The Ugly Duckling Quilt is Finished

Happy New Year to everyone.

Christmas certainly was a busy time but I managed to finish a few things.

First at all, let me show you another bucket hat I made as a Christmas present

I took my time with this hat and hand-basted the seams before I actually took it to the machine. Worked a treat...no puckers, came out fantastic and was well received. Used some of the Bali fabric that I acquired on my trip last year.

I did some more work on my rather intensive background filler project but it was slow going. Partly because I need to preserve my shoulder but also because it just did not want to flow. Made some in-road though with stubborn day-today stitching and am hoping that it will be a bit easier from now on.

To give myself a little break I continued on the Ugly Duckling quilt, so named because I am not really a fan of soft pinks and the layout was just very simple to use up some scraps.

Bit hard to see because of the soft colours, here is another close up shot

I quilted this with a very soft apricot 50/2 Aurifil thread. First did the ruler work in the squares using Bethanne Nemesh Lilac Lines rulers that has an S-curve on the end. Lots of fun. After that I thought the sashing needed a bit more pizzaz so I put a chain of pearls in there. And then I stuffed up the border a bit...haha.  Had done the spine for the feathers before Christmas, ready to go, only to realise after that my spine was about 1/4in off center for the way I was going to quilt the feathers. I had cut my border 4-1/2in. Did not help that I changed my mind how I wanted to quilt the feathers, i.e. having them fill the entire space. Took me a few days to think this through and in the end I just cut off 1/4in off the border to have the feathers exactly in the middle. Anyway, was great to do some feathers again...I tried to do pretty informal feathers which I find incredibly hard to do. These are continuous type feathers which for a truly informal look would need to have a little bit more spacing in between. While that was the idea I only managed that in a couple of spaces. Its funny with the muscle memory...I have done continuous feathers for a long time and am really used to making them look like almost the bump back heirloom style feathers. To change that is obviously very difficult for me. But still looks pretty good...I threw in a few embellishments and did the heart shaped elongated plume in between just enough to make it a bit more interesting. Looks great. On a side note...I managed to hit 5 million stitches on my Q20 over Christmas which is about 1,250000 stitches per year. Not bad.

I chose a stripey binding and followed a little trick on how to match the stripes when joining your binding outlined in Bethanne Nemesh' Bitty Binding booklet. Worked fantastic and all my stripes matched, even when joining the binding in the end.

Really happy with this little quilt. Just had a look over my blog. This is the third quilt I managed to get out of a fat quarter bundle which is called Foxglove Gardens by Leanne Beasley for Ella Blue fabrics and part of a promise to myself for this year to use up my leftover fabrics and scraps. Apart from the backing I had all the materials at hand. Because of the colours I went on a hunt for a nice backing and fell in love with this fabric

The fabric is from the Fiore Collection produced by Maya Ootani for Handworks Fabric (printed in Japan). Not my usual colour but it matched just so perfectly and is really good quality.

So, with this done, I will need to make another list of tasks to work out what comes next. For the remainder of the week I am aiming to 

- continue on my background filler project, i.e. complete at least one more section of the quilt

- baste one of the charity quilts ready for quilting

- watch one of the Lisa Calle's Design Society videos to find out about the challenge for the new year.

- make a list of the order that I want projects to be completed as there is a lot going on in my head at the moment.

Linking up to To Do Tuesday #107 over at Quilt Schmilt

 

Karin

Christmas 2024

It's been almost a month since I put up a blog post. It's been unbelievably busy around here with Christmas activities and a little bit of quilting.

I did continue to stitch sections on my background filler project. Somehow I could not get into it, just did not flow and could not find that zen mode I usually stitch with. This project was in serious trouble! Complicating too was an ongoing eye issue which needed attention, so I had to take it a bit easy on the detailed stitching. I won't show photos of that for a while as I am unsure whether or not this might become a show quilt. So far I am thinking probably not, as some sections are a bit sloppy, but we'll see how it looks when it is finished. Finished the section that I had most trouble with and am hoping that it will be a bit easier from now on. We shall see...

