Monday, August 10, 2009

Still quilting

Since I had lime green thread on the longarm from the Happy Block top I quilted last night -- I decided to put another one on and use the same thread.

This top was pieced by LizA and is quilted with a pantograph - Bubbles. It's one of my favorites for kids quilts.




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Playing with photos

I love the view from our back deck and I photograph it often (different times of day, different seasons).
My class assignment was to use 4 of the techniques we'd learned to create a page - probably why this wasn't working for me since I was just working with a single photo.

In the end, I kept playing and while this doesn't really fulfill my assignment - I like it better than anything else that I was coming up with.

Sunday, August 09, 2009

More easy quilting

This is a HeartStrings top that I pieced at the MN/WI sew-in that was held in May -- the blocks were made by other members and sent in for group quilts. It was a really popular project and we had tons of blocks to work with.

I quilted an easy wavy line grid over the quilt using the piecing lines for spacing.

And look at this cute backing -- it was pieced (you can't see the framing fabric) by Sheree from fabric donated for HeartStrings backings.

I'm so thankful for all the people who participate in HeartStrings -- there are so many ways people help out from making blocks, to assembling tops, quilting, making backings or donating fabric. Can't you picture how much a child in need will love this quilt?

I'm no artist

version 2 -- I think I like this one better with the gold stitching lines breaking up the brown background.
version 1 -- beaded flower centers on this one. I also tried a decorative stitch on the outside and didn't like it that much so went back to the zig zag on #2.

I have more puzzle pieces but I think I'll get back to quilting tomorrow. Playtime is over for now.

Postcards

Keith's just home for a couple days so I'm not doing much quilting but
I have been working on postcards.

Friday, August 07, 2009

a couple photos from my class

It's a good thing I have unlimited access to these lessons even after the class is over because after a while all the techniques run together. Being able to refer back to the videos is a big help. Both these lessons were on creating frames but we used two different techniques.
This was a black frame but it didn't show up against my photo so I changed it to white. Not sure why it's showing with the outline -- I expected it to blend into the blog background like the one above.

Do you procrastinate?

I'm very lucky that I have a few people who help me out by making backings for HeartStrings tops but I still have lots of them that are either smaller or larger than our standard quilts and those are the ones that wait for me to piece backings.

I was very good tonight and pieced 3 backs. Between these and the ones pieced for me -- I'll have plenty ready to load for the next couple weeks (assuming I keep waking up with the desire to quilt!)

So what have YOU been putting off doing?

Thursday, August 06, 2009

Yes, another one

Yep, I got another top quilted today. This is one of mine -- a Happy Block quilt that I made when HeartStrings was doing a special project earlier this year.

I'd thought about quilting a grid on it but realized that there were flowers and hearts just like my Wandering Dasies pantograph that was still on the table from quilting Lindsey's quilt so I used that one.
Chesty doesn't usually spend much time with me downstairs because there's not a window he can look out but he's been missing me this week and came down to visit for a while today.

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Want to have fun?

I always enjoy quilting the designs from the Pajama Quilter DVD. Maybe it's because Dawn tells me to have fun or maybe because they're quilting patterns that don't need to be executed perfectly to look good.

Today I quilted this HeartStrings top pieced by Sue from blocks donated to the group and I used a version of Dawn's Dwirling. I tried to keep my lines spaced out so the quilting isn't too dense.


I really need to branch out and try a few other designs from the DVD -- I'm stuck on Wonky Feathers, a flower, and Dwirling and go back to them time and time again.

The quilts needing binding are piling up but I'm still determined to work on what I want to for the entire summer rather than what I feel I need to work on and right now that seems to be quilting and playing with hexagons!

My Jinny Beyer book came today and I'm pleased to read that she completely supports just eyeballing the seams for sewing versus any type of marking. I'm having really good luck with the pieces fitting together well and between the quick cutting with the GO Cutter and not marking it's really a fun, easy project.

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

No Rhyme or Reason

Freehand Baptist Fans going every direction just filling the space. Can you believe I've actually finished quilting a 2nd HeartStrings top today? This one pieced by Sue and her Oroville/Chico California group




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HeartStrings

I'm sure you've noticed I'm working at a slower pace this summer and spending more time on my own quilting projects but I'm still working on HeartStrings quilts too. This one was pieced by San (Gypsy Quilter) and her group and is freehand quilted with allover leaves and curls.

It's one of those that you start quilting and realize quickly that you might have made a mistake -- the top is so busy (and my thread was very blendy) that I had a hard time seeing my quilting lines so I worried the entire time about my spacing.

