Interlacing Circles project complete

Next quilt finished!

I was planning on getting it done last week, but I had a surprise visitor!  As most know, my quilting room is also my guest room, so I took it all down and stored all the tables against the wall in our family room and set up the  air mattress guest room :)
It was fun week spending time with my sister and was an easy reassemble when she left this morning.
I had everything put back together before noon, and at 8pm I can show you my finished quilt!

Last week I brought my sister along to the quilt store while I used the long arm machine to quilt this. We picked out a pantograph called Flower Power.  It was labeled "Advanced" because it had a lot of tight curves.  I was only planning on an hour rental, but this took 2 hours, but I think it was the right design for this retro colored quilt.

Today, I was able to cut the edges straight, make the binding, sew it on, and finish by hand.
Another crossed off the list!  I'm getting closer to that Final Exam :)

Cutting Binding angles and the Binding of Log Cabin Project

I am SO excited. The 3rd time really is the charm :)
My first two quilt bindings I had a terrible time with the 45 degree angle and the strips being even. Remember? They looked like this :

 

I just couldn't figure out how to get them to come out straight!

But, this time, I've got it! Look! They are perfectly straight!

 Since I'm more visual, and the instructions just didn't give me what I was looking for, maybe this will help someone else.  Since I don't sew anything else, I'm not that knowledgeable in how this works, except by what the instructions say. So, now this is a visual of what I have learned.

My ruler has a 45 degree line.  I lined it up perfectly against the top edge and cut off the end of the strip, both ends, wrong sides together.

 Now, I ran through the small piece that I cut off BEFORE I attempted to run my strips through. I think that trying to run the strip through by itself, it would get bunched up, and not pull properly through.  I was able to use my 1/4" guide somewhat, but mostly I made sure after I put them together as the book outlined, I sent them through sewing exactly from notch to notch, like this:

 The notches are more important than the 1/4" seam. And, make sure to finish with the piece of fabric also. It also helps to use the end of the seam ripper to hold the fabric in place as it is going through the needle. You can see that I don't use the seam guide here, or else it would not be straight when opening.

 

Press seams open, and press binding in half and press the end 1/4 " to the inside, I sewed the first layer to the front of quilt about 4".

And, the quilt lays perfectly on my table!  After I sewed the first 4", I cut thread and started again almost 2" away from where both layers come together. This is for the end of the strip to fit inside when you come back to this end.

When I got to the edge, this was tricky. Another part that wasn't that clear in the instructions.
Stop sewing about 1/4" away from the end. Leave the needle down. Lift presser foot, and turn your quilt to go the next side down.  Like this below.

Now, put presser foot back down, and push the back up button to sew back off the edge.

Next, fold the binding up, and turn back down so you have the nice square end.  You can pull a little thread through to make room if you need to, as it will get buried inside the binding, but DON'T cut it. I think the instructions did a good job of how to do the folding part. Now, sew straight onto the edge just as before.

 When you come to the end, you will simply tuck the end into that beginning opening, and keep sewing until you have it completed. It will then look just like all the other 45 degree angle seams!


This is what the front side looks like when you turn the binding over to back side and sew. A nice mitered corner!

 This is the back side of mitered corner!

So, after the 3rd time, I think I finally understand how to apply those instructions that seemed to miss a few key visuals.  

Another project complete.  I have an appt. at The Quilt Crossing for the Long Arm Machine next Thursday, so I better go get the borders on my next piece.  

Until next week......

Project 3: Log Cabin Quilting

The holidays are over, and I'm back to the sewing room!

Here is my log cabin pieced top, 32" x 32":

I spent 2 weeks on trying to figure out how to quilt this top.  I got 2 new quilting books for Christmas, Thanks Sis :) : Shape by Shape by Angela Walters, and Quilting Inside the Lines by Pam Clarke.  My goal with this quilt was to quilt from the front in a free motion style. My last 2 have been by pantograph, which I'm comfortable with and find rather easy and not very exciting.

I decided to use these two patterns:

The top one I decided would be for all the smaller squares.  The bottom pattern I wanted to use for the big center block of 4 squares.

The idea here is to only make the guidelines through center, with dots to help know where to make the rounded circles.
I chickened out, and made a few marks to help with the center square.  However, I think for the first time on free motion, I would have done better to pick a pattern that I could draw on the quilt first! But, that isn't my goal to follow lines, and draw them all over, so I kept to the guidelines and dots.

Because this is my first attempt, I am giving myself some leniency.  I could be practicing the Long Arm Quilting on large sheets of fabric, and never get anything done, or I can use these "learning" quilts and learn both aspects together along the way.  I've decided to use these quilts :)

So, please, don't be too critical... I'm going to show you my progress!
This is my first square.  It only took me 45 minutes to set up the machine and actually do this one square. LOL.  I practiced moving the machine in the manner I thought would get me there. It was a good thing to do that, as it was very different than practicing with my finger at home.

