Field Trips in Fiber

Placemats on the longarm - a tutorial

Today I finished the quilting for the bright QFAH quilt(the second QOV of 4). When I got the the end I realized that I had about 20 inches of extra backing and batting left. It seemed like a good opportunity to make some placements. All of mine are getting a bit ragged and I really need new ones. I also had enough of the backing fabric left to make matching napkins. I looked through stash and found a gray print batik that goes really well with the backing fabric. Here's how I made them:

Cut the batik fabric to the finished size of the placemats. Mine are 12" x 18". Arrange them on the batting with at least 3 inches between each placemat. Stitch each placemat around the edge to hold in in place and then quilt the inside of the placemant. DO NOT STITCH OVER THE EDGE OF THE PLACEMAT FABRIC. (This step goes really fast unless the power goes out with 8 inches of quilting left on the last placemat. If that happens this takes about 2 hours but you get a nice nap break.)

Trim the batting to the edge fo the placemat - do not cut the backing. This is really easy to do with applique scissors if the fabric is still mounted on the quilting frame. 

Trim the backing leaving about 1.5" on each side.

Now comes the only hard part - pressing up the hem. These directions are for mitered corners. Press the backing over the front with a double fold.

In this photo the bottom edge is folded up twice. Fold the corner of the next side to create the miter.

Open out the diagonal fold and trim about 1/4" from the folded edge to remove some fo the bulk on the corner. Remember to cut this to the outside of the fold!

 

Double fold the hem of the next side and then place a triangle of fusible web right on that mitered edge. I did this so that I would not have to stitch the miter.

Fold and press all 4 corners and sides and then topstitch next to the folded edge.

For the napkins I cut an 18" square of fabric,double folded a narrow hem (no mitering) and then topstitched the hem. Here are the final placemats and napkins. I quilted each placemat with a different motif so I think I could also use them with the back up.

Just another good reason to use extra wide backing fabrics! Not including the 2 hour power outage and taking instructional photos, I think these took about 2 hours to make, start to finish.

 

Some quilting and the weekend list

It's been a very productive week!  I'm posting the weekend list a day early because I am going out to dinner tomorrow night with a work friend.

Here's the update on last week:

• Deep clean Willie

- done!

Load and start quilting one of Wanda's QOV quilts - done! I'll show this one when it's all done. It quilted up quickly and I love the look of it.

Complete the 2 mixed media boxes - since they are gifts for MAY birthdays! - 1 done, 1 to go

Play with Estelle - at least we know I will accomplish this goal! - DONE and what a blast!

Fabric dyeing test - done!

Tonight I loaded and started quilting the recent QFAH. This will become a Quilt of Valor. I am doing Suzanne Earley's Meandering Magic on it and I love how it's looking! This is the quilt that I made a hand-dyed back for and it's looking great with this quilting in bright pink Bottom Line thread. Here's a photo of the back.

I have 4 QOV quilts (this is #2) to do before I quilt my Mom's quilt. I'm going to be doing a lot of quilting because I have to take my sewing machine to the shop for the THIRD time this year! This time I'm taking it down to Newport News and hopefully it will be fixed right this time. I will NEVER take it to the local shop again. Don't these stores know how much we love and adore our sewing machines and that we hate being without them in the first place but that we hate more having them gone and then finding out that it wasn't worth the separation anxiety because the poor baby is still sick? What's worse than that? Not even getting an apology for having to bring it to the shop twice because THEY didn't fix it the first time. Then getting it home and finding out it still isn't fixed right.

OK, I'm over it. Deep breath. My Mom had the same experience so we are going to Newport News together to take our machines to a new (to us) Pfaff hospital. The bonus is that we are going on July 3 so we can meet up with Mary and her Mom and then we will get to visit my baby brother.....not really, we will visit his wife and daughter. He's OK and we will talk to him too if he's home that day.

Anyway, here's my new to do list:

• Make the second mixed media box - have to get that done before the machine goes into the shop
• Finish the QFAH quilting
• Load Wanda's second QOV quilt for quilting
• Some fabric dyeing

That's enough for 2 days.

Feathers and Ribbons

This quilt has been on my to-do list for weeks and it's finally done! My friend, Kim, made this for her Mom. Originally we talked about a pantograph or all-over feather meander. I think that one reason that I postponed working on it was because I knew that it deserved something better. Once I gave in to that idea I was ready to go!

I picked two motifs that I repeated throughout the quilt. I've got several photos here but it's very difficult to see the quilting! This is the toughest quilt that I've ever tried to photograph.

Starting with the wide outer border, I used a fancy feather design from Lisa Calle's Feathers of a New Generation DVD. It's a hump-and-bump feather with a loop. I used this same design in a feathered wreath in the 12 blocks. In the cream print border I used a design from Darlene Epp's Pocket Guides. This one is Madeleine III – Ribbons, from the Borders and Sashings book. I used a larger version of this design in the sashing between the large red blocks. In the narrow black border I made up a design of pieces of twisted ribbon.

