Quilt 9- Superlative

When you asked yourself, "Why did I buy this ugly yellow floral print and what am I to do with it?" The answer to that is simple, blended with the nicer fabric you really like.

  It turned out really nice!

LESSON #1

Some fabric for some reason gave a curve in the middle crease, even when it's laid flat, pressed and squared.

Just be aware of it by checking after cutting two strips or so. Square again and again if you have too. Don't use strip or pieces that are curved. It won't disappear after you sew it with another piece.

This pattern seemed more complex then it is. It had 8 different blocks, which repeats twice and of course, I managed to sew one block wrong. Can you see it?

Now it's all right. Time to sew it all together.

This would be a sweet quilt for a young girl.

Designed by Lorena Maranon

Quilt 8- Woven

 What a bold effect you can create with only a few fabric choices with this design.

                 Designer Venessa Vargas Wilson

In fact, all the fabrics the designer suggested were simple for this quilt pattern: Black and aqua prints and a vivid red solid. Being short with my aqua fabric, I dare to add a grey/aqua print to the selection.

Because I added an additional print to the original design, I draw it on paper for further guidance when I'll sew my pieces together. You can do that also if you use an entirely different fabrics for this design.


In all, it was easy to put together. A day quilt if you really wanted it.

Not impressed me with your own fabric prints!

Quilting at my Own Pace

For those who have just joined my blog and wondering why I'm posting mostly tops these days, it's because I'm trying to catch up from the past few crazy months. Also, my other projects are still packed in boxes and will stay that way until we move to our next house.

There are so many creative designers out there this day, which I'm grateful for, and way, way greater than myself.  It would be a waste of my time spending hours and hours over the internet trying to surpass their talents. Nope, Ithe ain't t doing that to myself. My interests are to educate myself with new techniques or excel in another area that needs improvement.

It's my journey into quilting and I'm inviting you to follow me and hope it challenges you to pursue your own interest in quilting in the area you thought you couldn't do yourself. And yes, I'm very pleased when someone joins my blog.

All my tops quilts are from the Easy Modern Quilts By Quilty (December 2016)

  My stash in three of those bins. A husband's dream come through *laugh* We are presently renting a one-bedroom basement suite. That's my sewing space for now.

This is what my blog is all about:
-My Blog is to keep me accountable for the goals I've set for the year.
- To share great designers and their ideas or patterns.
-To have fun at my own pace.
-To prove that I can sew beautiful quilts from my small stash of fabrics.



Suggestions:

-Have a list of at least 12 projects you want to complete these years. Maybe less if they are a super big project.

-Start a Quilt Planner and use it as a reference point.

-If you're a bit crafty, take pictures of your quilts and posted them in a scrapbook. That way you can show & tell when you've visitors over. Also, so many of us are giving our quilts away, so yeah having a picture is nice for references to what you have done in the past.

Selecting fabrics for a project can be tedious for the same as a beginner quilter. I learned to use a print  I really like, then blended my other fabrics around that one. Or I used the selvage, where there are the colourful dots, and use it as a referral source.

 Make sure you have Dark, Medium, Light, and one accent (contrast). Those were my first pick for Twist & Turns, but I had to purchase a lighter green that fit with my Teals, cause I didn't have enough the Yellow/green Batik.

In all, enjoy quilting!

Quilt 5- Tangerine

  Designer Cynthia Brunz

This quilt turned out more lovely then I thought it would be. Not really a fan of oranges, but made an effort of using my bright oranges fabrics for this project.

Quilt 7- Twists and Turns

  Twists & Turns by Krista Robbins

I love this quilt pattern with its rings and teals fabric, but I bumped into a few twists and turns that slowed me down.

The first one, which I had been warned does occur in the magazine: Pattern errors!! This has one-pieces cut the wrong size, which also affected the yardage of fabric by one meter.

I know, I know...why did I not sew at least one block before cutting everything? Because I trusted the designer and it rarely does happen. So far I experienced this only twice in my many...many years as a quilter.

 I draw circles in a grid of 4 x 5, then write in each circle the fabric.


The second thing that slowed me down was the quilt top assembly diagram was very simple with only four fabrics, but Krista used 17. So be aware of that.  To simplified mine, I use three light fabrics instead of seven.

 If you are a beginner, I suggest you simplify yours to five main fabrics and follow the quilt assembly diagram. Or if you're an adventurous quilter like me, do yourself a favour, draw a diagram with your fabrics in mind. It will save you a lot of grievances.

 

Counting each fabric, making sure I had 41 in total.

 

Third, the designer does not provide an exact number of how many Light, Yellow,  Dark Teal, and Light Teal rings you have in total.  At first, I was going to guess it as I go, but I didn't want to end with just Ligh Teal or have all my yellow rings in one spot. In the end, even with planning it on a diagram, I managed to have a few of the same fabric close by.

 Don't rush this one. Take the time and PLAN your rings.

