Quilting is Done!!!!

I just took out the basting stitches...

 

 

It is so beautiful!!!!

 

I discovered though that I did not quilt the center of the feathered wreath. I can't remember if I had decided to wait until I was done quilting the rest or if I decided I was not going to quilt it or if I was just undecided! I'll have to make that decision this week.

 

 

It is now ready for the binding. I decided to go with a dark green.

 

 

I can hardly wait to see it finished and hanging at the show!!

 

Happy Stitching!

 

The End is in Sight!

Yes, I have been quilting and quilting and quilting. When I laid the quilt out this morning I was surprised to see how much I had done and how little I have left to do. I have this corner to finish...

 

 

and this corner area to finish...

 

 

and then I am done except binding!

 

Although I was 'mostly' confident that I would finish this in time for the quilt show in Moose Jaw, a part of me was still wondering! Now I am sure I'll meet the deadline!!! Yeah!!!

 

Back to quilting I go..

 

Happy stitching!

 

 

More UFO's done!!!!

Despite being away for a week and working faithfully on my hand quilting, I have managed to get a couple small UFO's completed! This little quilt (just 22" square!) has been lying around just waiting for binding. I even had the binding cut out!!!

 

 

And I love this striped binding!

 

These next UFO's were two tote bags made from a small batik jelly roll! They are a perfect size!

 

 

It was a fun and easy bag pattern to make too!

 

 

 

 

 

And just because I like to have a pair of socks on the go...this pattern is Jaywalker Socks by Grumperina! I have made them before and really liked them. It's an easy pattern that doesn't require your complete attention! Just what I am looking for!

 

 

And now a hand quilting update...I am almost finished border #2. I am hoping by next weekend I'll have the last 2 sides marked and started. Yes...I will have it finished in time for the quilt show in Moose Jaw at the end of April!

 

Back to my UFO's!!! Happy Stitching!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quilting is Dangerous!

 

Last week I stuck a needle in my finger- right along the nail...OUCH! Well, after a few days it was really hurting and turning red all around.  Then it filled with pus. Yuck! (You probably didn't want to hear that part) It is not a good thing to try and hand quilt with an infected finger.

So while I wait for it to heal I have been keeping busy with other things.

 

I wound all my skeins of sock yarn into balls. I am ready to knit socks! Lots of socks!

I also took a bit of time in my sewing room with my flock of geese! All the 8 geese units are done. All that is left are 13 two-geese units...just 26 geese in all. By the time they are finished I will have made a total of 902 geese! Now that is a lot of geese.

 

 

I am close to having a working finger again so it won't be long before I'm hand quilting again!

 

And last but certainly not least, I want to show off what my wonderful brother made for me....

 

A coffee scoop and...

 

 

...a new pen!

 

 

Thanks!

 

Happy Stitching!

Done the center!

It happens every time I hand quilt...I fall in love with the quilt.

This one is no exception!

 

I am finished quilting the center!!!

I'm so excited to get started on the borders.

 

I spent the afternoon marking 2 of the borders.

 

 

I really wanted to get quilting again so I thought 2 borders was enough.

 

I also have been getting in small chunks of sewing room time and I have geese going again. I have to admit...I am tiring of the geese but I can't start working on another UFO until my geese quilt is finished. One UFO at a time....

 

And we have a little blooming going on! So beautiful!

 

 

Happy Stitching!

A Mess of Geese!

I am finally back to working on my flying geese quilt. I got the first 2 rows put together this week!

 

 

It is going to be a BIG quilt. Then I did a little count of how many more flying geese units I needed for the sashing.

 

 

So as of right now I will still need 18 of the 8 geese units and 13 of the 2 geese units.

 

I am just using up the scraps from the blocks first so we'll see if I have enough to finish it. Otherwise I am sure there is enough in my stash!

 

Here is the flying geese mess!

 

 

 

 

And a quilting update...almost every evening is being spent quilting my applique quilt. I have gotten all the quilting done on one block, so I am working on the second block now. It is a long process but a satisfying one. I am on a mission though. There is a local quilt show in April in Moose Jaw and I'd like to have it finished so I can enter it. So many quilts now in shows are long-armed and I think it's important to keep hand quilting alive in the quilt shows...I have a long way to go but I know I can have it done in time.

