Category Archives: Quilting Techniques

Quilting: It is Awesome

I’ve been so focused on completing quilt tops lately that I haven’t done much quilting. This weekend I went to Friday Night Sew at Urban Spools and spent some time on the Handiquilter Sweet Sixteen. I have a couple of LARGE quilts that are basted and partially quilted, but I can’t face trying to wrestle with them on my Bernina. In just a couple of hours, I took this quilt from less than a 1/3 quilted to probabaly over halfway finished. One..maybe two more sessions and I will have her done. It took me a while to get back in the rythm of this particular FMQ design.

But once I got warmed up, I picked up the pace and it felt good to watch the thread appear in a pattern on the quilt.

On Sunday afternoon, I picked up a WIP from March. It’s a Confetti baby quilt. This was a complete top that took me months to complete because I was only working in little increments of time. Plus, I think I’d lost my mojo to “new baby syndrome.” I’m healed from that now. Anyway, I basted it and got the quilting finished. I even sewed the binding on! (still have to flip it and sew it to the back with a slip stitch. But I am going to do that in front of the TV since all the new shows start this week.) Here is a little peek before I started quilting:

{Oh, and a side note…THIS IS THE LAST QUILT I WILL EVER BASTE. I didn’t know that you could have your quilts basted on a long arm (useful for people who like to do their own quilting and handquilters). Now that I know, I am never crawling around on the floor with masking tape and safety pins.}

And a progress photo:

The binding is green and white hounds tooth from Paula Prass’s Summer Soiree. Super cute. Can’t wait to take photos of this quilt to share the FINISHED version.

Hot Bobbins

2 Replies

My bobbin was literally hot last night after a marathon of quilting. Good thing Berninas use metal and not plastic. I managed to stipple quilt a 45″ square quilt in a little over an hour. Notice the Polka Squares quilt has moved from my “completed tops” list to “quilting & binding.” I’m so proud.

I set aside the red and aqua string quilt I showed last time. That quilting method is taking me a long time. I can’t get into a fluid movement and I struggle with the scale. I should probably have attempted it on a much smaller quilt than that one to start with. We’re going on a long road trip and I wanted to take it to bind in the car, but until we get back it will just have to be a glorified dog bed:

Summer Quilting

7 Replies

Summer is definitely not made for quilting – especially not a summer as hot as this one has been. As I’m writing this, it’s nearly midnight and still 97 degrees outside:

And we’ve got another hot week coming up. I am thankful that almost 28 weeks into my pregnancy I still don’t have any swelling or major aches and pains because this would be a tough summer to be feeling unwell. Thank you, baby, for letting me feel almost normal [the growing belly is undeniably a bit awkward, but having a temporary beer belly is kind of fun. I definitely notice people giving me those sidelong "is she pregnant or fat" glances. Like tonight at dinner when my husband ordered a Cobb salad and I had a bleu cheese bacon burger with fries.:)]

Even though it is not quilting weather, I’m desperately trying to get some of my WIPs done in the 12 or so weeks I have until my life is no longer my own. While prettifying this new blog layout, I decided to rebuild my WIP list in the side bar and whoa, Nelly, it’s a big one. This is probably the first real WIP list I’ve ever made because it was not done from memory, but by actually pulling things out of boxes and drawers. There are 29 items on the list (not counting my embarrassingly overdue bee blocks). How did I get to this point? And knowing just how many things I have unfinished, I can still think of a half a dozen more quilts that I would like to start. Never mind de-stashing and purging to make room for baby - I’m going to need my own quilting house before the year is out at this rate.

For those of you who only work on one or two projects at a time, how do you do it? Is it self-control? Lack of hiding space? Other hobbies that keep you busy? Do I need to take up tennis or bridge so that I have less time to think about quilting? I know I’ll never be a one-project-at-a-time girl, but 29 WIPs is about 20 too many. It probably doesn’t help that my method for getting things done is to list all of my to-dos, prioritize them, and then never look at that list again.

