I have finished 25 of the 169 center blocks of the Dear Jane quilt.  That is not counting the border triangles, but I will think about them when I finish all 13 X 13 rows of the center.  Each block is hand quilted and bound in the pot holder method.  Then they are sewn together.  I’m really addicted to making this quilt even though I once said that I would never make a Dear Jane.

I’m trying to stay as close to the original fabric as I can.  It’s a good thing that I have a big scrap stash.  I have chosen the fabric for two of the blocks in the fourth row. It will take 24 blocks to complete the fourth row.  I think that I will complete them one at a time and add the block to the quilt as I complete them.  If I do that, they will be where they belong.

I have also finished a small embroidered wall hanging.  I embroidered a Donna Dewberry pattern.  Her embroideries look similar to her painting.  She uses many colored threads in the embroideries and sometimes repeats a color.  When I sew the embroidery, I do not have a backing in the hoop.  I heavily starch the fabric and add batting.  I first sew a tracing line around the hoop. It outlines the pattern. Then, after the embroidery is finished,  I add the backing and use the line to add the first border. It makes a straight line and automatically centers the embroidery.  I usually have two borders and stitch a feather stitch on the seam lines.  This attaches the top to the backing.  The binding is cut smaller than the binding for a large quilt.  I like to hand tack the binding down. On some small quilts, I add a flange binding.  It requires no hand work as it is sewn to the back of the quilt and turned to the front. These little quilts ( 12″ X  12″) are almost instant gratification.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

Several years ago, I was fabric shopping at Marden’s.  I had finished and was waiting to have the fabric cut when I noticed my husband standing behind me with his cart full of bolts.  The fabric was bright purple, yellow, orange, blue, red and other colors that I don’t ordinarily use in my quilts.  I asked him what he wanted me to do with that fabric.  He said make a quilt.  I replied “All those colors in one quilt?”  He said “yes”.

I searched for a pattern to use all those colors and decided to make a king size quilt using squares sewn together, cut again at an angle using a template and then sewn back together again.

 

I had made two smaller versions and it is very easy as long as the pieces are kept in order.

The first one that I made has been hanging in the top of the living room in the Maine house for fifteen years.  The other is a small table mat.  

The king quilt looked very nice in the red bedroom.  Then I needed a wall hanging.  I found the twisted lone star in Jan Kranz’s book.  It was perfect.  The wall hanging is on the accent wall which is varnished ship lap wood.

It was interesting to work with colors that I don’t usually use. At the time, it was very hard.  I did learn to get out of my small box and experiment with other colors.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

Do you like the look of a flying geese quilt, but are sure that you will cut off the geese points.  There are several rulers on the market to help you cut out and sew the geese.  Kimberley Einmo has a flying geese ruler.  There is a Lazy Girl flying geese ruler, a Wing Clipper from Deb Tucker and many others.

Even with the rulers and correct cutting, the geese still don’t sew right.  Then you call in your friend, Mr. Seam ripper, or say it’s good enough.  There is a simple technique that will help with perfect flying geese.

Does your flying geese look like it’s head is cut off?

      It is because your joining line was sewn below the X on the head of the geese.  This is the X    .

If the flying geese head has clouds above it, it is because the joining line was sewn above the X on the head of the geese.

  

To make a perfect flying geese, sew the joining seam one thread above the X.  Then when the piece is pressed, the point will be just where it needs to be.  

It is sometimes hard to see the X when you are sewing a seam, but if you sew slowly through that intersection and really watch, you can do it.

These two little quilts were made before I figured out how to get a “perfect” point.  They are hand quilted and the quilting fixed a lot of mistakes.

    

Have a great day and happy quilting.

I’m behind on the Splendid Sampler project.  Two weeks ago, the designer designed an applique piece.  I was working on two applique blocks for the Dear Jane quilt and didn’t want to do another applique until they were done. The Dear Jane appliques are very small and took longer than I intended.  The Dear Jane applique is finished.  One block is quilted and ready for binding,  The other is being quilted.  I finally had time to work on the Splendid Sampler applique.  It doesn’t have many pieces and worked up quickly.

When you applique birds, you can make a new species.  It all depends on the fabrics that you use.  

 

 

 

Last week’s Splendid Sampler block is paper pieced.  I didn’t want to do that one either until I finished Dear Jane.  There will be another block on Thursday so I have until then to catch up.