As I struggled with my stitching at times I also did some piecing on the side. Decided to not make a fox quilt but branch out into the Forest Friends quilt from a pattern by Elizabeth Hartman. Decided to make a baby quilt using my favourite fabric from Shannon Brinkley called the Dryad Collection. Made two more blocks

Another fox...and then the rabbit

All was well until I hit the nose area...what a hassle! I reckon I did that section about four times before it was somewhat right. Never mind, from a distance it looks ok. Will need to make another rabbit but might do the hedgehog in between. Decided that I will do one or two blocks per month as they are fiddly and need some patience. Eventually I will get this done.

January is fast approaching and I have got a few other things on the go. As I am participating in Lisa Calle's Design Society there will be some tasks coming my way. We will be making a scrappy Courthouse block quilt, so I will need to continue with those blocks and I also think there is an additional challenge involving an Ohio Star block. Will find out the specifics in January.

Lots to do...charity quilts need to be done and I also need to prepare for another FMQ workshop as well as continuing on my own projects. Still have my little pink baby quilt to finish...maybe I will do that over Christmas. The next few days will be taken up with Christmas preparations (still need to do all the food shopping and probably should do some cleaning 😅)

Hoping you all have a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year. 

Karin

 

 

Karin

Pastel Baby Quilt

I did make good on my intention to use that very old pastel leftover fabric to construct another little baby quilt. This is what I came up with

...affectionately called 'The Ugly Duckling'

Not super fantastic, but that's all that I had. Cut the leftovers of the pastel fabric into 3-1/2in squares, added some whites and then put it into that very simple layout using up all of the dusty pink fabric.

Now to make it spectacular...

Used a ruler from Bethanne Nemesh to put some simple curves into the squares. The ruler is called Lilac Lines and got that S curve on the end. It fits both a 3in square and a 2in square.

Working with it is not difficult however given that you are working on such a smallish defined edge there is some slippage. I counter act that with having the Handiquilter grips on the back but in addition also put that white grippy material under it to make doubly sure that it does not slip.

You could of course do this design freehand but it just comes out so pristine with the ruler

Was reasonably fast as you can do this design continuously.

Looks really nice and even. Have done more work on it in the week, but forgot to take a photo. I filled the narrow sashing with strings of pearls, but then had to wait as I needed to order more thread in the particular colour Aurifil 50/2 (2420-Blush) I was quilting with. 

While the thread has arrived by now, I also have continued on my background filler project which has not been fun as it does not want to flow. Today I spent some more time planning that project out and did a bit more quilting on it, but it is going super slow. Will finish what is on that bobbin and then get back to the pastel quilt to finish off the border. Planning to put a playful feather arrangement into the border, which should be good fun.

Feeling slightly stressed with all the projects I have on the go (and I seem to be adding new ones as we speak). With Christmas approaching the weeks are getting busier and busier...so much to do! I am hoping to knock off the background filler project over the Christmas period as this is the one that is dragging me down and holding me up. Hopefully with all the planning I did around that today, it should get a bit easier!

Karin

To Do Tuesday #99

A few weeks ago I set the following goals:

- continue making those strippy blocks, so that I can get on cutting out the sashing and put all this together

- continue on the background filler project

Well, I did continue on the strippy quilt and managed to finish the quilt top

It turned out very bright and colourful and I was very happy to have persisted with the orange strips. Initially I thought it would not be enough fabric but then managed to think that through and work out exactly how I could make this work. Had about an inch left of the fabric after cutting! Nervewrecking, but paid off!

After that I did a bit of planning as I am somewhat overwhelmed with all the tasks that I am setting for myself. Also could not do any freemotionquilting as I had a stye in my eye, so could not actually focus on anything. 

My planning was fruitful: made a pledge to myself to dig into my scrap stash for 2025 (see post HERE). Over the last two days then I made a start with that very pastel fabric that I had left over from an earlier project. When I say earlier it usually means years ago and this was no exception. 

Cut the leftovers into 3-1/2in squares with my Accuquilt cutter and sewed it all together in a very simple layout.

Not great, but it is used! The colours are really very pastel, somewhere between pink and apricot and today I had to go hunting for some backing ( I had not bought this fabric myself but had won a whole stack of it in a quilt show years ago...definitely not my colours). This 'ugly, little duckling' will look spectacular once I am finished with it. Planning on enhancing this with some detailed freemotionquilting. At the moment I am thinking playful feathers in the border and curves to de-accentuate the squares. We'll see...

