Yikes, it keeps getting longer and longer. Yippee!  I'm been working on the Dino's quilt and baby-sitting so not much to report about the progress. :(  I hope to blog more often...

ALYOF - On Time

Yippee! I actually finished my Isabelle Christmas.  It probably took two years and a thousand excuses!! It's a bit late for this Christmas, but maybe use it for Christmas in July??  Thanks to " A Lovely Year of Finishes - 2014 " for the motivation to finish it because it's really early for next Christmas. LOL I met the January deadline!  If you are looking for the "Grow Your Blog" post, it's here . 

Grow Your Blog Party

Welcome to the  Grow Your Blog Party  that is being hosted by Vicki of  2 Bags Full ! Welcome to my blog about how many quilts I've started!!! I sure wish it could be about the ones I've finished!  But then, it's be pretty boring and pretty blank!!!! LOL   I say this every year, I PLAN to finish them all. Planning is easy, executing is difficult.  I really do start way too many quilts, but I had a health scare in 2013, so I'm determined not to leave this mess for my loved ones to clean up and PLAN to finish them all in 2014 (that's a laugh). The tabs at the time share all my started quilts.  Since the demise of Google Reader, I've found a few places that you can "add" me to your list of blogs you visit, they are listed on my right sidebar!  I'd love for you to visit often.  Time to visit  Vicki's blog  and "grow" more blogs!!! p.s. Last year, my giveaway was never claimed...didn't do one this year.

More Dino Progress

I decided that all the crosshatching I'd been doing was too narrow and wouldn't be puffy enough for a kid's quilt, so I will have to rip out the bottom border. That didn't seem like something I wanted to do today, so I opted to do the top border at 3" intervals. I am so much better now at straight lines (thanks to the Line Tamer), so I'm happy to rip the narrow ones out, but doing that another day! LOL I tried to outline the appliqued letters, but I need lots more practice at doing the curves so I just did the "I," "N" and "A" for today.  I'm thinking of using Art and Stitch to applique them. I'd like to have something to practice using the software to get done, but then I'll never get better at outlining. Vicious circle, isn't it? No progress on any other project. I did a bit of virtual window shopping which ended up being a time sucker. Sign. 

Crosshatching

I did my little dinosaur in the cornerstone and I think I love how it looks. I also did my first step of the crosshatching in the border of the dino quilt. This is not that great and you can see I can't seem to hold the ruler perfect, but I hope it will get better. It looks okay from 10' away and that will have to do for now. I won't stitch the second set until I see if I get better and it makes this look awful, but if the whole quilt is this way...LOL I played with this game called Pente and this was on the board and I thought "quilting design" and took a photo so I might add it to a quilt if I ever do custom quilting again. 

Computerized Dino Design

In my efforts to move my Dino's quilt along to completion, I decided to design my own quilting for the cornerstones! I brought this photo in from the four cornerstones of the quilt into my Art and Stitch program. It's a really cute dino and thought it would be fun to have one in each corner. I'm going to flip it so the dinosaur is looking at the quilt. It's a closed design and this way I don't have to "tie" it into the border design (whatever that turns out to be!). So I traced it and saved it and tomorrow I hope to try it out. I've designed quilt patterns before and they've turned out very nicely. So, unless my tension is forever getting messed up, I should be able to test it.  Looks good, don't you think? If it works, I'm happy to share it with anyone, just email me.  While I was tracing the spikes on his back, I realized that Celia's idea of ric rac would be perfect on the background of the dinosaur as if they were s

Quilting Design

Not sure you can see this, but I use Press and Seal to audition quilting designs. I'm back to trying to decide what to do about my Dino's quilt. I've only done edge-to-edge quilts that I was happy with, but I really want to be more creative and I want to get better at stitch in the ditch so I got out my rulers and started using the Versa Tool for my stashing piano blocks. I really need to get better, so I thought I'd order the Line Tamer and it really is very nice. It's a bit longer and I wish I'd had it sooner in the quilt.  When I got out my Versa Tool I found my almost unused ruler base and I found another interesting ruler with a wave on one side and scallops on the other. I drew this potential design freehand and some of the wave echoes aren't going the same way, but you get the idea. What do you think of this idea for the background?  I don't have to use the ruler if you have a better or perfect solution. I'm just wondering if it would be

UFO to Go

Before I "got sick" I'd made a great UFO to Go  portable design wall for my hand applique and never got around to sharing until now. I had this large print that was the best pattern of the last bunch of bolts JoAnn's had when they moved to their new location. I decided to cover my ironing board, but after two days, I had to rip it off and put back the plain silver stuff. I got way too dizzy and I couldn't see my blocks because they were so "lost" in the print. So I searched for a project to use this fabric that had a few staple holes that wouldn't affect the look or function. I found it!!A UFO to GO!! I put some extra "pages" in it and now it won't really close as designed, but I can still tie the ribbon. I made 12 pages as I thought I'd dedicate it to one pattern of 12 Baltimore blocks, but I've decided to use it one page for each block of all the BOMs I have waiting in the wings. I may remove some to make it more functional.