Here's a photo of the center block where I used the feathered wreath. I'm pretty happy with the outside of the wreath but the centers of the wreaths are all pretty crappy. The best I can say for myself is that I got better from the first to the last wreath. I added three ribbon curls to fill out each block corner and one ribbon curl in the center of the wreath. I used Superior So Fine thread throughout. Color 456, Goose Down, is on top and 405, Cashew, on the back. I calculated that I used about 1680 yards of thread on this one!

Here's a photo of the back showing a block and some of the borders. This quilt is HUGE (83 x 103) and weighs about 500 pounds! Kim likes Quilters Dream Deluxe cotton batting. It's great for quilting because that thread has a nice place to lock itself. I didn't have one tension problem on the whole quilt. I worried that her Mom is going to get stuck under the weight of it and not be able to get out! In Alabama she might sweat to death!

This was fun to quilt and was a good challenge too. I learned a lot:

1. I need to SLOW DOWN. I quilt way too fast and it makes my quilting sloppy. When I concentrate and slow down I am so much better!
2. Chalk is my friend. I don't know why but I avoid marking my quilts in any way. I need to get over that and mark more often and chalk is the best.
3. I need to stop trying to hide my quilting. I keep picking thread that blends too much.
4. I need some lessons in drafting and quilting feathered wreaths.

My next complex quilt is my Mom's Stack-and-Whack but I'm going to do a couple of easy QOV quilts first.

Kim, I hope you and your Mom like it!

PS - The new Typepad editor is driving me absolutely crazy. I got this whole post typed and the darned thing locked up in the spell check. I had to do it all over! (after I said a whole bunch of bad words) This post was done in Word and uploaded. I think that will be my new method! Is anyone else having these problems?

Practice, practice, practice

  You might be thinking that I haven't been doing any quilting or sewing projects this week. You would be wrong!

I have been diligently working on Kim's quilt. I didn't post photos because it's so hard to see the quilting and it would just be the same photo over and over. isn't this a pretty quilt? I loved this fabric line when it came out. The pattern was a Buck-A-Block kit from the LQS. Kim made this for her Mother and I was supposed to have it completed already! She wanted a pantograph or somethign simple. I wanted to do something a little more custom. I am doing my first ever feathered wreath on this one. Fortunately you can't see the quilting very well from the top. Here's a little peek at the back. I'm almost half done on this one and hope it will be totally done this weekend. I'll share better photos then. I am learning a LOT on this quilt.

After this I have a Stack-n-Whack for my Mom and 4 QOV quilts to do. I'll probably do a  couple of the QOV quilts before I start Mom's just to give myself a little break. Anyway, that's my current WIP.

A little finish

I love it when I get to quilt something and someone else has to bind it! This is a little quilt that Becky B. made to be a charity quilt from our Guild. I wanted to practice ruler work and SID so I did it on this one. The wine glass quilting in the center is done with a 5" circle template. The two borders are quilted with a string of half hearts. I thought he white border looked a little skimpy so I went over it again to make a half-heart ribbon. It's quilted with Superior So Fine! thread in color 401.

I really do love doing ruler work on the longarm! The more tedious the better. For me it seems to be therapeutic and relaxing. Go figure!

Earlier today I went to the Laura Cater-Woods class. This class was a sampler of various mixed media techniques. I found out that I "need" Liquitex Black lava, Flakes and Beads and some watercolor pencils and Neocolor crayons.  If you have never taken a class with Laura you need to keep your eye out for an opportunity. She's an excellent teacher. I noticed that she was very attentive to make sure that she talked to everyone in the class individually and she was very open to the students sharing information and experience with other techniques and tools. Don't miss an opportunity to be in one of her classes.

Anne's Baby Quilt

I got Anne's baby quilt quilted this evening and it turned out pretty cute. She made this quilt with leftover blocks from quilts that she made for her nephew's for Christmas. I used Superior Rainbows thread in Neons in the needle and lime Superior Highlights in the bobbin. I made sure that I tided the tread off really well so that it would not unravel when it's over-loved.

I quilted double wavy lines from corner to corner crossing at alternating block corners. In the block intersections without wavy lines I quilted a 3" circle. I've been wanting to use my rulers again so this was a good warm-up session.

The backing is Minkee so you can see the quilting better in this photo. I didn't want the quilting to be dense so that the quilt would stay soft and cuddly. I hope Anne likes it!

A small finish!

I know it's hard to believe but I have many UFOs in addition to the sizable stash. This is a baby quilt that I made specifically for longarm feather practice a while back. The binding was never completed. I've decided to finish a few of these "near done" projects. Since I was using white thread on the machine to finish the scrubs top I decided to get this one done.

I love this little quilt. It's 36 x 44. I designed it to use 6" charm squares. I used to collect the 6" squares and I have 2 bins of them. It only used 24 squares but it's still cute! The feathers in the sashing and border were my first feathers on a quilt. The pieced strips were quilted with a cross-hatch pattern. You can see that better on the back - a yummy soft flannel.  I'm not sure what I will do with this quilt but I have a few more in a similar pattern that need to be finished. maybe I will donate the lot of them to Project Linus or something. I'm open for ideas!

