Artful Homemade Quilts Have A Way

[Sunshine]

OK, I am still working the border around my quilt blocks. I have new insight as to why I postponed it. It is annoying. That's why. Even with the oblong hoop, it is still annoying. It doesn't have the same Zen quality that working the pattern has. When I started it I had 2 1/2 blocks with the border. Now I have 7. There are 30 blocks total, so this is going to be along period of aggravtion, but I won't put it down. The pattern was never about the finished product. It was about the joy of stitching. THIS is about the finished product. I'm just not enjoying doing that border, so I have to make myself keep trudging on. Glad I gave myself tentatively until I am officially retired to get it done. That means I have 7 weeks to do the remaining 23.

 

[freedombecki]

Baste flags of old rags around the edges, sunshine. Then hoop it. I embroidered a lot before going full-bore into quilting. Those "flags" will keep the work firm in the hoop and your patience intact. I prefer zigzagging flags on, but if I didn't have a sewing machine, basting is not a bad way to go.

 

[freedombecki]

It's time to get back to the sewing room today.

I'm thinking of doing a quilt entitled "Red Sky at Night, Happy Delight" with log cabins in "tall ships" format.

I haven't done many "boy" quilts this year... and I'm sure the Charity Bees would like to see some for their recipients at the shelter.

I'm showing the format below, but the sky will be red, not the ship, which would naturally, have to be black to show nightfall.

 

[Sunshine]

Baste flags of old rags around the edges, sunshine. Then hoop it. I embroidered a lot before going full-bore into quilting. Those "flags" will keep the work firm in the hoop and your patience intact. I prefer zigzagging flags on, but if I didn't have a sewing machine, basting is not a bad way to go.

I"ll give it a try.

 

[freedombecki]

Baste flags of old rags around the edges, sunshine. Then hoop it. I embroidered a lot before going full-bore into quilting. Those "flags" will keep the work firm in the hoop and your patience intact. I prefer zigzagging flags on, but if I didn't have a sewing machine, basting is not a bad way to go.

I"ll give it a try.

It put the smile back on my face a lot of times. If it's sewn on well, it's like your linen doesn't have a break and you have all the space in the world. I learned it from a very wizened embroiderer and French hand-seamstress, Theta Happ. There's nothing she didn't know about excellence in embroidery techniques. Her lectures were like being in machine embroidery heaven. She could help you do things in minutes that used to take hours and do them better under more difficult circumstances that are presented to people who embroider with 2000+ spm (stitches per minute)sewing machines. I loved every minute spent at Theta's School of Sewing back in the 1980s, may God rest her dear, sweet soul. She was the teacher of teacher's teachers, if you can imagine.

On the basting, if you use a machine, you can run a bobbin of wash-away thread these days. Then just spray the bottom of the embroidered work and flag connection, and it comes right off. No seam ripper necessary. If you wash your hands just before running a bobbin of wash away thread, dry thoroughly, even under the fingernails and keep drinks away from the embroidery or sewing area. Any liquid will melt the thread away as well as a spray bottle of distilled water.

 

[Sunshine]

Well, I guess I'm doing better than I thought. I counted last night and I have 10 completed blocks. I've only had one that was so close to the edge it was difficult to do. The pattern was stamped a little crooked on that one. That one will definitely have to be an outside block. I tried to pinpoint the issue last night and I think it is because that line goes faster than the design and I'm always having to move the hoop and get more thread. With the pattern I could stay in one place for well over an hour. Not so with the edge. It doesn't give me the time to get into dissociation mode like the design does. But I want it done, so I'll keep on keeping on. And I'll store that tip away in my brain!

 

[freedombecki]

So glad to hear of your progress, Sunshine! That's wonderful!

