One Last Time E2E On The Sitdown

It's been a few months again, but this time I have got a good excuse. Our grand daughter made her grand arrival at the end of August.  At the same time, ie. within days my younger daughter moved out into her own apartment. So for the last few months we have been extremely busy with providing support for both of my daughters which has involved a lot of running around, practical help, organising things and also some baby sitting. 

Very little quilting was done, in fact no quilting was done at all and it was only the other day that I pulled out one of the charity quilts. A fairly old-fashioned little quilt with almost too much of a good thing going on in terms of busy-ness.

Decided to do an edge-to-edge design over it using my trusted Golden Threads paper again. I sped this up a bit this time and traced and stitched two rows in one hit which did affect accuracy a bit but on the busy quilt that was not even noticeable at all. 

Why, you asked... for the last time! Well, after much research and soul searching I have decided to put my machine on the frame (which will arrive in a couple of weeks). It all started about a year ago when I thought about computerised quilting. I know people have various opinions on that but it appeals to me as it combines my love of quilting with my passion for design work on the computer. I started looking at this for a while, however decided against it in the end as the Bernina Q-matic is just too expensive to justify getting it for just a bit of fun. So I concentrated on what I saw as the benefits of a frame and added a Pantograph kit to my order as the next best option. I can't tell you how many YouTube videos I watched quilting on the frame over the last year...learned lots about loading and how it all works and then went through an extended period of indecision and I think that I am still a bit unsure about it all as I simply do not know how long it will take me before I make the transition to moving the machine rather than my hands and whether I will like that change or not. Over here there are actually no opportunities to try in all seriousness before you buy. My closest shop only has the Moxie from HQ set up and quilting on that does not compare to a Bernina. I have tried the Bernina Q20 on a frame for a little moment at the last show and also had a look at another quilter's set up but that's about it! However, I do know that I need to change things up a bit...I need extension, more of a challenge and some renewed learning. The last two intense projects I did left me feeling very bored and confused as to what direction to take. In the end I decided to take the plunge. I will keep my table, just in case, so that I will have the option to revert back to sitdown quilting if I absolutely hate it. This should be very interesting, to say the least.

So, anyway, here is the charity quilt that I just finished on the sitdown with an edge-to-edge design called Lorien's Festival from Hermione Agee.

Told you it's a bit overwhelming...just a tad too busy for me. Photo also not that great...also trialling a new photo editor 😣

The back though looks stunning

Loved doing this pantograph and am hoping that it will not take too long before I can figure out the pantograph kit on the frame. That does look like a lot of fun to me and should speed things up enormously.

Will post again when the frame is here.

Karin

More Baby Quilts

The cute little Teddy Bear Baby Quilt is finished

This is so very cute! I used the Handiquilter Multi Clamshell tool to quilt the 4in clamshells over it. Works every time and looks great on baby quilts.

Also finished my special baby quilt ready for the new arrival

The fabrics in this one are just gorgeous...soft and playful in apricot/pink tones. You probably cannot see this but the fabric has a bit of a cottage/farm theme. Really pretty. It is from Art Gallery Fabrics...a selection of 'Cottage Grove' fabrics. The pattern will be available in my Etsy shop within the month. I have done all the photos, now it is just a matter of putting the pattern together which should not take too long.

Also made a little fabric book

Got a panel with the pages from the last quilt show. Easy enough to do in terms of putting this together however, this was digitally printed fabric which I did not realise when I bought it. Had to be really careful with the stitching as it leaves little white runs as soon as a needle pierces it. Dislike that as it makes the job unnecessarily harder. 

So, what's next? I had a fair amount of fabric left over from the Art Gallery Fabrics 'Cottage Grove' Fat 

Quarter bundle. Have cut that all up into squares and will be starting to put that together soon for a very simple baby quilt to be hopefully sold (on Etsy). Actually seen some new rulers by Amanda Murphy called the Apples and Oranges rulers which would make for a perfect design on a simple squares quilt. Mind you I have to find the rulers first...always takes a bit longer before things come to Australia.

Happy Quilting!