This one WILL count in stash used, once I figure out how much fabric is in it.

The third QOV is done!

Last night I finished the quilting, this morning I put the binding on and all three QOV (Quilt of Valor) quilts have now been washed. All that's left to do is sew on the labels. That's a project for American Idol next week! You can see the other two QOV quilts here and here.

This pattern is based on several Chinese Coin quilts designed by Mary for the Heartstrings Project. My pattern is here.  Mary's patterns are  here. The finished quilt is 64" x 78".

In the close up on the right you can see the quilting. I used the Ebb & Flow pantograph with Superior King Tut thread on top and Superior So Fine in the bobbin. You might remember that I was worried that the orange thread was too bright. You said it was OK and you were right. I love the end result. I like this quilt so much that I think I am going to start another - from stash fabric of course!

I even finished the pillowcases for all three QOV quilts!

I used Warm & Natural batting in all three QOV quilts. I know that  lot of people think that W&N is too stiff. I often prewash my W&N batting and that softens it up considerably. All three quilts are very soft and snuggly after being washed.

Wanda's Hearts and Stars QOV

Here is the second QOV quilt top that Wanda made. Isn't it perfect for a QOV?  I quilted it with the Ebb and Flow panto using Superior So Fine! thread. This fabric in the quilt, front and back, is super soft flannel. Here's a close up of one of the blocks.

Thanks Wanda for another fun quilt!

Pinwheel QOV

This is the first QOV quilt of the year. It's one of several quilts that Wanda and I are collaborating on. I absolutely love this quilt! The pinwheels are dimensional. You can see it in the close up photo below. I quilted it with an overall spiral pattern using Superior Rainbows thread in the needed and So Fine in the bobbin.

After it was quilted I added a button to the center of each pinwheel. I think this is a very cheerful quilt and perfect for a female QOV. I have two more QOV quilts to complete this weekend and then they will all three be shipped off together.

Thanks, Wanda, for letting me work on these quilts with you!

 

Flora's Quilts!

Several (at least 6) years ago my Aunt Edna gave me all of the quilting stuff that was left by my Great-Grandmother Flora. The box included 3 quit tops. I quilted the first one in 2006 for my Aunt and posted about it and Flora here. Now I have finally finished the last two tops. Mom is going to put the labels on and I believe these quilts will go to two of her cousins.

They are both quilted with my Quilt EZ Baptist Fan template using Superior So Fine! thread. The Baptist Fan pattern was perfect for dealing with some of the fullness in the blocks and borders. Here are the quilts!

Maple Leaf, approximately 68" x 84"

Rolling Stone or Broken Wheel (This quilt could be either pattern. Both patterns are the same layout but the fabric layout is different. Flora's quilt doesn't match either exactly.)

You might be wondering just what's left in the Flora box. Let's take a gander!

There's this center for a hand-pieced Trip Around the World. Mom has one of Flora's TATW quilts. I'm not sure what I would do with this. Maybe quilt it and make it a wall hanging.

I have about 8 of these foundation pieced stars. They are huge! They make about 25" blocks. I don't have a clue what to do with them.

There were also a whole set of pieced curves for a Double Wedding Ring. Mom and Dad got one of her DWR quilts when they got married. Mom now has the DWR blocks so that responsibility is off my plate! I have these star blocks. I haven't researched the blocks but I have bought a couple of pieces of vintage fabric that I've bought for sashing. I love these blocks.

Finally, the coolest thing in the box are Flora's pattern blocks. She made sample blocks of the patterns that she used. You can tell the ones that she actually used because the pattern pieces are full of pin holes!

For now everything is going back into the box. It's time for me to get a few other projects done.

 

A very productive day!

Denise doesn't arrive until this evening so I had the day to do all of my weekend chores. Not only did I get the laundry done but I made a new batch of soap, finished quilting Wanda's second QOV quilt, started quilting my QOV and made some gluten-free cupcakes for Denise. The cupcake recipe is from the vegan cupcake cookbook that I mentioned yesterday. We were pleasantly surprised that the gluten-free cupcakes are awesome! They are a little denser than the vegan vanilla cupcake so they will be perfect for strawberry shortcake this Spring.

I am using the Ebb and Flow panto on both quilts. On the flannel quilt I used So Fine thread in an ivory color. I should have used a heavier thread, like King Tut, because the So Fine really doesn't show. On this quilt I was determined to have the quilting show. I used King Tut in a variegated orange. Oh, it shows alright! I swung that pendulum to the other extreme. I should have used the darker orange King Tut thread that I have. I consulted with my reliable quilting critic and he said it wasn't so bad and continue on. That's what I'm doing. At least when it's done it will look consistent!  Thread selection can be a tricky business.

A longarming first!

Where's the confetti and streamers? I've finished off my first full cone of thread! I feel like I've graduated from Longarm Elementary School. Aren't balloons supposed to drop from the ceiling or something? Of course it's Superior So Fine in color 402. Is there a more popular thread in the Superior collection?

