Hourglass Stars Complete!

This finished quilt measures 36.5” square. I am really happy with how it turned out.

The Kona celery sashing is a buttery-green color.

The back is simply Kona ash.  I used gray thread from Connecting Threads for the quilting on the front and back.

I really like the look of stippling.  This is one of the last quilts I finished before my husband modified my sewing table, so I am ready to try some new fmq designs.

Do you machine bind or hand sew your binding?  I am so impatient that I nearly always machine bind everything.  The first couple bindings were pretty poor looking, but practice really has improved my ability to match up the zig-zag on the front and back.  There is only this one little hiccup where the black thread shows a little bit on the backing.

I cut my binding 2.75” wide instead of the regular 2.5”.  I attach the binding to the back and then stitch it down with a zig-zag to the front.  I don’t use pins or Clover clips to hold it down.  I simply feed it through my machine matching up the needle with the first binding seam.  It’s easy to get arcs if you are pulling on the binding, but as long as you don’t manipulate it too much, the zig-zag will be pretty smooth.  I think cutting the binding a little bigger reduces the need to pull on the binding.  The entire rest of the binding looks perfect like the photo above.

Linking up to Freemotion by the River and Fabric Tuesday.  If you are interested in making a similar quilt, this is the tutorial for hourglass stars.  Have a great day!

Improving My Free Motion Quilting

I want to take my free motion quilting up a notch.  Stippling and straight line quilting are no problem for me, but other designs never look good. 

I recently quilted two tops (a stacked coins and a modern butterfly) and both really really sucked.  I tried loops on the stacked coins and ripped that all out—two bobbins full of thread.  It was painstaking and took several hours.  Then I quilted wobbly lines on the modern butterflies and that sucked even worse, so I quilted more ugly wobbly lines going the other direction, which kind of camouflaged the ugliness.  What was especially frustrating was that I followed some advice I saw online to practice drawing the design before quilting it.  So I spent  about 30 minutes practicing drawing the wobbly lines “just so” but they still looked bad when I tried to make them using my machine.  So I decided I needed  professional help.

I found Leah Day’s website and one night after the kids went to bed, so I watched a bunch of her YouTube videos.  What an amazing resource!  I made a special trip and got a pair of the Machingers gloves.  I wanted to try them on to make sure they fit instead of ordering online.  It’s a good thing I did, because I ended up getting an extra small.

My husband worked some carpentry magic yesterday and did this:

He installed a shelf with custom brackets below the table.  Now my machine sits perfectly flush with the table to hopefully decrease any drag as I’m trying to move my quilt for free motion quilting.  I cannot wait to try out my new set up! 

Leah Day suggests using a Teflon sheet called a “Supreme Slider” to decrease friction as you’re moving the quilt.  She also recommends bobbin washers to decrease eyelashing on the backside of the quilt, so I’m going to be ordering both of those and I’ll let you know how they work.  Right now, the gloves feel a little strange because before I literally was gripping the quilt in my hands to move it.  I never noticed how much that affected my back and hands until I finished the modern butterfly quilt.  I had a lot of pain in my hands and fingers for the next couple of days, but it didn’t dawn on me that it was due to gripping the quilt until I watched some of Leah Day’s tutorials.  Aha!  Now it all makes sense!

This is the last quilt I made with my old set up.

My stippling is okay, but I really want to try some new designs, starting with Leah Day’s Bed of Roses.  I want to try it on the stacked coins quilt I ripped all the quilting from.  

Enjoy your Sunday!

Baby Grace’s Quilt

 

A friend just had a little girl last week. So I whipped up this quilt from the scraps left over from the hourglass quilt top I posted about here.

I used some leftovers to applique her name to the back.  Fun!

It was a miracle I found this backing fabric in my stash.  It is from a Connecting Threads collection called “A Sip of Summer.”  I told you I am loving orange lately.  The binding is Denyse Schmidt.  It measures 30.5” square.

I ran out of batting while making this little quilt, so I used a yard of white quilter’s flannel I had on hand from fabric.com.  I crossed my fingers when I put it in the wash because I was nervous everything might shrink badly (I don’t prewash anything anymore) but it turned out just right!  I love the soft feeling of the linen and hope baby Grace does too.

My next project will be for Grace’s big brother.   I just received all my Polaroids from the swap a few days ago and am putting them together in 12” blocks geared for boys.  Luckily I have about 200 Polaroids to choose from! 

Linking up to WIP Wednesday.

Dots on Dots Winner!

Tonight has been an eventful night for both me and Jeanne, whose comment was picked by Mr. Random for the $25 Quilt Taffy gift certificate.

I learned how to number my comments and do a screenshot of the winning number in less than an hour of fiddling around online.  How did we ever get by before Google? 

Thanks to everyone who commented on my Dots on Dots block!