This will be the only quilt I am going to be working on before I get back to my background filler project. I have been stuck with that project for a bit, not just because of my eye but also because I did not like what I had originally planned to do. Yesterday then the solution came to me and I will now continue this probably from next week. I may or may not enter that into a show next year which now has a dead line of end of February so I actually need to get cracking on that. Always nerve wrecking as I am unsure whether that will turn out or not. But really, at the end of the day it does not really matter whether I enter or not. Finished will be great so I can continue with the other projects that I have got sitting there.

So, my tasks are a bit boring for next week:

- pin and baste the little pastel quilt and get started on quilting the center

- draw out a plan of attack for the background filler project, e.g. decide what elements go into what section of the quilt; if time allows, start with the next section that now has found its place.

- make some decisions on which quilt can go up for sale on Etsy and add them as a listing.

Apart from this I want to start preparing for Christmas rather than always leaving everything up to the last minute...haha, famous last words!

Linking up to To Do Tuesday #99 over at Quilt Schmilt

Karin

Taking Stock And Planning Ahead For 2025

I have been working on my background filler project

Finished a couple of sections and then I got a stye in my upper eyelid...inside of all places. So painful and obviously put a stop to freemotionquilting for the last week. My eye was so swollen I had to go to the doctor to get some antibiotics.

Managed to do a few little things though after a few days...not sure whether I mentioned it before, but I joined Lisa Calle's Quilter's Groove Design Society. It is very affordable and there is a bucketload of things to explore. Joining, I now have access to a very comprehensive class library, plus Decision Dilemma library (i.e how to quilt your quilt), guest tutors and zoom meetings. I cannot participate in the zoom meetings due to my time zone but I watch the recorded session afterwards. A very jolly bunch of ladies...very enjoyable to watch and to see what other people are working on. Must say there are some very talented piecers out there! Anyway, the group has decided to do a scrap quilt challenge and decided on a scrappy log cabin pattern. This is supposed to start in January. Log cabins are not really my favourite but I thought I give it a crack the other day.

OMG, how addictive that turned out. I could not stop making them...so very relaxing and enjoyable. Spent an entire afternoon just making these.

I followed a tutorial from 'The Diary of a Quilter'. No measuring, limited cutting, just putting strips together and making sure you stay straight as you do it. This little exercise prompted me to look at my scraps which are stored away all over the place. I got several shoe boxes full of them dating back to 2006! Must say that this was a trip down memory lane...discovered some really old favourites and also saw that I obviously keep every single little scrap. Perfect for this exercise!

In the meantime I finished the scrap quilt I was working on.

This quilt top came out at approx. 50in x70in and I must say it did not make any dent in the scrap department. I had a different sashing in mind originally and discovered that I did not have enough fabric to complete it...I nearly went to the shop to buy new fabric but then worked out that the orange fabric might just work if I planned it out. This made me nervous but in the end I just made it with the orange fabric, had maybe 1in of fabric left after cutting the strips and one strip had to be pieced together from cut offs of the other strips! I might even sew some yardage together for the backing rather than buy more fabric. The binding is already sorted as I can put scrap binding together to cover the dimension of this quilt.

I cannot believe how many scraps I have accumulated over the years...it is actually overwhelming. While making this I discovered some 'button' fabric from years ago when my daughter was younger and still at school. She bought the fabric to make pencil cases...remembered that activity and the pencil cases she made. We had to go and find cute little buttons and elastic...

She engineered a super functional pencil case, with the elastic for pencils, a zipper and inside are pockets for smaller things. There is another pencil case somewhere with the 'button' fabric where she tried out a lot of the decorative stitches on my Pfaff machine. Too cute! Can't remember how much fabric we bought but it is still hanging around.

That was just one example of my trip down memory lane. Discovered such odd fabric (strawberry fabric) and sometimes was left wondering where I had acquired it but with most pieces I could tell exactly the project I was working on.

What also happened...I sold one of my quilts in my Etsy shop a few weeks ago which is always great as I am running out of space and this week the lady send me some feedback. Must say it was the nicest review I have ever received and it gave me some renewed energy to keep making these baby quilts. Discovered that I still had some of that particular fabric and wondered why it was still sitting there.

It's very pastel which is probably the reason I have not done anything with it. Decided to use this up and make another simple pastel baby quilt/play mat...somebody will like it and maybe appreciate it like this lady did.

I feel completely overwhelmed with all the scraps, but as well with the unfinished things I have got sitting in my cupboards (I have three more panels to quilt up and put on Etsy), the new pattern that is sitting right next to the sewing machine and the UFOs that shall not be named.