I am working on the second of the QOV quit tops from Wanda. I'm using the Ebb and Flow pantograph.  This one is flannel and it's so perfect for a QOV. I probably should have used a heavier thread, like King Tut, but it's still going to be nice as is. I think this one wil be done this weekend.

PS: I do have another cone of that thread to finish the quilt.

A QOV done and weekend wrap-up

I didn't get a chance to post last night. Kim came over and we had a nice dinner and visited through the watching and ridiculing of Mr. & Mrs. Smith. What a lame movie. It was saved by the "scenery" though. I had big plans for the weekend. Let's see how I did.

Get Chris' sauna assembled and installed.  First task accomplished!

QOV quilting I was into it so I kept going and finished the quilt.

Fibre&Stitch article Finished all of the photographs

March birthday postcards

Shop sample and class description for the scrubs class

I didn't get anything done on the last two tasks because I got wrapped up in completing the QOV quilt. I'll show a full size photo at a later date but you can see in this photo that I did overall swirls. I used a Superior Rainbows in Berry Delightful. I swear that thread was designed for the fabrics in this quilt. It was a perfect match! I used Superior So Fine in Antique Rose in the bobbin. After looking at it finished Kim and I thought that it would be cute with buttons in the pinwheels. So I searched through my vast button collection for a good variety and attached them with DMC embroidery floss. This quilt top was perfectly pieced by Wanda.

I have two more QOV tops to quilt by the end of March. Although I didn't stick to the list I think I got quite a lot accomplished this weekend!

I'm in a bind....

That was easy! It's amazing how well made kits are there days. This one from Costco went together in about an hour and a half and that included all of the clean up too. Not only did it go togther quickly, it actually works as advertised! Chris is happy so I'm happy. :)

I could have joined Judy's Quiltathon given all of the quilting I accomplished yesterday! The theme of this weekend is turning out to be "binding". I finished all of the hand sewing on Flora's maple leaf quilt and made the binding for her second quilt. The big surprise is that I got all of the quilting done on Wanda's pinwheel QOV. I'll show the quilting when I do the final shots of the quilt after it's done. I did an all over swirl except for the pinwheels and light squares. I like how it turned out and I got the binding made for that one too. Today I will sew binding to these 2 quilts and work on my F&S article photos.

Kim is coming over for dinner. Chris is making crab cakes. Yum!!

Stash Report

Now that Flora's first quilt is done I can report the backing and binding fabric as offically OUT of the stash! I did not purchase any fabric this week but I did restock lots of MistyFuse but that doesn't count.

In: zero!

Out: 6.5 yards

I believe....

It's official, I believe in ghosts, spirits and guardian angels!

This is the second of Flora's (my Great Grandmother) quilt tops. I posted the other day about the fullness in this quilt. I finished it this morning. I think that she used the sashing to try to get the blocks back down to size. There were large wavy blocks throughout this quilt but I had no problems with it or the first quilt. I put on some Bluegrass music because I thought that might be the kind of music she liked and I quilted away. I swear that as I moved the machine across the pattern that Flora was there smoothing out the fullness. The fabric just magically laid down as I quilted each arc. I didn't have any pleats and the thread never broke through out both quilts. I've never had a quilt go so well. I sure wish she would stay around and help me with all of my quilts!

Now it's on to the binding. I've gotten the binding sewn onto the first quilt and am working on the hand sewing step. It will be a good Idol project this week. I found that perfect solid green at The Quilt Man in Ashland, VA earlier this week. I though I would have trouble matching the green but I found it at the first shop I tried. Maybe Flora went shopping with me too!

I think the green is perfect for the maple leaf quilt but I'm trying to decide between the green or a yellow for the one at the beginning of the post. Which would you choose?

I'm making good progress on my weekend list. I'm off to meet Kim for dinner now but will return and work on my February TIF tonight. Tomorrow will be fabric painting day.

Is easing easy?

When you are using the Baptist Fan quilting template you can ease a lot and it is easy! This is the second of my Great-Grandmother's quilts. The first one was reasonably flat and square. This one, not so much!

I suppose I could have taken it apart and cut the sashings down to size but I didn't feel like I should take apart her sewing. Instead I am trying to ease all of the fullness in as I quilt. I don't know how it does it but the Baptist Fan curves really help with the process. Here's that same area after quilting. The two arrows point to curves that still have a lot of fullness but I think I can steam some of that away after the quilt is off the frame. More of it will draw up when it's washed - by it's ultimate owner, not me! I got a few more rows done tonight so the end of the BF template is in sight!

My big treat for the night though was meeting Ruth and her sister, Rebekah, for dinner. Ruth lives in Whitefish, Montana and Rebekah lives here in Richmond. They co-own The Purple Pomegranate, a shop in Whitefish that specializes in handcrafted art. Ruth also does lots of lovely fiber art. She brought along a few things to share. I can tell you that the photo of her January TIF piece does not do it justice. It's lovely!