 

[freedombecki]

Scan 1 - Plan

Scan 2 - Bow

Scan 3 - Stern

 

[freedombecki]

Scan 4 - Sky and Sail

Scan 5 - Sails

Scan 6 - red sky log cabin starts (all the logs will be red)

The paln was changed to accommodate strips I found that measure 1" when finished and not 3/4" as the plan says. A small red border will have to be placed around the blocks, and I found 8 or 9 solid red strips that will do just fine. Already the width measures 42", and with the addition of the red strip on top of the ship's hull, 1.25" will have to be added to the 49" result, so it will be 50 plus the narrow outer border, or about 52" long and 44.5" wide. It's always best to add an inch to the measurement for seasoned quilters because a hair error on one side vs. another multiplied by 6 or 8 can be up to an inch. On unseasoned quilters, it can be ok, but in my experience, first timer log cabin quilters have a 4" difference if you measure two sides and the middle. Sometimes if you are a professional quilter, you have to contact the maker and tell her the bad news, that she will have to redo her top if you feel you cannot frame and even it out. (you can't do much for a quilt that is 2" odd, much less for one that is 4 or more inches weird. I've had worse, believe it or not, in quilting people's quilts for a dozen years before I had to give up professional work with fibromyalgia issues. Back then, people didn't know much about the disease, and it was too frustrating to not be able to do the work that had been easy the year before I succumbed. People found that kind of problem incredulous unless they had a sister, best friend, cousin, or parent with fibro or MS. They also are not aware fibrofog can cause quite a bit of problems running equipment that does 2500 spms (stitches per minute) that go out of control with muscular issues chiming in with drawbacks and other ugly stuff they do involuntarily in some of us.

I'm just grateful I can still do a top now and then, with a little more ripping and redoing than usual, you still make progress and can complete things, and you can still improve your technique and learn new approaches in spite of "fog."

 

[cereal_killer]

Scan 4 - Sky and Sail

Scan 5 - Sails

Scan 6 - red sky log cabin starts (all the logs will be red)

The paln was changed to accommodate strips I found that measure 1" when finished and not 3/4" as the plan says. A small red border will have to be placed around the blocks, and I found 8 or 9 solid red strips that will do just fine. Already the width measures 42", and with the addition of the red strip on top of the ship's hull, 1.25" will have to be added to the 49" result, so it will be 50 plus the narrow outer border, or about 52" long and 44.5" wide. It's always best to add an inch to the measurement for seasoned quilters because a hair error on one side vs. another multiplied by 6 or 8 can be up to an inch. On unseasoned quilters, it can be ok, but in my experience, first timer log cabin quilters have a 4" difference if you measure two sides and the middle. Sometimes if you are a professional quilter, you have to contact the maker and tell her the bad news, that she will have to redo her top if you feel you cannot frame and even it out. (you can't do much for a quilt that is 2" odd, much less for one that is 4 or more inches weird. I've had worse, believe it or not, in quilting people's quilts for a dozen years before I had to give up professional work with fibromyalgia issues. Back then, people didn't know much about the disease, and it was too frustrating to not be able to do the work that had been easy the year before I succumbed. People found that kind of problem incredulous unless they had a sister, best friend, cousin, or parent with fibro or MS. They also are not aware fibrofog can cause quite a bit of problems running equipment that does 2500 spms (stitches per minute) that go out of control with muscular issues chiming in with drawbacks and other ugly stuff they do involuntarily in some of us.

I'm just grateful I can still do a top now and then, with a little more ripping and redoing than usual, you still make progress and can complete things, and you can still improve your technique and learn new approaches in spite of "fog."

This is VERY VERY nice!!

 

[freedombecki]

Thanks, cereal--but so is your "My posts, threads & quotes" & all kinds of ideas around here. It's really great to know if someone quoted you & you need to answer them (when there's time!) The quilt is half done. I'd never seen one done, plus I added masts below the sails. I might do them differently next time, but designing quilts is a process, not a destination.

I'd like to do one in blue before June. People driving out to the lake see sailboats then. Unfortunately, it can take the quilters a long time to get around to quilting the tops I make. Last month they did 35 by meeting for an all-day machine quilting session. I made it up there to thank them and spend an hour. I'm limited in having enough strength to attend a workshop, and a couple of hours later, it takes a 4-hour nap to recuperate. At least I can do a small part in the participation in spite of my illness. That gives me a very happy heart every day.

Thanks for your inspiration, Mr. Cereal.

 

[freedombecki]

The morning's progress was great! All blocks are finished! The bottom 4 rows are together. Doing the masts was not as hard as anticipated, and four of the all-red "ocean" squares had waves or water or watercolor fabric on one edge and were used beneath the hull of the tall ship.

The scan shows the masts beneath the sails. It was easy to place them.

 

[freedombecki]

These scans show the fabric just beneath the black hull to be either waves, water, or Quilter's "watercolor" fabrics.