Karin

Cute Baby Quilt

Must be the baby season! Had to quickly finish another baby quilt for a friend of my daughter's. Chose this cute teddy bear panel from Devonstone Collection (design #DV6130) to quickly quilt a clamshell design over it. Then had to hunt around for a suitable backing...as the colours are somewhat washed out I thought that this would be challenging but found something straight away which fitted it perfectly.

Too cute! quilted it with my trusted Aurifil thread 50/2 in a soft yellow colour. Was lucky as I also found a solid in the same colour as the narrow inner border. Currently finishing off sewing the binding to the back and then this can be gifted.

Happy quilting!

Karin

More Ruler Work and Two More Finishes

Its been a productive couple of weeks...managed to finish all of the charity quilts ready to be delivered next week.

Had a lovely 'I Spy' quilt to finish. Given its colourful fabric I just meandered over it. Still find that the most effective and fast ways to finish some of the more scrappy type quilts.

Nearly got side tracked again in going through my stash to find similar fabric that could be used for an 'I Spy' quilt. Such a good isea and a fun project! Restrained myself though and kept going with the next charity project.

Now this one took a bit longer as I had to ditch the seams first but then I got going with some simple curves in the blocks. What started out as just wanting to do a motif in the larger yellow squares turned to an allover design. Really enjoy using Lisa Calle's Pro Echo rulers!

Put a piano key border around it as well using a blend in purple colour. Came out great and finished it off nicely.

Next will be another baby quilt panel that I will quilt up for one of my daughter's friends who is expecting and then my machine will go in for a spa day. I had some issues with my stitch regulator...minor, and maybe related to the particular project I was working on. Experienced some racing of the needle at odd times. This has since stopped and could very well be attributable to the sliding mat I have around my needle plate...not sure. I thought that maybe the edges of that might have been catching the fabric, so I have now taped this down a bit better and have not experienced this again. But in speaking to the dealer we decided that we may as well have a bit of a look and while at the shop the machine might as well get cleaned and oiled on the inside. Not strictly speaking necessary, but can't hurt...I have had this machine now for over four years and while Bernina talks about it only having to go for service at 30 million stitches I have since heard different viewpoints. In the end I contacted Bernina some time back asking around service and they had said that it was recommended to have your machine looked at every couple of years to make sure everything runs fine. As I am thinking about putting my machine on the frame at some stage later this year I thought it might be a good idea to get the machine running as best as it can. (assuming that I will have a horrendous adjustment period).

That's all from me today...have a nice quilty weekend!

Karin

Some Ruler Work

Here is the finished Ballerina quilt from a few weeks ago. Again forgot to post the finish here as I had posted it on my facebook page and IG and then moved straight on.

The outer border is done with the HQ 4" Swag set...finally used it! The 4" swags fitted nicely around the long edge of the border, however I had to problem solve a bit for the top and bottom because I needed to elongate my swags by 1/4in to make it fit. Found that I had an oval corner shape that just fitted that width (and height) and which was only ever so slightly different (tiny bit slimmer on the top). I used this as sliding the HQ 4" swag along to make it a bit wider produced some wonky shapes. Worked really well.

Really enjoying the ruler work at the moment so I moved straight on to the next charity quilt. A striking little number

Used my favoutite curve set for this...the Lisa Calle Pro Echo rulers and chose the 7" curve. By the way, Lisa Calle is doing little workshops on ruler quilting on FB every Monday and I think you can get a bit of a discount on her rulers this month. Watched the first one last week on using straight rulers. Very enjoyable.

The ditching was a bit of a hassle and to save time I just ditched in a grid around the blocks and left the diagonal untouched.

Really liked how this turned out as the unditched areas tended to puff out a bit more and really made the curves stand out. Mind you, my stitch regulator was a bit unhappy at times...the backing was very thin and in the white areas I had some racing at times. Not quite sure why...maybe the thinner fabric both from the backing but also in the top or the puffiness. Definitely something noticable as I approached the seams at times. Experimented on some scraps that I had and had no problem at all, so hopefully it had to do with the fabrics in this quilt.

