Carrie's Inlaid Tile Table Runner Finished

Well, after looking at the blocks and different layouts for two days I made the decision to make the blocks into a table runner and 3 place mats.

The table runner ended up a 3x10 block layout which left me enough blocks to make 3 place mats 3x2 which look about right for size.

I have one left over block that I'll use for a practice piece before quilting this project.

I've been racing against time.  It's looking very spring like outside, and the calls are coming in for bids and work.  Looks like my winter time quilting is quickly coming to a slow down.  I'm happy with what I was able to accomplish through this winter and will be very grateful if I can just get the last 2 projects done.  Then, I'm thinking I will have to work on the quilting on the weekends.

Working with my dh is very physical (painting) and I end up as tired as he is at the end of the day. I always wondered how he could come home and fall asleep within 5 minutes of sitting down.  I'm lucky to just keep up with food and shelter needs before I'm heading to bed.

My goal is to finish the final and thus complete Vol. 1  by the end of July. Since I bought QA in August last year, that will make my freshman year 12 months!  Too bad I didn't get started right away, I spent too much time putting together the space and reading.  I don't have Sophmore year vol.2 yet. I plan on purchasing the next year's book when I get to the final exam quilt so that I can start the next volume immediately.

I am very pleased with what I've learned this year out of a book!

170:Lesson 4 Project

Carrie's Inlaid Tile Table Runner

I had plenty of time to catch up on all sorts of other things while my machine was away. I read most of my 4th ed. Harriet Hargrave's Heirloom Machine Quilting. I'm taking notes and highlighting and am hoping I've got myself prepared to finish up these projects I've been working on.

And, I spent time attaching #1 nickle plated steel curved safety pins into these handy Quilter's Delight pin covers.

I was able to purchase the pins at Wal-Mart. The pin covers and the Kwik Klips tool I purchased at Joann's with 50% coupons. I think it took well over an hour to attach all these. I believe I have about 300 pins here and hope that will baste any project I've got plans for quilting.

But, on Friday my sewing machine called to me, "Let's sew!"  After taking last week off I was anxious to get back to my next quilt project that I was ready to start. 

This is the Table Runner as pictured:

We're learning combined grids with this quilt. Combined grids simply means that some pieces are not the same size as others. We had strips to sew together and some strips were 1 3/4" and some were 3".

I wanted to stick as close as possible to the color scheme as the layout given. It just makes it alot easier when following the instructions and the color coding in the book.
Here are my fabric selections:

First shown on left will be the border print. I could not find any "border" print suitable. Then, my yellow, green, light blue and dark blue. All are from Kate of Spain line. The bright colors just make me happy. I picture them on my kitchen table and smile.

 

Here are my strips sewn.  And, here I have to tell you my happiness. I have a new needle in my machine, and new thread on top and in my bobbin.  The thread is pewter and it blends wonderfully. But, that isn't all.  It is NOT making a mess in my bobbin case and there is no lint by my needle either.  I was using Signature 50/3 and matching pre-wound bobbin and I had a mess that I was regularly having to clean off. This new Presencia Thread is wonderful. It is 60/3 mercerized cotton, imported from Spain, so it is thinner.

Which means that when I measured after sewing and pressing, my seams to outer edge were over the line a smidge rather than on the short side! So, I ordered more thread. I'm convinced it is worth the extra couple of dollars per cone. However, after adding a couple different colors to my cart at Harriet's Treadle, I found that the shipping was based on $ rather than weight or what could fit in a priority shipping box. So, I googled and found Presencia Thread here.  And, their shipping was a flat $4.95.  Sorry Harriet.  Didn't figure I wanted to pay $19 shipping when I could get more thread for that.

All strips get cut at the same 1 3/4". This time I cut my entire strips rather than only the specified number required. I will plan to use them for placemats or practice squares in the quilting process. I realized after the last project that I've got partial strips from all my projects and wonder why I didn't make extra squares.  Scrap strip sets are just odd.

The first two sewn together are the middles of the block because they have the most seams. I fanned the seams where intersections met.

And, this is what I got after attaching the first row to the previous 2. All chained together ready to press. I realized though, that this is the first time we have pressed a seam OPEN. In all our other piecing, we have pressed all seams to one side or fanned the intersections. 

