Tag: sewing

A question for Quilters…

I don’t know how many of you use an accu-quilt product.  I have had one for a long time, before they were really popular.  Maybe 15 years or more.  One of my girlfriend’s is a teacher and brought one home from the school to work on something.  I ran and got some fabric and it cut so well that I ended up buying one.  Of course I have the “school” model, not the fancy ones aimed at quilters.  When I got it, it was initially for shapes, pumpkins and planes and dogs etc…  At some point my late husband Jerry got me a big set of quilt blocks.  It cost several hundred dollars.  I had never used them until this past weekend.

So I cut out All the pieces for the quilt pictured using my accu-cut.  Here is what I found, 20170905_203052_resized.jpgthat there seemed to be a lot of cutting before you die cut and then there was a lot of waste.  I had a fairly large half square triangle that was just that a half square triangle on the die, instead of a square cut on the the diagonal.

I understand the concept behind die cutting.  Each piece is perfectly cut and exactly the same.  It is supposed to make piecing more accurate and easy.  I don’t know if it does or doesn’t.  I just felt like it took twice as long because I had to cut before die cutting and then the waste.  Don’t get me wrong, I love it for cute shapes, I am just not sure about block cutting.  I am hoping someone can share their thoughts with me because it just seems weird to me.

Normally, when I am cutting my pieces, I do have an Alto Quilt Cut, which I love, so I feel I am pretty accurate.  What am I missing?  Thanks for your help.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

Bahaha. Two of these things are not like the other one, not like the other one

Sorry, brought back a funny memory.  The first time I got married, I had my three sisters and one girlfriend in my wedding.  Since my sisters lived elsewhere, I picked a dress out of the Penny’s catalog so they could each order it.  Pretty simple.  So, on the day I was getting married, I am sitting in the waiting room with everyone except my sister Karen.  She walks in and my little sister starts singing “One of these things is not like the other one, not like the other one, not like the other one…”  Well, Karen’s dress was way darker than everyone else’s (totally different dye lot).  She was so upset, mostly because she thought I would be upset.  I just laughed.  Seriously, what are you going to do 15 minutes before hand?  Laugh it off.  And then there was Kellie singing.  It was pretty funny.

So, in my fit of sewing, or what I would call depression sewing or sewing without thinking, whatever you want to call it, over the weekend, I of course performed one of my ever so present mistakes, which I only noticed when looking at the photo. The top left corner and the bottom right corner each have a block the wrong direction.  Classic Lori.  The only thing is I didn’t put it together and quilt it before I found it.  So, I have the opportunity to correct it.  That is a change.

I made this from a stack of scraps from a dog quilt I made from my great nephew.  The pile was taking up valuable real estate, so I just started sewing.  It will make an OK baby quilt.  Haley said she liked this one.  She is my very critical daughter who could not sew a button back on her blouse.  Love her.  I can always count on her for an honest opinion.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

Block#4- I wish You a Merry Quilt Along

I finally found a reason to use all my metallic threads.  I have been hanging on to them for quite some time.  My late husband and I owned a commercial embroidery busisness manny moond ago and I am thinking that this is why I have a bunch of metallic thread.  Came out not so bad.  When I put my blocks all together, I do like it.  I am designing my 20170901_204923_resizedsashing, which will involve some snowflakes, somehow.  Must keep with my theme.   Looking forward to the next block.

So, I have been doing a lot of sewing these last couple of days.  I find when I have a lot on my mind, or something bothers me, that I find it soothing an/or comforting to just sit and sew.  The kind of sewing that does not require a lot of thinking.  I have a quilt that I am making that has 72 appliqued blocks.  It is farly simple applique, so I found myslef sitting at the machine for quite some time working on the blocks, trying to group by colors since it is scrappy, and rethreading the machine the least amount of times is best for my eyes.

Haapy Sewing

Happy Quilting

Houston Strong

 

I Sometimes wonder how I manage to Tie my own shoes

So, last night, I wanted to work on yet another project.  It had some detailed applique.  I was finding it very frustrating, as I had my head about three inches from the machine needle so I could see what I was doing.  I was getting frustrated because some of it was just hard to see (bifocals not helping).