Well, I am already on to the next quilt which I will just meander over as I have got another one to go after that. You probably wonder at my sudden surge of activity...we are expecting our first grandchild in August and I do want these charity quilts to be delivered before this. While I will take a few additional ones after this there no doubt will be a few months of very limited quilting activity. Somehow it seemed quite far away and all of a sudden it is so very close. My daughter is huge by now and I would not be surprised if this baby makes her entrance a little bit earlier. We shall see. Still need to handstitch the binding of that special baby down. Also need to prepare for a workshop which has now moved to November, write up a pattern etc...all before the end of August! As always in life lots of other things going on...

But, hey, we work best under pressure!

Karin

Baptist Fan Charity Quilt

Quick update on the finished Baptist fan charity quilt.

Turned out great, looking fairly accurate on the top edge

Love the consistency and the 1in spacing between the fans

...and another close up

That's it...already onto the next charity quilt, currently ditching which will take a little moment. Planning a little bit of ruler work but we shall see as to whether I have got any energy left after I finished the ditching.

Happy quilting!

Karin

More Charity Quilts

I am running behind in the the quilting of the charity quilts. Have four more to go before I pick up new quilt tops, so I am really knuckling down trying to get this done (hopefully by mid - August). Very much in the mood for ruler quilting and the next quilt top presented the perfect opportunity to do some Baptist fans again.

I am using templates from Michael's Quilts. Purchased those a couple of years ago now and still think they are fantastic and the best on the market. Remembered that I looked at other ones at the time, i.e. Amanda Murphy had just brought out her Baptist fan rulers but they were too narrow for me. I was looking at a 1in space between the curves in order to use it as an allover design. That's how I eventually came across the templates from Michael Quilts. 

First issue was that my charity quilt was not exactly straight around the edges. As I can't mark the charity quilts my trusted masking tape came in really handy (using a lot of that lately). In order to start my fans I needed a straight edge, so I used a large right angle and marked the 5-1/2in height of the fans with masking tape straight across. Had not thought that through though as I needed to get my beginning fans straight! The first little circle is 1-1/2in high so I had another straight tape line at 2in and from there I chalked in the 1-1/2in line.

Bit clumsy, but worked fine. As I was stitching along I removed the tape

Took me a moment to get comfortable again with the templates. The largest template is based on an 11in circle, hence it is quite big to use on a sitdown longarm. Takes up my whole hand.

As you can see I have lots of little grippy disks on the back and also use the sticky drawliner pieces to hold the ruler in place. Similarly, the smallest fan is based on a 3in circle and is somewhat awkward to hold, so a slow pace was the go. Initially I was dreadful at backtracking over previously stitched lines, but improved as I went along. The trick is to use the top of the templates to help you stitch along 1in to get to the next fan.

Now, I am not going to say this is super easy...it's not. Being on the sitdown means everything moves and you are surrounded by your fabric sandwich which may not always cooperate in terms of push and pull. Nevertheless I was impressed how consistent this looked after a few rows. I forgot how heavy this is on the shoulders, so given my shoulder issues I had to really take it easy. So I took my time doing about 2- 3 rows per sitting.

Looking good

I finished the last few rows today but could not take a photo...just too grey and rainy over here. Turned out lovely and fits this quilt really well. I think it was originally a memory quilt top as there are lots of old shirt fabrics in there. Really interesting to stitch over. Will take a photo tomorrow of the finished quilt. The Bapist fans came out great...funny though there is always one row in doing this where you think 'oh, I lost the plot' as nothing seems to align properly and you feel as if you are really trailling off. Then the next row...everything seems back to normal and I had several fans that aligned a 100%. Too weird. So, not for the faint-hearted, but I am used to it and just keep blindly going and hope for the best. The surprise is always on the top where you can see exactly how much or how little you have been out with your alignment. Given that the edges of this quilt were not totally straight, my top row came out great. Not a 100%, but good enough. Once the binding is on, this will hardly be visible. 

So jsut have the binding to go and then it is on to the next one!

Karin