My process had to change for this, and I think we probably could have used a little explaination as to how to press a seam open. Now, that may sound a little obvious to some, but really, how to you get the seam on the front to lay flat if you are not using the iron to guide along the 1/4" seams on the back?  I decided to lay the pieces back side up, use my finger to finger press the seams open, then press that side, then turn them over and press flat. Then, starch.  Please comment below if you have a preferred way of pressing open seams.

Each time I add a strip to the block I recheck my measurements to be sure I'm still accurate.
After adding 4th strip to block I came up with this.

Seam side: outside rows are pressed open and the middle seam is pressed to one side with fan at the intersection. 

Now, reading the directions for assembly, I find a picture of a 6x6 layout!  My first questions was, "WHAT?" that's not a Table Runner!  Then as I read, I see that we are given an option as to how we want to assemble this one.  So, here are my choices:

This is the table runner layout.  Blocks in 3x10 layout, with left overs for place-mats?  This ends up about 50" long where as the layout suggestion is 60". I don's care for my table runner to be that long, as it would fall over the edges of my table.  My dilemma is the place-mats are square and I'm not sure they would look right after an equal sided border added? What would you do with the place-mats? Maybe have only 2 and have another row?

Then here is another layout choice:

Another lap quilt. I like the inlaid tile design, but I think I was looking forward to something fun and nice on my table.

Feel free to leave your comments!
Happy Days,
Dawn

Sewing Machine Maintenance

I'm happy to report my machine has been returned. I was thankful that when I took it in on Monday they were willing to get it back to me on Thursday before the service man took his vacation.

When I picked it up, I got the chance to speak with the actual service man a bit.
The Good News:

• Even though I did not bring my zig zag throat plate along, he found one on another machine in for service so that he could adjust the timing. Note to self: next time take off the single hole plate and replace it with the standard. Turns out they just didn't sell many of these special plates, and so they don't have spare regulars laying around.
• He described my Pfaff 2040 as "bullet proof". Nothing was wrong, broken, or needed fixing.
• When I plugged it in and got it running, it sounds nice, quiet and smooth :)

Bad News:

• The guy on the phone that told me they could "calibrate my needle to the single hole throat plate was blowing out empty words.  No such adjustment. They use a zig zag plate to adjust things. At least I don't have to figure out if my seam line needs adjusting again.
•  I spent $100 just for peace of mind. The service man said that as long as this machine is running, I don't really need to have it in. As long as I'm oiling it properly and using it, it should work fine. That's why he called it "bullet proof". When it is broke, he can fix it... I suppose that after 12ish years of having the machine, I shouldn't complain that I just took it in for no particular reason. $100 allocated to 12 years is cheap maintenance expense. Maybe I can get another 12 years? hehehe

The bobbin case is nice and clean again. My thread was shedding too much so I put in my new Presencia 60/3 thread I recently got. I wound my bobbin with the same thread. I even replaced my needle.  I'm sorry to say, I have been neglectful in this aspect.  I almost completed the entire first volume of Quilter's Academy and about 10 projects without ever changing my needle. A nice new one should make a difference, you think?

Here it is. I've got my purple Qtools seam line in front. I moved my piece of masking tape chunk to the back. New thread, needle, and bobbin and now I'm ready to sew again!

A Little Reminiscing While Awaiting

I should be able to pick up my machine today. I've had 4 days to spend doing other things and my house is happy for that. 

I spent some time yesterday putting pins and holders together. Yes, I'm getting anxious for the quilting to begin.

I decided to take a trip back in time to figure out where I started all this quilting, so take a step back in time with me..

I found a receipt dated 9/97 for Beginner's Patchwork class. $30 for 5 classes. I had got some bee in my bonnet that I was going to learn to quilt, and I talked my sister into taking classes with me! We were young, stay at home moms with little toddlers. WHY I thought I needed this hobby I have no idea. It just appealed to me at the time.
I can't find a picture of the sampler blocks we made. I wasn't very happy with it as it was UGLY.  I believe I borrowed a class loaner machine to use since I didn't even own my own machine.

We finished that class and I signed up for a Beg. Hand Quilting class in 11/97.  This time I couldn't talk my sister into it. This receipt was also stuck in the folder with my quilting class notes.  This was just a one evening class.

A year later, in the winter of 1998 I took a Machine Quilting Class.  I have the hand out but no receipt. It is amazing to look back at the handout and see how many similarities there were to what I've been reading this week in my Heirloom Machine Quilting Book by Harriet Hargrave.  Well, no wonder... the reference at the end of the notes is to Heirloom Machine Quilting 2nd edition!
I believe I also borrowed a class machine for this class.

