Stars with Stripes For Me.

I bought some fabulous navy blue fabric with white stars.  I I've been wanting to make a door hanging and thought these stars would make for something fun for Flag day and the Fourth of July.

I cut out 3.5 inch stripes from the navy fabric.  Then I made a nine patch block from two different kinds of red material.  I sewed the elements together and was quite pleased with the look.

To quilt this door hanging, I decided I would try my hand at free-motion quilting.  I've done it in a class, I've tried it on my new machine, but had never really done it before.  How can a girl learn to do something, if she doesn't try?  (You don't have to answer it, it was sort of rhetorical...)

This was my attempt. This looks pretty good.  Then I got a little cocky and kept at it.  There was no place to put the needle and I panicked.  You can't see that here...if you look at other pictures, you'll see what I mean.

I decided to sew in the ditch for the starry stripes.  I added a red border and machine stitched the binding.  What?  Yes, I did.  I consider this a learning experience...and I wanted to learn what a machine binding was like... It's just as bad as everyone says it is.  But all in all, I'm pretty pleased with the result.

I learned how to add tabs on the back for hanging.  So, the thing I learned with that exercise is the tab should go on before the binding.  That's okay, this is a learning experience.

I could count the number of things that are wrong with this finished project.  Instead I'm going to count the things I did right.  I love it.  I think it's a fun design...it's my design.  If I were to show you the back, you'd be horrified.  But that's a lesson for another project.  Enjoy.  I am.

Urban Cabin

 This is it! My first quilt!  In September I took a class at Prairie Shop Quilts taught by the talented Barb R.  The pattern Urban Cabin is by Atkinson Design.  I saw an example  at the shop and loved the look.  My mom wanted a new quilt for her guest bed.  Why not?  The class was in September and my mom and I went to five shops one day this summer looking for  fabric.  It became overwhelming for her.  So, I asked her: would you like bright or would you like pastel?  Bright.  What color do you want?  Not blue. Shortly after that, I went to the Quilt Merchant and found this wonderful line of fabrics from Amy Butler.  I supplemented the colors with some Kaffe fabrics and other scraps I had at home.

The blocks are large and I found my groove.  Do you finish a block and then go to the next?  Or do you focus on one step at a time?  In the end, that turned out to be what I did. 1-1/2 " strips, 2-1/2" strips, 3-1/2" strips?  It got to be confusing for me.  So, one step at a time.  It was good because I could chain stitch things together and go go go.

I've self-diagnosed myself as having ADhD.  I get very distracted when I sew. And when I'm distracted I make mistakes.  I found an answer -- audiobooks.  When I'm listening to a very good story, I sit and listen and sew.  and I want to get back to the story...so I keep sewing.   It's worked so far.

After a really hectic Autumn at work, I abandoned housework on the weekends and finished!  I took to Elvira the Long Arm Quilter and hoped it would be back in time for binding.

In early November I had my gallbladder out.  It was unplanned. And so was the week off I was suddenly given.  I had time to sew.  So I did.  I made pillows.  I started sewing scraps together and made a 20" pillow.  Then, I quilted it.  No, really I did.  I quilted straight lines.  I'm not sure it's the best straight line quilting in the world, but I'm rather happy with it.  I used Kaffe Spray Brown as the back.  It was one of my favorites and wanted to use more of it.

The next fabric I found was a gorgeous piece of wool herringbone.  I made a ruffle of the backing fabric (a struggle in sewing, but I did it).  I'm quite pleased with how that looks.

My first attempt at a wool pillow was really unsuccessful, but I rallied and added buttons.  It's not the best pillow but I think it will add something.

I love the border fabric.  I love that flax color with the acid green.  I was lucky enough to find a very tactile silk fabric the exact color. I attempted to make a pillow but my mitred corners need work and I cut wrong.  What to do? That was pricey fabric.  I reworked some things and created a flange on the pillow.  It's fluffy and a good attempt.  Again, I think it adds to the whole look.

