The Quilting Step

I came home from the last 2015 session of Empty Spools with a burning desire to do some quilting. Not the piecing step, but the actual put-it-together-so-it-can-be-completed step of quilting the quilt. I was also eager to try a bit of the "matchstick" quilting that Jacquie Gering had discussed in our class. I had the perfect candidate.  Here's my progress so far.

Just straight-line quilting on this one, but it's a good match for this piece, which doesn't need anything else going on atop its organized chaos. 

This is the first round; the lines are 1/2" apart. My walking foot is the perfect measurement for this. You only have to mark your first stitching line (down the center of the quilt).  The rest of the lines use the walking foot as the guide. Work from the center out to each side, and remember not to stitch only in one direction (meaning, don't always stitch top-to-bottom. Turn and sew the next line bottom-to-top, then top-to-bottom, and so on.)

And the back. Love this fabric!

Next I'll stitch between the initial lines, making the lines now 1/4" apart. True matchstick quilting would have me add another line after that, making the final lines be 1/8", but I think that will be overwhelming for this piece: I might stop at 1/4".  We shall see!

The quilting is both relaxing and somewhat drone-ish. I have a good book on the iPod so I can go for hours, as long as my back holds out. Don't forget to get up and stretch!

I'll keep you posted on the progress. Thanks for stopping by!

Quilt of the Week - Week 6

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! I hope you're smooching what you want to be smooching today!! (I'm smooching my sewing machine.)

Yea ... again Sunday got away from me. Oh well. Here's the big reveal:

You see what I mean about the "built-in" border? It was great to not have to add more once all the rows & columns were sewn together.

And the closeup:

The fabric did all the work in the border. The pattern called for roman stripe half-blocks, but I used the Elementals batik stripe and let it work some magic. Yay!! I have serious boltage of this fabric - in many colors. It's very useful! (Yes I buy the occasional bolt - and occasionally multiple bolts.)

This pattern is from a 2006 magazine. Full disclosure: most of the inside blocks were already done and sitting around in one of my UFO bins; I didn't have to make ALL the parts this week! Great way to decrease the size of the UFO stacks, tho, yes??  One more thing - this quilt was really pretty ugly until the border blocks got made. I was really disappointed (maybe that's why it was in the UFO bin for so long), but the border blocks pulled everything together.  The moral? Keep going! Even if it's ugly at the end, you'll have learned something.

OK off to your loved one/thing you love! Enjoy the rest of this glorious day! (It's beautiful here in northeast Florida today.)

Thanks for stopping by!!

Quilt of the Week - Week 3

I'm so busy these days that I forget to blog! I love that!

Here's the big reveal:

This is a basic "goose in the cabin" layout using a Bali Pop (Cappucino) (have you ever met a batik you didn't like???) and some of my hand dyes. I love to dye fabric - you never know what the results are until it's been washed and ironed. I don't dye often (boy, that sounds weird when read out loud!) but when I do, I'll do 30 or 40 yards - in half-yard pieces.  Once I drag out all the stuff needed for fabric dyeing, I figure I may as well "use it hard" before putting it back away again.  Of course the problem with that is the rinsing, washing, and ironing of all those pieces.  Still .. the results are always worth it!

Here are a couple of close ups: you can see the wonderful mottle-y-ness of the hand dyes. Yum!

See that teeny little stripey inner border? I've used that on a couple of quilts lately and it's soooo effective. The only problem is cutting it. The pattern makes your eyes go crazy! It's one of those fabrics I've had for years and years: I guess it finally aged enough to be used (fabric IS like fine wine, you know! It needs to age!)

Most of the quilts I make are made simply for the joy of making them - no plan for their final place in the Universe. But occasionally one speaks to me while it's being made. This is one of those, and it said it wanted to live in ________'s house - so it shall!  As soon as it gets to its new owner, I'll fill in that blank for you.

Gosh, retirement is awesome!!!!!!!! Thanks for stopping by!

My life as a disorganized mess!

No, not really a mess. And really not all that disorganized, although sometimes things start to bug me.  I think the right way to phrase it is that blogging hasn't made it to the top of THE LIST until this moment. I've been too busy doing STUFF!

On Monday, a group of us took a Batik class with Wendy Tatter (of St. Augustine, FL).  Here's all our stuff, drying yet again (many drying cycles when batiking!).

Wendy holds classes at her house, which is charming in an indescribable way!! I think the most important lesson I learned that day was that it's ok that my priority is "There's art to be made!!!". I learned this by being so charmed with Wendy's "messily endearing" house. I'm sure some people need everything "just so" - but I rather enjoy the unexpected! The collection of Pez dispensers in the crazy kitchen was ever so fun! No more fretting for me - there's art to be made!

Gretchen and I were very early for the class, so we went to a Veteran's sculptural memorial for a quick visit.  I love this bird ...

...and this view

Ah, Florida! I sometimes wish we had cold weather, but .. not on this day. It was glorious!

Here are all the pics from that day - all with the Ipad. I kinda like what the bright lights did to the photos. It's funky! I'm a Flickr newbie (and certainly no photographer!!)  but hopefully you can see everything.

More to come this morning, but enough for this post.  Thanks for stopping by!