Luckily when I was done and pulled it off -- the spacing is just like I like it -- not too tight so the quilt is soft and cozy but no big gaps left unquilted either.

I like to quilt leaves and frequently do them with loops but I was flipping through the book Machine Quilting Solutions and decided to add some curls this time. I like that she takes the same quilt and quilts it 3 ways according to the quilt's purpose - dragger, keepsake, or showstopper. Lots of ideas for allover designs as well as sashing, border, and block designs.

Monday, August 03, 2009

Another online Photoshop class

This one on Photoshop brushes from JessicaSprague.com. In today's lesson we started a card but I decided I'd try the techniques on a photo from this weekend.

I love stoking the edging around the photo and then going back and deleting it where it's crossing the text and the butterfly. (The butterflies are a photoshop brush)



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Sidetracked

I've gotten lots of great comments and suggestion for handpiecing the hexagons. Inklingo seems to be a favorite BUT, I have the GO hexagon Die which is so quick and easy that I'm using it to cut mine.

Other people suggested marking the sewing lines or but I'll admit I'm lazy and am just eyeballing them - it seems to be working OK so far. I've ordered Jinny Beyer's book on handpiecing from Amazon and it should be here tomorrow or Wednesday and I can't wait but in the meantime I'm playing. I made a 2nd red flower which turned out well.

I found a cute little table topper pattern but it's made with 1.25 inch hexagons and I have one and 1.5 inch ones so I'm not sure what size I want to use if I decide to make it. In the meantime, I drew up a mini quilt in EQ6 so I could play.


One of the best comments was from Jay suggesting that I assemble the hexagons in rows. Well after doing the first flower below with the smaller 1 inch hexagons, I decided to try it and it's much easier (at least so far). I was lucky to come across a link from the Quilter's Cache demonstrating it after reading Jay's comment. And yes, I am handpiecing these but I've been sitting at my sewing table to do them.

So while I have quilting, binding, and piecing to do on other quilts, here I am sidetracked by hexagons.


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Sunday, August 02, 2009

Do you hand piece?

I went looking for my first quilt book to see if they had a section on hand piecing hexagons -- unfortunately I couldn't find the book which is really frustrating! I'm going to have to keep looking for it.

I'd ordered the Hexagon die for my GO Cutter and wanted to see if I could hand piece hexagon flowers with a goal of creating my own Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt. I've done these flowers by English Paper Piecing before but I know it will be much quicker to just learn to hand piece them.

I did find a few photos in one of my other books that showed me how to turn the corners so I made a test block. It's not too bad but if you enlarge the photo you'll see one corner is messed up but the others all look pretty good.

Once the block was pieced, I wasn't sure how to press so I let the seams go the way they wanted to go.
The only other quilt I've hand pieced is my first one. I'd never used a sewing machine and decided I'd hand piece it and then flew from my home in Florida to visit Deb in Virginia and she showed me how to use her machine and quilt it in straight lines. The binding was also sewn by machine. I came home from that trip and bought myself a very basic Singer sewing machine from Walmart which I used for the first year and a half I was quilting.

I've ordered Jinny Beyer's book Quiltmaking by Hand but does anyone else have other suggestions? I'm specifically looking for information on hand piecing Hexagon quilts -- but NOT English paper piecing.

Saturday, August 01, 2009

Minneapolis

Keith will be gone all next week so this weekend is *together* time rather than quilting time. I just love this city we live in. Between a meandering bike ride this afternoon all up and down the river and then dinner outside with live music, today was just wonderful. It didn't hurt that it was an absolutely gorgeous, breezy day....we couldn't believe it was the first of August.



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Friday, July 31, 2009

Heading home

Our flight is delayed so we're waiting in Atlanta for the flight back to Minneapolis. I somehow managed to forget to take a photo of Lindsey with her quilt but she seemed to like it. We had a nice visit and are looking forward to seeing the boys and Becky next month.


Keith, Mary, & Adam at Amicalola Falls.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Still in GA

We've been up at our condo in Big Canoe since Monday. It's been rainy
but I'd forgotten how beautiful and peaceful it is. I'll be home
tomorrow night.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Do you Wii

Baseball anyone?? The first time I tried I didn't hit a single ball but trust me I kept trying until I could hit a home run!


Another toy? Chris has a netbook that he was eager to show me so of course I had to run out to Best Buy and get one for me. I love it! A lot smaller and lighter than the laptop but much easier to use than the phone.