Ruth, it was great to meet you and Rebekah. Don't be surprised if you see me and Chris on your doorstep someday - I'll bring along a nice Macallan for your husband!

WIP Wednesday

I haven't posted in a few days so you might think that I've been doing a lot of this:

Not so!  But the things I am working on aren't very interesting at this point.

First, I got one of my Great Grandmother's quilts loaded and the quilting started. But the primary projects are my Triptych Challenge exchange pieces and my Take It Further Challenge for January. I don't want to show the Triptych pieces until I send them (by Jan 31) and I have run myself in 5 circles on the TIF challenge. I've decided on two things. One is a longer term project to honor my Grandmother but the other will be based mostly on the color aspect of the challenge but still using fabrics and bits that remind me of my Grandmother. It's going to be my new sketchbook. While I was working though my ideas for the TIF I searched high and low for my sketchbook and I can't find it anywhere. Since I need a new sketchbook I decided to make one. I should have some real project photos to share with you later in the week.

This post is also my list for the weekend. Those 3 projects are my total focus until they are done - except for Sunday when my friends, Kim and Anne, are coming over for some garment sewing help and a yummy dinner prepared by the resident chef.

You can't keep an ugly quilt down

I have never taken less care in quilting a quilt. Remember that the purpose of quilting this one was to learn to use my Quilt EZ template.  The top is one that I bought off eBay and the fabrics are low quality. I didn't pay attention to the thread tension, I didn't fix any mistakes and I allowed the border to pleat wherever it wanted. The quilt was determined to turn out cute and it did. I used Warm and White batting so it drew up nicely in the wash. I know that a lot of people don't like Warm Company battings but I love them. They are easy to quilt and I like my quilts to be a bit heavy. I generally use either Warm cotton or Quilters Dream Blend if I want a little puffiness.

I'm actually going to use this little quilt. It's about 60 inches square and will work really well doubled on top of my bedspread at night. I like about 4 layers of blankets to sleep.

This afternoon I will be loading the next quilts for the Baptist Fan treatment. If you've ever wondered if color sense is inherited I can assure you it is. I'm pretty sure I inherited my "oh throw it in there and see what happens" attitude from my Great Grandmother Rakes. I think my Mom has it too. Never be afraid of too much color or pattern! These two beauties will be perfect for Baptist Fan quilting!

Look Mom, Baptist Fans!

I really thought it was going to be difficult to get my Quilt EZ Baptist Fan template working. I've used the clam shells template once and it didn't work out so well. My first row of baptist fans on this practice quilt didn't go very well either. But I woke the next morning realizing that the problem was my stylus. I needed to lower and tighten the brass sleeve. It worked! This quilt is about half done now and it's going very quickly. I should be able to get one of the two remaining quilts from Great Grandma Rakes loaded this weekend.  EVERY quilt she quilted was done with the Baptist Fan pattern or tied so I know Mom will be thrilled to see the BF again!

This practice quilt top is even crappier than I though. I just letting the pleats form at will in the full borders. It will be OK for a utility quilt but that will be about the extent of it's value.

Finished the Red/White/Black String Quilt

I finished this quilt today. It's a Christmas gift for my friend Anne. Now before you point out that it's AFTER Christmas, I should note that she hasn't even started to make my gift yet! So, I'm early.

I started this in September at Craft Week. I made 4 blocks and Anne immediately claimed it as hers. It is based on the pattern used for the Heartstrings Quilt Project. I originally thought I might make this as a QOV. I'll make another for QOV - this one spoke to Anne and you have to let the quilt speak!

It is 70 x 90 and aside from the red used for the center strings and the inner border, it's all stash fabric. I started it because I had so many left over strings of black and white print fabrics.

The backing fabric is hand dyed gray and it is quilted with the Timeless Quilting - Feathered Curls pantograph. This was the first time I used this one and it will be one of my new favorites. It's very well balanced and has just the right density for my tastes.  the thread is Superior Threads "So Fine!" in Scarlet.

Here's the label that Debra embroidered for me. The color of the backing fabric is most accurate in the photos of the label. It's the perfect finishing touch!

A Guild quilt

This is a sweet little quilt that my Guild is making for a Marine's wife. They have been sending loads of care packages to the Marine's unit our coordinator has gotten to know the Marine coordinator very well. His wife is having a baby SOON and he allowed us to make a quilt as a surprise for his wife. I should have completed this last week but I wanted to make sure I had it done for the Guild meeting tomorrow night.

I did the whole thing free motion which is easy to tell. I was a little worried about the wonkiness of my quilting but the two primary prints in the quilt are wonky heart prints. I think the wonkiness is consistent enough that I can officially call the quilting "whimsical". But mostly it's "done" and ready for binding and shipping.

Here's a close up of the front. See the "whimsical" heart? The back is Minkee. I love that stuff!

Starting Anne's Quilt

You may remember this quilt that I started back in September at Craft Week. I made 4 blocks and Anne immediately called it hers! I want to get it done by Christmas so I loaded it last night and started quilting. I'm doing a pantograph because the quilting really doesn't show but it's one big quilt so it's not speedy! It should be done by Friday night though and I'll be ready to load a baby quilt that my Guild made on Saturday. I have to have the baby quilt done in 2 weeks. I'm trying to get my projects done so that Mom can have Willie for a couple of her Christmas quilts.