So I suddenly had a thought.  Last week, when I was cleaning out the drawers of my cabinet I came across a few small Bernina Boxes.  I remembered where they came from.  My late husband liked to say I am sorry with “stuff”.  Since “stuff” was not what I wanted from him at the time, I tucked them away in a drawer.

Well, it turns out that one of these little boxes was magnifying glasses.  WooHoo, jackpot.  Maybe I can see what I am doing.  So, I get out the instructions, which is odd for me.  I usually shy away from instructions.  I follow along with what to do.  Open up the head and install this little bar so that you can hook the magnifying glasses to it.  OK, seems simple enough.  But, why does my machine not look like the one in the picture?  Well, after about 20 minutes of staring blankly at it, insisting that I was going to find a way to make it work even though it did not look like it should, I suddenly realized that yes, I have 2 Bernina machines and Holy Cow I bet these were for that “other” machine.  Darn it.  I wanted to use this one.  Then after another 20 minutes of being disappointed I looked at the front of the machine and it already had this bar for magnifying glasses installed.  OMG, could I be any dumber?  40 minutes into this and I should just slap myself.

 

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

Oma’s Treasure finished for my One Monthly Goal

I actually really like this piece.  I had lots of advice from people on what to do and I thank all of you for your help.  I so very often finish pieces and am unimpressed.  This is already hanging in my dining room by all the other beautiful thinks that once belonged to Oma, Mom and now me.

Despite the fact that my Oma could not speak English, she always knew what to send me that would make me happy.  Something to make or do.  I believe the center embroidered piece is around 40 years old.  Surprisingly, I did not do such a bad job as a kid.

The embroidered piece is made from linen, so I did add some interfacing to the back to20170806_131034_resized add a bit of stability.  I also sewed glass beads in the centers of some flowers to keep the batting from shifting.  I went totally outside my box and did quilting outside my comfort zone and I am totally happy with it.  How crazy is that?  So, now, when I sit down to dinner, I can imagine Oma smiling down at me.  Getting sentimental, I should stop now.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

Join One Monthly Goal, great way to get things done

Quilt Storage Bags???

I started investigating quilt storage, becsaue I have several quilts that I plan on keeping for my daughter.  Then, I have a couple laying around that have not yet told me their purpose.

I am also the crazy dog lady, so there are also three dogs running around at all times, so finding a way to store them seemed like a good idea and less work than cleaning dog hair from them several times.  I found someone selling muslin drawstring bags for about $25.00 each.  Hmmmm.  So, I dug up some muslin in one of my many boxes of fabric and went to work.  I decided to take a scrap from one of my projects and use it so I would easily know which quilt was in the bag without opening it.  I am pretty sure these bags will stop my quilts from constantly getting “Dogged Up” as I tell my dogs, as if they know what it means when I tell them to stop dogging up my quilts (crazy dog lady for 5215737111 (1)many reasons).  I have one of my little dogs, Snibble, that wants to test them before I am done binding.  If I sit down with a quilt on my lap to do binding, she is immedialty underneath it making sure it is adequately warm.  So, my quilts are totally dog approved before I do anything with them.  When I am done, there is a lot of de-dogging that goes on.  I am hoping this stops me from having to do it multiple times.

Pretty simple to make.  Could also be dual purpose, ecspecially with the baby quilt.  The20170820_202746_resized bag could be stuffed into the diaper bag to hold dirty clothes or anything.   I would like to get my sizing a little better.  I actually did better on the first one (baby quilt) that the bigger one.  I have a couple of others to do and will hopefully get the hang of the sizing.  It is really not exaclty one size fits all.  They still work, even though the one for the black quilt is a bit large.

I put a pocket on the front.  I did this mostly, becasue I wante to write my daughter notes about the quilts I made for her, but that would certainly work for all of my quilts.  Once I have it down, I will write some simple intructions.