Some Progress Today

I didn't do anything with my Dino's quilt today because I've ordered some long-arm rulers to do scallops in their bodies. Ordered several others to help me get the hang of this machine that I've had for years and haven't really done anything but computerized designs. I want get better so I need to practice and I've found I like using the rulers. So, I haven't to wait a week to get them.  I put a list of what I'm working on in the outer column so that I can try to focus. The first four are "MUST-DO's." If I do anything to move them forward, I'll post here.  I did do a bit of applique. This is "Chick Jubilee" from Bunny Hills Design. It was a BOM and I hadn't touched Block 1 yet. Dug that out to get it going and grab it when the mood strikes me. It's not a priority, but it's fun to work on. Here's my Dear Jane blocks. They were taking up space on one of my design walls, so I collected them and cli

A Little of This and That

I worked on several projects this weekend and thought I'd share my progress.  Here's Isabelle Christmas and I'm trying not to set this aside until next Christmas so I'm working on the binding every so often. I signed up to finish this by the end of January. Hope I can focus on this soon.  I'm on my last row of the Dino's sashing which is more like piano keys only wider and not always the same size. I made a few mistakes with lining up the sashing, but I just let them go since I didn't notice them until it was too late to correct. I'll point them out when it's finished. LOL This is a BOM called Vintage Valentine and I was hoping to get one block done and just decorate my studio for Valentine's Day, but it's moving slowly. I'm getting so much better at hand applique, but I have a long way to go to not have my thread show too much. I love applique so I keep trying.  How are your projects coming along?  I thin

More SID

I was able to do a bunch of SID in the blocks on the Dino's quilt. I should finish tomorrow. Lots of thread show on my SID blocks, but it's a quilt for a kid and I go way to fast and look away way too much. I'm getting lots of practice. Just need to hold the ruler in the right place and slow down. Not re-doing any SID. As usual, my tension wasn't the best and I had to fight with it. I'm thinking I need to look at my tension on the bobbin winder. Still haven't decided what to do with the actual dinosaur blocks or the borders around the letters.  I really need to decide my goals for the year. I'm trying to be sure I get some quilting done every day, so, in theory, I should get something finished, right?  Been surfing all the quilting blogs looking for inspiration and daily motivation. Any thoughts on that?  I bought the Baltimore Liberty kit and opened it today, not that I need to start anything new, but I checked the fabrics on Block One and I'm

Stitch in the Ditch Today

I finally got some quilting done on my HQ16. I did some stitch in the ditch and it looks pretty good. I used the Versa Tool for a guide and it seems to work. I'm not very good at it, yet!   Still haven't decided what else to do. Can't be a bunch of swirly things...it's a boy's quilt. Any thoughts on what to quilt around the letters?  Also, how should I quilt the dinosaurs to make them more three dimensional? I read somewhere or it was mentioned in a video that you should do the background first so the applique will puff up. Any suggestions?  Since my surgery, I haven't lasted very long and need to stop and rest way too often, that's why I'm not getting much done these days.  I'd love to sell my HQ16 and get an HQ Fusion or Avante...any takers? Hasn't been used much and it's all computerized.  This gives you a chance to see the next section of my room. It's across from my computer/desk and where I store my serger.

Free Motion Quilting - More Studio Pics

I've been trying to practice my free motion quilting and it's just not going as well as I'd hoped. I just can't seem to make the stitches uniform. I didn't actually practice on a practice piece, I used a real quilt. So, I've been ripping them out, one at a time. Not sure I have the patience to use practice pieces. Sigh. I think I'm going to use Art N Stitch and design a stitching pattern and just do it on my HQ16 with the ProStitcher so it will be even and more accurate. Not sure you can see, but some of my stitches are pretty big and a bit wavy and they have to come out. Well, I've been cleaning and straightening my studio and I have another section finished. This is my cutting area. I continued with my fabric bins and my pretzel jars sorted by color on one wall, so when you walk in you see a ton of color which I love. I have a couple of those wooden ruler holders for my most-used rulers close to my mat. The bla