Christmas Stockings

With very little time I made three Christmas stockings for the g-kids. If I get time, I will applique initials on the cuffs but if time runs out, a card will be attached.

 I selected some attractive "organic" cotton. Front and back are different

Stockings are quilted and lined. I used the decorative stitches on my Pfaff sewing machine to quickly quilt the layers. I now have some ideas on future stockings to make and will do a tutorial page when not so time poor.

Aunty Norah's Quilt

Not really a UFO as I only started this quilt a couple of months ago. It was the first major quilt task on the long arm - as it was a quilt requested for another person.  At her 90th birthday party, my aunt saw images of my quilts and liked them. A quilt for mother's day was the request from her daughter to which I happily agreed.  Well it didn't happen then but I kept thinking about a quilt for Nor then I decided that would be a project for the long arm.

I prefer to make modern quilts in bright colours (like Mind the Gap) but I know that she would prefer something feminine.Her favourite colour is pink and I had very little pink in my stash so I had to search for pink that went with my colours.

This is the result

The border of pink roses makes it a very sweet quilt.

The swirling heart pattern is just right for this quilt and the recipient. This is the back - small green dots.

 I thought that the back needed a lift so I inserted various test blocks that I made while I was designing the quilt. I was playing around with equilateral triangles and seeing the designs that they made. At one stage these blocks were going to be the quilt but I chose the simpler geometric shape it is.

The binding took forever. I made silly mistakes as I rushed to finish it as my aunt is very ill. Finally, it is finished and  it has been posted to my aunt. I do hope she gets to see it, hold it and stay with us till next winter so it can keep her warm.

Break from completing UFO's (yes there are still more) and see if I can create Christmas stockings in a few hours.

Puppy Quilt

Completed binding "Puppy Dogs" quilt. I designed and pieced this quilt recently. It was planned as a gift for someone who has a lot of puppy dogs. I started quilting it with my Janome sewing machine. I was reasonably happy with my free motion quilting however it was not an easy task.

I completed quilting it using my long arm and eight different patterns. I'll take photos of the eight patterns before I give this quilt away.

Using coordinating solids and the fabric selected for the border, I made a back of columns. I like this structured pieced back.

The quilting really shows up on the back - even my wobbly free motion.

Now onto sewing the binding for Aunty Norah's quilt. She turned 90 last year and she was impressed by my quilts so she's getting one. Her favourite colour is pink - not my favourite and hence very little in my stash so I had to do a bit of searching to find a pink that would coordinate with fabric in my stash.

I put trial blocks into the backing as I though it was a bit bland and needed a spark.

I'll then make the backing for "Lollipops" and load it onto the long arm.

Coffee break needed.

Lollipop WIP

I wonder when I started this top? The pattern was dated 2008. I could only find one page of the pattern so a little bit of creativity is called for. I recall that when I bought the pattern, the fabric line was no longer available so I chose random bright colours planning to give this quilt to a child however anyone in the family can put their dibs on this. I like it myself.  Great colours and I have some leftovers that will go into a modern quilt - one of the many that are running through my mind as I complete UFO's.

Found the fabric that I had chosen for the borders, binding and backing and I appear to have sufficient fabric. That's a relief. Brown 2.5" first border then four different colours for the 6.5" second border.

Borders completed.

The quilt top measures 67" square so it's a fair size. I suspect that I put it aside when I realised that quilting it on a domestic machine would be a major task. Now I have the pleasure of quilting it on Agatha.

I observed that at that stage in my piecing, I was spinning my intersections and actually have very precise joins. That's a good method and I must remember to use it for simple joins.

Now I must return to binding another UFO before I can quilt Lollipop.

Starry Quilt

This one stays with me. It was pieced from a "jam roll". I think that's the right name - a roll of 1.5" strips. It had been sitting around for ages. I loved the colours so on a whim I joined the strips together and played around with my strip ruler. The stars developed on my design wall. As it was an older fabric line, I had a little bit of searching to do to find a toning fabric for the border and binding but was eventually successful.

I'm pleased with this quilt as it was made with scraps.  Improv piecing of course.

The backing contained test squares and various scraps.

This quilt was my first try at custom quilting where I had to resize and rotate blocks. I also experimented with using my crosshatch ruler. And not to be content with trying those things, I also experimented with using a different colour thread in the bottom. The latter was not as successful as "eye lashes" were slightly visible however it did indicate that my tension needed attention.

My starry quilt makes me happy.

A Day of Mitered Joins

As I was joining the many 2.5 " strips to make the binding for each UFO, I thought about the "Jelly Roll Race" quilt. I decided to have a break from making binding and make one of these quilts.

Take a jelly roll. Join the 40 strips end to end. Now this join can be a mitered join (which I was doing for the binding strips) or a "confetti" square of 2.5 inches. I decided to use the mitered join.

The end result is a 1600 " strip as shown below (ignore the inelegant dog)

I then joined the strip in a geometric progression 1600, 800, 400, 200, 100, 50. The quilters on the you tube videos can do this in 32 minutes. I took much longer coping with dogs wanting to be fed, patted and generally entertained - much like two year old children.

The end result is interesting. It looks pretty bland so I'll need to jazz it up with strong borders. It is however, a quick quilt top. No thinking, no planning, no careful piecing, completely random - just sew long seams together.

I think a 2 inch border then a second 5 inch border will add to this very simple quilt.

Quilting pattern is going to be meandering stars and loops. It will be an opportunity for me to practice free motion on my long arm. Not sure of the design for the borders. I think a cross hatch may be suitable. Back to completing the other quilts.

In between the jelly roll diversion,  I did make the binding for Stars and the first border for Lollipops. Just a lot of mitered joins.

Finally found out how to set the correct date (Setting Language and Formatting). Another learning step. Yay!.