WIP Wednesday

Two projects waiting to be binded (bound?).  I’ve got them quilted.  All of my kids went to bed early last night.  Can I hear an AMEN???  I had about four hours of sewing time to myself last night.  I got through three Law & Order episodes on the Roku.  It was bliss!

The sashing fabric is from Joann’s.  I’m pretty sure it’s called Kona celery.  I just had it in my stash and thought it worked—it’s a kind of greenish yellow.  I think I’m going to use a black on black print for the binding. 

This is the fabric.  I borrowed this photo from the Windham Fabrics gallery from the “Tea for Two” line.

And here are the two quilt tops I’ve made in the past week or so.   Interestingly, both are inspired by fabrics I’ve seen on Maureen Cracknell Handmade and both are made with hourglass blocks.

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway here.  I’m heading to the DC Modern Quilt Guild meeting this Saturday.  I can’t wait to meet some other modern quilters!!!

More Hourglass Star Blocks

Here are  a few of the other stars using oval elements.

Yesterday was my first day doing a blog hop…it was so much fun!!!  If you missed it, you can enter the giveaway for a $25 Quilt Taffy gift certificate here.

Yesterday was also my birthday.  I got a gift card to Joanns and am so excited to go and spend it.  I will be getting a new cutting mat and some rotary blades.  No fabric for me…I’m sticking with my diet, although of course I first thought I might get backing for my Summerlove quilt.  I keep thinking a bright blue backing would be the icing on the cake.   But I’m going with stash fabric, and I plan to do wavy line quilting.

Linking up to Freemotion by the River and Fabric Tuesday.  Have a great day!

Dots on Dots Blog Hop and Giveaway

Hourglass Star Block, finished size 11 x 11 inches.  I made my block from fat quarters picked by Maureen Cracknell for The Intrepid Thread that came in this bundle (photo from Maureen Cracknell Handmade).  The dots are called oval elements.

I started by separating the 10 fat quarters into 5 sets of dots/solid combos.

From the dots I cut two 5 x 5 squares and from the solids I cut five 4 x4 squares and two 5x5 squares.

Mark 1/4 lines on either side of the diagonal.

Pair up the dot/solid 5 x 5 squares and pin.  Sew along each line.

Cut right down the middle into two halves.

Then subcut the triangles into two by making a right angle.

You will end up with a little pile of triangles.  Press them all before opening up to set the seams.

Now, this is the most important part.  Finger press the seam open before pressing flat.  Finger pressing will keep your seams from getting wonky or distorted.  Pressing the seams open also makes the finished block flatter.

After pressing flat, I like to give it a little spray of starch and set everything one more time with a hot iron.  I don’t use steam.

Now, match up two triangles to make a square.

I pin the triangles together since the seams don’t nest.

Chain sew all your pieces.

Finger press again and flip over. 

Voila!  A pretty hourglass block.

Line up the diagonal on a square ruler with the seam line.  Trim to 4 inches square.

Very pretty!

Now lay out all your hourglass blocks with the solid 4 x 4 squares.

Press the seams toward the solid squares and you will end up with this hourglass star block.

Now, onto the important part!   I am giving away a $25 gift certificate to Quilt Taffy.  I’ve ordered from Corrie’s shop tons of times and she has sweet fabric and great customer service!  To enter, you must be a follower and leave a comment telling me your favorite fabric.  If you are a no-reply blogger please leave your email address in the comment.  Open to international entries and the winner will be announced next Monday, September 17th.  Have a great week and don’t forget to check out the other stops on the blog hop today:

Cat Patches

Busy Bee Quilts

Stitch by Stitch

Mary on Lake Pulaski

Just Let Me Quilt

[Amy's] Crafty Shenanigans

PolkaDotClassic

AnnieOak Designs

Blueberry Moon

You can find the entire schedule on Corrie’s blog here:

http://quilttaffy.blogspot.com/2012/08/dots-on-dots-blog-hop-schedule.html

Summerlove Update

I have finished up the first four rows of my Summerlove Hourglass quilt. 

Love, love, love!  The sashing is Essex linen, which I have never used before, but I find it soft and easy to sew with.  I may never buy Kona white again…just kidding!

I also joined A Bee in My Bonnet’s Row-Along.  I happen to have quite a stash of Lori Holt fabric, so I thought I’d give it a whirl.  The first “filler” row is done, but I’m not loving my fabric choices.  I just kind of hurriedly picked them out while the kids were with me one afternoon.  It didn’t help that I didn’t understand the directions and picked out twice as many fabrics as needed—my error, not the direction’s.  Luckily it’s just a filler row, so hopefully I can refine my choices as the qal progresses since it’s mystery-ish and I’m not really sure exactly how prominent the focus fabrics will be.

I will be participating in the Dots on Dots blog hop coming up September 10-21 and giving away a $25 gift certificate to Quilt Taffy, where you can find lots of sweet fabric treats!  See you September 10th!