In order to start sewing, I needed a sewing machine, and MIL generously offered hers since she didn't seem to use it any more. We lived across the street, so I think she figured she could come use it if she ever needed to.

My first project was ambitious. I wanted to make my son a train quilt for his new twin sized bed. His favorite thing was trains, and so I found a pattern in a kids quilt book and went to work.
Here it is finished.

 And, he loved it!

I didn't really have a plan for the quilting aspect. I machine quilted stitch in the ditch as much as I could on straight lines. I hand quilted all the curves around the hearts and wheels because my free motion skills were severely lacking. I did try, but it just wasn't going to work. Turns out my hand quilting wasn't particularly better. I did find a cute continuous heart pattern for the border that I thought I could do.

And, so began the free motion quilting. I was fairly pleased with the results here, but as you can see when looking closely, I wasn't very good at it. My attitude by this time was, "It's my first try, I didn't have any practice, and I JUST WANT To GET IT DONE".

Now when I look back at it, I see why it fell apart. My son absolutely loved this quilt. He took it everywhere he could and I was happy about that. I just didn't make it well enough for that kind of use. I now know that the quilting was way too far apart. I didn't bother to quilt the inside borders at all, I simply stitched in the ditch. Not so bad, but they could have used something. Everything else was simply stitched in ditches too, and there was too much open space. Take another look at the full quilt picture.  Do you see all that white space?  LOL.  No quilting there.   It probably would have not torn so much if I had given it some more quilting.  He had holes in it when we finally made it a doggie blanket. But, he got many years of use out of it anyway. I believe the quilt's life was 99-2011

My next project was even more ambitious. This was a twin quilt for my older son and when I started asking him what kind of "thing" he would like on his quilt, he decided on airplanes!
So, I decided I could design a rotary cut airplane pattern! On my 2nd quilt!

The large blocks were clouds. I free motion quilted a "pattern" that resembled free flowing clouds :)
I again stitched in the ditch and gave up on the hand quilting. The problem here was MIL's machine died on me in the quilting stage. It was from the early 70's and I'm not sure what happened to it. It just died a quick brutal death and the repair man said it wasn't worth fixing.

Once again I had no machine to use.

I talked my dh into letting me buy a new machine at the local sewing center. This is a current picture. At the time, I simply put this on the dining room table and once again started sewing. It's a Pfaff Tiptronic 2040. Does everything I could possible want it to and more.  This must be the year 2000ish. How I convinced him, I have no idea. We always bought everything used out of Craigslist.

So, I finished my son's airplane quilt and even stuck a tag on the back that I used my alphabet embroidery with and another quilt was done. This quilt is still residing on his bed.

Now that I had a fancy machine, I was up for something for Dh and I. I found a quilt kit that I thought even DH would enjoy by Thimbleberries. I started the blocks and got done with the 2nd and decided I did not have the skills. I put it away for another day. The Thimbleberry blocks are top left on design board.

So, I finally got smart and made a lap quilt for MIL for Mother's Day, 2002

And, she was overjoyed.  I used a rail fence pattern, and used a straight stitch pattern for the quilting. Sorry, I didn't get a picture of the finished quilt. But, you can see happy MIL!  I was happy with the piecing and the quilting on this one, even though I wouldn't consider it good by the standards I've been learning this year.  I was, however, making progress.

Next project:
I was set on making a queen sized quilt for the master bedroom.  I got a software program and designed an Ohio Star in a patriotic color scheme to fit the queen bed and went to work. I think it took me 3 years to finish the blocks. By this time, I was homeschooling both boys and had plenty of other things going on.  When I finished the blocks I put them away because I noticed they were not going to butt together nicely. They were not pieced precisely enough.

In 2007 we moved. Projects got moved with us, and they even got a room to themselves to be stored in.
Between 2007-2011 I finished homeschooling the boys and they went off to High School. I got a job due to the fact that starting an old business in a new location takes time in a bad economy. So, I was making sure there was food on the table. And, I made a plan to finish up projects that were hanging over my head.  I started with the photo albums.  I got both boys' and ours caught up. That was about 12 years worth of being behind! What a fantastic relief feeling.