The weather was nice today.  I worked in the garden in the early morning before it got hot.  The garlic is planted.  I picked parsley and sage to dry.  The tomatoes in the round garden are mostly done so I took down the tomato cages and put them away.  The tomatoes in the barrels in front of the garage are still producing.  They are so tasty.  I’ll miss them when the season is over.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

I made a little basket quilt several years ago.  When it came to the top of the pile, I decided to use it to practice machine quilting.  Miss Molly inspected the quilt and said that it was good enough for her to take a nap on it.

I practiced a basket weave.  It was free motioned quilted. I was able to quilt the whole basket without stopping by quilting in the ditch between squares.  Four triangles have pebbling. I like the look and hadn’t been very successful in quilting that pattern.  I took my time and by the fourth triangle, I was very happy with my quilting.   

The cathedral window had to be marked.  I did find a way to quilt the four corners without stopping.

I quilted the vine in the border with a ruler.  I did learn that I should quilt slow and from ruler marking to marking which is only about three inches.  I’m not fond of ruler quilting just yet, but will keep on practicing.  I was able to free motion quilt leaves on each side of the vine.

Moda has three blocks this week.  Fortunately, they were all easy blocks using half square triangles and sew and flip. All three blocks are 6″ square.

Texas Puzzle is by Carrie Nelson.  Carrie is the author of the Miss Rosie quilt books.

 

 

 

Big Storm is by Brigitte Heitland of Zen Chic

 

 

 

Mishmash is by Vanessa Goerhzen of Leila Botique

 

 

Have a great day and happy quilting.

When you submit a quilt for showing at a quilt show, there must be a sleeve sewn on the back. On wall hangings, there should be a permanent sleeve.  When you show a large quilt, you might not want a permanent sleeve so this Removable sleeve is just what you want.

The original instructions were made by Mary B.  It is very easy to attach and then to remove when the show is over.

Cut muslin 14″ high and the width of the quilt minus 4″.  I used an old sheet. The length of a queen sheet is just the right size for a king size quilt.

Fold in half and stitch.  I tore the fabric so that it would be straight.   Then I sewed with a walking foot so it would sew evenly.

With the seam centered in the back, press the tube.  It will be approximately 6″ wide.

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Pin to top of the quilt.  I pinned the top with the pin heads facing out so that I could remove them as I sewed.   The bottom was pinned sideward so that the pins would be out of the way when the second seam was sewn.

 

Thread the machine with monofilament thread in the top and regular thread in the bottom.  Mary recommended Bottom Line thread.  Superior mono thread is soft, not at all like the old mono thread that was like fishline.  It runs through the machine nicely.

 

 

 

Greatly reduce the top tension, (Down to 1)  Set length as long as possible.

 

 

 

With the right side of the quilt facing up, sew the facing to quilt at top and about 5 1/2″ down.  I sewed the top seam in the intersection of the binding, taking out the pins as I sewed.  When I came to the bottom stitching, I found that if I sewed 6″ down, I would sew in the border seam.  I removed the pins as I sewed, making sure that the sleeve was straight under the quilt.

The sewn lines are invisible on the front of the quilt.

 

 

 

When you finish using the sleeve, clip the bobbin thread in a few places and pull out the monofilament.  Save the sleeve for the next show.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

I have a spot on the wall In my New Hampshire home where I change the wall hanging each month.  Sometimes I skip a month if I’m in Maine or I forget to change it.  It was fun to make each little piece.  They sew up very fast.  Every once in a while, we need something for instant gratification.

June’s wall hanging is a little boy who is fishing with his dog.  He is out of school for the summer and is having fun.

 

 

 

July’s wall hanging is Sunbonnet Sue dressed up in red, white and blue clothes.  She is very patriotic. 

 

 

 

August’s wall hanging is a statement that I Love my garden.  Usually the garden is in full bloom in August.

 

 

 

September’s wall hanging is the same little boy from June.  Now, he’s back in school with so much school work that he almost doesn’t have time to do anything else.  

 

 

 

July is still on my wall.  I didn’t take time to change the wall hanging when I went to New Hampshire in August.  I won’t go back until October so September won’t be on the wall.  I do much better in changing them in the winter.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

The weekend has gone by and it is a new week.  Miss Molly has had visitors for the last two weekends.  Her cousins have come to visit.  Two weekends ago, three dogs visited.  Two were Schnauzers and one a Labradoodle. 

This past weekend, a Bagel (Basset Hound/Beagle visited.

The Labradoodle and the Bagel took Miss Molly’s spot on the couch.  She was not really happy, but let them do it. 

 

After the Bagel left, Miss Molly climbed on her spot on the couch and slept for four hours.  It’s tiring when you entertain.  Of course, the Bagel came with my grandson who is one of Miss Molly’s favorite people.  He and Miss Molly ran around the house and played.