By then, Elvira had finished my quilt.  It's gorgeous. Even without the binding.  Prairie Shop Quilts hosts a Sew Anything class (called Anything Goes)...featuring the estimable Barb R.  She suggested I bring my binding and she'd show me what to do. I did this and discovered that binding is an important but miserable step in the process.  What a drag.  I didn't get nearly enough done those three hours when Barb told me I had to finish the binding by hand.

A lot of whining took place. I whined at the store.  I whined at home. I whined on Facebook and I whined at work.  Those who know, told me to just do it.  That I'd be infinitely more happy with hand binding.

Another friend, someone I've know since high school, offered to coach me on binding.  Caroljoy teaches quilting and is a very patient teacher.  It was nice to see her and she reiterated that I needed to finish it by hand.

Did I mention the size of my twin quilt?  It's 75x102.  That's 354 inches of binding.  It's a big quilt!

So, one week before Christmas I took the day off and finished the binding by hand.  It took me 9 hours and 50 minutes.  My fingers ached and I understood the phrase "carpal tunnel pain."  But I'm done. And I think it looks great.  I'll post my mother's response!

Here it is.  As I said before, this is a twin size quilt.  I staged it on a queen bed. It's very big, isn't it?    You can see the pillows as well.  Enjoy!

Patch-working Promises

Pieced and ready to stitch the ditch

The Basics -- Churn Dash

I just finished my Basics Quilt Class.  Here's one of the squares I learned to construct ...
The square: The Churn Dash

Why it's a Basic: Look closely.  Do you see it?  It's a 9-patch.  The elements are half-square triangles and 2/3s of a rail fence.  

What I learned: This square helped me put it all together.  We've been working hard on those silly little squares and then, bam!, the more advanced "basic" squares put them together.  I didn't like the look of the churn dash, then I put this together.  

What I like about this square: The construction. The fabric.

What I don't like: nada

Would I do anything differently: zip

The Basics: An Easy Guide to Beginning Quiltmaking by Kathy Delaney

Taught by Barbara R. at the Prairie Quilt Shops

Just a reminder, this unfinished quilt was photographed on an ottoman and may not appear square, but it is!

The Basics -- 4-Patch

The square: The Four-Patch

Why it's a Basic: 4 5-inch squares sewn together

What I learned: my machine doesn't do a 1/4" seam very well. I learned how to adapt to fix that problem. I learned the proper way to press a square. I learned the proper way to match seams. I learned the ironing trick to help the square lay flat.

What I like about this square: I matched that middle seam up without guessing! I remember thinking, this is worth the money the first day!

What I don't like: Not much. Now I think I made poor fabric choices, but this is a learning experience

Would I do anything differently: Nope. It's the most basic of squares, but don't underestimate it's importance.

The Basics: An Easy Guide to Beginning Quiltmaking by Kathy Delaney

Taught by Barbara R. at the Prairie Quilt Shops

Just a reminder, this unfinished quilt was photographed on an ottoman and may not appear square, but it is!

I'm Officially "Confident Beginner"

Today was the last class for my Beginner's Class.  I intended to blog about it, but Spring/Summer is busy for me and it just didn't happen.

Here is a picture of my 16 squares pinned to a planning board.  It needs a border for the colors to pop and make sense.  Then, it will go to an official quilter who will finish it off.  (One skill at a time, thank you very much.)

I didn't get it completely finished today.  I have to sew the rows together and add the border.  When that is complete, I'll post a picture.

Four Corners -- That Meet in the Middle!

My first square.
The Basics Class.
Prairie Shop Quilts.
those four corners meet in the middle. Already worth the money.




