Fresh Sewing Day March

February may have been a short month, but with all this cold weather, I was very productive. I finished three quilts!

My Grandma's Quilt. WIP doesn't get much older than this, the quilt top was pieced sometime between 1930's-1950's.

Red Window Quilt. I made this quilt to learn how to use my new Baby Lock Tiara

Charming Squares Quilt. I had a lot of fun with this photo shoot at a local playground.

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

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

Red Window Quilt - Warmth on a Cold February Day

I was able to get outside and take some pictures even though it was a bit overcast and starting to get dark. Humphrey insisted that he should get in on this action. I think he adds something to the quilt, don't you?

Another finish in February, makes up for no finishes in January. I made this quilt to "practice/test" my new Baby Lock Tiara machine - I think Betty-Lou (I name all of my machines) passed.

The quilt turned out very soft and cuddly

FMQ Wiggly Lines

FMQ Paisley

FMQ Swirls

I didn't use any batting, just simple brown fleece for the backing. I think the quilting really shows up well with this combination. I really like how the red binding sets off the whole quilt, even the back.

There were a few thread "burps" on the back, it really helps when you learn to thread your machine correctly. The quilt dimensions are 59"wide  X 71"long, a generous throw. The Red Window quilt is my own design.

 Today, I'm linking up with FMQ Project Friday, TGIFF, Link-A-Finish Friday, Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop and Finish It Up Friday


Color Me Quilty!

Pat 

WIPping it Up!

Well last week I finished my Grandma's quilt and this week I finished my Red Window quilt. I like the red binding. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and I can get some good pictures of it for a Friday finish post.

And since I have taken two quilts off my WIP list in the last two weeks, you know I have to put a new one on. I started a 2014 Pantone quilt challenge quilt in radiant orchid. I'm pretty excited about this quilt so far.

The bottom two blocks are 28" x 28", so I will only need six blocks in total.  It's going pretty quickly, although it would have been quicker if I had used a Jelly Roll. I think before I'm done it will take about 84 - 2 1/2" WOF strips. LOTS of cutting, but a very graphic effect.

Here are this week's stats:
In-process: (5)
Express Your Love
Charming Squares Quilt
Humphrey's New Bed
Casserole Carrier
Mod Ovals Quilt
 
New projects: (1) 
Pantone Quilt 2014

Finished (1)
Red Windows Quilt

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

 

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

Red Window Quilt

I'm pretty happy with my Red Window quilt. I finished quilting it on Saturday.

The texture on this quilt turned out great.

I used just fleece on the back, no batting. 

This was the first project I quilted using my new Baby Lock Tiara and I'm thrilled with how it turned out.

Linking up for Anything Goes Monday, which is over at SergerPepper today!

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

Paisley and Swirls

I have to say, I LOVE FMQ Friday. Leah Day has given me so much more courage to work through and issues, she's made me a confident quilter. So this week, I've been quilting away on my Red Window quilt and I think it's coming along nicely.

 I finished the red section Wednesday and moved on to quilting both of the sides - swirls and paisely

 I'm doing different size swirls. I like that they are really sort of 3D.

 I still have a bit left to quilt.

 The back is dark brown fleece and the quilting really shows up on it. I think this quilt will be very snuggily.

 The paisley side is going a bit slower. I really love paisley, almost all of my quilts have it somewhere on them.

 Still a bit more to stitch on this side.

My quilting is going sooooo much better, since I now have my machine threaded properly. Funny how that is.

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

 Color Me Quilty!

Pat

WIP Wednesday

I think I found a huge part of my ongoing tension issues with my Tiara; I missed a thread guide while threading. Isn't that sewing 101, know your thread path for threading your machine???? I can tell you that I feel a little silly missing the stirrup guide!

I think it's a testament to the machine that it ran as well as it did, threaded incorrectly. Threading it correctly has allowed me to loosen the top tension and less thread breaks. YIPPEE!

I will say that quilting on the Tiara really makes the quilting go quite quickly.

I finished the red section of my Red Window quilt and I started the quilting the left side of the quilt. I think this quilt will be nice and snuggly with the fleece on the back. I love how well the quilting shows on the fleece.

I've also made good progress on my casserole carrier this week.

I've been waiting on something to add to my carrier to make it complete. I received it yesterday, so hopefully I'll finish this up this weekend.

All in all, not a bad week!

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


Finished (0)


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

 

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

Baby Lock Tiara Thread Tension

There is definitely a learning curve with my new Baby Lock Tiara, not so much with the actual free-motion quilting part, but getting the tension set properly. There are no numbers or settings, just screws and knobs to turn. In my day job I'm a Quality Engineer, you know I have to find a way to measure things. After some research on the internet, it seems that bobbin tension is the key to setting tension on a longarm. I watched numerous videos on how to test it and thought I had it, but I was still getting "flat-lining" on the back of my quilted pieces, which would normally say I had to tighten the top tension,  except that was so tight the thread kept breaking. So I decided to buy a TOWA gauge just to be sure, it measures tension in M Class bobbin cases.

I thought I had my tension set quite loose, but it was still too tight. After a few more adjustments, my stitches finally look good.  So I basted my Red Window quilt and started quilting it.

I'm using red thread on the top and brown on the bottom. Not seeing much of the wrong color on either the front or back - Yippee Skippee!!!!

The back is dark brown fleece.

This quilt is so soft, perfect to snuggle on the sofa. I'm feeling a little better about my new machine.

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

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

New Quilt Top Done!

The other day I realized that I didn't have any quilt tops waiting in the wings to quilt. I tend to piece so I can get to the fun part free-motion quilting. I will need some simple quilts to practice with, if I do get the Baby Lock Tiara that I was looking at the other day.

Red Window Quilt

I plan on backing it with dark brown fleece. It will make a comfy throw.

Color Me Quilty!

Pat