Hapy Sewing

Hapy Quilting

Block #2 – I wish you a Merry Quilt Along and a bit more

So, when I saw this pattern, I was intitially not very excited.  Could not figure out how to keep with my snowflake fabric theme.  However, I found that I really enjoyed watching it come together.  I did manage to use my green snowflake fabric.  I found some pretty decent Christmas scraps for the trees.  I thought it would be difficult, but it wasn’t.  A bit tedious maybe, but not too hard.  I am excited to see what Block #3 will look like for the I wish you a Merry Quilt Along.

I also did a bit of work on my Table topper design.  Sewed down all the leaves.  I am starting to like it.   I got it pin basted and selected my thread.  THe thread is perfect, it has all the colors of the homespun in it.  I love the varigated threadds.  I also bought them on clearance for 50 cents each, which I also love.  I think I know how I am going to quilt it, bit need to stare at it a bit longer.  Also considering putting some vein in the leaves.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

Venturing outside of my box again……

I am always very envious of people that come up with their own designs.  While I sometimes create beautiful things (not so recently though) they are not usually something I came up with. This sort of bugs me.  I want it all to be me.  Likely why I can’t send a quilt off to be quilted by someone else.

I am usually getting my inspiration for things (mostly quilty stuff) by looking at other people’s work, magazines and books.  I am sure we all do.  Sometimes in my mind I am skill building, which is not always bad.  But I always have in the back of my mind that I want it to be all mine from design to finish.

So, last week I finished my “One Monthly Goal” (have not posted yet, this picture is just20170622_182605 the embroidery).  As I hung it up in my dining room, I took a step back and realized this is a one of a kind piece of work.  No one else will have anything like it.  The only part I did not design was the embroidery.  It was a kit my Oma gave me when I was a teen.  But the rest, all me (with all my blog friends advice).  So, why did I think that I could not do my own designs?  Honestly, when I did that piece, I was not thinking about designing a one of a kind piece.  But, that is what happened.

Well, maybe I can.  I will start with something small.  Maybe I do it more than I realize.  Not really sure.  So, I am always practicing on Table Toppers and small pieces.  So, Figured I would try my hand at my own small piece.

I took a piece of homespun fabric that I didn’t like.  Funny because, it was in the local guild quilting garage sale and no one bought or traded for it.  I wanted to not waste something that I liked, fabric wise.  So, I went to my “What were you thinking when you bought that fabric box?”  Then I went to my scraps for the leaves.  I have to admit, they are some of my favorite fabric scraps.  Hand Dyed, which I actually dyed.

I no longer hate the homespun.  Funny how that works.  Still need to finish it, which I will.  Not exactly sure on my curvy base, but I may still work on that.  Is it too busy? Would love your thoughts, all of you give great advice.  Thanks!

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

I think I have had enough of this quilt top.

So, I got a lot of good advice form people on what to do with this top.  After thinking about it, I decided that outlining with yellow might be the thing to make the yellow less obvious (obnoxious).  I went and bought a piece of yellow, went through my stash and find about four other shades.   The print actually has multiple shades including a gold tone.  I tried them all.  I didnt like the mustardy gold at all.  So, I settled on a lighter yellow hoping it would not over power.

While my daughter Haley now says it is better, I am not sold on that thought.  I might like it a little better, but still not a favorite.   I decided that I was not going to take it apart.  I will put it in the pile to quilt.  I am sure someone will love it somewhere, smeday.  It can easily become a charity quilt.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

Well it’s a bit better, still not sure though…

I started this project a few weeks ago.  I didn’t like it much.  But, I had already cut the fabric, so , I made a few adjustments.  I was limited in the that Ihe things I could do since everything was already cut.  I also did not have much extra fabric, which was odd for me.  I usually buy way more than I need.  Not quite finished, still have border of the solid green on the bottom and the top and an outer border.  The outer border will have to be a different solid color since I have no more of the green.

My daughter does not like it.  She hates the yellow. It does stand out a lot and the green print just disappears.  It is still oddly intersting.  I will have to see once I get it totally done.  Not much left to do.

Also got my safari quilt pin basted and ready for the actual quilting.  I need to figure out 20170813_185057_resized (1)the exact pattern and practice a bit befiore I begin.  I am also contempating making a storage bag for this quilt since I plan on saving it for my “someday” grandchild.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting