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Archive for the tag “Viking”

21 Apr 2013

Progress on the “Oh Canada!” Quilt

Another labor of love that I’ve been able to enjoy piecing together. I’m 4/7 the way done with the quilt top and yes the square at the bottom will mark the center of the quilt. I’m very excited about piecing this two-color quilt. I wanted to break it down just slightly to give an idea of what it’s like to put something like this together. Not to scare anyone off, but more of the scope of this sort of project.

This quilt when finished will be composed of 49 blocks (7 rows of 7). Each block has (5) 3 1/2″ squares and (16) 3 1/4″ triangles. Put in perspective of the whole, it will contain 245 small squares, 196 each of red and white triangles, 31 bordering strips, and 4 pieces for the panels. In the end I have planned to add 13 maple leaves of different color to give it a total piece count of 685 individual pieces. I could be off on my count a little as I was doing the math a little quickly, but you get the idea.

When I start a quilt, I always start with a single block and don’t even necessarily allow myself to think about the above information as it will quite literally stall the project before it begins. I don’t even cut out the fabric for all of the pieces because of this.

This quilt, or more correctly the idea that started this quilt is now a year past, as is the first block I created for it. My question for anyone out there is how do YOU eat an elephant?

Posted in Blogs, Daily, Quilt-a-long and tagged blogging, crafts, Fabric, joann, Joann Fabrics, learning, manage, project, quilt, Quilting, Quilts, Sew, sewing, Sewing machine, Viking

25 Jan 2013

Flannel Binding

If I were to talk about one of the biggest obstacles that I’ve face since I started piecing quilts, top of my list is piecing and binding a flannel quilt. It’s almost like sewing a Lycra skirt together I would imagine. I am a “fair-weather” pinner and will always try to get away without pinning where I’m able, so long as the fabric I’m working with cooperates.

Flannel is one of my favorite fabrics to piece and wrap up in after a well-done job. This is also one of the fabrics that needs the most pinning due to the stretchiness of the material. To go a little into the woods with this topic, when I initially started quilting I wanted nothing more than to make a flannel quilt. Off to the store I went to pick out some of the warmest, softest, and flannely flannel I could find. I purchased much more fabric than was needed using the… “if it calls for a yard and a half why not buy four yards” guy mentality.

This of course saved me. I knew something was off, and at first it was that I had indeed cut the wrong size on a couple of pieces. Standing there trying to line the fabric up after I re-measured however I started to sew only to have the squares go all wonky on me once I tried to join them together. This was my initialization into the world of flannel.

Lesson #1, pin… every… little… piece… to sew it together. Then, pin each and every piece as they come together. Use the steam and weight of the iron to flatten the material and set the seams, do not stretch the material while pressing. Now I know there is someone out there that may be able to sew this without pinning using the proper tension and fabric selection on their sewing machine. When I first started with my singer, I have a difficult time getting this correct. Now that I have a husqvarna viking, it is a little easier, however I still have to ensure I have the machine set correctly.

I’ve posted before about how much I love to put satin blanket bindings on baby quilts, but I wanted these to have more of a homemade look to them. People are finally getting vocal about what works for them on a flannel blanket and I’ve decided to go with the double-fold binding. I’ll cut the fabric 2 1/2″ before folding rather than my normal 2 1/4″ wof.

Lesson #2, Don’t be afraid to leave your comfort zone. I’ll post the pics of these next week to show you how they turned out.

Until next time,

Keep Sewing!!

Posted in Blogs, Daily, How to and tagged beginner, Binding, blogging, crafts, Fabric, learning, manage, project, quilt, Quilting, Quilts, Sew, sewing, Sewing machine, singer, Viking | Leave a comment

11 Sep 2012

4 Comments

Our daughter put us to shame

So it looks like Autumn is coming to Texas finally!! I realise that we may yet have a few more days that the heat makes us uncomfortable, but with this forecast it’s a promising sign that we’ve turned the corner and can start pulling out those quilts soon.

Have to love it when the weather cooperates!!

On an entirely different note, I did over the weekend manage to finish binding the schoolhouse quilt and the Land of Whimsy quilt. Since my daughter was here and will be thru Thursday, we decided to try to complete a mini apiece to hang on the wall as a family project. This started out really great with all of us picking out the pattern that we were to complete and then… Kay started working on a completely different project (more on that project later), I initially was helping our daughter determine fabrics and layout, and finally I realized that both sewing machines would be in use so I opted to finish the bindings of the other quilts.

In the end, only one mini quilt was near completion and almost ready to be bound… our daughter’s mini. We still plan on finishing our minis later on, but will not be doing it as originally thought as a family project. I’m okay with that however, as I was able to spend a lot of time with our daughter discussing quilting and watching her abilities grow.

The other thing I was able to accomplish was to finish my niece’s daughter’s quilt. This is a picture of the backing that I finally decided on and now just need it quilted down.