Thanks again to cereal killer for his inspiration and support of USMB and this charity quilt in his honor.

And it's back to the sewing room to do the sky and upper sails. Enough blocks were made to add another horizontal row which would give the recipient seven inches more of growing room (the present plan is 51". An extra horizontal row of 7" log cabin squares would yield a 58" long quilt, more or less. ...Thinking it over and will be back, hopefully with a completed top for a shelter kid before the sun sets. It's already two o'clock here in the great piney woods.

 

[koshergrl]

Over the top beautiful.

I finally got my sewing machine up and running..currently putting the elastic on 7 prs of telegrammer knickerbockers (5-8 year old kids who perform before the acts of the show my daughter is participating in)...can't wait to start some strip piecing, after this week...

 

[freedombecki]

That's great, Koshergrl. This must be a good day for sewing. The quilt that kept growing had an extra row added to make it longer for a growing child. The new schema was done as soon as it was finished so people here could see the overall plan, although with log cabin blocks on every square, this is just that: a schema. Actually, the blocks have a total of 624 separate pieces, all cut before sewing. <huff, puff, huff, puff> Actually most of them were cut the last time a red log cabin quilt was made, just to clean up the strips off the cutting table. It still has over a foot of strip litter, and a large piece already started of a strip quilt with some of the stuff that was there last week, now into a started quilt top. When cereal killer said he'd like a red and black quilt when asked, it just hit me as something so fun to do it would be worth setting the boring choring yukky strip quilt aside another week. It didn't take a week!

Scan 1: new schema with 48 blocks
Scan 2: corner and border
Scan 2: another corner, border area

 

[koshergrl]

Telegrammers' pants done and delivered, whew.

That stupid task has been weighing on me. Mostly because I put it off until the very, very, very last millisecond.

 

[freedombecki]

So glad to hear it, koshergrl. I get asked to do a lot of freebies, but I did my share back when. So now, I just issue them a blank stare and say, "Aw, I'm sorry, but my practice is limited to piecing quilt tops."

And piecing tops is a discipline. In order to get anything done you really have to put your nose to the grindstone and carry the ball by yourself over the goal line, hoping it's done before the buzzer sounds or you just drop from exhaustion till the next day.

But finishing a task like yours? I'd give myself a for that!

 

[koshergrl]

It ended up taking MAYBE two hours all told, but it was just one of those things...there was easter, and I couldn't find black thread, and then I needed to load the bobbin..and I needed to clean the guts of my sewing machine because it hasn't been used much and needed it...then I realized I could't see the markings on about half the pants, then I didn't have elastic, and could't lay hands on safety pins...you know just one thing after another, like always. It seems sort of silly in retrospect, but it all has to be wove around mine and the kids' schedules...and I'm hardly disciplined...I have the ability to be disciplined about 1-2 things at a time...right now it's work, kids' activities, and feeding the dogs. That doesn't leave me a lot of room when push comes to shove.

BUT I did it!!!!

I have started digging around to see what kinds of material I have that I can use for strip piecing. What I have is too diverse in types and color to make anything super cohesive, but I think I'm just going to go with what I have and pull one together.

 

[Mr. H.]

Did you know that "quilt" is one of 350 Scrabble words that begins with the letter Q?

 

[freedombecki]

It ended up taking MAYBE two hours all told, but it was just one of those things...there was easter, and I couldn't find black thread, and then I needed to load the bobbin..and I needed to clean the guts of my sewing machine because it hasn't been used much and needed it...then I realized I could't see the markings on about half the pants, then I didn't have elastic, and could't lay hands on safety pins...you know just one thing after another, like always. It seems sort of silly in retrospect, but it all has to be wove around mine and the kids' schedules...and I'm hardly disciplined...I have the ability to be disciplined about 1-2 things at a time...right now it's work, kids' activities, and feeding the dogs. That doesn't leave me a lot of room when push comes to shove.

BUT I did it!!!!

I have started digging around to see what kinds of material I have that I can use for strip piecing. What I have is too diverse in types and color to make anything super cohesive, but I think I'm just going to go with what I have and pull one together.

I saw the simpleist quilt strip video the other day. See if I can find it again. BRB.

Back...There are more. brb!

[ame=http://youtu.be/2bEJLnaZQOU]Jelly Roll Race! A Quilt Top in Less Than an Hour! - YouTube[/ame]​