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Machine Quilting 101

When I started learning to quilt, I looked at blogs and read lots of books. This helped me decide what I did and didn't like. Project #2 and the yet-to-be completed Project #3 were found online. These sources helped me piece together a quilt top. Blogs helped me learn how to properly make a quilt sandwich and finish my quilt. But I knew enough about my sewing skills that I knew I would need help with the actual quilting of my projects. A local quilt shop, Prairie Shop Quilts, held a Machine Quilting class this weekend led by the very capable Elvia Illig.

Elvira had a list of supplies we were to bring to class, including a prepared quilt sandwich of muslin and batting. I purchased my muslin at a different store and unknowingly, or perhaps ignorantly, purchased 2 yards of very w-i-d-e muslin. 92 inches to be specific. Well, I figured it out and made my 1 yard muslin practice quilt and drew the very specific grid Elvira requested for her class. I used the purple marker that says the ink will vanish in about 48 hours. Here is my work:

Assuming the ink was light sensitive, I folded the muslin up and immediately put it away. (I did this Friday morning for a Saturday class.) Did you guess what I'm about to say? Yep, when I got to the class all my markings were gone. 48 hours? I laugh at the 48 hour time frame, ha! No bother, marking it up was easier the second time around.

During class, Elvira gave us some great hints.

• use thread that matches your fabric
• use monofilament thread when quilting "in the ditch" It's invisible and won't interfere with the fabric.
• If you're having problems with your quilting, do some diagnostics: re-thread your machine and your bobbin; change your needle
• In the middle of your stitching, when it seems like what you're doing is horrible, keep going. There is beauty in abundance.
• To start and end your thread do the "bobbin trick." Pull the bobbin thread up through the batting. Practice this. A lot!
• A fast needle and slow hand movements are the key to machine quilting.

These are the stitches that Elvira demonstrated and we "learned":

• How to use the scary foot (aka walking foot)
• In the Ditch
• How to use the free motion foot (feed dog down)
• How and why to use quilter's gloves. Use them once and you'll know why.
• Meandering. Stippling (Meandering, Jr.), and microstippling (Meandering III)
• Loops, Loops and Stars, Pebbles (small circles), and circles
• Flames, Heartbeat, and Waves (I never did try Waves)
• in the border: Alphabet (l's and e's) and Continuous Leaves in a border
• Tear drops (graded) and Baptist Fan
• and lastly McTavishing

This is my attempt at circles, loops, and pebbles.

Things I learned:

• I thought I knew how to use my machine. I mean. I do know how to use my machine. But machine quilting? All bets are off! If I threaded that machine, I threaded it 25 times. Truly. As I was getting in the groove, the thread was gone. Get in the groove, snap, the thread broke. I was very frustrated. Elvira did what she could to diagnose the problem... re-threaded the bobbin, changed the needle. Snap. it was frustrating. After I got home, I showed Dave my attempt and told him how frustrated I was at the thread continuously breaking. Nonchalantly he said, "change the thread." Says I, "the instructor said the thread was good." As I was practicing in my sewing room, snap goes the thread. At this point, it wouldn't hurt to change the thread... and if I can actually see the thread wouldn't that be good? It worked. The thicker thread stayed in the machine and I learned a little more about how to machine quilt.
• I need an extension table for my machine. The small surface is hindering what I'm able to do. I found a project on e-How to make an extension table. If I continue to quilt, I'll need a new machine. Until that happens, a homemade table will work.
• I need to find the right needle speed for me. And this might change once I get that extension table. A fast needle and slow hand movements are the key. Fast needle and jerky hand movements = jumped stitches. Jumped stitches are bad. Bad. Uniform stitches are good and uniform stitches are formed with slow hands and a fast needle.
• I need to practice. Rome wasn't built in a day. Quilting may or may not be for me. But I won't know unless I practice.
• I should take more classes. It's good for technique.

Gathered Table Runner

So, I finally finished the gathered table runner. Here it is. Green and blue have been my favorite color combination for more than 10 years. Our wedding featured these colors.