Posted in Daily and tagged beginner, blogging, crafts, daughter, Fabric, learning, mini quilt, quilt, Quilting, Quilts, Schoolhouse, Sew, sewing, Sewing machine, Viking

20 Aug 2012

8 Comments

Blue Pinwheel is Pieced!!

No, I don’t know why it’s taken me soooo long to finish piecing this quilt. Call it quilter’s block, which is the term I use rather than the real culprit which I’m sure boils down to laziness… Well maybe 98% laziness and 2% quilter’s block.

Whatever the reason, I’ve finally managed to finish this quilt top and because I did not follow a pattern ended up with a king sized quilt due in part to the double 4″ borders I thought would look good. I obviously am not finished with run-on sentences either! This is, I believe, the largest quilt that I’ve made to date.

Here’s an up-close look at this quilt that has taken me the longest to make.

Now, the points are not perfect and it won’t win any awards, but I’ve learned another valuable lesson on the importance of using only one machine to make the different pieces. Kay and I have different sewing techniques and obviously use different machines. She helped me piece ten of the blocks together and that introduced some variations that played hell with trying to line up everything. Now I’m not placing blame, only stating that I have yet to learn for a quilt such as this how to “play nice” with another quilter and get the desired result.

Also in this pattern, when sewing the blocks together there are eight different points that need to line up which presents another challenge. Normally I would have to make sure that all of the blocks are the exact size and then pin them prior to sewing to give me beautiful uniformity. When there are eight points that need to match however, block size is only one component to a beautifully pieced quilt.

With all that said, I am still and all very pleased with how this turned out and can’t wait to get it quilted down and bound. Speak out and tell me the challenges that you’ve faced! Until then, happy quilting…

Posted in Blogs, Daily and tagged beginner, blogging, Blue, crafts, Fabric, manage, piecing, pinwheel, project, quilt, Quilting, Quilts, Sapphire, Sew, Sewing machine, Viking

06 Aug 2012

10 Comments

The weekend that got away from me… complete with pictures!

Can you imagine trying to get FOUR quilts done in one weekend? That’s what my wife and I attempted to accomplish… and failed miserably.

We started trying to do the two blue pinwheel quilts, but as I said in a previous post… shopping comes first! So, after work on Friday we made a special trip into Fort Worth that has the largest selection available. I wanted to be able to get some early Christmas fabric as soon as I could and this is what I found:

Back to the story though, Saturday morning came and I had a leisurely breakfast followed by an unbelievably long problem at work that needed to be taken care of. Fast forward to 1pm on Saturday when I finally had the time to “Start” the pinwheels. I was feeling confident that I could still manage to make three of the quilts at that point.

Sunday morning came and we started to get the ball rolling early. We were making good time until a comment from me stopped play again… have you ever heard of a couple fighting over seam allowances and construction techniques? We don’t argue that often, but this seemed to be the weekend for everything to go askew so why not?

As you can see, we made up, but that caused another four-hour stoppage! Then as we’re setting the blocks together, you might have already guessed… they did not line up the way they were supposed to. Blame it on Karma or a cosmic joke, but no matter what we did they were off here and there. It was 6pm on Sunday night at this point and we were about to call it quits without having completed even one quilt.

They panels were done however and we just needed to sew them together. Of course they didn’t line up. We tried to figure out what to do with them and in the end came up with an idea that we’ll try later this week and I’ll post pictures of. In the mean time, here are the panels together.

At 7pm on Sunday night we decided to start work on the purple. It requires almost 150 squares, we did not finish cutting both sets of it out. Here are some pics of the material and the blocks that were finished.

Posted in Blogs, Daily, Shopping and tagged beginner, blogging, crafts, Fabric, learning, manage, project, quilt, Quilting, Quilts, Sew, sewing, Sewing machine, shopping, Viking

25 Jul 2012

6 Comments

Heidi Grace Panels are done!

While getting ready to finish the top for the “Acadia” Heidi Grace fabrics quilt, I had received a call to pick the other quilt up from my new Long Arm quilter. I did manage to finish all of the panels before I left and have put them out on the bed to get a sense of what it will look like when finished.

Tonight I will hopefully have the time to finally finish sewing the top together. I still have so many other irons in the fire however that I might not be able to get the back together until the weekend. I feel a little bad because I’m already thinking about the next quilt I’m going to make! Focus, focus, focus should be my mantra!

Posted in Daily and tagged beginner, crafts, Fabric, Heidi Grace, joann, Joann Fabrics, learning, project, quilt, Quilting, Quilts, Sapphire, sewing, Sewing machine, Viking

18 Jul 2012

2 Comments

Patience and Anticipation

A funny thing happened last night that I was reticent to talk about without the approval of my spouse. I asked her only because I am making fun of both of us, but didn’t want to offend her by including it in my post. She of course approved of my using it because she’s fantastic.

I had to do some work from home last night and knew that I wouldn’t be able to do too much on the quilt that I’m finishing. All of the blocks are together, all that’s needed is to piece the blocks together to make the panels and then sew the panels together. Two of the panels are complete, but rather than have the expectations of finishing during the week, I’m trying to be realistic and have the patience to finish this weekend when I have more time.