Brown Bear What do you see?

Yet another UFO changing to a completed object. Brown Bear was pieced about three years ago. A certain person was studying to become a pre school teacher and suggested the quilt as being useful with young kiddies. It was started, then life intervened and it was stored in one of the ubiquitous plastic boxes.

To complete the quilt, I decided to experiment with free motion quilting using the long arm. The quilting is a bit wobbly and certainly shows that I have a lot to learn and much practice is needed. Once I had found the fabric that I had put aside for the binding, I managed to complete sewing on the binding in one day.

..

The back is appealing (just learnt how to centre)

And of course, a certain small dog claimed the quilt. Sorry Teddy, this quilt is going to a g-child and the person who suggested the quilt.

Onto the next UFO

Investigating blog designs

Writing this on my iPad just to see if I can.

I'm going to try to add a badge that I will move later.

Accidentally learnt how to insert a break (which shows as "read more") I've also learnt how to delete it - I think.

Another Quilt

Another UFO becomes a FO

Hey I've just learnt how to add and link pages. So now I need to plan a bit.
I've also learnt how to use some of the symbols in the design part.

• See dot point - woo hoo - simple things make one happy

1. Or numbered list
2. I should have realised the above but I really wasn't thinking clearly

• I've also been playing with the settings to correct the date.
• This is fun - but time wasting of course

.............................................................................................................

Completed binding "Stonehenge".

I will take some better photos tomorrow. Again it has taken two days to complete the binding - in between doing other things.

The colours are great in this quilt. I pieced it some time ago and I was undecided as to how to quilt it. I vaguely thought of custom quilting it around the centre however I finally decided on a shield type pattern. I used mustard Sulky thread. It was a 50 weight but looks quite heavy - which is the look that I wanted.

I can just see this quilt draped over the back of a lounge chair ready to be wrapped around a person when it gets cold. It's a really nice quilt!

Time to select the next quilt to complete.

Quilt Binding Continues

"Pure" completed. It does take about two days, within a normal day, to sew on a binding so I'll aim to sew at least one edge of the binding each night or every time I sit down to sew (or watch TV). I do want to finish eight more by Christmas so I'm going to be busy.

The blue binding lifts the quilt. Oh and I've learnt how to find out the size of the files - just look at the screen when picture is selected - duh! I notice that this program has a default size of medium so now to find out what this means.

I like it! Amazing how quilting and binding lifts a quilt from fair to really nice! This will be a Christmas present for a male I think.

Still don't know how to change the date.

A Day of Binding

I must bind the many quilts that I have quilted so it's switch on TV and sew. I'll post photos when I complete each one.

I must also find out how to fix the date problem (it is Monday yet it automatically puts in the day before)

I also need to work out why - when I looked this blog up on my iphone - it only showed the original post from last year. Hmm - thinking time needed

Worked this out - I have to click share when I leave the post.

Mind the Gap is finished

I'm going to have to try different ways of photographing my quilts.This is draped over sleeping dogs.

Love the back

Folded ready to start on the next one.

Now I hit "Update" and a splash screen from Google is next. I did ignore this but now I'll select "Share".

....Well none of that happened so maybe I only had to "share" the post first time.

Pure finished

Completed quilting Pure. Unpinned from front roller (belly bar)

I release the clamp from the right side and unroll the quilt

Doesn't look too bad.

Yet another quilt to bind but with each UFO that I do, I become more aware of this machine. I think I'll call it Agatha. I'm checking the tension with this thread and needle. With Aurifil thread, Ne 50/2 - which is very fine -  I think that a size 14 or 16 is appropriate . I'm trying a size 16 at the moment and possibly it is too large.

 Loaded the Puppy quilt. I made (and designed) this top 9 months ago. I started free motion quilting each block on my Janome but had only completed half the quilt. It was a slow procedure and even though this is a small quilt, it was tricky to push through the throat of the sewing machine.

I had eight blocks to do so I stabilised each block with a quarter inch border then selected eight different patterns which I scaled to fit within the border. Maths ability is great skill to have for quilting and understanding of older computer programs means that I can (usually) make QBOT do what I want it to.

Quilt finished! It is getting easier. The only problem was one block that was in three sections and I have a teeny bit of unpicking to do. Below is an example of one of the blocks (from the back). I can see how it can be used in other quilts.

I pieced the back of the Puppy Quilt. It's fun to create a back that is interesting and blends with the quilt front. The half done with the long arm fits with the domestic machine blocks. I have some trimming to do then lots of binding.

I found a quilt top that I had started years ago, not finished and needing borders. The incomplete pattern in the box with the top is date 2008 so maybe 4 years ago I pieced the top. Aware of the cost of quilting and thinking that this was just a fun quilt for the g-kids, it somehow was put to one side and forgotten.

Now it will be quilt number 12 and with it I will try custom quilting, corners and borders. I do have a couple of wall hangings that need quilting and they may be done first. Oh and I have a cheater cloth of Amish design and I'd like to try free motion on it. Anyway now it's gardening time then sewing on bindings. Quilting is so much fun!

Must work out how to fix the date - It's Sunday.

Pure Quilt

First Pass
I chose a quilting pattern that echoed the swirls of the fabric. The thread chosen was a grey/blue Aurifil

Hint 1
The first row to sew is a basting row of the wadding to the backing using the channel lock to ensure that the row is perfectly horizontal. This then enables you to lay the quilt top on this straight line.

This is the channel lock. It is like a plastic garter.

I hang it over the handle for storage. It can be placed on either the x-axis or the y-axis wheels. I think that I can use two for more stability but so far it is working with the only one that I have.

Hint 2
This is my "wibble stitch " basting down the side of the quilt. I do gentle small curves, staying within the quarter inch as these stitches will be covered by the binding.