So in 2011 I found my sewing room and that patriotic star quilt that I still wanted on my bed. I wanted THIS project to get finished and off my mind too.  I trimmed all the squares to be the same, finished them up with sashing and border and then went to the local quilt shop and got references for a long arm quilter.

And it got finished!  I was so ready for it to just be done. A completed project. But then I decided I really wanted to learn to quilt well. Not for doing all bed quilts, but for some fun things, like seasonal table mats and runners, wall hangings, lap quilts... That bee in my bonnet was still there.

And, so began my journey with Quilter's Academy.  I knew I would need some more expertise and training, but I didn't want to start with classes again.  In the Homeschooling mom tradition, I thought, "I can learn this from a book!"  And, the one that kept speaking to me was Quilter's Academy, so I ordered it and got started.

Ooh!  I'd love to hear your story of who or what got you on the quilting journey?

Class 170: Yardage Lessons 1,2,3

On to my next class where we focus on reading a block for yardage requirements.
Lesson 1 was simply terminology that I needed to be familiar with in order to proceed to the next lesson. I think I was already familiar with all of it, or it was all very self explanatory.

Lesson 2 teaches how to "read" blocks and the basic formula for figuring yardage needed. I will probably not memorize the formula, but if I were to use it plenty it would become fairly logical. 

Lesson 3 applies lesson 1 and 2 to the Double Irish Chain Baby Quilt project coming up in this class. I call this lesson the instant gratification of learning. Application. My favorite part, in just about anything. 
Just to keep accountable, I scanned my calculation page, but my pencil didn't show up dark enough. Therefore, I'll spare you my mess.  I did do all the calculations, and came up with the same numbers as in the book. The tricky parts were:

• Remembering which grid size you're using for going across cut length vs. running  length down the block. 
• I had to look at and read the explanation for Block B about 10 times before I finally understood how to find 4 different like units. Pay attention. I'm not at all sure I would have figured out that the top units are not the same as the side units on my own. 

I took the plunge, and dropped off my sewing machine at the sewing center for servicing yesterday.  I decided to call first and ask some questions though, hoping to convince myself I didn't need to do this yet. I was informed that servicing a computerized display screen type machine involves opening up the machine and cleaning as well as reset the timing and making adjustments, including calibrating the needle to the new throat plate. This should realign the needle so it isn't off to the side anymore.  I decided that it probably warranted the work just for that, even though I haven't serviced it since I bought it. The cost would be $99.95 + parts. Hopefully, since nothing is broken, I won't need parts. Eeek.  Hopefully, I can get away with another 8 years :) I can pick it back up on Thursday.

After dropping off the machine, I decided since I was out, to start my hunt for fabric for the next project: Carrie's Inlaid Tile Table Runner.

Grrr.Matching the type of fabrics used is not going to happen because I can't find a border fabric that runs parallel to the selvage that is suitable for a table runner.This is what I ended up with. The fabric is from the Kate of Spain line.

Since I can't start the project, I'll save more info about this choice of fabric for later when I post on the project. Please tell me you can guess which will be the border fabric.

Completed Block B

I spent last night sewing, since dh was tired and went to bed.  It also helps that I was on the last disk of Harry Potter 4 and wanted to finish it up!

This is the makings of Block B, Harriet's Double 9 Patch Chain.
Strips were 3 1/2", nice and big for a change!  My issue with cutting them?  Well, I have a 2.5" and 3.5" ruler in Creative Grid (CG). Then, I jump to a 6.5" Omnigrid. It is too hard to line up an edge of a ruler with the edge of fabric, so I went with my 6.5". I already know that my issue will be that the measurements will not be the exact same as in my Block A, because it was measured with the CG.
Sure enough, they are on the tad big side! I guess that makes for cutting down better than being too small.

Here I got all 13 of them sewn together, and used my CG square ruler to size them perfectly. Just a smidge had to be cut off.
Then off to the design board to see what it is looking like!

It is looking fine, and I'm sure the whole view will change when I add the borders in the fabric of the darker paisley fabric. At this point, my blue looks a little bit bright.. I'm hoping it will tone down when I get the border on, but I wish I had chosen a dark blue for the small 9 patch though. I thought it needed more color. Ha. Probably not. It is So hard to pick the fabric knowing how the pieces will be used and get a good idea of how it will look. Guess the mock ups would have told me that, but I didn't do one.

