Saturday, August 31, 2013

Weekend for Quilting

   The past week the only sewing I did was hemming a jumper for my granddaughter.  Today I got back to free-motion quilting.  This quilt will be a comfort quilt for someone at church and not for any show so it is a good place to try out new free-motion quilting techniques.  I am using the large blank areas of the "Pina Colada" quilt to use a large template with a couple of different fillers.  First I marked the template and quilted with continuous line FM quilting.  It was good practice to follow the line.

On 4 of the marked templates I did very small stippling in selected areas.
  

 back

In small clam shaped areas of the marked template on 4 others, I used a design from Cindy Needham called "Ginko Clam".

back 

In another long open area I tried another idea from Cindy.  I used a feather template but only marked the spine and the outer curve for a guide.  This is the first time I have quilted such long feathers.


There are still some large triangle areas that I look forward to trying yet another technique.  I am enjoying trying many new FMQ techniques on this quilt.

Friday, August 23, 2013

Time for Quilting

   My house is quiet and getting back to normal without construction workers so I have more time for quilting.  I used the walking foot to stitch-in-the-ditch all the seams to stabilize my "Pina Colada" quilt.  I have been re-watching portions of Cindy Needham's  Craftsy class on elegant free-motion quilting.  I really want to try some designs out and I think this will be a good quilt to use.

In September I will be teaching a free-motion quilting class at Midlands Tech.  I have pieced 3 more doll quilt tops that can be used for practice or design samples.  They could also be finished for placemats since the size is about the same. I have so many scraps already cut to simple units I can easily piece several more but so not to get bored I need to use a different unit.

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Weekend of Quilting

    With my kitchen remodel close to being finished, I decided to pull out some projects to be quilted.  I meander the hexagon pillow top for the JoAnn Fabrics 201 class.  I forgot to take a photo of the finished pillow before taking the sample to the store for display. Here is the top. 


The inside shows off the meandering.  


I sandwiched the “Wheels” and started quilting because my sister wants me to show it to her guild.  It just needs a label.



Here is a photo of the FM quilting.

Thursday, August 15, 2013

More Piecing

     Wednesday morning my church quilting group met.  I did not take my sewing machine because I felt I had things I could do without it. I helped Martha start her machine quilting with a walking foot and I pulled fabrics from our stash for several projects.  In the afternoon while waiting for the plumber, I worked on piecing.  This morning while waiting on the appliance installer I pieced more.  I have a pieced top of orphans and scraps ready for a border.  You can see the border fabric I pulled from the stash.  It is 48 by 60” before borders. 

    
       I also have 2 doll quilt tops made.




I enjoy reading Stitching Therapy quilt blog.  For several years she has collected doll quilts to be distributed at Christmas.  I will be teaching a FMQ class at Midlands Tech in September and had the idea that these small doll quilts would be great for FMQ practice instead of just plain fabric. 

Monday, August 12, 2013

Just Cutting and Marking


      I am scheduled to teach a new class for JoAnn Fabrics where the project is a quilted hexagon pillow.  So today I pulled fabric to make the class sample and check out the directions.  It is good that I did because a minor change needs to be made in the cutting instructions.  Here are my hexagons laid out in a pattern.  I probably will try a bit more random pattern before I start sewing them together.  They will be trimmed down top make a 16" pillow top.


      I am home from GA for a couple of weeks but am still living with kitchen items all over my house so I been avoiding a lot of quilting.  Last night I pulled out my "Pina Colada" top and marked a quilting design in the largest blank areas.  I hope to sandwich it tomorrow and start the quilting soon.


Saturday, August 3, 2013

Not Much Time for Sewing

    I enjoyed a great week with my granddaughters but that meant very little time was spent sewing.  The only sewing done was by hand to applique a requested puppy to a new school backpack.  My son suggested a non-permanent applique method since he anticipates her deciding it is "not cool" and wants it removed. For now, she loves the puppy.

Here is a close up.