Month: February 2018

Starry Starry Night….a secret project

So, I have been working on a “secret” project, meaning that I could not blog about it until it was ready.  I have tested a pattern for Denise at For the love of geese.  I volunteered to test this pattern for her, mostly because I really don’t paper piece but wanted to do it/get better/be less chicken.  That way when I see some of the beautiful paper pieced patterns, I won’t just dismiss them because they are paper pieced.

I previously attempted to paper piece a quilt and gave up.  So, I am always up for a challenge and really wanted to be able to paper piece confidently.  By the time I was done with this quilt, I was pretty confident with it.  It looks so hard, but it really wasn’t.

I actually like this one so much, I am going to finish it and put it up for my future grandchildren.  Funny thing was that I did not find the paper piecing difficult at all.  What I found harder was putting the blocks together.  I wanted to make sure all the points were perfect.  They are not, but not too bad.

Now the dilemma, How to quilt it?  I will have to think about that one for a bit.  If you are interested in this pattern, please visit Denise at “For the Love of Quilting“.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

Blogging Slacker here but I got my One Monthly Goal completed! Woohoo!

I feel like it has been forever since I have done a blog post.  Way too much going on.  My daughter has had some crazy virus.  SHe is getting better, but we are still doing breathing treatments three times a day.   Kevin has also been sick.  Amazingly, the person with the compromised immune system (me) has managed to stay healthy.

I managed to completed my One Monthly Goal amidst the insanity.  I really love this quilt.  I have names it Hugs and Kisses.  I quilted circles on this quilt (hugs).  They don’t look to bad.  I used freezer paper.  basically, I used a protractor (showing my age) to draw circles on freezer paper and then sewed on the lines.  The freezer paper was good but I did learn a few things.  First being, don’t iron all the pattens on at once.  Just iron on a few at a time.  I initially ironed them all on and manipulating them under the machine caused them to loosen.  I eventually, pulled them off and only put them on one row at a time.  Then I had no more issues.  I will use the freezer paper method again.  I ended up using a sulky thread that was sort of an Ombre orange.  It went from dark orange to light orange.

I got to make this quilted wall hanging for free.  My local quilt shop Red Rooster Quilts gives a free quilt block every two weeks.  I am already collecting my next set, which is a lovely christmas wall hanging.

I really like this wall hanging and plan on hanging it in my family room.  I think it is because I really like orange fabric.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

My hand quilting and one of the many reasons I can’t get things done.

Well, not much has  been getting done around my house.  There are a host of reasons, 20180217_120109_resizedKevin and Haley both sick, plumbing issues and a very large chocolate lab who thinks she can sit on me while I try to sew.

I did make some progress on my two hand quilting projects.  My Dog Bone dresser scarf is 45.5 inches long.  I think I only need to add 2 more dog bones.  This was mostly due to the Super Bowl.  As I sat on the couch, I worked on this project.

 

The Flower Garden project now has a total of thirty flowers.WaterMark_2018-02-18-19-24-15 (1)  I am thinking that when I join all these together, I might use a yellow.  Not to sure, but that is where my mind is at right now.   To get a view of all these talented ladies hand work, click on the links below.

So, I do have to say that through my blog I have met some of the most wonderful and generous people.  I need to give a special shout out to he wonderful Nanette.  She is a super generous person and has become a special friend to me.  I am so greatful

 

Wurtle has led me astray from my quilting

So, Wurtle has kept me away from my quilting, a family watermark_2018-02-07-19-25-21.jpgfriend that attends school with my daughter informed her that he wanted a turtle pillow with his turtles name on it for his birthday.  Since his sister got a quilt form me on her last birthday, I could not deny his wish.  Wurtle was pretty easy to make.  He has a pocket under his belly, that is meant for pajamas, but I will likely put candy in it.  All in all, I think Wurtle came out pretty good for a turtle.  Only took me about 2 hours to complete, including cutting.

Happy Quilting

Happy Sewing

I Tried this out over the weekend. The results are good.

OK, so I tried out the freezer paper method for quilting.  The results are good, but there are a few things I would do differently.  So, I ironed on all my circle drawings to the whole piece.  I found this not the best approach.  So, with the all of the freezer paper over the entire quilt, I found it difficult to move the quilt around without crinkling and loosening the designs.  Plus, since I was making a complete circle for each one, I had to totally turn the quilt around on each piece.  That is a lot of turning and manipulating.  So, I took them all off and only put on those for the area I was directly working.  Once I did this, I did not have any more issues here.  So, I think that circles are hard.  I found that I had to go very slow, which is OK.  I also found that I could not quilt a circle with feed dogs down, but rather did a lot of pressure foot lifting.

So, you can see from my photo, that my quilted circle is not too bad.  It is not perfect, but I’ll take it.  The first one I attempted, I took out, but once I figured everything out, I was good to go.

So, I finally successfully used my knee pressure foot lifter (for the most part).  I find it very hard to remember to lift my foot before lifting the pressure foot with my knee.  I did eventually manage to coordinate this, but it took me getting everything in the right spot.  Then, I found it easier to quilt the circles.  I will continue this freezer paper method for this quilt and will likely use it again.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

 

My One Monthly Goal

So, for my one monthly goal, I am going to finish my hugs and kisses wall hanging, in entirety.  Thank you, Red Rooster Quilts, for giving this to me, block by block every two weeks.  I also need to thank them for allowing me to deposit my paycheck at their store every two weeks when I went to get my “free” quilt block.  I would love to see the statistics on their sales and see the benefits of this way to get more money from us quilters.  I don’t blame them, I love the shop.  I would imagine that people may have went more often and bought things they really did not need (not talking about myself, no I am not). I think of the 26 weeks, I only went three times and walked out with nothing, and that was likely due to being short on time.  And yes, should they do this again, I will fall prey to their clever marketing schemes.  Fortunately, or unfortunately, it is about a mile from where I work.  So, when the nerds start getting on my nerves, I must go to a happy place. $$$

So, last week-end, Lynn and I had our own Sew in. She brought this beautiful quilt she had done.  She had such awesome quilting.  I asked how she did.  She told me she traced her design on freezer paper, ironed it on and then follow along.  Sounded like something I needed to try, which is why you see the freezer paper all over my Hugs and Kisses quilt. Hoping it makes my quilting less scary. I had a picture on my phone, but some how bunches of my photo’s keep disappearing.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting