Quilts in Process « Seams Sew Crazy

Monday’s List

August 16th, 2010

In the morning I love to wake up and make lists of all of the things that I think I will accomplish that day.
My lists are long and complicated, and in reality, I really need a twin to help me get all of my work done.

Today, my lists includes this block.

I completed the wall hanging quilt. Completed to me, means; top sewn, quilted and bound. Yippee!
This is a project that I am working on for Timeless Treasures fabrics.

I now I need to get busy and make the table runner and then finish writing the directions.
I confess, writing the directions is my least favorite part.

Then I will stain the deck rail, pick huckleberries, clean the house, workout, practice shooting my bow, fix dinner, work on computer classes and oh yea, WORK!
The “work” list has its own list. I make first and secondary lists.
I should add writing lists to my list. Ha ha. Good luck with all of that.

I think I will concentrate on the table runner and directions writing and see how the rest goes.

I hope you are having a great Monday.
I will be starting my SMUP tutorials this week. Stay tuned!

Elisa

5 Comments

News and Info, Quilts in Process | Comments RSS | Respond | Trackback

And Another One Down

July 13th, 2010

Spring Market was in May and I am still working on all of the commitments that I made.

I do have a tendency to over commit. (No not me!)

Robert Kaufman fabrics sent me fabric from a new line beautiful batik fabrics that will be coming out soon. They wanted me to remake my Bright Star quilt pattern in their upcoming line. This pattern has two blocks, the Log block and the Flower block that are paper or foundation pieced and then my 6″ Quick Curves template is used..

They sent me the entire line of fabric and I then had to choose which colors to use. I narrowed it down to these fabrics. You can see the pattern cover in front of the fabrics.

I sorted the fabrics into color groups. Once I have all of the greens, yellows, blues, et cetera, into groups I sort them from darker to lighter. This helps me narrow down the choices and gives me some organization. I do say some, because it can take me a long time to find the right fit. I am looking for enough contrast so that the fabrics show up but not so much that any one color jumps out.
But depending on the look that you want, a lot of contrast can be a good thing. It can depend on how you want the finished project to look.

I tjem print out copies of the blocks that I will be making and cut little pieces of fabric and paste them on the test blocks to see how they colors look together. I made about three test blocks of the Log block, but it took me about 10 test blocks of the Flower block to find the look that I wanted.

After making my decision on the fabric choices I sew one of each block.

Only after I have sewn a test block and decide that I like it, do I then cut the remainder of the fabric for the rest of the quilt. Even then, it can still be a surprise when I put all of the blocks together to see the finished project.

I completed the top and sent it away to be quilted. I look forward to posting a photo when I receive one of the finished project.
Yummy batiks!

Elisa

2 Comments

Inspiration, News and Info, Quilts in Process | Comments RSS | Respond | Trackback

Squaring Up

January 30th, 2009

You may have your own way of squaring up but this is how I like to do it.

This quilt has no borders.

You will need;
1. A table or other flat surface with a large cutting mat placed on it. You will move the cutting mat to be directly under the place you will be cutting.
I used my pool table. I check to see that my mat is protecting the area that I will be cutting because I don’t need any more slices on the pool table.

2. A big square ruler. Mine measures 16″ square.

3. A large sharp rotary cutter.

The blocks on this quilt measure 6 1/2″ unfinished size. Because one seam is sewn it should measure 6 1/4″.
You can place tape on the lines at 6 1/4″ on your ruler to help you remember where to line it up.

Arrange one corner of the quilt so that you have access to both sides as shown. Make sure that the quilt is not pulling or hanging in such a way so that it distorts the edges of the quilt.

Line up my big square ruler. Lift the edges of the quilt to make sure that the cutting mat is in the correct position to protect your table.
I use my left arm to hold the ruler in place and I lean on it to hold it in place. Make any adjustments to get the blocks lined up with the marks on the ruler.

Cut one side of the square (now you can see the cutting mat)

and then cut the other side. You now have a corner cut.

Repeat for all four corners.

Next we cut the sides. I could use my longer ruler to cut the sides but because the ruler does not measure at least 6 1/4″ I do NOT want to do this. The idea is not to just cut next to the edge of the quilt but to make sure my edge is consistent with my last block.
I do this to help keep it square in case any stretching or waving occurred during the quilting process.

Do not use this ruler to cut.

Use the same large ruler and keep the 6 1/4″ consistent.

Tips
You can see in this photo that a tiny part of the green block sticks past. I will go ahead and cut this part off because I have lined up the other side of the block at 6 1/4″. Over all this will make the quilt be square. If I tried to cut off at the edge of the quilt where the batting starts I could end up with a wavy binding.

If I am trimming a quilt that has borders I would line up my ruler with the edge of the border. In this case I have a small border and a large border. I can choose to use either one to line up my ruler.

1 Comment

How to Demonstrations, News and Info, Quilts in Process | Comments RSS | Respond | Trackback

Got Quilting?

January 13th, 2009

The quilt is on the machine.

I don’t claim to be the best long arm quilter around.
I don’t even claim to be up in the top 100.
I wouldn’t even venture into the the top 1000.
But I am learning.

The way I quilt reflects a little bit about my personality.

I absolutely hate pantographs. My mind goes numb as I try to trace the lines from the back of the machine. I need more freedom to quilt what I want.

The problem is that when you begin a quilt you SHOULD finish with the same design that you started with on the quilt.

I tend to get better as I quilt along and start making the lines closer together and I want to start adding more swirlys when I didn’t start with any swirlys. So once again, I get bored. It is not that I have the attention span of a gnat, I just tend to think of something more interesting as I am standing there at the machine, painting designs with thread onto the quilt top.

Second, I tend to want to rush the process. My mind wanders and I want to move onto something else. Especially if I feel like I could have done a better job and I am frustrated with my efforts.

So what do I do? I listen to books on tape. This allows my mind to stay focused on something while my body relaxes to execute the (not so perfect) curves.

Also, for this quilt I tried a new technique. I focused on trying to make each curve or loop or line as best as I could. If a curve turned into a bend, I let it go and focused on the next curve. I tried to keep my mind focused on perfecting each step instead of thinking ahead to the next quilt or worrying about what a mess I left behind.

This may sound like a “duh” to you but it has helped me. I fret, I worry and fuss and think ahead and get frustrated and then I just want to get it over with so I hurry. Now I practice slowing down my mind and think of just one curve at at time. One little baby meander and then the next. I don’t think how great this quilt will or will not look or worry about anybody inspecting my work. The thing is that once the quilt is off of the machine, 90% of the little stuff is never noticed. The quilt relaxes and every stitch is not there on display for for me to examine and criticize.

What are the things I don’t worry about?
On this quilt I ran out of thread about three-fourths of the way thorough it. Of course, I didn’t have another spool of this variegated thread to match. So, I chose a different thread that was close, but not the same. That kind of stuff does not bother me in the least.

Want to know what I am listening to right now? James Herriot. All Things Bright and Beautiful. You gotta love him. And when I listen to it on tape I just love listening to the narrators accent as he is reading the story.

3 Comments

Quilts in Process | Comments RSS | Respond | Trackback