WIPping It Into Shape

So close and yet so far. I am making lots of progress on my WIP, just a lot of binding left to do. I did finish binding my Grandma's quilt with the binding all hand stitched down.

I also finished quilting my Express Your Love/Goddess quilt and even washed and blocked it so that it lays flat.

 I really would like to just turn the edge and not put a traditional binding on this quilt. I'm not sure exactly how that will make the back look. Maybe I will add a piece of fabric to cover the back and cover the turned edge. Guess I will have to think about it for a bit.

I have continued FMQ my Charming Squares quilt.  I decided to keep quilting every other block for the border, but quilt an ongoing feather in each block.  I think it works.









Sew all-in-all, a pretty productive week. Hopefully I will be able to get out and take some pictures for some Friday finishes (which isn't going to happen right now, since it's -7 degrees F, BRRRR).


Here are this week's stats:
In-process: (6)
Express Your Love
Charming Squares Quilt
Red Windows Quilt
Humphrey's New Bed
Casserole Carrier
Mod Ovals Quilt
 
New projects: (0) 

Finished (1)
Grandma's Quilt

I'm linking up with  Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday!

 

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

Finished Quilting My Goddess!

This weekend, I finished quilting my Express Your Love/Goddess quilt. I'm quite pleased with her.

The panel is from Spoonflower, designed by Leah Day. Her words are mine and I really like what she says to me.

I like that I used unconventional free-motion quilting fills.

She's a bit wavy, I will have to block her to try and get her to lay flat.

I don't think I'm going to do a traditional binding. I think I will just trim the back and batting and fold the extra fabric on the front and stitch it down on the back.

Linking up with Marelize at Stitch by Stitch for Anything Goes Monday!

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

Express Your Love Goddess Quilting

Who would have thought that you could stitch "Hobbit Holes" (Leah Day's design this week) on a Goddess quilt, but I think they work great.

I also took a stab at quilting the actual goddess on the quilt.

Quilting on this quilt (Spoonflower panel designed by Leah Day) has really taught me so much more that just free motion quilting designs. It's opened me up to trying different and unexpected things from what "convention" says they should be. It really has allowed me to express my love.

Of course today I'm linking up with Leah Day at the Free Motion Quilting Project for the FMP Link-Up!

 Color Me Quilty!

Pat

Fresh Sewing Day February 2014

January has come and gone. Nothing finished to show for it, although, lots of stuff almost done, lots of projects worked on.

Left to Right, Top to Bottom:
Red Window Quilt
Casserole Carrier
Express Your Love/Goddess Quilt
New Baby Lock Tiara
QAYG Demonstration

Linking up with Lily's Quilts for Fresh Sewing Day February!

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

WIPping It Up!

Well, I'm not very focused this year, I seem to be flitting from one project to another. I started fiddling around and making a casserole carrier this week. It's a good project to learn how to use my new machine.

I'm using two layers of batting; Insul-Bright and Warm and Natural

Inside of my carrier is flannel.

The original that I'm copying

I also worked a bit on my Express Your Love/Goddess quilt this week.

So that's what I've been up to this week.

Here are this week's stats:
In-process: (5)
Express Your Love
Grandma's Quilt
Charming Squares Quilt
Red Windows Quilt
Humphrey's New Bed
 
New projects: (1) 
Casserole Carrier

Finished (0)


I'm linking up with  Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday!

 

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

A Little More Goddess

Yesterday was such a lovely day to stay in and quilt. I decided to work on my Express Your Love/Goddess quilt and see if I could over come some thread breakage. I know that I'm still working through some tension issues on my new Tiara, but I didn't think that the Isacord thread breakage was all just tension. Then I read Linda's post, over at Linda's Landscapes,  regarding humidity and polyester thread breaks because of static. The humidity in my house is in the low 30's this time of year, so I set up my humidifier and got it up to about 45%. Didn't have one unscheduled thread break, although I did slow it down a bit.

 

All of the FMQ fills are some version of Leah Day's designs. It's so nice to be able to just flip through and pick out a fill to try out.

Anyway, I'm off to quilt!

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

FMQ Goddess Hair

It feels so good to be back working on my Express Your Love (Goddess) quilt. This panel was designed by Leah Day for last year's quilt-a-long. Several quilts jumped ahead of her last year, but I'm really ready to continue work on her. Last night I got several "strands" of her hair done.

Poseidon's Eye is one of Leah's motifs. Really enjoyed quilting it.

Ocean Currents and just squiggly lines. Funny, I had the most trouble stitching the squiggly lines, my thread keep breaking. I still don't have the tension perfect.

I'm psyched that this is a long weekend coming up with no commitments to do anything but quilt.  I'm hoping to start on Leah's new quilt-a-long.



Today I'm linking up with Leah for FMQ Project Link Up.

 Color Me Quilty!

Pat

More Playing Than WIP Work

If cleaning, organizing and setting up a new machine in your sewing room counts towards WIP work then I'm good, otherwise not so much.  I spent part of last night learning how to wind a bobbin on this contraption. It's the bobbin winder that came with my new Baby Lock Tiara.

It worked pretty well, but it was a bit intimidating. Winding a bobbin allowed me to work on my Grandma's quilt. I got another row of quilting done.

 I also did a little playing around on a practice piece.

 I also stitched out a section on my "Express Your Love" goddess quilt.

I still have a long way to go to get used to this new machine. Luckily, I have a lot of WIP to learn on.

Here are this week's stats:
In-process: (5)
Express Your Love
Grandma's Quilt
Charming Squares Quilt
Red Windows Quilt
Humphrey's New Bed
 
New projects: (0) 

Finished (0)


I'm linking up with  Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday!

 

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

My New Year's Plan

Well, I've been thinking about this for a while now, but I think I will be ordering my new Baby Lock Tiara today. I spent several hours on New Year's Eve playing with the demo machine at Quilters Corner.

Look how much room there is to stitch. No more fighting to get to the middle of the quilt.

This is so FMQ I did on my Goddess (Express Your Love) Quilt. There is a learning curve, but I think it will be manageable.

More FMQ on my Goddess Quilt

28wt Aurifil thread. I couldn't get this through my Pfaff without it breaking every few inches. It ran through the BL Tiara like butter! Imagine how cool it would be to use this on a whole quilt.

The Baby Lock Tiara is a sit-down long arm quilter (all it does is free-motion quilting). It has a 16" throat deep and 8.25" high. You can stuff a lot of quilt in this machine. Some of my quilty friends have asked why I just don't get a traditional long-arm on a frame; 1. I don't have the space for one (frames are about 12 feet long) and 2. I don't want to stand and quilt my quilts, I would think that would be hard on my back and shoulders. I chose the BL Tiara because of the dealer, Quilters Corner has exceptional service. So, stay tuned, she should be here in about two weeks. Yippee, Skippee!

I'm linking up with Leah Day for the first FMQ Friday of the year!

Color Me Quilty!

Pat