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Archive for the tag “Sew”

30 May 2012
7 Comments

Persian Plum Block 2

This is the second block in the series for Joann Fabrics Block of the Month “Persian Plum”. This block was a little more technical and has you sewing triangles together prior to joining the halves to form a square.

While not impossible to get the tips perfectly lined up, I would suggest pinning for best effect.

At the end of the first round of sewing you should end up with eight half squares.

Joining these together forms your four multicolored squares.

The finished square is well designed and I’ll say once again a beautiful set of colors. Look me up in another week where I’ll be putting block three together.

 

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28 May 2012

Daughter is leaving

As you may know my daughter has been on vacation and staying with us for the past three weeks.  Her quilt top is still almost finished, her panels are sewn together and she’ll be taking it with her back to Kansas to finish it.  We tried to find the border fabric she had selected but will end up buying it online.

I’m sad to see her go, but proud that she was able to accomplish so much for her first time quilting in-between relaxing and spending time with her parents.  We sent her off with a cutting mat, rotary cutter, fabric scissors, and some new fabric.  I hope this will spur her on to take her sewing machine out of the box and finish up her quilt.  Maybe she’ll even want to start another afterwards.

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26 May 2012

Move Day 1

Well…  the movers didn’t show up yesterday which would normally be a bad thing, however I ended up working late anyway on a project that was supposed to take one hour (read noon until 1pm).  The movers called and said they were delayed at another site and wouldn’t be able to make it until tomorrow (which would be today) and it actually worked out well since I would be at work until almost 7pm!!

My wife had done all the preliminary work of getting the storage facility to clear out the house and boxed everything up that would be going to the storage facility.  She even with our daughters help, made a trip to storage after loading both cars up.

I stopped off on the way home and brought dinner which we ate and then relaxed.  So, no work was done last night but I’ll be posting pics tonight or tomorrow of the before and after.  Speaking of pictures…  Here is one of the completed quilt top for my Amish Quilt!!  I’m so excited to be quilting this one myself…

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25 May 2012
2 Comments

Time to move the sewing out of the dining room

We have decided to get rid of the guest bedroom and furniture in favor of a sewing room/media room.  I’m not looking forward to the move, as I don’t look forward to a move of any kind.  I am excited about the result however.  We are replacing our sofas and dining set with a nicer one.  This means we’ll be moving the old table into the guest bedroom until we can replace it with a sewing table for two.

It’s musical furniture this memorial  day weekend, I’ll try to post some pics for the new sewing room once we’re done.

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24 May 2012
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Thimbles and Batting

Have you ever wanted to know which product to use only to go through the process of searching and only have a headache and more confusion for your trouble??  When I first started quilting and figured out how to piece my quilt together through trial and error I was finally ready to put the sandwich together.  Which batting to use?  I went down to the store to find myself inundated with cotton, polyester, cotton/poly, and wool.  Which would be best?  I couldn’t find an answer, not even after I searched extensively online.  No one just came out and said, “this is my favorite!”.  So for anyone searching out there, here’s my opinion for what it’s worth…

Warm and Natural 100% cotton batting is the ONLY batting I have used on any of my quilts.  Another look into what constitutes GOOD batting makes my head spin.  Bearding, loft, composition, and drape… for me it couldn’t be more confusing.  When I start to search this topic through numerous hops on the web, after 2 – 3 pages of information the final answer I read about is they don’t have a straight answer.  Well, polyester is used for some wall-hangings, but is harder with a higher loft to quilt…  blah, blah, blah…

Warm and Natural 100% Cotton

Usually if someone has asked a question or does a web search, they have a specific need in mind.  The bulk of what I make are quilts ranging in size from 12” x 12” up to a King size  of 100” x 120”.  When I ask what batting should I use I not looking for a discourse in batting or a run-thru on the thermal-dynamics of polyester vs. cotton vs. cotton/poly blend.  I’m asking about a personal preference, what would you use if this was a quilt you were making for a family member and why would you select that particular batting.

Microsafe Traditional Loft Polyester

I have noticed that there is far fluffier (read “more loft”) batting out there, but MY personal preference is warm and natural 100% cotton because of the weight and feel of it and it may be kind of goofy, but it says natural (no dyes).  I’ve made enough quilts now that I am relatively sure it will survive my grandchildren tussling and still keep them warm and that’s good enough for me.

