Finally, Some Actual Quilting

Look what I spent Sunday morning doing! 

It's been a long time since I did any freemotion quilting at all. The last thing I did on Mom's machine was the Nancy Drew quilt. I do like the longarm, especially the part where I don't have to crawl around on the floor and pin baste, but I always got better results on my Janome.   I've usually stuck with my own machine, except for projects that were too big to comfortably handle on my own machine.

Hopefully this is the first of many quilts I'll get done this year, either by driving up to use Mom's machine, or by getting the Janome fixed, or switching to another of my own machines. Not quilting at all isn't working for me. 

Ever Used a Free Motion Guide Grip?

I have tops to quilt. There are the two blue baby quilts, and that little vintage school quilt from last month, and Alex's low volume quilt, and Heath's seals, those drunkard's path turtles,  and the nail polish quilt (once I find that fabric I need to finish the outer border...) 

While I was procrastinating last week, I found a post on Inbox Jaunt talking about the Viking Husqvarna’s Free Motion Guide Grip and had a vague memory of  Mom buying something like that years ago. So I called and asked if it actually existed and, if it did, if I could borrow hers to see if it's really as wonderful as Lori made it sound.

So now I've got a guide grip, and a new package of bobbins, and a new pack of needles.

This means I'm out of excuses, right? I'm anxious to see how the grip works.

Practice

I've got lots of tops to quilt, but it's been a while since I did much free-motion quilting and I didn't want to work out the kinks on anything important. So I cut some squares of muslin and batting and found a couple of cute tutorials... 

These are inspired by Claire's Peony and  Pebbles, both from The Inbox Jaunt. I can't bring myself to throw away practice pieces and we always need more potholders in the kitchen, so I zigzagged the edges and we'll use them until they get grungy.

This post is linked to Free Motion Mavericks, Patchwork Times,

Doodling -- This Time With Fabric and Thread

Fabric and thread looks much nicer than notebook paper and ballpoint pen, doesn't it? 

I think my next hurdle -- or the one beyond getting my curves and corners and shapes right -- will be adjusting my speed so I don't get these microscopic stitches.

Doodling and Practice

I absolutely love the quilting that Lori over at The Inbox Jaunt does. Last week, she posted a tutorial for the cutest free motion sewing machine.

I pulled out pen and paper and started to practice.... 

I think I might be getting worse instead of better, but at least I've memorized the steps.  And I'm going to keep trying. Maybe it's time to take a deep breath and doodle on fabric.

In Friday's post, she started a series of Doodle Lessons. I couldn't keep up with her Quilt Notebook series, but hopefully life is going to stay calmer than it was last year.

Quilted Turtles

This is one of those long-term projects. I made the first of the blocks back in October 2012 and put together a tutorial explaining how to make the block with the AcccuQuilt Go! Drunkard's Path and Dresden Plate dies. Then I went through the usual routine of trouble choosing the right green fabrics (because I only got to use 16 different prints -- that's daunting!), putting it aside to work on something else, losing some of the pieces (big problem since the light blue background is a vintage sheet that I was never going to be able to match), not knowing what to do for a border...messing up the math for the border...  I got the top assembled last September and basted it on Mom's longarm in late November.

The plan has always been to quilt each turtle in a different design.

Turtle #1 is a single continuous spiral, which was probably the worst idea I could have come up with. This quilt is so much bigger and heavier than anything I've done on my DSM in recent months that I couldn't maneuver it smoothly. I thought it would be just like quilting a spiral on a baby quilt, but it's not for a lot of different reasons that I should have probably realized in advance.

Turtle #2 is a kind of radiating flower design. Starts in the center and goes out, just like the spiral, but it offers a lot more opportunities to start and stop without obvious glitches in the stitching.  

Turtle #3 is a kind of pebbled design, which really  shows up well on this fabric. I think it might be my favorite turtle so far!

Clamshells?

This time, I followed the clamshell tutorial from The Inbox Jaunt.

There's a lot wrong with my clamshells, but on a quilt with prints and little pieces and seams, I don't think it would be as obvious.  And, with enough practice, I think they'll look pretty good. I hate how tiny these stitches are, but I can't make the curved shapes quickly enough to get any kind of decent stitch length. Yet.

Trying to work up my nerve..

This is a kinda sad attempt at Swirls and Twirls from the Inbox Jaunt. I'm not happy with it, but I zig-zagged the edges and I figure it'll make a usable mug rug until I have enough nice ones.

If you haven't seen Lori's blog yet, she has a whole amazing slew of free motion quilting tutorials. This is the kind of quilting I want to do. All of those gorgeous borders -- that's what I want to do with the baby bird quilt from earlier this week.

That's why I've got four unquilted baby quilt tops sitting here. I'm resisting the temptation to just do my usual meander.

I'm linking this post to Finish it Up Friday, Can I get a Whoop Whoop?, Get Crafting Friday, Pinworthy Projects, Freedom Fridays, Inspired Friday. and Friday Favs.

I'm finally quilting the turtles!

From the beginning, I've had big plans for the quilting on my Drunkard's Path Turtles. I want to custom quilt designs for the shell and legs of each turtle and do a tight stipple in the blue background.

A couple things were holding me back. If I'm going to do quilting like this, I want to use my Janome. I do better work on it than the long arm, probably because I have lots more practice on that machine and can seize perfect moments of opportunity when the boys are asleep or totally absorbed in a project and no one is likely to go tearing through the room and distract me.