... and here we have it "staged" on the table. I love it. I think it makes the table. An old farm-style type table my husband's had since his bachelor days. It pretties it up.


This is what I've learned from this project:

• I can read sewing instructions successfully
• I can gather
• I think once I learn how to truly machine quilt I'll do a better job with the quilting of things
• I shouldn't be so hard on myself.

On to finishing project #2.
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Progress: project #3

Look what I did tonight.




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Project #3: Gathered Table Runner

Project #2 is coming along swimmingly. I have my squares completed. The next step has to do with blocks. I have some reading to do. Also, in late July I will be taking a machine quilting class... and I need to learn that to finish this project. So, to keep the momentum going: a table runner.

I saw this tutorial a while ago and haven't forgotten it. Gathering? I can do that. I'll keep you updated.


I picked out this gorgeous combination of blues, greens, and ivory from Hydrangeas by Sue Zipkim. This was our color scheme for our wedding, so I'm partial to it.

Figuring It Out

I'm not so good at math. When I took the GRE for library school, I excelled at the logic portion, but math and spatial reasoning? I'm strictly remedial.

The whirligig pattern calls for cutting the 3x3.5 rectangle at an angle. You might be surprised how long it took me to figure out how to cut 1.5" from the right to 2.5 to the left (I'm writing this without the pattern in front of me.).

My solution? Painters tape on my cutting board with pen marking the spots to place my ruler.


It might not be perfect, but it worked. If you have tips, I would love to read them.

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Today's Lesson Learned

It matters when the seams match up. You can see the square on the right has all four sections lined up -- I paid attention to the seams as I was sewing the two sides together.

My First Completed Square

One down, 35 to go.

Thinking for Myself

I started project #2 last night. After practicing the instructions on a piece of paper, I started cutting my layer cake blocks based on what was written on the blog. After cutting about nine blocks, I started thinking that maybe I was cutting too much fabric.

I emailed the creator of my new fancy blogs. It was true, I was cutting way too much fabric. Instead of 3-3 inch strips, she wanted 1-3 inch strip. Now I have to decide if my quilt will have two or three whirligigs of the same fabric, or restart and have different whirligigs.

One of things I've discovered about quilting is that you can do what you want.... it doesn't matter. I haven't met the quilting police, but I've read they exist. I do think that if I set up these blocks in a pattern, it will be okay that the fabric is repeated.

Don't look now, but I think I learned something.

Project #2: Whirligig Baby Quilt

I've decided on my next quilt. The criteria for this quilt is that I have to follow directions.  My first quilting experience was to learn and explore.  Now that I know this is something I like and would like to get better at, my next step, in my opinion, is to follow directions.  There seems to be way too much math involved in this art form for me to wing it.

So.  I've been reading quilting blogs and looked at countless books on the modern quilting movement.  I like the look of the "modern" quilt, although the definition of modern quilting is never completely defined.  I know what I like though.

Fabric.  Why is fabric always the easiest part?  Except that I want to start more than one project at a time.  This, I think, is a common problem.  So, the fabric I'm going to use in project #2 is the Bliss line of Moda products.  It comes in a layer cake and I love it.  I purchased said layer cake along with some coordinating fabrics before I knew what I wanted... except to say that I knew that I wanted the Bliss line of Moda fabrics.  So, I think I did this backwards.  But, see, I learned something.

While looking at blogs I somehow found myself on the When Eight Create blog.  They recently posted the Whirligig Quilt and it looked like the perfect "first" quilt.  It's made with a layer cake: check.  It's smaller so manageable, check.  I just needed some white fabric.  Easy.

So, I've made the decision. In the process, I've bookmarked about six other quilts I think are my style.  And I found another pattern I liked at the fabric store and some stunning fabric I must -- no really -- must have.

Breathe.  And follow directions.  That's it for now.

Oh, I also ran across a pledge to Blog the Process.  Easy.  It's sort of what I've been doing.  But I Took the Process Pledge.