Mountain Mist Traditional Loft Polyester

Now on to thimbles…

I have to qualify my remarks first.  I’m a guy and my hands are on the large size, so when picking out a thimble I’m only trying out large ones.  So far I’ve tried out thimbles from Dritz, Clover, and Pons & Foster.  I’ll give you my impression of each one.

I started out using Fons & Porter brass thimble for my hand quilting and after a while was very pleased with the result.  The third day of use however, left me with a green thumb… which is great for gardening, but not so nice when dealing with fabric.

I looked around for an equivalent thimble that kept my finger its natural color and came across the Dritz thimble.  This thimble was fantastic and I did a lot of work with it on my Amish swap quilt.  Alas… after so much use it was cutting into my cuticle on the back side.  I’m not sure if this was due to bad technique, sizing of the thimble, or combination of both.  There was enough pain though to prompt my searching for another.

Enter the Clover thimble, soft supple leather and a steel coin to protect the finger.  This is the MOST comfortable thimble that I’ve used and still use when I want to give my finger a break from the Drizt, but it had a couple of disadvantages for me.  The coin is located on the front of the finger and when I’m using the rocking motion for quilting, I can get more stitches per inch if it’s on the top of my finger.  The other issue is that at times the needle head will get wedged between the leather and the coin.  That can be real annoying when you are on a roll.

The last thimble I’ve purchased seamed like a good idea, it just didn’t work for me though.  The top is solid and the body is elastic.  It stays glued to my finger without any issue and protect it as well… but without the stiffness of the solid thimble I, once again, had trouble with not enough stitches at a time.

So for now i use a combination of the two thimbles, the dritz with its solid performance until my finger hurts, then the soft leather clover to ease the pain.

That is all I have to say on the subjects of batting and thimbles.  I would LOVE to hear everybody’s preferences and opinions.

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23 May 2012

Book Review for 101 Fabulous Rotary-Cut Quilts

101 Fabulous Rotary-Cut Quilts

Before I went out to purchase this book, I had read a few reviews on it. “If you can’t find a dozen quilts to make from this book right away, you just haven’t opened the cover” was the review that made the decision for me.

At 272 pages this book goes into enough depth that a beginner can crack it open and start quilting and an experienced quilter can find new designs and ideas as well. A section of the book goes over finishing quilts. I couldn’t go over everything this book covers without rewriting it. Color wheel, paper piecing, rotary techniques.. it has something to say about all of that.

The quilts are well detailed and illustrated with a grade by skill level. The real test came after the book arrived and my daughter came down to visit. We were able to talk about which one she should try based upon what she liked and the skill level it gave.  The quilt I posted about earlier that she is working on and almost finished came out of this book. Of course there were some questions she needed answers to about the best way to do something, but I was impressed by how far she was able to get with her first quilt from following the simple-to-use directions from the book.

That is the best review I could give a book, 5 stars out of 5.

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21 May 2012

Under the Weather/Radar

ImageImageImageI spent most of the weekend working on the Schoolhouse quilt and getting it almost finished, but Sunday I turned my attention back to the Sampler Quilt my wife and I are working on together.  I finished the last two blocks and then sewed the panels together.  Even though I did a lot of work, I kind of felt out of sorts Sunday and here it is Monday and I’m definitely feeling under the weather.

Today will be spent relaxing and taking it easy, though I might try to finish the binding on the Christmas quilt that I spent so much time hand quilting.  That project took so long and it is time to have that completed.  When you feel under the weather, do you continue to do projects or just try and relax?

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On another note, my daughter finished sewing her blocks together and will finish sewing the panels together this morning.  Let her know what you think…  This is going to be her very first quilt, she chose the pattern, fabrics, and colors all by herself.


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19 May 2012
1 Comment

My children are thieves

My third quilt to go missing is now in Maryland with my son who is in the Air Force. He was on his way to his new base and was visiting us for a week in between bases. I was in the process of putting together a Jelly Roll quilt from the fabric that my wife and daughter had bought me for Christmas.

And speaking of, when I pulled out the Jelly Roll from its wrapping it took me a while to realize what it was. It’s not like I haven’t seen one before, I had just never envisioned using one for a quilt. What’s a guy to do when you’re given something that you don’t know what to do with? I very politely said thanks, and put it away for a while in my fabric bin.

A couple of months later while I was looking to buy some quilt books (I have said before that I have a problem buying too many right?) I came across a dozen or so books on making Jelly Roll quilts. Naturally i bought a few and even purchased some magazines on the topic at a local fabric store.

