Sunday, March 27, 2011

(Mis)Adventures in Free Motion Quilting

Remember how I promised, I would talk about my failures?  This is one of those stories.


I got inspired by Mug Rug Madness, linked by another blog, to try my hand at a mug rug.  I've been wanting to try free motion quilting, so I could expand beyond in-the-ditch and grids as quilting options.  I also have a bunch of 2" strips left over from a log cabin that I've been itching to use.  They are a star patterned, and I found a tutorial for an awesome star free-motion quilting stitch.  So I grabbed a handful...

...made an itty bitty top...


...sandwiched, basted...


...rethreaded my machine and dropped my feed dogs...


...and made friends again with my seam ripper.  :-(


I was using slightly heavier thread than usual (in an awesome deep purple!), which may have contributed to the issues.  I also don't have the proper foot to use, but I'm not sure about investing in one without knowing that I will use it.  (Though I know I do want to invest in a walking foot, and soon.)  Now the question is to try it again with my usual thread, or to try some straight lines or wavy lines with the purple thread to get used to it, or something else.  For now it's set aside while I whipped out a dishmat (success!) and two more quilt-along star blocks (successes!) that I will write about in just a bit.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

The Process Pledge

The Process Pledge


I have taken the Process Pledge over at r0ssie's blog.  This was actually one of the first quilt blog posts I bookmarked, and one of the reasons I started thinking about blogging myself.  I don't necessarily fit into the "modern quilter" mold, since I love traditional prints and patterns, but I love talking about the process and the choices made that take a pile of fabric to a beautiful and functional quilt.  So without further ado:


I, Kate, pledge to talk more about my processes, even when I can’t quite put them in the in words or be sure I’m being totally clear.   I’m going to put my thinking and my gut feelings out there.  


I am going to share my thoughts, visions, techniques, changes, finishes, and failures.  I use this blog as a notebook, to track my ideas and my progress - so writing about the process is an obvious choice, but one I'm recommitting to.  

Quilt Along

I'd like to share with you the very first block made by a young quilter (I think 14 years old).  It's got beautiful colors, and the points match beautifully.  The seam allowance turned out to be a little off, but hey, it's her first block.

"Eliza's Nine-Patch"
The pattern came from a "Shop Hop" star sampler quilt, and the quilter is my little sister - in 2003.  She made two from the pattern and then got distracted by school and life.  Eight years later, she dug up her stash, the two blocks, and the patterns, and wanted to get going again.

"Eliza's Nine-Patch" and "Star Dreams"
So I challenged her to a quilt along.  We are making the same quilt in (very!) different colorways, a block at a time.

My pink and green "Eliza's Nine-Patch"
I haven't made a sampler quilt, and I feel like I should, to practice lots of different shapes and types of piecing.  It's a sampler of stars, so there are plenty of triangles, and some inset seams (my nemesis).  My biggest challenge so far, however, is giving up my rotary cutter.  I'm using freezer paper templates, but cutting individual pieces is very slow going compared to my usual methods.  I'm almost caught up to her first two, and I'm really enjoying the challenge!

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Happy Spring, Part 2



With the temperature passing 60 degrees, it is pretty clearly spring this week.  And my zig-zag top is mostly done!  I'm debating whether to add another row of yellow at the bottom.  Binding will be in the dark purple to frame it nicely.  Now to find a backing fabric...

Wedding Colors

Well, for the first day of Spring, it snowed.  Go figure.


Back for Valentine's Day, Eric brought home flowers for me.  He stayed away from red roses and instead picked out gorgeous orange roses with a beautiful shading across the petals from yellow to bright orange.  He paired them with purple mums and left me not one, not two, but FIVE vases going up the stairs.  The color combination isn't new to me - purple and orange are our wedding colors - but I loved how his particular combination made them pop.

Some of Eric's arrangements rearranged on our dining table.
Since these are our wedding colors, I've been working with them pretty constantly - the most recent being searching for the right combination for a flower girl dress.  I'm pretty excited about the look of a deep purple dress and a bright orange sash.

Not my actual flower girl!  Image is from the Dessy website.
I've been collecting purple and orange fabrics - and I've even managed to find a couple that use both - but they feel scattered, not a cohesive collection.  Part of this is because my tastes range from fresh and modern to historic reproduction prints, which don't always play nicely together.  

I've actually added quite a few more to the group since I took this photo.

I have grand visions of pieced table runners from these fabrics, but since I only have three months to go, I'd better get started!

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Happy Spring!

Well, it's been a while since I've been here!  I've been wicked busy, but actually not too much quilting until yesterday.  We've had a friend staying with us and it's finally been sunny enough that (most) of our snow is gone, so we've been out and about, enjoying the balmy fifty-degree weather.

I've also been working on wedding invitations - we printed them ourselves, Eric cut each of them, and I am hand-stamping the decorations:

These are cards requesting fabric for our wedding quilt.
Each is now stamped with "A REQUEST."  Whew!
Yesterday morning I did get some time to just sew and made progress on several projects.  I also figured out how to catch when my bobbin tension goes haywire, hopefully before it makes the back of the piece all loopy.  It's been driving me crazy for months.

My Spring Zig-Zags I started last time it snowed - I guess in protest and anticipation.  I was inspired by this quilt and used the HST tutorial from p. s. i quilt.



Mine is made with 4-inch finished blocks and will finish as a wall-hanging.  I did sketch it out and color it in pencil to make sure I had my dimensions right, then cut out my big squares and threw them up on the design wall.  I played with the layout until I liked the way the colors worked, then started sewing them into HST blocks.

This shows the progress about halfway through the piecing.
Wow, that second yellow shows up brighter in the photo!
Now my challenge is getting the points to kindof sortof match up when I sew those together - I'm getting better at it, but I'm also getting pickier, which has meant some seam ripping.  I'm also debating adding more yellow on the bottom, although I'm not sure I like my available options.  (By the way, this top is 100% stash except for the two yellows!)

Starting to join the rows and match points.  Yellows at bottom are auditioning to be included.
The other accomplishment from yesterday were pillow-case tops for my living room, to go with the throw quilt that is mid-quilting.  They were both planned as I went, with just the basic ideas of nine-patch and rail fences and using up the 1-inch borders I had left over.  I'm really happy with how they have turned out, although I think next time I do pillows, I'll start with a bigger basic block!  The one on the left will have the brown flowers as a border as well - that's next on the to-sew list!


I think that's sufficient cheeriness to celebrate this beautiful spring day!  I hope yours is as sunny and warm!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Workshop in Progress

This is my first time joining in the Workshop in Progress.  I'm excited by the chance to get feedback from a wider group of people.

I am working on my prep for my wedding signature quilt blocks.  There are two issues that I keep coming back to.

The first is making sure that guests sign on the right part of the block, inside the seam allowance.  What I've come up with so far is adding a freezer paper backing on the part that should be signed.  When I made a mock-up, I realized that I could write on the back of the freezer paper to explain.

Back side

Front side
The question is - does this make enough sense?  Eric suggested I add a border to the back of the freezer paper in dark Sharpie to make a clearer frame.

The second question is pens - I've narrowed it down to a Sharpie or a Pigma pen.  I've tested both and found that the Pigma pen bled a little bit but had a bolder result.  The Sharpie looks faded but doesn't bleed.  Any advice or thoughts from people who have done this large-scale?