Thanks to everyone who posted on my stash control post! It's not a money issue. It would be easier if it were! LOL! I just have too much stuff and want to try to keep it from spilling out of my sewing room into the rest of the house.  Willpower is not a strong family trait so I'm not holding out a lot of hope but I'll give it a try! I'll keep you posted as I jump off and on the wagon......

It seems like forever...

since I last posted. I was in beautiful Deerfield, IL this week at our office there. I'm going to digress from fiber-related content for a couple of minutes to tell you about the awesome trip we had there. I work for a company that has grown by leaps and bounds since I joined 10 years ago. When I joined we had 6 or 7 subsidiaries in 5 cities, all in the US. Today we have 9 subsidiaries in 23 offices in 6 countries. Our company also has a very unique and truly special culture that is very important to the overall success of the company to date. (It's so different/good that when I interviewed with the company as a favor to a friend I never expected to want to work there. After the first interview I went home and told Chris if I didn't get the job I'd kill myself. OK, it was an exaggeration, but it was that clear in one interview session that it was a different place and I wanted to be there.) About a year ago, three of us were asked to propose one way to help bridge the culture gap between all of our offices and between the Executive Committee and the mid-level associates. We developed something called the Associate Networking Forum. When we proposed it to the Executive Committee and the 9 Presidents, they were so supportive that they actually expanded the scope of it. I was so excited about it that I asked begged to run the program and then recruited another co-worker to run the program with me. We started with 19 associates in the 2007 class. There have been several activities, training sessions and events throughout the year but the culmination is the presentation of their corporate-wide project proposal. That's what we were in Deerfield for this week.

The project co-manager and I worked with them to refine a few of the details and their presentations this week and they presented to the Chairman, Vice-Chairman, EVP, HR Director and one of the 9 Presidents Thursday. I was a nervous wreck! I now know how parents feel watching their children  in a high risk situation. Our Chairman and Vice-Chairman, two very intelligent men that I have tremendous respect for, can torpedo a proposal faster than you can blink. They will not tolerate unpreparedness. I could barely get through my introduction - I've had loads of meetings and presentations with the executives but I was more nervous that day than ever! And it was totally unwarranted. They made a dead on presentation and their project was so solid that they were asked to expand the scope AND the BUDGET! It had to be the single most rewarding event of my career. These associates, in their daily positions, are several years away from that kind of contact with the EC but this gave them the opportunity to show the EC what kind of talent we have hiding in the organization.  The funniest part was that the Chairman and Vice-Chairman had to attend by conference call and forgot to mute their speaker - as each ANF member got up to do their part of the presentation you could here the Chairman say "he's good!" or "wow, she's good too!" We bought them champagne!

And how did they show their thanks? Someone gave me a stomach flu. That's why you didn't hear from me yesterday - I was in bed all day!

RESUME FIBER CONTENT........

But I'm all better today and was very happy to get back to quilting the Chinese Coins QOV quilt. I actually just finished it a few minutes ago. Here's a photo of part of the back. I'll show full view photos once the binding is done and the quilt is washed. This was fun to do but I am a little distressed that I have a couple areas of fullness in the back - not pleats really but excess fabric at the edge of some SID. it's not horrible so I think I am going to leave it. I'll see how it looks after washing and I may try to fix it on the DSM. Bummer though.

I'm not sure if I'm going to keep on with this and get the binding done or go back to sewing more Churn Dash blocks. Decisions, decision!

The other thing I am doing this weekend is PACKING FOR HOUSTON!!! Mom and I leave Tuesday and I can't wait. Packing for a quilt show is a little tricky because you have to leave room for all the items that you are required to buy there. So a couple of years ago I came up with a quilt show packing plan. Almost all (and sometimes it is all) of the clothes I take get left behind. I use the time before the trip to go through my closet and find those outfits that I no longer wear (but that are still acceptable in public). That's what I pack and I leave it all behind! I became even easier when I started wearing only one brand of clothing for work. (I like the idea of a uniform and found this about 7 years ago). It's all knit, all based around black and is super comfy and it doesn't wrinkle. After I get tired of pieces or the pants get worn I just shove them to the side of the closet and the next quilt show wardrobe is packed. Yes, I even take shoes and undies that are about to be tossed too. I also replace my bed pillow before the trip and take the old one with me. Without the clothes and pillow I have loads of room for the purchases!

For any allergy sufferers out there here's something else that I travel with - Blue Air Air Pod. I bought this on a lark with very low expectations but it really works! I put it on the hotel night stand by my head and it blows clean air over my face at night. It really helps undo the exposures from the day and to clear out stale hotel room air. When I check into a hotel I also leave a note for housekeeping to not use any scented air fresheners in the room while I am there. That makes a big difference. They spray Febreeze and a lot of other scented air fresheners all over the hotel rooms and furniture every day! So, you see, I have to do the disposable clothes thing to have room for all the extra allergy crap that I tote around - I usually even pack food but on this trip I know there is a grocery store near the hotel and we will have a car.