I found it was very hard to bring up my bobbin thread and take the small locking stitches to start.  And, I couldn't see where I was going when I was at the bottom and working back up to the left and top, which is why you see such a rounded left side in the middle.  

It took me the entire top row to get used to going slow, pausing at the corners, and figuring out how to see beyond the machine when I was at the bottom going back up. Sometimes, I didn't even get the quilting in the right square.  Twice I went into the next square with my point :(
This is much different than a pattern you follow by laser from the back of the machine!

Here is my center square:

I drew in the arcs, since I wasn't sure I could make the arcs consistent.  I didn't need to do that, since that wasn't really my problem.  I was supposed to come to within a couple stitches in the middle, so there wouldn't be big knots of thread, but I didn't get nearly close enough. I liked the design for the square though.

And, by the time I was done, here is my last square:

I see much improvement, but its far from good.  It will take much more practice before I can say I know what I'm doing.  This took a total of 1.5 hrs. I'm amazed at how much can be accomplished on the Long Arm.  I LOVE the no basting aspect.

Now, off to binding and it will be another project completed from Quilter's Academy Freshman Year.

I made another appt. at my Local Quilt Store to quilt my next project next week. I plan on skipping the table runner for now, and move onto the next one, which requires a border, so I better get sewing!

Goals for 2015

Happy New Year!

At this time of year, I reflect on what I accomplished last year, and think about what is still important to me and what I want to concentrate on this year.
I have a simple piece of paper that lists different areas of life: Financial, Health, Spiritual, Hobbies, etc.....
Last year I fell off the wagon half way through.  I was fairly intentional in my daily happenings, until I went on a road trip in the summer with my son.  When I got back, I just never got back into my routine :(  The Very Important things got done, but too much got left behind.
And, I wasn't doing the quilting at all last year, because I just didn't sit down and figure out what I wanted to do about the finished project tops and their quilting. It was a procrastination thing.

So, it is a fresh start. Don't you just love that about every January? I have my list of important things and quilting is one of them. LOL

My goal this year is to finish all the unfinished quilt tops from Quilter's Academy 1. There are 8 of them remaining. Two I finished in December.  And, I want to get started on Quilter's Academy 2, which I received as a gift this Christmas. Thanks Mom :) I don't believe I can finish the entire book this year, but I'd like to be working on projects weekly.

My hope is to be finished with the Academy 1 tops by May 1 before a house full of guests arrive for my son's High School graduation.   I hope to start on Sophomore Year soon so I can get back into piecing! Here is the list I used for my quilting goals:

Speaking of old projects.. I got out my project tops and was planning the quilting and I've already come up with the first problem.  I don't have backing fabric that goes with the tops!  We were given information about yardage needed for the project itself, but nothing was ever mentioned about the backing.  I have lots of wonderful fabrics I used for the tops, and would have wanted fabric to match on the back.  Now, it has been so long, I cannot go back and find any of these lines of fabric. :(  It will take me a little while to gather fabric for the backs.

Problem 2 comes with the dreaded table runner with the pointed ends.. (project 4)  I remember having to email Harriet about the instructions for this table runner.  Now, as I have it up on my design board, I realize I am really stuck with figuring out how to make mitered points on the border!  GRRRR. She simply says, this requires 6 mitered edges! I think if I were to do this all over again, this table runner doesn't belong with the other projects.  It is definitely a level 2 or 3 skill. lol  Too hard.  I may just put it away and wait until later to finish it.

So, what am I doing this week? I get to hunt down fabric! And, I am reading through Freshman Year again, to refresh my mind on what I have learned so far!

Project 2 Rail Fence Finished

Project 2 Rail Fence is complete!

This was not without a hiccup.  Well, without picking out threads.  Lots of threads.  The entire quilt of quilting threads! LOL
Of course, I didn't feel like laughing at the time.

There is a learning curve with all new things.  And this big fancy Long Arm Machine is absolutely new to me.  There are lots of things to be thinking about, and tension on the under side of the quilt was not one of the things I was thinking about.

Somewhere soon after starting, the thread popped out of one of the tension guides and so the back of the quilt ended up having loops fairly often.  I didn't notice till I had finished and taken it off the machine.  Lo and Behold, the only option was to pick out the threads and start over.

This was after I loaded the quilt myself. It took 35 minutes to load, test tension, load pantograph and plan the starts and stops, and baste the edges.  It took me only 1 hour and 15 minutes to quilt it!  I was so excited. Perfectly within the 2 hour budget I had booked for rental.

So, I came home, and ripped out all the quilting, and returned 2 days later to quilt again.  This is a gift for a niece for Christmas, so it needed to get done!

This time, I loaded in 10 minutes and had it quilted within the same hour. Talk about a learning curve!

I'm happy with the way it finally turned out.

And, yes, I learned my lesson.  Check the back and front often, and the thread guides!
I'm well on my way to getting these quilts finished and moving into Sophomore year!

Project 1 quilt FINISHED: Carries Cowboy Corral

I am SO excited.  I can't believe how much I've been able to accomplish now that I have my plan operating.

I was able to finish the quilting in just 2 hours of rental time.  I bought a "Studio Card" that had 10 prepaid hours on it for $150.  It included the $75 certification class and two $25 valet services.  (After the class, if I didn't like using the Long Arm machines, I could have gotten a credit for the remaining $75 toward fabric purchases)
So, I was really happy to find that my first quilt took a mere 2 hours. Hopefully, that means that I can get 4-5 quilts done with this one card :)  I have 10 projects to complete from Quilter's Academy 1 Freshman Year.

I chose to use a pantograph for my first one.  It is a printed design, that I follow with the laser from the back of the machine.

It was a bit more complicated that I anticipated.  It was a double row, so I had to go right to left on first set, and then stop, and start again at right side for second pass across, before I could move my quilt forward.
This is what it looks like on the quilt.  I had predrawn lines to quilt with my home machine before I decided to go this route.  After I wash and dry the quilt, they will disappear :)

And, THIS is the finished project! Carries Cowboy Corral becomes The Bird Nest

Quilted and binded.
Done!
That was so much fun, I decided to get started right away on project 2 :)  Stay tuned!

Quilting! Long Arm Style

I have made my decision.  I'm going Long Arm quilting :)

After some self examination, hard decisions and a lot of research I realized I just wasn't going to enjoy quilting on my small machine.  I have procrastinated over a year already and I WANT to continue quilting. I want to quilt it myself. I want to be a part of my creation from beginning to end.However, I do not want to be in my little sewing room wrestling my hard work under that tiny little throat space.

I love the Quilter's Academy Book. And, I have read Harriet's Machine Quilting books. I have several other books I've been reading through.  As much as I respect Harriet's approach, I am not feeling the excitement of quilting her way.

A funny research story:  I was looking in CraigsList for sewing machines and tables. In my search for what are my choices, I found a "brand new in the box" mid arm machine for home quilting. I contacted the seller for some specifics, and because it was over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, I was anxious for Monday morning to arrive so I could contact the original distributor.  Tom was very informative, letting me know that even though the manufacturer had gone bankrupt, they had purchased all the parts necessary to maintain the machines. I told him what I had found locally here in Idaho, and he asked me if the machine was in Idaho Falls, ID.  I was a bit surprised, and he said, "the manufacturer moved there after the bankruptcy. It seems quite the coincidence that there would be a brand new in the box machine available in a town where he is.  Since we agreed to purchase ALL the goods in bankruptcy, that would be a 'stolen' machine! And, it would not include the electronic exterior hardware"  hahhahaha   We decided I would ask for the serial number so he could check if it ever went through their hands.  I agreed and after contacting the seller and asking him for the serial number.... Lo and Behold, he didn't respond, and the sewing machine is no longer listed on CL. !!!  Buyers beware!  I have done a lot of buying and selling on CL, and this is a first for me.

So, I went to my LQS to see what they offered. Oh My Gosh, they opened up a whole new store area where they have 4 long arm quilting machines.... FOR RENT. This was new since I had last been into the store.
I spoke with the ladies there, and decided This Is My Solution :)
I immediately signed up for the certification class, a 4 hour class where we are taught to load our quilts on the machine and how it operates. And, because I bought a card with 10 hours, the $75 class was free and I get 2  $25 Valet services free, where they load my quilt onto the machines for free! I'm going to use those services to learn and not use my quilting hours on loading.

I was enrolled in the certification class that same week. There is no time like the present.

Yesterday I had the valet service done, but I went in and helped and watched the process. My hope is that after the 2 valet services, I will have a good system to get the quilt on quickly and correctly.
Today I had 2 hours reserved on the machine to quilt.

This is the first of my 12 quilts to be quilted.  Here it is on the machine and ready to start.

I had it finished in exactly 2 hours! I used a pantograph even though I had the entire quilt marked for specific designs. I'm not sure if I like the pantograph as much as I liked working from the front of the machine free motion, but this was a good trial.  It turned out pretty good!  I'm glad we use our first quilt on our first quilting attempt. I can't wait to see how well the 12th quilt turns out!

I can't tell you how excited I am to be back on my journey, with a plan in place.
I came straight home and squared my corners and trimmed the edges and I'm ready for the binding!
My first quilt is almost done :)