Category: free motion quilting

My one Monthly Goal in this crazy month

So, I finished my one Monthly goal and I don’t like it one bit.  O, my intent was to use this to practice my curved borders.  However, I got new rulers and got all excited about that and we have some pretty awful ruler work.  I thought about tearing it all out, but I just did not feel like it.  They are not all bad, but there are a couple that are pretty hideous, not to mention that for whatever reason my measuring skills were totally non-existent.  I will use it on my table.  Everyone always makes a big mess anyway…..It will blend in with the quilting.

This is the crazy birthday month.  All the kids’ birthdays are this month, along with my late mother, and my late husband, Derrick.  While I understand what everyone was doing that July before, I just do not understand why, myself included.  Fourth of July is really not that exciting.  So, the month has been getting gifts and making food and it is not over yet.  Still one tomorrow and Friday, Haley has some of her friends over.  Teenagers.  Great.  They will eat all the food, drink all the pop, and be super annoying.  Such is life being the parent of a teenager.

Due to all the crazy birthday stuff, I get little or nothing accomplished from a quilting perspective.  Add in there that I really miss my Mom and I have spent the month constantly thinking about Derrick and feeling a bit sorry for myself.   There have been numerous times that I just wanted to call Mom and talk to her about “things”.   Next month will be Dad’s birthday and I was totally a Daddy’s girl. Yeah.

Then there is the fact that, the first dead husbands brother died.  Haley wanted to see him before he passed.  I took her.  I had not seen these people in nearly 10 years.  It was stressful, but not nearly as awful as I had managed.  Sad that he is gone, I always really liked him.   At least he will have some good company.

Gosh, I sound depressing.  I don’t feel as bad as it sounds.  Sometimes, life just happens.  I need to get more sewing/quilting in and chase away the blues.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

So this is what happens…

So, this is what happens when I baste a quilt.  I was minding my own business and doing my thing when out of no where, Moka, jumped up on the pool table and laid down on my dog quilt, that I was basting.  Yep, that was once a pool table that now holds my projects and lets me baste quilts etc….  I had no idea that Moka could actually get up there.  She just stared at me, like I was the crazy one, then she tried to escape with a cone of thread in her mouth.

So, I decided to put my crazy dog fabric on the back since I was keeping this for myself.  I20180317_205042_resized have been saving this fabric for a really long time.  It is a bit weird, but it totally screams “Crazy Dog Lady”.  Not sure what type of fabric it is.  Not cotton, not fleece, just weird.  It will work though.

I debated a while on how to quilt and was going to go ruler crazy, but then came to my senses.  This is a dog quilt.  You need to quilt dog bones.  So, dog bones it is.

20180317_205004_resizedThen I fell off the not buying and unnecessary fabric wagon.  I had my daughter with me and I was looking through clearance and she decided what I needed.  No plans in any way.  It is a weird collection.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

What I have learned about Ruler work so far…

So, in my 3 days of owning some FMQ rulers, I have learned a few things.  I purchased A Westalee starter set.  It has six rulers in the package.  I payed $75.00 for them.  I think the 20180306_202815_resized.jpgprice is about average.   I have a Bernina machine, so I could purchase the High Shank set and learned that I could use any long arm rulers, which was good to know.  The rulers came with some non-slip adhesive that sort of reminded me of weird shelf liner.  You can see it in my photo of the rulers.  It is the longer skinny piece (white).  I found that these did not grip good enough, so I purchased the Handi-Quilter ruler grips (the shorter fatter whitish piece in the photo).  They are like sandpaper on steroids, only it is sort of clear.  Worked much better for me.  Provided great grip.

After I started practicing, I ended up having to watch more 20180306_200528_resized.jpgvideos on how to use all the lines on the rulers.  If you can see my clam-shells, they are all off.  Once I watched the video on the clam-shell ruler, I totally got it.  YouTube has tons of videos, even on those specific Westalee rulers.

So, I certainly need more practice, which I hope to get to this weekend at some point.  I am thinking of doing the small clam-shell on the border of my One Monthly Goal Table Topper project.  That remains to be seen though.

 

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

My One monthly goal…and some other stuff (Fluffer Nutter Butter)

So, For my One monthly goal I am going to finally finish this Table Topper.  Not sure I would call it a UFO, it is less than a year old.  I made this with the intent of learning/practicing some type of scalloped border.  I bought one of those fancy border rulers a while ago, so I will finally have a chance to give it a try.  My plan is to have this totally completed.

