Favorite New Tool

I had a good block of time over the weekend, so knuckled down and machine quilted my spiraly quilt (see last post), which I'm now calling "Frenzy."  The quilting was pretty much a breeze on my new Janome 8200 with all its great features (stitch-in-the-ditch walking foot, variable speed control, auto thread cutter and more ... plus that 11 inches of throat space for incredible maneuverability.

However I was still left with about a thousand threads to bury - as many as eight at the end of each row.

Can you imagine having to thread each and every one of those threads onto a regular needle? Believe it or not, that's what I used to do - until I discovered the "self threading needle."

These things have changed my life!
You just slip the thread in from the top, pop it into the groove, and you're good to go.
You can actually get several threads at a time into it, speeding up the process even more.
(I tried to get some photos of that, but it all came out in a blur, in spite of the "micro" setting on my camera... sigh ~ )

This graphic explains it much better than I can.
It only shows one thread but believe me, you can pop several in there.

So the quilt is now done, all that's left to do is the binding, which will be the same as the border fabric so this is pretty much what it will look like.

I auditioned several fabrics for a second border, but nothing really worked.  As it is, its a nice throw.

Here's a detail pix that shows the quilting a little bit better.  Very simple, not too dense so it has a really nice drape.

This will either be for sale in the general exhibit, or will be on the auction block, at our (PVQA) Quilt Show in February.

love,
Sandy

Experimenting

I'm always trying to figure out interesting setting ideas. I made these blocks several months ago, along with the setting blocks, and I initially laid them out in diagonal rows. It was... ok... but I couldn't bring myself to sew it together, so I put it away to marinate for a few months. Anyway, I pulled it out yesterday and messed around with it for a while, and came up with this sort of spiral idea. Much more interesting, don't you think? I'll install a border or two before I'm finished.

The above photo was taken with my ipad. I can't say I'm too impressed, are you?

Here are some detail pix, taken with my husband's camera, so you can get an idea of the fabrics. The colors are much truer, not to mention clearer. Still... its a good thing I don't do this (photography) for a living! I don't how you all get such nice photos. I just don't have the patience.

 

Here's a doll quilt I started several months ago. I say started, actually all I had done was arrange some scraps leftover from my another small quilt (which still isn't done, btw.) Anyway, I finally sewed it together and finished it last weekend. Cute, huh? Its 7 1/2" x 8 1/2" and will be a gift for my MIL.

This is my other material creation - if you consider tomatoes "material". 

I experimented and made simple tomato sauce in the crockpot. It was a success, but still a lot of work because I had to run it through a food mill to remove the skins and seeds. I probably won't do this again. I mean, how much does a can of tomato sauce cost?

Chronology of a Chicken Quilt

 

I have a friend who loves chickens. She once complained to me that "no one ever gives me 'chicken' anything!" So I decided I'd make her a chicken quilt.

It just so happens that Family Threads in San Juan Bautista, where I go for a quilt retreat, features chicken fabric.  I stopped in on my way to my retreat and purchased a panel of groovy looking chickens, and a couple pieces of coordinating chicken fabric. This should be easy, and fast, I thought. It all came home with me and was promptly put on the bottom of my to-do list.

Several months later, I saw a picture of a quilt which featured alternating blocks and I thought the setting might work for the chickens. I took the picture plus all the chicken fabric to my retreat the following year, and made the blocks. When I got home it all went back in the bin, and the bottom of my list.

Anyway, the next year (this is now year three) I brought the blocks back to my retreat and sewed them together. I went back to the quilt shop for border fabric. The egg fabric was perfect, esp. considering my friend I was making the quilt for has an egg business. Unfortunately, we miscalculated the amount, so I had to improvise corners from scraps.

You can probably tell I lost my enthusiasm for this quilt pretty much right away. Its just not the kind of thing that makes my heart beat fast, ya know? And relegating it to the back burner probably didn't help. Sometimes those deadlines can be doing you a favor, and I almost wished I'd had one for this. It all went back into the bin when I got home, where it languished for another several months. There was a point when I actually wanted to throw it away and be done with it. Those improvised corners really killed it for me.

I eventually pushed on tho, and finally layered, basted and machine quilted it this last March. I still wasn't finished, tho. I thought it needed at least a little bit of hand quilting around the chickens.

 

The quilting went pretty quickly, tho it seemed like it took forever. I really wanted to get this done! Finally last weekend I put the binding on.  I finished it yesterday morning, washed it, and gave it to my friend last night.

I can't believe this simple little quilt took me four years. However, I am happy it has at last moved on to its new life, and is out of mine.

Hourglass Top

Sometimes I question the wisdom of having multiple projects going at the same time, especially when you have deadlines on some of them. For instance, there are several items I would like to complete before the Quilt Show in February. Meanwhile, everything else gets put on the back burner. Add to that the fact that I spend practically no time in my sewing room in the summer. Lots of stuff has piled up, and new projects are constantly running through my brain. Complete something "old" ? No fun. Start something new? Fun. You can see where this leads. Anyway, this hourglass top has been on the back burner for several months.

I happened to have a few hours to commit to sewing yesterday/last night while my husband was watching the Giants/Dodgers game, simultaneously with the Angels/? game so I didn't really want to be in that same room. Good time to escape!

I went ahead and pulled out this top, which I have been mulling over for quite some time, thinking it needed something more. Especially after seeing a really beautiful one on someone else's blog, which was finished with a directional fabric inner border, and a pieced outer border. I'm not ashamed to say, I stole her idea. I'll have to fish around and see if I can find it, so I can give credit. Luckily I had just enough of the two striped fabrics for a couple of borders, and plenty of scraps for more triangle squares across the top and bottom.

To solve the problem of an uneven number of triangle squares, I thought I'd insert a mini spiky star in the center. Probably somewhat unconventional, but I kinda like how it works. You can look at my last post to see how I made the little stars. btw I fixed that top border, which needed a little seam adjustment and a bit of a trim.

Now onto some "new" projects, which I'll be sharing soon!

love,
Sandy

Paper Piecing Without The Paper

I wanted to make this little star...

...the finished size being 4 inches.

To avoid frustration and to get the most accuracy with those spiky points, I figured paper piecing would be the way to go. Despite the fact that I dislike paper piecing - never really got the hang of it. But I was highly motivated, so I proceeded to try to figure it out. 

I would have to make my own paper pieces, which I tried one and it worked OK, but ripping off the paper distorted the fabric too much, and practically ripped the seams right out.

So I thought of a way to do it without the paper.

I decided, why not mark the lines directly on the fabric. First I spray starched the background fabric.

This takes about two seconds, with a hot iron.

I cut my background pieces 2 x 1 3/4" then figured out where the lines had to go.

I want the spikes to intersect 1/4" from the bottom, in the middle, so measured the 1/4" and put a dot where I want the intersection.

Can you see the dot?

Next I drew a line from each corner, through the intersection (dot) to the other side (bottom).

I cut the spike portions 1 3/4 x 3" then cut on the diagonal as shown.

(Pretend this is the green fabric, OK?)

Remember you have to do mirrors of these.

Here are all the parts, ready to go.

The placement and stitching is the same as you'd do for paper piecing.
I cut my spike pieces plenty big to cover.

Sew on the line, flip, press, and trim.

For some reason my "turn over and trim" pix refused to upload. Sorry.
Here it is trimmed, anyway. 

Repeat on the other side. Sorry some of my pictures did not cooperate, but I think you get the idea.

The corners were cut 1 3/4" square, and the center was cut 2 1/2" square for this block.

You can adapt this method to your own block in a different size. Draft it out first on graph paper, and add your seam allowances. 

note:  I mainly make these tutorials for myself. Once I figure something out, I like to make a record of how I did it so I don't have to figure it out all over again the next time! And what better place to store them, but on my blog. 

I hope sharing might benefit others as well.

ps please let me know if something is wrong, or makes no sense!

love,
Sandy

Help! Fabric ID Please?

Anyone recognize this fabric?

I think it would work well to bind this: 

Unfortunately I only have a fat quarter, with no selvedge info.
I bought it fairly recently, so I believe its current.

Can't show you the whole quilt yet... its a secret! 

Thanks! 

love,
Sandy

New Sewing Machine

The other thing that happened during our museum trip a couple weekends ago is, I bought a new sewing machine!

This is the Janome Horizon 8200, and I got a screamin' deal on it at The Sewing Machine Shop in Walnut Creek, which was on our way to Sacramento.  

The main things that sold me on this particular machine were the heavy duty motor, variable speed control, and the 11" throat. I quilt all my own quilts, many of them bed size, and all this room is like heaven to me!

 Look at this, I barely had to roll my quilt! 

Other great features are a drop-in bobbin, which you can see when its running low,  excellent lighting, automatic thread cutter, a needle threader that actually works and is easy. Another really cool thing is the stitch-in-the-ditch attachment for the walking foot, which makes that particular chore a breeze, and so much more accurate. Of course it has the knee-lift, and tons of really cool stitches.

I can't say enough about The Sewing Machine Shop. Compared to the other (closer) places I considered, their staff is the most knowledgeable, helpful and honest - and patient. They do not pressure you to buy, or try to up-sell you. They have the most models on the floor to try out, and they know their machines well. Their prices are very competitive. They offer an array of classes, and drop-in workshops. They service their machines in house. If this wasn't enough, they offered me a very generous trade-in on my Bernina 150, which was barely limping along with a bent needle bar (a whole 'nother story ~).

The two other machines I tried out were  the MC6300, which I still think is a really decent machine at a great price.

MC6300

It has great basic features including a heavy duty motor, a decent array of stitches, speed control, and a nine-inch throat. Its packaged up with lots of extra goodies which makes it an even sweeter deal. You can look it up on Amazon for more particulars and reviews.

The next step up is the  MC6600

MC6600

which features the Acu-feed system, which is like a built-in walking foot. Which I never did really figure out the point of. I think its more for regular sewing, like on slippery fabrics, rather than for quilting.

Anyway, for "a few dollars more" I got the one with the eleven inch throat, which makes me the happiest gal on earth at the moment!

Maybe I'll get some sewing done before the summer ends!