So I decided that for 2025 I am going to concentrate on reducing the scrap department. I will make the scrappy log cabin quilt in a dark/light arrangement for the challenge and then probably do another one or two maybe concentrating on one colour or doing it completely scrappy. Once that is done, I will decide on a different pattern, maybe another house quilt. In addition I am undertaking to start clearing the fabric cupboard, starting with the panels...they just need to go. As for Etsy, I probably will list a few more actual quilts rather than patterns (although I do need to stitch out that pattern I got) as I am truly running out of room for storing them. It's getting a bit ridiculous.

So that is my New Years resolution...use those scraps (or throw them away...which no quilter is going to do easily) and start clearing the cupboards.

I am going to be super busy...😂 as I still will need to be doing my freemotionquilting. Get very grumpy if I have not stitched for a while.

Karin

My Colourwash Jelly Roll Quilt

I have been working on my tasks from last week and before I know it, it is Friday! 

My list from last week included

- work out the tension for that blasted orange thread so that I can start for real on the background filler project. Interesting to note that the white Invisafil thread does not usually give me such a headache.

- finish the colourwash quilt top...another 6 rows to go and then putting all the rows together. Still undecided as to whether I will put a border on this quilt. Will have to see the completed quilt top...

- continue on my strip quilt, i.e. make another stack of blocks (I think I need something like 56 blocks)

- look at the newly picked up charity quilts and make a start on basting one (very hopeful here)

Well, I did not do too bad. I did work on my tension issue with the Invisafil thread. I unpicked all my stitching on the new project as I just could not face starting a new project with wonky tension. I just cannot stitch if the tension is not right. Spent hours on the tension exploration last week one day when I felt particularly relaxed. Have detailed the process in my previous post.

Re-stitched the section that I had unpicked after I spent some time rejuvenating the fabric.

Was happy with that. The thread buried into the fabric and I had no orange pokies on the back! With that resolved I can now begin the stitching of this project. This will take a while as it is bigger than the last one but now that I pieced this together I am determined to get that done.

I also continued on my colourwash project...and yay, finished it!

If anybody is interested... I followed a very easy pattern that I found on Bethanne Nemesh' web site called the 'Colorwash Quilt'. Saw it first on FB and thankfully I then located it on her web site. It is free and as Bethanne remarked, more of a guide as each set of precuts has its own personality.

Close up of mine

I was curious as to how one of my Bali Jelly Rolls (recently went to Bali and purchased way too much fabric) would come out as it is definitely a bit more dramatic than the Jelly Rolls I am used to. My daughter helped me sort the colours and I must say that I was not convinced about the abrupt change in colours to the white. There was a bit of a temptation to open some of the other Jelly rolls that I had bought to get a better colour match but in the end I stayed firm and stuck to working with one Jelly Roll at the time. Bethanne had mentioned that most Jelly rolls have two strips of each colour. Well, obviously the Balinese people do their own thing. I sometimes had two, but also three or just one of the colours. In the end I decided to just run with it and see what happens. I did take out two strips, one were I had three of the same and another one where the colouring just did not match anything in this lot. Still made it to 200 little blocks which I laid out as 13 blocks by 15 rows. So I have some leftovers which I will use for tension/thread testing.

In the end I also put a border on with one of the remnants I had purchased in Bali. I was the only one in the household who liked this really. When this happens I always have to think of Cindy Needham. When I met her in a workshop, but also in some of her videos she always says 'you are the boss of your quilt'. Sounds somewhat funny but has stuck with me all this time. So I attached the border and I love it! The quilt comes out at 48in x 54in, so just a small lap size quilt. Have put it away for the moment with the other five quilt tops that are patiently waiting to be quilted.

Also continued on my strip quilt and am up to 37 blocks...will need about 56 of them so that should not take too long.

So, for the remainder of the week I am planning to

- continue making those strippy blocks, so that I can get on cutting out the sashing and put all this together

- continue on the background filler project

That's probably all I am going to achieve until next Tuesday. Felling a bit overrun with all those different projects I have on my mind. Also need to get onto the charity quilts and finish that last stack before December.

Linking up to To Do Tuesday #96 over at Quilt Schmilt.