 

 

Happy Stitching!

 

 

 

 

Leap of Faith

Anytime I mark a quilt I feel a little nervous. It doesn't matter that I've used the same marking tools in the past with no trouble at all getting the lines out. All I can think is what if it doesn't come out? And this quilt has not one, but TWO different marking tools.

 

I used a water soluble pen to mark the feathers. All the feather sections are finally quilted!

 

This picture is the feathers I used along the sides and corners.

 

 

This feathered wreath is in the centre of the quilt.

 

 

So next was to mark the grid lines in the background. I decided on 1-1/2" apart. For these lines I used a Roxanne's silver pencil to mark them.

 

 

My quilting plan now is to quilt around all the applique pieces and do the grid lines in the background of the blocks. When that is all done I'll do the borders.

 

And when I haven't been quilting, I've been knitting myself a new scarf...

 

 

...from Noro Silk Garden. This is the second scarf I've made with this pattern and wool. I have a feeling it will quickly become my second favourite scarf!

 

And now I have to get started on a Christmas gift or two...

 

Happy Stitching!

 

 

 

 

Ready to Quilt!!!!

I finally found a bit of time to get my applique quilt basted! I am so ready to start quilting!!!

 

 

It is going to be so beautiful...feathers and grids.

 

And I received a parcel from my brother (the wood turner)!

 

 

I wondered what it was...

 

 

A very special seam ripper!

 

It was very hard to photograph but I did get this shot...It was made from a pine cone from the front yard! So cool!

 

 

I have the best brother!

 

Happy Stitching (or in this case ripping!)

 

 

 

 

So Glad I Have a Blog!

A blog is a wonderful way to document your UFO's! These next couple of UFO's I have actually blogged about so I know for sure without even looking they are not too many years old! But I thought I should look perhaps at when I did blog about them....

 

The first little UFO is this adorable Dresden Plate that I have been finishing. I started it about 3 years ago before I even had a blog! Then it sat until just recently when I decided to finish the quilting. I had actually started quilting it, and I remember that I was quilting it without a hoop and with a long needle at the table. I decided to continue the method but I sat in my rocking chair instead. I have to say that my stitches were way better at the table. Maybe I had a bit more control and I learned that I really do prefer quilting in a hoop. That said...it is so cute!!!!

 

 

Each little block is just 3-1/2" square. My intention was all along to do a scalloped border. Here is my tip for scalloped borders. I never cut them before quilting. All I do is mark on the desired edge of the quilt. Then I know where my quilting lines should end. When the quilting is done, I baste just inside the line (maybe 1/8"). Then  you just need to trim on the line. This will keep your edge together nicely while putting on the binding and you don't have to worry about weird edges while quilting.

 

 

Now it's ready for binding!

 

Remember my Farmers Wife blocks I started back in October 2010. I found them in the bottom of a container last weekend. I had 23 blocks in all. That's enough to make a lap sized quilt. I dug around in my fabrics and found just enough blue and brown to get it done. Here it is in progress...

 

 

The missing row is sitting beside my sewing machine!

 

While I was searching for old posts on these UFO's I realized I should really get better at using labels on my posts. I never did find the post for the Dresden Plate but I'm sure it's there somewhere!

 

And finally, winter is coming so I thought I had better get these scarves finished. All they needed was blocking.

 

 

The top scarf is Strangling Vine . It was a fabulous knit! The only change I made was that I cast on 33 stitches instead of 42. I used Knit Picks Palette yarn for this one.

 

The bottom scarf is Saroyan. It was fast, fun and beautiful. Very girly!!! This scarf is made from Knitpicks Sugarbunny. Angora is so soft. I often don't make swatches (I know...bad , bad, bad of me) , and this is a case I should have. Although it is beautiful and great the way it is, if I was to knit it again with Sugarbunny, I would go down a needle size.

 

Back to my UFO's - it is so satisfying to get a few of these done! I wonder what I will find next?

 

Happy Stitching!

 

 

 

 

 

Last 5 Blocks!

My last 5 blocks are finished...

Now I am ready to start my flying geese sashings. I have started cutting so sewing will begin very soon. Too bad sewing time is competing against big stitch quilting and gardening season.

 I am thinking it will take just as long to do the sashings as the blocks themselves! I guess this quilt will not be ready for this summer...

