I Finished!

On Easter Sunday I finished sewing the binding on my Under The Stars quilt.

I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

Some quilting close ups of the borders. I used the snowflakes I used on my HO, HO, HO quilt and added some loop-de-loops in between to join them together.

Around the squares in the centre I went horizontally and vertically row by row, and I went around each gold star.

In the dark blue band at the top I did a simple loop-de-loop again. I also quilted around the snowmen shapes and the big parts of their faces. Without that, they poofed up too much. With quilting the parts, there is much better definition to their faces.

I put a round label on the back that says: "Made by me, for me, then my name and the date".

I'm not sure I'd make this quilt again, or if I'll do another flannel top and bottom. I did like the mix of hand applique and sewn piecing. And the colours grew on my over time. On my current machine, quilting through two layers of flannel and batting was a bit tricky.

I've put this quilt away until next year when I'll bring it out for the couch. I refuse to accept that we have enough winter left that I still need a flannel quilt.

Quilting Update

I've been working away at quilting my Under the Stars quilt (sort of). It's not going quite as fast as I'd like - I think because it's been a bit tricky to quilt with the walking foot because it is so thick that it doesn't feed quite right.

The weather is warming up so I want to get it finished - I likely won't use it until next winter. And I refuse to start my next quilt, which I really want to get going on , before this one is finished.

So far, there is a grid quilted in all the squares and the stars are outlined. I free-motioned around the applique snowmen and did a loop-de-loop in the sky. In the green I want to do snowflakes (in grey) with swirly connectors between them - not too heavy quilting, but enough that it holds together nicely.

The light is really bad - but I'm not complaining, because it's pouring in through my sliding glass doors into the kitchen.

Snowman Update

My Under the Stars quilt is basted and I`ve started quilting. It`s going fine, but I`m not enjoying the quilting as much as I did on the last quilt I made. I think it`s because this one is really thick, with a flannel top and bottom and it doesn`t slide very easily under my presser foot. I get a bit of puckering, even using the walking foot.  It`s coming along though, so no complaints.

Right now I`m doing sid in the squares. I leave a big box around the star blocks and will stitch around the stars.

Animal Parade - A Finished Quilt

This quilt is for my youngest niece who is now 6. I started it when she was 2 - I'm a bit slow it seems. K is a darling girl who is happy all the time and often says "today was a perfect day". She wanted animals on her quilt, so that's what she got. Her mom picked out the fabrics. On Canada Day, the year K was 2, I was asking her what animals she wanted on her quilt. She didn't really know. So my Mom, who is not a sewer, started giving her ideas - I would not have attempted some of these animals if it weren't for K wanting them.

Some progress shots of quilting:

This is how I mark my quilts usually - I trace or draw a design on the paper on the doctor's examining table, then sew over it. Then I rip it out. It's a bit tedious at times, but I find it accurate and never have to worry about marks showing.

My binding helper

Still helping with the binding

The Label, v 2.0; the first label had a missing word that I only noticed when I was sewing on binding. I tried fixing it but didn't like how it looked, so I made a new label.

The finished product, with K peeking around the corner.

I really enjoyed making this quilt and I enjoyed quilting it. K loves it and was snuggled under it the first night she got it.
It`s about 48 x 62, my own design.

Getting Some Quilting Finished

This quilt has been sitting, folded up, for two years, waiting to be quilted. I just couldn't find my mo-jo to do it. I'm on it now. It's for my littlest niece who is now 6 - it was intended for her 2nd birthday - oh well. Better late than never. She wanted animals on her quilt, so that's what she got.

I started quilting with some purple/green variegated thread that I bought at one time for this project:

I don't like it. It's too dark. Thankfully, I'd only quilted 2 blocks when I decided it was too dark so I spent an afternoon on the couch, watching a movie, and unpicking the quilting.

I then switched to a light purple which I like much better:

It's subtle and I feel like it complements the quilt, rather than taking it over. And my wobbles don't show as much.

I've been using a combination of quilting stencils and free hand free-motion to quilt this. I tried a design I saw online - I'm pretty sure it was one of Angela Walter's Craftsy classes.

 It's a paisley-like filler and it's in the 3 blocks above. It's hard to see so I got an up close shot - it looks yellow here, but it's not.

From the back:

It's a little easier to see here. I really like how it turned out. It was simple to do and filled the space nicely. I didn't wobble too much, even when my cat tried to jump on top and didn't quite make it.

I hit a bit of a snag in a block that has pinwheels. I don't remember what I did in the centre of these pinwheels but they are really thick and sticking up quite a bit. I needed everything secure but didn't want to quilt through the centre because of the thickness. I used this quilt stencil and it turned out great. The centre still sticks up, but it looks like it's because of the quilting, rather than piecing/pressing.

I want to get this finished as soon as possible so I can get a fresh start on my selfish sewing for 2016. I hope you're getting some quilting time in for yourself these days.

HO HO HO

I just finished this table runner for myself. I think I'm in love.
I like whimsical and this fits the bill. When I saw this in my local LQS I bought it immediately, and I have other fabrics from the line to make myself a quilt of some kind. I have a few ideas but can't seem to commit to a design. Something will come to me I'm sure.

This is the overall shot. The fabric line is called Ho Ho Ho, but I don't remember the designer. This pattern comes from a book that uses this fabric line.