It's going to be a fun trip and I will get to meet some blog friends there as well! My shopping list is coming along well too.

Oh, one last note - primarily for Mom - remember the reference to the "dead stick bush" at the end of the post about the wonderful  landscaping that Chris and Mom did? Well, what a surprise to come home and find the dead stick bush gone and new plants purchased! He's out there now building the beds. Aside from the little stomach bug it's been an A+ week all around!

Ahhhhh.......

What a great day - a whole day of uninterrupted sewing! The activities of the last few weeks have impaired my sewing so it was nice to get back in the sewing room and have the whole house to myself. Chris was out dove hunting all day. Doesn't it just change your whole attitude to have some quality sewing time? I could feel my blood pressure dropping all day! The best thing is that I'll have another big sewing day tomorrow! The only chore that I do on Sunday is laundry and with 2 people, it's not much. 

I did exactly what I planned today. This morning I sewed pink and brown Churn Dash blocks while I finished listening to The Book of Fate. It took me several attempts to get into this book but I was hooked by the end of the 2nd CD and didn't stop sewing until the book was done. I'll post the progress on the Churn Dash blocks tomorrow.

The other thing that I did this morning was wash this big bag o' fabric! This is the same fabric that I used when I first set up my dye space - 404 bleached muslin). I bought it at my local Hancock's because it was cheap (1.99/yard). After testing lots of other fabrics I determined that I like this fabric more than the expensive Kona or Pimatex. I stopped by Hancock's Friday and bought the whole bolt (43 yards). Because I bought the bolt I got 10% off! This isn't a PFD fabric so it had to be scoured. I cut it into 4 big pieces and washed and dried it. Now it's ready for dyeing!

I have a question for any dyers out there. I used Dawn dish detergent (as many of the books and web sites recommend) to wash the fabric. Is there any reason that my normal laundry detergent wouldn't work? The Dawn has fragrance in it and it set off a nice asthma attack. I suppose I may have to revert to Synthrapol if I can't use laundry detergent. I didn't think the fragrance from a little Dawn would bother me but I was wrong!

This afternoon and evening I worked on quilting the first Chinese Coins QOV quilt. I actually did SID on this one around all of the green sashing. I love the look of SID and I knew that I needed more practice. It actually went pretty quickly. I started quilting the border, sashing and blocks. I am using a "fern" meander for the coin strips and the sashing. This is intended to mimic underwater foliage where the fish hide. The green sashing is done with swirls the way that the water swirls when there is a big fish feeding frenzy. I know, it's weak, but I like how it's looking anyway! You can see it best in the photo of the back on the left. I am using Bottom Line thread top and bottom and it's quilting beautifully.

Recently the Q4P list was cleaned up to remove blogs with broken links or low/no activity. I had not checked the ring in a while so I did a tour today about found a lot of new blogs to add to my reader (egads! I have 330 blogs in my reader now!). If you haven't surfed the ring (Q4P or Quilt Studio), give it a try, there are some cool blogs out there! 

I'm finishing off the day watching the Virginia/Maryland. Chris went to Virginia so I will root for them when they are not playing getting beaten by Virginia Tech. It's not looking too good for the 'Hoos so far. Guess I'll have plenty of time to work on my little powder room rug tonight!

Coins Quilts and other projects

I feel like I haven't been sewing in weeks and that might actually be the case. Last weekend was about tie dyeing and before that was about allergies and before that it was the surgery stuff. So I am so excited to come home tomorrow night and have a real sewing weekend again!  I decided to get a jump start tonight and get things going. It would be really nice to finish a project before I go to Houston and buy stuff that I don't need for 5 new projects.

Another QOV Done!

This quilt is intended as a QOV and hopefully I can get it out of the house before Chris gets too attached to it. he REALLY, REALLY likes it! He's not getting it though - he has his own blankies.

The quilt is from a patern developed by Judy Laquidara for one of her Quilt For An Hour quilts. I am short two borders from the original design because I ran out of blue fabric. It would look better with an additional narrow white and narrow navy border but it's just fine as it is. Hopefully this photo will not enlarge enough for you to see all of the pieced sectins of the last two navy borders - there are a lot of seams there! The finished size is 65 x 90. The binding is made of pieced strips of all of the red fabrics. In the end I have about 30 inches of red fabric left. Now, that's a nice way to make a scrap quilt!

Here's some more information on the details........

A good weekend

Not only has the weather improved (cooler and dryer) but it was a great sewing weekend and it's not even over yet. Let's review the list!

First Quilt, Last Quilt

I really enjoy the First Quilts, Last Quilts articles that run in Quilters Newsletter periodically. I decided to do that for this post because my last quilt is going to replace my first quilt as my "blankie" today!

Batting Storage

I came home from work today and Chris had built me this batting rack for Willie's room. Previously I stored my batting on poles set in christmas tree stands - not particularly stable. I like this much better!