I was at a retreat last weekend and that helped me jump start the process. I am making some progress. I have two bee blocks ready to mail, I basted two tops, quilted one last weekend, and I have another big one on my machine right this minute. I’m even trying a new technique:

It’s not as fast as stippling but I think I’ll speed up as I get more comfortable with the motion. At least that is what I keep telling myself.

free motion

2 Replies

Cold weather. Gray skies. Three already basted quilts. Sounds like a recipe for a Sunday indoors in front of Hulu and my Pfaff.

I don’t know why I’ve waited so long to quilt this. I started it last March, and it’s just been sitting in a drawer since. I suppose that’s a testament to what I blogged about a few days ago – it’s so tempting and almost addictive to start new projects. Maybe I’m maturing as a quilter, though, because lately I’ve been more interested in completing them. That whole New Year’s resolution thing has really taken hold of me. 2011 will be a year of finishes for me.

Check back in later this week for a tutorial. I’ve been working on a fun, scrappy block that is the perfect thing to use up all of those odd sized scraps that you hate to throw away.

WIPs (and a tip)

9 Replies

December 13! Shopping is 90% done around here. I may do a bit of holiday baking next week, but mostly I’m going to be quilting my butt off until the new year. That WIP list is getting shorter but there is a still a lot to do.

1. Love Panes quilt {binding}

2. Plume Charms quilt {quilting + binding}

3. Fussy Cut Bee {piece top}

4. Modern Siggy Swap 2 {piece top}

5. Wonderland in Aqua {make backing + baste}

6. Gridlock: Summer Palette {make backing + baste}

7. Happy Campers {piece top}

8. Red + Aqua Strings {make backing + baste}

9. Far, Far, Away 2 plum {piece top}

10. Evangeline in Paris {complete all cutting}

11. Black, White, and Aqua {piece top}

Yes, I added an eleventh item to the list. The black, white, and aqua quilt is from a bee, and all of the work was essentially done so I pieced the top this past Sunday. Tonight I will finish up with the Plume Charms quilting, mainly due to a gift from my husband.

It’s a headlamp! Quilting light thread on a light fabric gets pretty difficult after a while, especially late at night. My husband came home with one of these for himself last week and I immediately knew that I had to have one, too. It really does make such a difference, and it provides better light than any lamp I’ve used. It lights up what you’re looking at. Plus, it makes such a fashion statement when worn with quilting gloves.

pebbles

5 Replies

My WIP list is getting shorter. Even though this has been a busy week with lots of holiday shopping and all the usual to-dos around the house, I’ve dedicated a few hours a day to sewing. And it’s been very therapeutic. Tonight I’m catching up on Glee and doing some free motion quilting.

[pebble quilting]

This is my Plume Charms quilt. I started it in May but put it aside because of thread issues (blogged about here). This weekend I went to my LQS and bought a soft pink spool of Aurifil for my Pfaff and she has forgiven me. The quilting is going well this time around. Thread is one of those things that I used to take for granted. For home decor or garment sewing you pretty much only use polyester so using cotton was a foreign concept for me when I first started to quilt. Then it took me a long time to find a thread that I really liked. Looking back, I think many of my early quilting woes can be blamed on inexperience and bad thread equally. What’s your favorite brand?

scribble quilting

8 Replies

This type of free motion quilting may have another name, but I like to call it scribble quilting.

It looks like scribbling, doesn’t it? This is the first type of free motion I learned because it felt the most comfortable. It only requires that you move to the left, whereas stippling and pebble quilting require all over motion. I used to joke that I was like Zoolander because I’m not an ambiturner.

A big part of free motion quilting is getting to know your machine. I learned last week that my machine will absolutely not tolerate Coats and Clark cotton thread for free motion. Straight line quilting is okay (although it makes a pretty hideous bobbin) but it chokes on it for free motion. The thread sort of splits up the middle and knots around the needle eye. Helga the Pfaff only likes Aurifil. What a snob.