Doing big quilts on the Janome presents its own series of problems, especially when it's time to baste it. The assembled quilt top is wider than my largest expanse of bare floor, even if I move furniture. And I really really don't want pleats in the back of this quilt. I don't mind a few itty-bitty ones in a utility quilt, but I've grown more and more attached to these turtles.

The solution was easy. I hauled it up to Mom's house and basted it on her long arm. Now that all of the layers are together, I can take my time and do a turtle when the mood strikes, instead of rushing to get it all done in one afternoon.

If you have a long arm, or access to one, have you ever basted a quilt to do on your DSM?  I've heard of quilters having projects basted to hand quilt later. 

Meet Malia

I whipped up this little quilt because I wanted to try out one of the free-motion patterns from Beginner's Guide to Free-Motion Quilting by Natalia Bonner.

I loved the way the quilting design looked in the book and was considering it for Alex's big girl version of Annabelle, but now that I've given it a try I think it gives the quilt a fluffier texture than I want. It might have laid flatter with cotton batting instead of polyester, and I want to try it on a little wall quilt because I still do like the look.

It was nearly midnight when I got the binding on, so the pictures don't show the texture as well as I'd like. Now I'd better hurry and make more tops because there are a lot more designs in this book I want to try. 

This post is linked to I Gotta Try That, Sew Much Ado, Finish it Up Friday, Can I get a Whoop Whoop?, Get Crafting Friday, Pinworthy Projects, and Freedom Fridays, Wonderful at Home, and Inspired Friday.

every single day

That's the plan for 2012. At least fifteen minutes of piecing a day, every single day.

Set a timer and try it. You might be surprised how much piecing you can get done in fifteen minutes. This time it was five sets of six green strips to make blocks for the Trip Around the World quilt. The last time I worked on that quilt, it felt like it took take forever to sew those long strips together. (I think that's why I stopped working on it.) Three more sessions with the timer and I'll have those blocks sewn together and ready to cut up and sew back together.

Fifteen minutes a day of piecing, added to my regular quilting time, and I should be able to get a lot done. I know there will be some days when I just can't pull it off, but it's just fifteen minutes. I can find that time somewhere in my day.

One of the best pieces of quilting advice I read last year said one way to keep your sewing space organized was to use it. The times I've tried it, it really worked. If I'm using my machine, it isn't buried under a bunch of other stuff. If I'm working on a project, I know where the pieces are and what I need to do next. It's when I put things away for a while that I start to get into trouble.

Maybe if I can get up to do things the sewing room more often it'll help with that, too.

It seems like everyone is talking about free motion quilting right now. SewCalGal has her free motion quilting challenge. A Few Scraps is giving away a copy of Modern Quilting Designs. There's Focus on Free Motion Quilting at Sew Inspired. And don't forget The Free Motion Quilting Project.

I love free motion quilting, but I mostly stick to meandering. I can do spirals, if I remember they're an option. But there are so many gorgeous free motion options out there. I want to learn feathers. And hearts. And Baptist Fans...

And there's no excuse not to. I've figured out my tension issues. My knee is cooperating. I've got a bolt of batting.

My biggest obstacle now is that's it's easier to do what's familiar, what I know I can do decently. I've got to force myself to slow down and tackle something new, even if that means it's going to take longer to finish projects.

Trying a new design meant that I finished one baby quilt instead of the two or three I might've done if I did my usual free motion.



It's a pattern I found in one of my old quilting magazines. I'm not sure if I want to give this one another try or not.

This post is linked to Focus on Free Motion Quilting and WIP Wednesday And don't forget to check out my new pattern, 30s Barn Raising and enter to win a Moda Jelly Roll and the background fabric to make the quilt.

I need something to quilt

It seems like everyone is talking about free motion quilting right now. SewCalGal has her Free-Motion Quilting Challenge. The PajamaQuilter has one of her DVDs on sale -- I'm trying to convince my husband to buy it for me for a belated Christmas present, but I haven't gotten an answer yet.

I was watching the trailer for the PajamaQuilter DVD on You Tube and stumbled across this video showing how to free motion quilt swirly hearts. I could do that! I just need something to quilt hearts on.

Which means making a new baby quilt.

I love these scrappy hearts, which I originally found in one of my old quilting magazines. I think this is the fourth time I've made a baby quilt using this basic pattern.



Four hearts hasn't been quite big enough for a baby blanket. Nine is bigger than I feel like doing right now. Last time, I added a border to bring the size up by a couple of inches, but I really didn't love that solution.

This time, I changed the size of the squares from 2 1/2" to 3", which brought the quilt up to just the size I wanted. I couldn't use my pre-cut bins of squares for this project, but while I was at it I cut enough extras for a second baby quilt. Part of me feels like I'm cheating by using bigger squares instead of making more blocks, but I want to try those swirly hearts now

To see what other quilters are working on, head over to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.

Have you seen Bonnie's finished Orca Bay quilt? I'm completely blown away - and more than a little intimidated. If I hadn't started with clue #1, I'm not sure I'd
have the nerve to start at all now that I've seen the finished project.

I've got about fifty of the quarter square triangle units from clue #1 done, and a handful of blue squares, and one Ohio Star block. I think I'm going to try that tactic someone mentioned recently for dealing with UFOs -- do an hour of clue #1, an hour of clue #2, and keep going an hour at a time until I've got my own Orca Bay quilt.



Be sure to come back Thursday to see my Moda Bake Shop quilt and enter the Fat Quarter Shop giveaway!