So, my friend Lynn was telling me how she bought some rulers for Ruler work and it was really easy.  So, since Lynn always has great ideas, I decided that I needed to give it a try.  On the way home from the swim meet on Saturday I stopped by a quilt shop and purchased the Ruler work foot.  A ridiculous $125.00.  Ugh. Then I purchased a starter set of Westerlee Rulers.  I hope to use these rulers to finish the quilting on the table topper before I give it a fancy scalloped border.  I am very excited about my rulers and I am hoping It helps me become a more confident quilter.

The Fluffer Nutter Butter quilt for the mystery quilt…..ugh.  Not much progress. Dang itwatermark_2018-03-05-13-26-48.jpg.  I think I was supposed to post on Feb 28th, but I was busy hitting 20180228_201013_resizeda deer.  I have such luck.

Here is a list of participants in this quilt along:

 

 

 

 

Saturday was the final swim meet.  Yeah!.  I can’t tell you how exciting that is.  Swim practice was 4 days a week and then weekend meets, often at least an hour away.  The school it was held at, had an awesome Natatorium.  Two Pools.  However, the most intriguing part was that the school was decorated with quilt designs.  Odd but refreshing.

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

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

One Monthly Goal Finish

Seriously, how can January be over?  As I get older, I do not understand how time passes so quickly.  I feel like the holidays were last week.

I actually completed my One Monthly Goal. Not only did I complete, but I did a “New” (new for me), all over FMQ design.  I guess I can call it the “Linangle” design (lines and Angles).  It is not perfect, but it is not that bad either.  The only major weirdness is the binding.  I did not have enough fabric to do all one color,m so I used what I had.  Looks a little wonky because of it.

Now I am going to have to come up with a new one monthly goal for February.  Likely to be more quilting.  I am working on a secret piecing project.  More on that later.

I don’t have any plans for this quilt yet.  Will likely just store until the right time comes along for me to give it away or donate to charity.

I really enjoy the “One Monthly Goal”.  It is a strong motivator for me to get things done.  I can not say I am going to do something and then not do it.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

Need a little Color Advice and I fell off the wagon

So , I am trying to decide what color thread I should use to quilt my “Hugs and Kisses” wall hanging.  If you look closely, you can see my blue chalk lines.  I plan to quilt circles (hugs).  So, I was thinking gray, but I am just not sure.  I really like this piece, so I don’t want to make the wrong decision.  I am also concerned about quilting circles.  I think it will require a lot of accuracy.  Wondering if I should use a walking foot?  Might have to try a test circle on some scraps to see what happens.  If you have thoughts on the color, please let me know.  I always get great advice from all my quilting friends.

20180121_112137_resizedYes, that is my Moka wearing an activity monitor.  Seemed like  a good idea.

It is not really hers.  My daughter got a new one that will monitor her swimming and I thought I should check how lazy Moka was.  Totally lazy was the answer.  I did way more steps than her today.  I was all excited about that and then Kev told me that since she has four legs I had to double her step count.  Not sure I agree with his logic.

So, I don’t really make New Year’s resolutions, but I am on a mission to lose some weight.  Decided that I totally need to give up steroids (not the build muscles kind, the reduce inflammation kind).  They were causing weight gain.  They took away the pain, but I am pretty sure extra pounds cause more stress on joints, so it is a catch 22.  I did good for about a week and half and then fell off the wagon.  Stress did it to me.  It has always been my trigger.  Back on the straight and narrow path again.  Ugh.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

I Think my Quilting is actually improving.

So, this is my One Monthly Goal project and I decided to not do my normal boring meandering.  This is an all over pattern, but I was surprised once it was all done that it did not look to bad.

I always get nervous when I try something that is outside my norm on a quilt.  I mean there is the potential of totally screwing up a top that you spent time putting together.  I am certainly becoming less intimidated.  So, I actually had the angled meandering done a quilt before, but I paid for it.  I did not like it all.  They kind of did a crappy job.  Mine is actually better and I did not have a long arm.  Just me and my Bernina free motion quilting. As I was quilting this, I did not think that I would like it.  I thought I may have done to much quilting, but once it was complete, it did not look to bad.

I really think that I am Super Klutz.  I almost titled this post “Fat Girl Falls Down Part 3”. Saturday morning, I decide to go out to the hot tub.  Step up get one foot in and the steps slide out and I fall straight down, one foot still in the hot tub.  This time I am straddling the edge.  It hurt so bad, that I could not move.  I actually chose to fall in.  Seemed way better than falling outside the tub, considering it was ten degrees.  I survived.  I have the blackest bruise I have ever seen, somewhere you really don’t want a bruise.  I am starting to think the hot tub is trying to kill me.  It is supposed to be helping me.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting