Hooked on Quilting

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 . 

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. ...

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. 

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. 

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...

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 ...

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....

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...

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...

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 ...

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. ...

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...

I spent some time the last couple days cleaning and re-arranging my studio. This is just one-half of the room and I haven't really put things where they may end up, but I will share what I've done so far, otherwise, it will get too messy to share with you.  This is my office/computer area. TV is on one of those wall mounts that pivots 360 degrees so I can see it from anywhere in the office. I have two screens connected to my computer so I can look at two Web sites at a time, great for copy/pasting things. You can move the mouse from one to the other, so very cool. There's my iPad for playing games, texting, FaceTime calls and reading email. See that bright red chair? It is the most comfortable chair ever! Not to mention expensive...had to have it.  This is the same table so I can turn around in my chair and be right there, not really sure how I'm going to use this space. I think the white shelf will become a research area where I'll put my...

I'm going to try to finish the binding on Isabelle Christmas for January's finish and am happy to be joining in with Shanna and Melissa for 2014. Now, I just need to remember to check in at the end of the month. Oh, and, of course, finish the binding before then. LOL

Got a little sewing in today, finished attaching the binding and thought I'd share. My daughter designed this using the fabric line Isabelle Christmas - her daughter is Isabelle!! Fancy that!! Look at the back, she designed that, too!  They are all the letter "I" as we pulled together enough squares to complete the back. Lots of seams. I quilted in a Christmas theme, but I think be a bit on the dense side. Just the binding left!!! Love it. Here's some squares that I did today using Kaffe Fassett fabrics. Very busy for me, but I'm hoping to get scraps from it!! It's called Flower Garden. On to 2014... Well, I've been trolling for motivation and will try again to finish SOMETHING in 2014.  I really need a buddy that can nag me - daily. LOL  Anyone up for the challenge?  Someone to tell me to "Just Do It!" and to stop playing on my iPad, I'm addicted to a silly game these days. I've even resorted to cleaning up my studio...

I finished sewing the binding for Isabelle Christmas and then sewed it to the quilt. I haven't sewn the ends together yet, but will do that tomorrow. I started on the Flower Garden from the Craftsy Web site that is a workshop. I like the video lessons better.  I've never done anything with Kaffe's fabrics, so I just bought the kit. The patterns are a bit busy for my taste, but I wanted to try something new. I really need to quilt the Dino's quilt...still trying to decide how to quilt it. I played with free motion on my Viking, but I need way too much practice time first. I didn't do so well with my 2013 plan to get quilts done, so I'm going to see what's out there for motivation and maybe I'll try not to be as aggressive and overwhelmed this year.  Any ideas of how you are going to manage your projects?  Any Web sites that I can "finish" with? Happy New Year! I do plan to quilt every ...