My First Project

I didn't know how to start my first project. I really enjoyed the book mentioned in my previous post: Scandinavian Stitches... she seemed to draw a picture and then turn it into fabric art. This seemed like a good place to start. So I drew a picture. I used the shape of the bird from the Scandinavian Stiches book.
After drawing the picture, I went to my favorite quilt shop and found fabric that matched my picture and each other. Fabric purchasing has never been a problem for me -- I just don't know what to do with it once I have it.
After measuring and cutting I was ready to start my project. I started by sewing the grass and sky together. That was the easy part.
I took this project one step at a time, often taking one week per step. The next step was to find the materials I would need to properly applique the pieces on to the quilt top. I went to my other favorite quilt shop and asked for what I thought I was looking for. I found something better: people who know what they're doing. They recommended Steam-A-Seam 2 (Double Stick Fusible Web). It's wonderful. There might be other material out there that does the same things as this web, but I found this to be easy-peasy pie. After the materials were cut out, I sewed them on with black thread. Scandinavian Stitches projects have lots of black thread and it sort of makes the elements pop. (You'll see.)
The birds. The birds in the book I was working with .had some dramatic elements. Now, in my life, I've played with beads and knew I had some that would be just right for this project. I took jewelry wire and threaded at the bottom of the bird for legs and added beads. I did this for both legs of the bird for all three birds. A little silver bead was sewn on for each eye. I think it's a good effect, don't you?

So far so good. This was all stuff I knew how to do; I had the tree in place, the birdies in place. The picture needed something else, particularly because I placed one birdie in the wrong place (as shown in the original picture). I thought and then thought and then thought: yo-yos!
I purchased a yo-yo maker and practiced and practiced. Finally, I had a project to use them on using a fabric that had whole new color.. partly because I loved the fabric and wanted to finally use it... partly because I thought the red popped. I made five flowers and used a different green fabric for the stem and leaves. It looks good, doesn't it!

Okay, I was done with the quilt top. Now for the back. The plan was to use the green fabric from the front on the back. Nice and simple.

Or not. I'm pretty lousy with the math of quilting, thank goodness my husband is a walking calculator. I measured twice, cut once and got the wrong size. Oh well, I thought I'd just use the blue fabric instead. Nope, same exact issue. This is where things got foggy. I wasn't going to buy a whole new piece of fabric, this was quilting for heaven's sake. So, I thought and thought and thought and tried to figure out how I could piece something together. I had nothing. I've never quilted before! I thought I could layer the blue and green til the vertical length was that of the quilt top. (Are you confused? I was!)

Well, that wasn't working. This step really took about 3 weeks. I felt paralyzed by lack of experience. Until last weekend. Playing around with 4 inch strips of fabric, I started putting them together using stitch in the ditch -- which is something I learned last year. Check. I wish I took a picture of the strip. It was a gentle arc not the straight line I was hoping for. That was okay, I had enough fabric that I cut it to a semi-straight line. My pinning skills are superb. .

I was very proud of myself. The next step was to cut the batting and create the quilt sandwich. Guess what? Yes, I cut it wrong. What am I doing wrong? No matter, back to quilt shop and bought some more. She also gave me some good guidelines and help with the binding fabric.

Today's quilting phrase: Presents as a solid.

I put the quilt together (is that the hardest part?) and machine stitched the sandwich together. I found a great old hoop to put the quilt in and learned me some hand quilting. I learned by reading and lots of starting and restarting. I followed the loops of the blue fabric in different spots. Here is an up-close of my first attempt. (I've since tightened up this section -- it looks a lot better.)

I enjoyed it. I've certainly gained a lot of respect for the hand quilts I've seen with such uniform stitches. That is skill! After the binding went on, I ironed it and it's now ready for my mom's mother's day present. I'm sure she'll be pleased. I'll put the picture of the final quilt online, once I've given it to her.

I like this quilting stuff.