I quilted straight lines in the green borders and around each letter and shape. Then I added some snow flakes - I'm very proud of them. Each snowflake is different.

I used my usual method of tracing a design onto the paper on the table at the doctor's office. Then I quilt it and tear off the paper.

This is a good example of selfish sewing for me. There will be more of this in my future - I'm naming 2016 as my year of selfish sewing - more on that later.

Keep Calm and Quilt On

It's stinking hot here in Southern Ontario these days - high 30s with humidex and I think the heat is starting to get to me.

I'm working on quilting the hunter's star for my cousin, trying to meet my Sunday deadline. And I've emailed my cousin to tell her I think it might be finished.

One thing I've really had to do with this quilt is package it before feeding it through the machine. I've moved from quilting at the dining room table back to the sewing table, so I can package the quilt at the dining room table.

This is the view of how it goes in the machine from above

And this is the view from the side.

It's folded up a lot and it's helping.

What I didn't take into consideration was packaging it as it came out of the machine. I watched it run into the light on the tv table at the end of the sewing table, knock the light off the table, and take the Christmas cactus beside with it. No harm to the quilt but my floor took a bit of a beating and now I really have to replace the pot for the Xmas cactus (my cat knocked it over awhile ago and I've been stalling replacing the pot cuz I can't find anything I like - no more stalling).

At this point I took a break to remain calm. I've got a fan blowing right on me and my a/c is working great so I'm at least keeping reasonably cool. The heat is supposed to let up a bit overnight when we might get some rain - I'm hopeful.

Stay cool and happy quilting.

Just Do It!

I'm overtly stealing from Nike here. This quilt was a lesson in "stop thinking so much and just do it".

I struggled a lot with how to quilt this baby. I don't know why. In the end, I'm really happy with my results - I also started reminding myself that this is a gift for a 5 year old - what she is most concerned about is whether there is enough purple - not how great the quilting is.

All my fussing was worth it. I took my first foray into feathers and I'm pleased with my results. I want to practice lots more and my confidence has a good foundation.

Here are some close up shots of quilting

It is actually bound and ready to go. I can't get any photos yet - it's way too hot to be lugging around a quilt. I'll get a few though and post them.

The label:

And an oil update - there were 2 possible spots I marked and treated for oil. Here is what I see now...

...nothing. The oil is gone or so lightweight that it hasn't left a mark, or the baking soda worked, or it was just water and not oil that dripped. I've breathed a sigh of relief.

Now I'm trying to quilt the quilt for my cousin. It's huge and heavy and slow going. Wish me luck.

It Is Hot! and other odds and ends

We've finally got a heat wave here in southern Ontario - I wasn't looking for one, but here it is. It is almost too hot to sew - almost, but not entirely.

I took these photos much earlier this week, then got sidetracked and now I'm going to get them posted.

I'm on Instagram as @howmytimeflies. Last week I posted the pillowcases I made for me nieces - here they are again in case you've forgotten (or need cooling off by thinking about cold weather)

All the fabric is by Ann Kelle and I used her name as a hashtag on the post. I was thrilled when she liked them - she is second from the top. 

This week I've been working on quilting the swoon quilt I pieced last summer. It's for my cousin's daughter who is now five. They are home for a bit this summer and I'm trying to finish it so they can take it home on the plane (and I don't have to pay for shipping). I've been using my stencils and a frixion iron off pen. I thought about FMQing it but it's too hot. It's going well - except for the odd bobble (see photo below)

I've been trying out this mat that I borrowed from someone. It's pretty slick and I'm going to invest in one myself. I'd seen them in an Angela Walters Craftsy class and I wanted to try it out before I invested in one (the cheapest I've found is about $35 for an 8" x 11"). It's silicone and sticks to the machine bed with magic of some kind - not static and not glue - maybe its a property of the silicone. It has reduced the drag on the quilt and I'm happy with that. My arms and shoulders and wrists don't get so sore or tight either. One caution - it is more slippery and sometimes the quilting got away from me - see photo above. Here's the product info

I've also made some progress on the wedding quilt for the cousin mentioned above. She's only been married 7 or 8 years now. It's a red and white hunter's star and is actually half pieced already. Here are the remaining pieces in triangles:

And this is the next sewing step. I've actually got some into a square since I took this photo. Stay tuned for more to follow.

Stay cool and keep sewing!

The Quilting Is Finished

I've finally finished the quilting on my sister's wedding quilt. I've also attached the backing that makes it a duvet cover. All that's left is binding - I really want to be finished to work on other things.

Here are a few shots to mark my progress

Quilting in progress at Thursday Therapy day

Last border seam in and finished

Trimmed and ready for duvet backing

Another template to the rescue

I was debating whether or not to quilt the melons in this quilt - most people I asked said yes - that's what I really thought too but there are 64 of them.

I tried a bunch of different ideas and finally settled on something simple that filled the space, was easy to mark, and echoed the other designs. A lot of people online used a lot of pebbles in this quilt and that's just not in my repertoire with my current machine.

I made myself another template and got to work. These went together really quickly and I have no issues quilting the melons.

My template (the straight lines align with the seam line down the middle)

My dots:

Finished:

The templates I made and used for this quilt have been simple but very effective and I'm really happy with how they turned out.