Happy Stitching!

Two Halves!

Every spare moment has been taken up with sewing my hexagons together and as of last night I had 2 halves! Just one more very long seam to sew! It's been a project 3 years in the making and still has several months of quilting ahead of it, but I will have a new summer quilt for my bed this year.

And I am SMITTEN with it! It's not even my colors...

...half #1 (ignore my paper labels!)

...and half #2

The one thing about such a large project is that I won't have much to share for a while, so as the quilting starts I probably won't be posting on my blog as often. I'll make sure I show my progress once in a while though!

Happy Stitching!

I'm almost half done!

My big-stitched winter nap quilt is almost half quilted. Every night I try to spent time quilting it. The perle cotton color is perfect too...it blends right in.

Here is a peak at the back...it is a soft thick flannel.

And the front, though you can't really see the quilting because of the chalk marking lines and how well the perle cotton blends in.

And in the queue waiting for some attention ...

I cut strips for another scrap quilt. This time I cut up all the floral scraps.

As soon as I have a sample block or two made I'll post it, but it will be a week or so. All my extra time is spent big-stitching.

I also cut out all the pieces for the Margo Handbag. I am still debating the zipper color- blue or green but either will look great. I think it will be whatever my hand grabs when I need it.

 I starting getting my new Christmas stocking organized and when I opened the pattern, the stocking was a little small for my Santa wishes, so I did a little enlarging. Now it should work just fine!

And that isn't all that is in my queue...I may just have too much going on!

Happy Stitching!

Sweet Dreams Last Night!

After many months of sitting at my quilt frame, my quilt is finished and on my bed! 

I am in love with it as I am with all quilts that I quilt by hand.

 I finished the 'big stitching' on Friday morning and by yesterday morning the binding was on! Here is just a small look at the back of it.

I thought I would show the size of needle I use for big stitching.

The big one is a 'big stitch' needle and the small one is my regular quilting needle. I think the quilting needle is a size 10 because it was a bit easier to thread but I do use both size 10 and 11 for regular hand quilting. Now the hard part will be trying to get used to a small needle and a small stitch again.

So I am back to more time in front of my sewing machine. I think it may have missed me a bit!

Happy Stitching!



Hoopless!

I'm free.. to hand quilt without a hoop! This was a wonderful challenge that really will give me more options for quilting.

It began with The Quilt Show Episode 203 with Suzanne Marshall and also Sharon Schamber's video on quilting hoopless. They both have a different way of going about it so I tried both techniques.

The most important thing was to get the basting right. Your quilt top needs to be well basted.

First I knotted my basting thread at both ends to keep it secure. I basted about 2 fingers apart (about 1-1/2") horizontally and vertically. It is a lot closer than my usual basting. I also did a fairly large back stitch every couple of stitches. This really seemed to help anchor the quilt even better. I really think that made a difference to reduce shifting while I was quilting.

Before we get to the quilting I should say that I used a size 10 straw needle (which is what I use for applique). I found I needed a longer needle because you need to have enough needle to hang into. I also used Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 batting. And I sat at a table for a bit of extra stability.

There are 2 methods for quilting...the first is that you pinch your quilt just before your quilting line. Then to quilt you move both the needle hand and the hand that is pinching the quilt. This was how Suzanne Marshall quilted. It has the advantage of being able to quilt any size quilt. Although I could do it OK I did not find this a natural motion and really preferred the hoop.

The next technique is to pinch the quilt in your hand. The motion of quilting comes from the non-needle hand. Basically the needle stays flat and you load the needle with the other hand using an up and down motion. This method felt completely natural and I really like it...for small quilts. For larger quilts it would be pretty hard to hang onto. I can see me doing this from now on!

It took a bit of practice to follow the straight lines and then again on the curves. One tip for the curves...you might only be able to put on 2 or 3 stitches at a time. It wasn't long though before my stitches were getting consistent. One other important thing was after taking a needle full of stitches I smoothed out the area I was quilting. It didn't take long before I just did it and didn't even think about it. Again...quite natural!

Ta Da!

And for the back...no puckers!

Remember the little needle turn quilt from last week? Well I liked this so much I got it ready for hoopless quilting today!

Try is definitely one to try! Happy stitching!