Isn't the duct tape border around the carpet nice? That was my own special designer touch!

Mom's quilt is done - lesson learned!

I've only had it for almost a year but I'm glad that Mom let me quilt it. (Well, I forced her actually.) I an trying to learn with the quilts that I quilt now and this one was better than any class. You can spend hours in classes but until you practice the classes are a waste of time. In this lesson I:

• vastly improved my ruler work and fixed my Hartley extended base so that the rulers would not hang up on the edges anymore.
• learned a little about doing tiny quilting
• practiced feathers - I need more practice there! This is the third quilt that I have quilted feathers on and I am getting a little better each time. I think I will do Suzanne's Magic Meandering feathers on my next quilt so that I can get some more practice.

Other details:

• Batting - Quilters Dream Blend
• Top threads - Superior Metallic and SoFine
• Bobbin Thread - Superior Bottom Line

The tension on the machine was perfect. The only problem I had was a user error in part of one border.

So here goes - the final photos.....

WIP Confession Time

Judy posted all of her WIPs on her blog today and challenged others to do the same. Egads! I have a few. But in the spirit of openess here goes:

A good day....

Yippee! I finished all of the ruler work on Mom's quilt! Of course I couldn't go through the night with out one error. I got happy with the scissors and cut the batting about 1/2" short!! Doh! I stitched it back together and got the ruler work done in the border too. I have 3 passes of the tiny wishbone stitching left to do but that shouldn't take too long. If things go well (crossed fingers) I might get this puppy finished this weekend!

But now back to the colored pencils and the self-portrait postcards. These things are going to kill me......

A new place to meet and greet!

If you quilt on rails (longarm, midarm, shortarm) you might be interested in this new internet gathering place.

http://mqresource.com/index.php

It's a new machine quilting community that has been established by Suzanne Earley. Check it out!

A Change in Plans!

Many people dream of having a second home in some beautiful and peaceful place. We are lucky that we live every day with beautiful scenery around us and it's very peaceful in the middle of 10 acres. But we have still often dreamed of a second home on the "river". There's only one thing better than owning your own second home - having a friend that owns one! I am very lucky in that I have such a friend! Today she invited us to spend the weekend with her at her river house. I still have to stay inside for the duration but it's nice to have a new scene and it's nice for Chris to have different nature adventure. I'll take a couple of sewing projects - the Quilt For an Hour project and one of the snails trails quilts. We are going to have steamed crabs and a nice relaxing weekend. My postcards will not get done this weekend but I will get them planned so I can start right in Sunday evening.

Meanwhile I quilted on Mom's quilt for a while this evening. Here are a couple of progress photos - front and back.

A first peek at Mom's quilt

Well, I spent most of the morning ripping but I finally got on the right track. I started with the thread that Summerset gave me. I love it but I jsut could not handle the dark purple thread that I needed to use on the backing. So I ripped that out and switched to an Amethyst metallic and I'm able to use a taupe Bottom Line in the bobbin. Here's a preview of how the blocks will look. Get used to it - I suspect this quilt will be WIP Wednesday for a few weeks! LOL!

An enhancement for the Millennium

I love my Wille. The only thing I do not like about it are the Hartley products that came with it - the fence, micro-drive and extended base. I find them all clunky and awkward to use. I've totally given up on the micro-drive and the fence but I do need the base because I like ruler work. I know there is a better base on the market but there is only one supplier and, so far, the base hasn't been in stock any time that I have called.

QOV Done!

I did it - I finished the latest QOV on Independence Day! I still have to make a pilowcase to ship with it and make the label, but I'm calling it done on 7/4/07.  This quilt started, I think, in 2000. My Guild Chapter decided to make a signature Friendship Star quilt. I like the block so much that I started some of these blocks. And that was the end of that. The Guild quilt did get fiished and it's one of my favorites of the officer quilts. When I decided a month or so ago to start knocking out some of my UFO's, this was the first one up. I thought it would be a nice quilt for a QOV. I decided to try to use up some of my stash of strips for the borders. All in all I am very pleased with this one! Even better my Mom took all of my leftover fabrics from this project so that bin is really EMPTY!

Read on for the photos......

The weekend is here!

The weekend is here and it's all creating all weekend! Things got off to a good start last night. I finished all of the blocks for the Friendship Star QOV while my Mom quilted her Quilt For an Hour quilt. (She will kill me when she sees that I posted a picture, I had to sneak to take it).

The photo was actually this morning while she was on her last row of quilting. While she did that I worked on some mixed media surfaces - this stuff is so addicting! Two of them are collages for photo book covers for my niece and nephew - made from their graduation announcements and programs. The other two are painted paper towels for Joggles Mixed Media Class. These are for lesson 4. I admit I though painting a paper towel was kind of lame - now that I've done it, I GET it!

All of these photos are of the surfaces still wet. This afternoon I'll start putting the QOV top together and Mom will start her second quilt. Then we will go meet some friends at our favorite LQS. Not a bad day, huh?