Karin

Invisafil Thread on the Bernina Q20

I have been a big fan of 100wt Invisafil Thread from Wonderfil Threads ever since I did Bethanne Nemesh' online workshops. Up to then I had been using Invisafil mainly for stitch-in-the-ditch but was encouraged through those workshops to give it a go for background quilting.

Usually I have no tension issues with the thread having understood that it needs a lower tension on top and maybe a little bit of an adjustment on the bobbin tension. I recently started another background filler project using the same orange thread that I had previously used on an earlier wall hanging. I had a vague idea that I had some issues with the thread but once the project was finished I obviously put that out of my mind.

Started last week

Nice, but not good enough. I struggled through the quilting as my tension just was not right. It was somewhat too high pulling up the white Decobob 80wt bobbin thread to the top, leaving some ugly little knots. Remembered that I struggled with this previously and undertook to really look into this. Do not have that issue with a white Invisafil on the top so was aware that the colouring also may play into this. So spent hours last week to take all this out and rejuvenate the fabric (steaming it, spraying it again with water and letting it all dry in the wind)

First thing I did was ordering a cone of thread as I was still using a small spool that I had used on the previous project which drove me crazy as it kept catching on the rim. So, set that up

The thread is so fine you can hardly see it. Put a new needle in (80/12 Microtex) and gave it a whirl with the preset that I had entered previously on the machine (tension sitting at 2.25, bobbin tension at about 180). This is what I found:

- no more issues with the thread snagging on the rim ✅

- tension way too high, i.e. could see the white bobbin thread looking up through the holes and the stitch looked not that nice and did not feel right to stitch suggesting that it was being stretched.

- lowered my tension down, initially all very structured, going all the way down to 1.5; found that the thread was definitely too loose at that setting as I could see it wobbling as it was laid down

- strangely enough, was also getting orange pokies on the back.

This is were my more structured approach left me and I started to play with the bobbin tension. Normally bobbin tension for the Bernina Q20 is set at 220 however I have found that this needs to be adjusted at times for different threads (and different colours of threads). I had read somewhere on the net that people dial down their bobbin tension for Invisafil so I started lowering my bobbin tension. This is when it all got a bit messy. Must say one should be really relaxed going through an intense tension exploration...it can really drive you crazy when you loose sight of what you are adjusting in what order. When I had the bobbin tension quite low ( approx. 160) my tension was completely out of whack. My upper thread was still too tight while at the same time producing orange pokies at the back. Spelled complete mismatch to me on both fronts (top and bobbin thread) and after I had gathered my thoughts, I went back to the top thread...this time going by feeling more than anything else. My thread felt good to stitch at 1.75. Anything lower than that and the machine arced up, i.e. stopping and giving me a tutorial about threading! So decided to run with that and adjust my bobbin tension to tackle the pokies in the back. This took a while as just minute changes on the bobbin tension can change how the top appears. 

Also should say that I tried different needles while I was at it, first a 70/10 and then even a 60/8 needle. Must say I did not observe all that much of a difference in how the thread behaved, so this was definitely an adjustment issue. Eventually arrived at a bobbin tension of 180 -190, top tension at 1.75 with a 70/10 Microtex needle:

- top thread felt good to stitch, i.e. was not stretched and buried into the fabric; while I could see the white dots coming up while stitching, this disappeared instantly as I went along; had no ugly little white knots coming up every 5 seconds when hesitating in my stitching

- the back looked half decent; every now and then the orange would show slightly but I decided that this was negligible and possibly had to do with my speed or movement.

This is what this looked like

Hard to believe but this took well over 2 hours of needle changes, bobbin and top thread adjustments, so definitely something you only want to do when you are in a bit of a Zen mood.

Went on to stitch out the section of the quilt that I had taken out

Tension was fine, i.e. felt good to go along which meant that I could solely concentrate on the stitching. May have one spot were I hesitated for way too long so the white shows a tiny bit, but that was ok as I knew that the tension was otherwise alright.

The back

Bit hard to see but almost no pokies except for the odd spot here and there. Now that can probably be attributed to how I stitched the shape but could also point to the quality of the fabric. While nice, the backing fabric is just that little bit more loosely woven than the solid front. 

So what am I taking away from this little tension exploration today...STICK WITH THE PLAN and systematically go through the variables. Even better still...take notes as you do it.

But seriously, with a bit of patience and thinking through of what is happening you can fine tune just about any thread.

Karin