I really like my design board. It is so much easier to get a good view of what is going on. I used to use the floor, but one can only get so far from it to see.. and it isn't very comfy to get up and down.

I made this with a big piece of foam board from Home Depot. (In the lumber dept.) Stapled some white flannel on it, and my dh stapled it to the wall! No one will notice the tiny holes later. (He has a large stapler). Simple, and Oh, So Worth it.

Another Amazon box came today!

I decided I wanted another pin cushion for the ironing board. Now, I have 1 for the sewing machine table, and one for the ironing board.

The SideWinder is for winding all those new bobbins I got.  I didn't want to be unthreading my needle back and forth.

The BobbinSaver is to store the bobbins without them unraveling.

And, that "Command" package is for attaching my cords to the table and wall. I have to unplug my sewing machine, raise the drop table, remove the front storage case, and then open the bobbin case to replace a bobbin and then put it all back together. Often, I can't seem to find my ends of the cords to plug them back in.(both the electric cord and the foot pedal cord). So these will hopefully keep the cords where they need to be.
And Finally:

My Supreme Slider for the free motion quilting. This should help move the fabric across my sewing machine. I'm looking forward to getting to this stage!

I haven't looked too closely, but I think the next class starts with some drafting stuff. It's a good time to get my machine in for some servicing. I'm sorry to say, it's never seen a service man before. I've had it for about 8 or 9 years?  Granted, I haven't used it much over the last 7, but it's seen lots of use this year. I thought that since it is a non lubricated machine (except for the bobbin case which I have oiled) I didn't need to worry about it.

However, I went into the local sewing machine store yesterday to look at some lighting and ask about how come my needle is too far to the left so that it comes too close to my presser foot edge and how can I adjust it. She informed me that every 2 years a machine should come in for servicing and the serviceman may be able to adjust that needle. So, I won't be sewing next week while it gets a tune up.

How often do you get your machine serviced?

Double Chain Block A finished

Block A finished, 12 times

Somehow, when putting row 3 together, my second 9 patch got turned at the table, and after the first one, all the others were sewn sideways so that the chain didn't meet... So, I had to rip 11 of them back off and do them over. I think since I had them on my left, as the first piece went through, it slid along the pile and turned them!

Most of them are just like this.  All the corners are nested nicely, except one corner. I'm not sure what happened. I even ripped some seams after joining the row to see if I could nest them better, but it came out the same the second time. I did not have this problem with the smaller 9 patches. It is only when I joined the rows together.

I measured after each seam was sewn. All was fine.

I pressed toward the middle row as per the instructions, which makes for some bulky seams.
 
This block had a lot of steps. It is fairly boring looking, but more work than it looks and very time consuming.
It looked a little better when I put them all up on the design board:

Not so boring anymore!
Now, on to Block B.

But first......
I went shopping again!
I had to get some more storage bins for the fabric I won on Ebay! I got one more large and one more medium just like in the pictures previously.

A quilt store owner/quilter is selling off her "scrap" stash. Her scraps are not what I would call scraps.  Yes, there were some smaller squares, but there were nice strips of  2,3,5" or so from the end of the yardage cut, (very nice scraps). There were also lots of pieces that looked almost a fat quarter, or more!  So much variety! 6 1/2 pounds worth = approx 18 yards!  I spent last night sorting it and putting it away. It was like being a kid in a candy store.

I also won from the same lady 140 fat 1/8ths. No duplicates. All quilt store quality.  I was the only bidder which means I paid the starting bid which works out to a total of  35 cents each!

I'd say I'm on my way to collecting a nice stash!

And, Amazon delivered by USPS today!

I'm going to enjoy having a magnetic pin cushion. When I drop my pins on the wood floor they disappear!  I thought it would be easier to find them on a wood floor, but they roll away far from where I dropped them.

I bought nice Patchwork Thin pins to use because my pins are too thick and distort my fabric. The pins that came with the cushion, as well as my current pins are being donated to my dh. He uses them to clean out spray tips, etc..

The "Purple Sticky Thingies", (Thank you Sandra) are actually Qtools Sewing Edge and are for a nice clean sewing edge, without leaving a sticky residue on my plastic machine.

And, in anticipation of my finally getting toward the quilting/binding stage, I got these Clover Wonder Clips. Quilter's say they love these things to hold the binding on, much better than pins. So, I'm going to try them!

Oh, I love getting mail :)