The quilts featured in these publications certainly looked fun to make and something that I could maybe finish in a weekend. I was happy with how the quilt top turned out and sent it off to my wonderful Long Arm quilter. When I picked the quilt up after it was finished it had been transformed from a good quilt into a work of art.

It was at this point in the story that our son arrived. Like any good child who shows up just as the meal is being set to the table, or when the last nail is being driven home on a project, he shows up just as I’m putting the binding on my first Jelly Roll quilt. I have to say that the colors where more to his liking than some of the previous quilts that I had made, more… manly.  Over the course of the week he made it clear how much he wanted it and in the end, I had to give in.

 

Have you ever had your crafts find another home though you didn’t plan on it?

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11 May 2012
2 Comments

Persian Plum Block 1

Persian Plum 

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Block 1 Roundup

The first block in the set… With great anticipation I pulled the fabric from the package and my heart skipped a beat. There in my hands was a miss-cut piece of a triangle, and I couldn’t believe that right out of the gate I would be disappointed. As I continued to examine the pieces supplied however, my disappointment turned to excitement as I realized that it was extra!! There were already four PERFECT triangles to use and I can only assume that someone decided to include it in the kit rather than wasting a perfectly good piece of scrap!!

The other two comments are about the color and density of the fabric they choose. This is NOT cheap fabric and no matter how many pictures I post, they would never do the fabric justice. It is thick without being too thick and got me thinking about how heavy and wonderfully durable this quilt is going to be when complete. The color of the fabric has such depth and complexity as I mentioned in an earlier post, but doesn’t compare to actually holding it outside of the package. Only one word describes it… “WOW”

Below are the pictures of assembling Block 1 from the Persian Plum Block of the Month from Joann Fabrics… Let me know what you think.

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Here are the triangles that came with the kit

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Sewing the smaller triangles together

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All the triangles joined together

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Here is the finished block…

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Block 1 Compared to the package!! Not bad right?

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07 May 2012

Begin at the Beginning

My wife and I have been quilting now for the past 15 years, but only seriously for the past two.  Because of that we both understand and consider ourselves to be new to quilting.  We read a lot from books, blogs, and watch videos of how to accomplish what we would like to do.

While I don’t think of myself as methodical, I do view my wife’s method of trying new techniques as a bit of a gunslinger setting patterns and colors at odds and really letting her artistic talent out on a romp at times. We’ve talked at length about how we can be successful at this new love of ours called quilting and wanted to start at the beginning.

We’ve accomplished the ¼” seam, learned how important it was to follow directions until we knew where they were trying to go.  We learned and experimented with quilt composition; determining what materials we wanted to use and how colors would go together best within the design.  I did quite a bit of research in regards to binding. Not only have I found a technique simple to use,  the finished work comes out with clean corners every time. We learned some of the basic quilt blocks, flying geese, bear paw, and others.  All while this was going on, our quilts began to look better and better.  We didn’t learn what we know in a vacuum however, but from examining the many works from other quilters. We’ve extracted pattern ideas, color schemes, blogged techniques but most comes through our own trials and error.

I do get frustrated at times when I’ve had to rip a seam for the third time, but can laugh at my mistakes also and soldier on even when I know that a square may still be a little off-kilter.  My wife has said that this is one of the most valuable things that she has learned from me, that it’s okay to move past a mistake and not spend hours trying to attain perfection in a learning environment.  My wife suggested that I take a moment and also talk about pinwheels…  This for us was one of the most technically difficult/fun/frustrating things that we did.

Our 23-year-old daughter has been asking about making a quilt and has come down from Kansas to spend the next three weeks with us.  She is familiar with a sewing machine but I think her expectations are a little more than her skill level.  She looks at quilting as just sewing a lot of straight lines.  As she described the quilt she wanted to make my eyes grew bigger and bigger.  80” x 110” paper pieced with non-traditional binding.

I wanted to be sure that I didn’t put her off quilting and ran across this website for tips to get your daughter involved in quilting:

http://www.joscountryjunction.com/?p=5307

After talking it through she is going to try something a little less intense for her first quilt though she is sticking to her guns on the size of the quilt.  I think back on all of the different techniques I’ve learned and all that I have yet to learn and I can’t help but wish that she would let me work with her and begin at the beginning…

Any advice?

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