Machine Quilting

      It has been several days since my last post but I have done some quilting.  I am machine quilting the Rainbow Row quilt.  Friday I did most of the in-the-ditch quilting to stabilize the rows and borders.  Saturday I took some time to work in the yard since it has been such beautiful weather and I also searched for a continuous line free motion design that I wanted to use in the border.  I adapted one and practiced it several times on paper with a pen.  Today I did a minute of warm up on a practice swatch with batting and then I quilted the border.  I'm still trying to improve my stitch regulation.  Here is a practice drawing and the border quilting.

Now I need to decide how I want to quilt a few rows.

Another Group Sew Day

       This morning was sew day with my church group.  We delivered the finished quilt to the 4 year old class.  They were pleased and excited.  We have a lot of scraps left over from projects so to use up some I pieced 6” crumb blocks, but it did not appear that I made a dent in the pile of scraps. 

      In the afternoon I sandwiched the Rainbow Row quilt so it is ready for me to start quilting.  It almost took the whole floor space of my kitchen for the twin size quilt.  When I sandwich a larger quilt, I have to do it somewhere else.  Tomorrow I will begin the machine quilting. 

Busy Fun Tuesday

    This morning was charity sew Tuesday for GCQ and we got a lot done.   We cut and put together about 20 quilt kits for children then enjoyed a great pot luck lunch and fellowship. 
   This evening I taught the 3 D stars class.  I only took one photo to share.  Alleene had a great idea for her quilt which might inspire you. Her husband helped by printing some old family photos on specially treated fabric to be used with her cowboy themed fabrics.  She even has a photo of herself in a cowgirl outfit and her husband on a small steer.  She will have a very special quilt when she is finished.  Here is one of her blocks.

Monday's Progress

Sunday I finished the hand sewing of the binding on the group quilt project for the Child Development Center.
I'm sure the teachers and students will love it.

 

Today I worked on 3D star samples for the class I'm teaching.  Here are 2.  They may make it into a charity quilt.  They are formed by inserting 4 prairie points into seams of a 4 patch. Then you press and tack them open.  Hopefully Tuesday I will remember my camera so you can see what the others are doing.

 

 

Friday Already?

Where did the week go?  Tuesday was a very busy day with guild meeting in the morning.  Sandra Baker shared her small things from inches to masks.  Her favorite is trading cards which are 2 1/2 by 3".  In the evening the 3D Stars class started.  After discussing some fabric choices, I did a demo and them students sewed a sample. I will try to remember to take photos next week in class.

I am in a church group that has been working with the 4 year old Child Development class at Shandon Presbyterian to make a quilt.  The children drew a picture with fabric crayons on paper which we transferred to fabric. I am working today on the quilting. It is not my favorite pattern because of the method but I think it is turning out great.

I'm looking forward to tonight's Greater Columbia Quilters' special meeting with guest Leah Day.  You might be interested in checking out Leah's blog  http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.com/  and web site  http://www.daystyledesigns.com/articles.htm .

Final Border On

  This will be a quick note.  I have added the final border on the Rainbow Row quilt so I now have 2 twin size tops waiting to be quilted.  While browsing this morning I found some tile quilts.  It looks like an interesting technique.  That makes it one more for the list that will have to wait until I get more UFOs finished.

It's Growing

     After getting the Rainbow Rows together and checking the measurements, I decided it would only take 2 more rows and a little wider border to make the quilt a twin size.  I thought it would be more useful twin size so I've been working to make the top grow.  I found 5 yellow background crumb pieced blocks so I just had to make one more.  I already had 6 darker crumb blocks so I added them as the top row.  I still have to piece a border of 2" rainbow blocks and add a wider outer border. It looks very long and skinny but it should finish about 56" by 86".  Here is how it looks in progress.

Thursday Already ?

       This has been a very busy week so far but no photos of projects.  Monday started with a visit to my computer serviceman because of Malware on my desktop computer.  Do you have an anti-malware program running?  With the internet today we need one.
       Tuesday morning was Day Bee meeting.  We had a great meeting and discussed lots of ideas and plans for the future.  We planned a mini shop hop, participating in a mystery quilt and maybe a slice quilt.
       Wednesday was sew day for my church comfort quilt group.  We accomplished a lot and also enjoyed the friendship.  In the afternoon I worked some more on quilted fabric Valentine postcards.
        Today I expect to get back to work on more UFOs on my list.  I hope you enjoy your day sewing.

Making Quilted Valentine Cards

       I enjoy sending quilted postcards to friends and relatives for special occasions.  My sister Irene got me started making them a few years ago by participating in an internet swap group.  Since then I just make them for friends and family.  Recently I came across www.scrapbooksetc.com  and like several of their free scrapbook paper-piecing ideas to use as appliqués on quilted postcards.  The bee is one of those. The post office has gotten more particular about mailing them so I am careful not to add very much 3 dimensional. 

    If you have not made any, I hope you will think about trying some.  They must be 4 by 6".  I use Peltex for the structure with a layer of scrap batting on top.   I place the top fabric on the batting and do the applique stitching and quilting.  Then I add muslin to the back with fusible web and sew the edge with satin stitch or ribbon for binding. Leah has a good tutorial on making fabric postcards at quilteddelights.blogspot.com.  Have fun and your friends and family can enjoy your work. 

Piecing Progress

   I made a lot of progress piecing on the Rainbow Row Robin today after a back track and a side step.  The red row was made by me and I must apologize to those that received mine. I made a couple of variations so the other 5 people in my group may not have one just like the one I kept for myself.  It started out like this:

 

The placement of the hearts and the single block next to them bothered me so I unsewed to change that.  Then I was not happy with the white.  It did not seem to fit with the other strips so I used the microwave to overdye the strip with light tan using liquid Rit dye. I am much more pleased.  All the strips are together so the border will be next.

I'd Rather Be Piecing

    Today I still was not in the mood to sandwich and quilt on the twin size quilt so I pulled out a different UFO to work on.   In 2009 our local guild had a Rainbow Row Robin so each participant ended up with 6 rows of different colors and they are also very different in style.   Here are the 6 I have.   My own red row bothered me so much I had to go back and change it.  I still don't like something about it ( I think the white is too stark a contrast) so I'm still trying to figure out how to fix it.

     I have a plan in mind to put them together so spent time cutting a collection of squares in the rainbow colors.  I hope it will be enough to help them form a more cohesive quilt.  I’m still playing with the row order. 

You know how it is when several different people make blocks.  Some rows needed a little adjusting so all would be the same length of 36 ½” unfinished.  That is as far as I got today.  More piecing will have to wait until tomorrow.

More Finger Puppets

    After speaking with my granddaughter I decided to take the afternoon to make some more finger puppets.  One book I found suggested simple stories for use with finger puppets so I had been thinking about making  three little pigs and the wolf.  I just whipped stitched the edges this time instead of doing a neater blanket stitch. I don't think  my granddaughter can tell the difference.   Here they are.