  I thought of colouring my rings with crayons for my 20 blocks, but my crayons are packed, so that idea went out of the window. You can do your own diagram and colour it as your guide.

Thank you, Krista, for this beautiful design:)




Twists & Turns by Krista Robbins

https://www.keepsakequilting.com/twist-and-turns-digital-pattern

Walking Foot Quilting

When Leah Day announced her next Block Party will be about Walking Foot Quilting, I couldn't resist but participated in at least one quilt from her book.

This was my first selection of fabrics only from my stash.

Even if this was nice, I wasn't completely satisfied and the end I purchased fabrics of red and green., The Batik I purchased, blended better with my stash.

 Here I've baste-sprayed my entire quilt, then stitched in the ditch with the walking foot. A foot I rarely used, if even! But doing it this way was an eye-opener for me. With my bigger quilts, I could stitch in the ditch, before free-motion quilter or walking foot quilting.

This was my first quilt with following a masking tape. So easy!

 The masking tapes was removed  after each line was completed done.

This was my first attempt to quilt an entire quilt with a walking foot. I'm sure to use this masking-tape technique with my walking foot more often now that I've learned it so well.

For further information on how to use your waling-foot, Rainbow pattern and tutorial go to The Free Motion Quilting Project, and pressed on the Machine quilting party 2018

 http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.ca/p/2018-machine-quilting-party.html

Thank you again Leah Day for another great tutorial on machine quilting:)

Be My Neighboor

Wash, Starch, and Press

 It's becoming one of my favourite thing to do. Yes, I washed my fabric now. A few years back,  I would not have dreamed or dared washing my fabrics. One reason main was, I preferred the 'stiffness' it gives and it didn't frilled much.

This wash, starch, and press, just started about two or three years ago. Maybe it has to do with me watching too much of Leah Day.. She does recommend it, but it's your choice of course. At first, I washed only a few fabric pieces and starch them. For these two quilts, I entirely washed all my fabrics before I cut them. Started to starch a little, then generously!  It might be a slower process in your pressing time, but it's worth it.

This piece was ironed and pressed about ten times and still, I had ripples waving on the white fabric. It's hard for anyone to just let go. If you are like me, you desire to have a flat and even block with not ripples in sight. That when I starch 'little'.

After starching the same block once and pressed it slowly. The result was amazing. So yeah, I'm sold on using Spray Starch, better than buying it, I made my own home-made spray starch, because I used it 'generously' now.

                                        Used my stash of fabrics for this quilt, except for the white fabric.

The black/white quilt is made from my left-over fabrics from a previous quilt I made for my youngest son. 

Both quilts were cut and sew at the same time. The pattern is fairly easy and repeats itself in a different size. It was very fun to do and love both quilts. 

PATTERN

You can find the pattern at Bear Creek Company Quilt

https://www.bearcreekquiltingcompany.com/moda-be-my-neighbor-2016/

New Year. New resolution.

For most people, when we see January on our calendar, we decided it's time to make new resolutions. The list can be short or extremely long with goals and challenges that will demand time and sacrifices. We rolled up our sleeves with good determination. Then the month passes and we looked back to see our progress and discouragement engulfed us with despair.

Or maybe you are like me go at your own pace with goals and challenges that you can continue even if the year has passed away. Sometimes I go fast and sometimes I'm stalled because of events in my life that cannot wait and need attending. That's is one main reason I make a Quilting Planner last year, so I refer to it again and again and checked mark my projects and goals when they are completed. Also, I've created this blog as a dairy and I can go to it and see where I left one project and started another one.

And of course, share my love for quilting with others and now that I said my peace, it's time to go back to quilting.

So far, I have learned to:

1. Washed my fabric before using them. For many years I didn't washed my fabric, now I do. It's a preference for sure.
2. Spray starch my washed fabric. A necessary process if you washed your fabric.
3.Spray starch again when my blocks are completed.
4. Removed the water in my iron and spray starch instead. What a difference!
5. Made homemade spray starch. So much cheaper and environment friendly.
6. Quilt every day and enjoy the whole process.
7. Share my progress with a friend is so much fun.
8.Watch YouTube tips that  will help me improved my quilting skill. Better take an free online classes. So much fun!!
9. Change your needle, blade, and clean your sewing area.
10. Never assumed your sewing machine is clean.

This was after many hours of sewing and quilting one small quilt. It does build up!

 It does also built up lint under the bobbin case.

This is what came from under it. Never blow with your mouth or you could easily pushed the lint inside the machine where you couldn't reach and damage your machine. Instead use your sewing machine brush for that purpose and clean as much as you can.

A rule of thumb to consider, the more you sew with your machine, the more you should clean those areas. It does build up quickly, all depending on the thread, batting, and backing, you've used.

Now, if you haven't yet cleaned your sewing machine, I suggested you put that as your priority for on your calendar.

Happy New Year sewing!!!