 

 

 

I have a glass by my sewing machine that has a lot of tools that I use when I’m sewing.  

 

 

There are pens and pencils in the glass.  One is a regular pencil,  The pink one is a water soluble disappearing ink pencil. When I used it this summer, it was so humid that the ink disappeared before I could sew.  I will try it again in the winter when it is dry. I like the blue disappearing ink pens.

  I have several scissors,  the little pink one and the one with the pink ribbon have curved blades so I can cut close to an embroidery or the end of a seam.  The gray one with the purple ribbon is a paper scissor.  I paid $10.00 for it and it was a great buy.  When I have it sharpened, I have to be careful not to cut myself. I don’t use the little rotary cutter very much, but keep it in the glass so that I won’t loose it.

I use the little screwdriver to tighten presser feet and the needle.  Also to loosen the plate.  The tweezers are handy for getting things out of tight spaces.  The wooden iron is used to press seams so that I don’t have to keep getting up to use a regular iron.

  The little screwdriver is handy when the other one is too tall to fit into a space.  The pencil sharpener was always lost until I left it in the glass. The chalk is used for marking,  The flash drive has my embroideries on it.   When it is in the glass, I don’t have to look for it.

Other tools are close by in bins and boxes but these are the ones that I use the most.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

It was a cool day in Maine today.  I almost started the wood stove, but decided to wear a turtleneck and sweatshirt instead.  Somehow, the inside of my house is cool during cloudy days.  When the sun shines, it is much warmer.

I had a plan when I woke up this morning.  I was going to finish all twelve of the embroideries for the challenge quilt.  I love it when a plan works.  The blocks were finished and trimmed by noon.  I did have a few problems with another embroidery.  the thread jammed and pulled the embroidery so the stitches didn’t line up properly.  I have three that didn’t make the cut for the quilt.  I will use them in something else.  Even defective embroideries can be used.  I did several things while the sewing machine was sewing out the embroideries. I stay nearby to stop the machine if there is a problem, The machine is very vocal when it is in trouble.

One more flying geese was sewn. The Temperature Quilt is up to date.  The fabric colors are changing back to the colors that I used in the Spring.

I was a week behind in the Splendid Sampler project.  Last week’s pattern is a pieced rose.  It was very easy to sew. My neat fabric box is now a mess.  Nothing is in color order anymore.  It can stay that way for a while.   I cut out the pieces while the embroideries were sewing out by themselves.  Everything was ready to go after lunch.

This week’s Simple Sampler block is an applique of a little bird.  The freezer paper patterns are cut out and ironed to the back of the fabric.  The pieces are in the handwork box so I can work on that when I feel like doing handwork.

After I pick up the mess on the table, I’ll relax tonight with a Kate Morton book.  I’ve enjoyed her books this summer.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

I sewed and quilted a lot of different things today.  Fabric was chosen for two Dear Jane blocks.  One block was hand quilted.  A little applique was sewed on another Dear Jane block.  Machine quilting was started on a UFO wall hanging.  This one has been hanging around for a long time.

I have a challenge quilt that is due next June.  The pattern has twelve 6″ squares in it.  It has been a long time since I did any machine embroidery.  There are several 6″ machine quilted blocks in my embroidery file. I could use one of the patterns and take the fabric colors for the rest of the blocks from the thread colors.   Most of the quilt block patterns have only ten different embroideries so I will have to sew two of them twice with different colors.  I spent a bit of time eliminating the ones that I didn’t want for the challenge quilt and ended up with two contenders.  After going back and forth with the two, I decided on the one that I think will look very nice.

The USB stick didn’t work.  It showed the embroideries when plugged into the computer, but not when it was plugged into the machine.  I reformatted it in the machine.  When I did that, I knew that I would loose all the embroideries on the stick.  That was o.k. because I could cut and paste the ones that I wanted. The embroideries that I lost on the stick are in the embroidery file in the computer.  They were embroideries that I have done already in the past and I probably didn’t need them anymore.  Now I can use the stick.

Each of the embroideries take about sixteen minutes according to the screen.  That is sewing time, not the time needed to change colors and rethread when a thread breaks.  It always take much longer to sew out an embroidery.

        

I made four today.  It is a start.  There are so many pretty colored threads in the thread stash.  I did use one thread that was thicker than the others and the embroidery didn’t sew out as well as I would have liked.  I will resew that one and find another use for the defective one.

I had forgotten how much I enjoy using the embroidery function of the machine.  I can see quilting some of the ufos with machine embroidery quilting patterns.  I have done that before and it works well.

Have a great day and happy quilting.