After my work was completed and dinner was finished, we went back into the sewing room for the last hour of the night before we went to sleep to get a little sewing in… After I’ve sewn my first strip to join two blocks together, I realize that I’ve sewn the strip on the wrong side of the block (with this pattern there is no way I could leave it in and make it work). Now I have to say that on occasion this happens to me, but with this quilt… let’s just say that it is chronic. It was at this point that Kay looking over at me and my “new” difficulties and makes fun.

Kay suggested that I give it up for the night and laughed a little at the continuing difficulty that I’ve had with this quilt. Sewing blocks and strips to the wrong sides, forgetting to use the 1/4″ selection of the machine, and other trials I’ve faced while making this quilt. I was thinking (you could actually see the gears move) of something pithy to reply to her when I looked down and saw that she was using the wrong sewing foot for what she was working on!! What ensued at that point was nothing less than storm of cursing at our machines and the collective fate of our two quilts.

We could have given up at this point, but given our nature we hunkered down, brought out two seam rippers, and proceeded to “fix” our mistakes. Rather than stopping afterwards, we completed what we had started before finally going to bed. I had finished another panel, number three out of eight. I realized though that I’m kind of enjoying the time that it’s taking to finish this quilt. I happen to be making it for myself and think that as I use the finished quilt this Autumn, I will appreciate it that much more knowing as I do the time and patience I’ve had to have with it. All of the effort I’ve put in leaves me feeling a great anticipation for what this quilt will be when it grows up.

Posted in Daily and tagged beginner, blogging, crafts, Fabric, learning, project, quilt, Quilting, Quilts, Sapphire, Sew, sewing, Sewing machine, singer, Viking

02 Jul 2012

6 Comments

Persian Plum Block of the Month 6

I did everything I promised myself I would do this weekend. Yes!!! The Arbor Lane quilt is finished and I’ll post a pic of that one tomorrow along with the nursery quilt that I also finished. I even had time to start the week out right by finishing and being able to post this morning the Joann Fabrics Persian Plum block of the month quilt block #6.

This was an interesting block of flying geese. I will mention right now that no matter how I sew this together I’ve never quite go the hang of having the finished size come out good. The length is always correct, but the height is off by 1/4″ almost every time. We persevere though, don’t we?

It came complete as has all the blocks to this point. The measurements were correct and the instructions clear. The colors I will still say are the most striking aspect of this quilt and flying geese is the motif.

Then we just sew them in the correct configuration for the block

Le me know how yours turned out. Mine ended up being about a 1/4″ off, but I’ll fix that when I go to put them all together. Here’s the comparison to the way it’s supposed to turn out.

Posted in Block of the Month, Daily, Reviews and tagged beginner, block of the month, crafts, Fabric, joann, Joann Fabrics, learning, project, quilt, Quilting, Quilts, Review, Sapphire, Sew, sewing, Sewing machine, Viking

30 Jun 2012

4 Comments

Making Handkerchiefs

I set out last night to slay another dragon. I’ve always love the handkerchief, though I haven’t always carried one with me. I’ve thought about making them for some time. When I had gone to the Dallas quilt show I picked up some civil war era fabric. I must have only purchased five fat quarters which really isn’t enough to make into anything, but I really liked the look and feel of it.

After work I headed to the sewing room with a purpose… Kay was as usual embroiled in one of her wonderful craft projects but saw I had a head of steam going and asked what I was planning to do. Out came the implements of destruction: iron, ironing board, cutting mat, rotary cutter, and fabric… actually it was some test fabric that although it’s nice, I wasn’t worried about how it came out.

It turned out to be a good thing I did use the “test” fabric. I cut the fabric 12″ X 12″ and ended up with a too small 10″ X 10″ hanky when done. I had also sewn a couple up for Kay and measured that fabric 8″ X 8″, which turns out to be big enough for a coaster not a handkerchief. It wasn’t a total loss however, as I was able to perfect (in my humble opinion) my technique and get the stitches to look exactly how I wanted.

Out came the civil war era fabric and I stitched it all up. On a side note, the 10″ X 10″ fabric turned out to be the perfect size for Kay’s handkerchiefs and she’s going to use the 8″ X 8″ fabric for another of her projects. I’ve determined since they came out looking so well of monogramming them with hand embroidery, or finding someone to machine embroider a monogram to them! Happy Quilting!!

Posted in Daily and tagged beginner, crafts, Fabric, hand embroidery, handkerchief, learning, project, Review, Sapphire, Sew, sewing, Sewing machine, Viking

27 Jun 2012

2 Comments

Persian Plum Block 5… almost half-way there!!

I’m so happy today that I was able to get accomplished the behemoth task of working late today and still managing to get the block finished and sew on the binding for my Arbor Lane quilt. Of course I’ve probably stayed up a little later than I normally would to make sure I could finish this. So here it is: