2019 Finish-A-Long Proposed Goal List for Q4

The Fourth Quarter of the 2019 Finish-A-Long is starting. Can't believe how quick this year is going.

You can find the information about the Finish-A- Long on  Leanne's blog She Can Quilt. There you will find more detail on how this link up works and also find the list of bloggers who are hosting this great event.

My goal list for the fourth quarter:

1. Another Fancy Fox Quilt
I am going through a bit of an Elizabeth Hartman phase at the moment. Also got Hazel hedgehog on my radar, but first I do want to make a slightly bigger fox quilt

I will use the same fabric for the foxes, Dryad fabric range by Shannon Brinkley for Paintbrush Studio. Love the fabric and I think it particularly suits the pattern.

2. Wholecloth Quilt
Maybe, if I put this on this list again, it will do itself. Seriously, this is the fourth time this design is on the list. I seem to have some sort of block going on here, however really would like to finish this to have a momentum of the class I attended with Cindy Needham.

All it needs is a clean up of the design and then it is ready to go.

3. Another Baby quilt
This is already in production...the quilt top is finished by now and I am ready to pinbaste this together. Had a bit of a hold up as I needed to purchase a suitable backing, but basically this is ready to quilt. The quilt is for a work colleague and needs to be completed within the next month or so. Not sure yet on how to quilt this, i.e. whether to just meander over it or do something a bit more fancy.

4. Fox Table Runner
Decided to use up the leftover foxes and make a table runner out of it...just too cute to chuck away. They were my original trial blocks where I experimented with the ironing of the seams and also tested my accuracy. A little bit out here and there, but overall respectable enough. Used absolutely all of the grey and woodgrain fabric up, down to the last scrap (photo only shows three, have made four by now). Will use this for some ruler practice.

5. Hexagon Project
Did not get very far with that, but made a start after having had to order a new glue pen in. Goal would be to make more. Doubt very much that I finish a hexagon quilt in this time frame. This is a bit of an on-going project
I do remember where I got this fabric from but lost the label...I believe the fabric is from a Moda fabric range.
6. Practice Panel
Got this panel at the last quilt show and thought it would be a good piece to use for practice, i.e. outline the major elements with some decorative stitches and then freemotionquilt various designs in the background. 

7. Challenge Quilt
This is a monthly challenge project from our local Handiquilter group that theoretically should be completed by the end of the year. So far, I have kept up with it. Blocks all done and now for something in the zigzags. Will find out next week. This could get very intense

Linking up to Studio Sew of Course. 

Karin

Another Baby Quilt

Working on another baby quilt and did a bit of fun sewing on the side.

Had a pack of charm squares called 'Corner of 5th and Fun' by Sandy Gervais for Moda Fabrics. Always struggle with what to do with charm squares but keep buying them anyway. Decided to just set this into some sashing and be done with it.

Lovely colours and it is coming along nicely. Not sure yet how to quilt it...thought about just doing an allover design but also looking at the rulers, in particular the arcs and wonder whether I just arc away in the squares and then quilt something in the sashing. We'll see...

Also had two foxes with brown eyes left over. Thought that they were too pretty to discard and made another two, then used up the last bit of the woodgrain fabric. Planning to make a table runner out of this, using up the brown fabric which was a bit lacking in quality as a border. If nothing else this will be nice and colourful and bonus, used every available scrap of the grey, woodgrain and brown fabric.

So enjoyed making the foxes again as I now am familiar with the construction and the best way of putting them together. Definitely will make another fox quilt! In terms of quilting I am thinking of putting a grid design over the faces, some ruler work in the borders...this will be good fun.

Karin

Second Finish of The 2019 Finish Along Third Quarter

My Fancy Fox Quilt is finished. 
This is the second item from my goal list for the 2019 Finish Along. You can find the information about the 2019 Finish-A- Long on  Leanne's blog She Can Quilt. There you will find more detail on how this link up works and also find the list of bloggers who are hosting this great event. The link up for this quarter opens on 1st October.

I did the Baby Quilt version of Elizabeth Hartman's Fancy Fox Quilt (had just enough grey fabric for that size). The quilt measures 34 x 46in

I used my favourite fabric for this...the Dryad fabric range by Shannon Brinkley for Paintbrush Studio.

For the background I chose some cool woodgrain fabric

As explained in previous posts I used the backing fabric to follow the woodgrain pattern as an overall design and quilted this back to front, so to speak. Love how this turned out! For the thread I used a brownish-grey SoFine thread from Superior.

So cute! I think I am going through a bit of an Elizabeth Hartman phase...already eyeing out her Hedgehog pattern and definitely will do another fox quilt, this time with a brownish background and slightly bigger.

Linking up to Studio Sew of Course for the Q3 Finish-A-Long.

Karin

Tension Play

Today I allowed myself some time to just play!

It has been 2 years since I acquired the Sweet 16. After many trials and tribulations in the first few months, I have felt quite  comfortable with it over the last year. I did stick with my one thread rule for a while though. However, now slowly but surely, I am branching out in trying different threads and different thread combinations.

Today I trialed Superior Fantastico (wt 40/3)...I have got a beautifully variegated cone that was part of the box full of thread that Superior had thrown in when I purchased the machine. Still very impressed with their generosity.  Initially I left my So Fine bobbin thread (wt 50) in place to use up the thread that was left over from the Fox Quilt. When that was gone (worked fine), I took my bobbin out and adjusted it for a DecoBob Prefilled bobbin (80wt). Was curious on how that would go...

That worked really well, no problem at all. Spent a bit of time on concentrating on the speed and consistency and noticed that I need to slow down a bit. Have gotten into the habit of stitching faster than what I can control. The stitch quality was good...had a few little pokies here and there as I was mucking around with different tension settings, but really nothing to worry about. Really like that thread and will need to make a quilt to go with that (that could be good for the next Fox Quilt actually).

Then went back to Aurifil thread Mako 40/2, this time though stitching with the DecoBob bobbin thread...good combination! Actually I like the DecoBobs as they are wound so evenly...much better for your tension!

Continued to play and now went back to Aurifil 50/2 in the bobbin. Those are the bobbins that I wind myself...hardly any difference other than that I noticed fluctuations in the bobbin thread. On closer inspection I could actually feel that when I unwound the thread off the bobbin. Probably should pay a bit more attention to my bobbin winding...I suspect that I need to slow down the winding a bit to avoid the thread swinging around like it does at times. Winding it slower would probably also be better to avoid any stretching of the thread. Will adjust this next time I wind a bobbin.

Productive play!

Karin

So close...

Almost finished the quilting on my Fancy Fox quilt. I decided in the end to do a woodgrain design.

Bit of an adventure as I am quilting from the backing to the front as the backing has a woodgrain design on it.

The idea is good and its working well, however I did have some issues with the thread. I am trialing So Fine from Superior 50/3. So I set my tension for the bobbin and adjusted the top but as I went along the thread started shredding. I had a needle size 16 and did not really want to go higher so I persevered for a while, however the shredding continued to happen. In the end I switched over to a needle size 18 and the problem disappeared altogether. I am not sure it actually has to do with the thread...could actually be the quality of the grey background fabric. In stitching front to back and looking at the stitches they did not look that great in parts on the grey but were perfectly fine on the other fabric.

Initially I thought that it had to do with me or the machine tension but after a while I started to see that it was perfectly fine in the coloured areas...must be the quality of that fabric, I reckon. The above photo is taken directly after the quilting...the stitch will settle a bit and look a bit more normal after  a while. How strange is this!
Anyway, I am quite happy with how this is turning out (minus the thread issue). The woodgrain pattern is lovely and I am getting the hang of it and learning how to do it properly thanks to the backing fabric.

Karin

Fancy Fox Quilt Top Done!

Made a concentrated effort to finish off the Fancy Fox quilt top. Don't know about you but it always takes me a moment to really get familiar with a pattern, so the first few blocks are always a bit out in measurement and I usually still try to work out which way I am going to press the seams. After having done a few I then could go over to chain piece elements together.

On the weekend I did the remaining 9 blocks chain piecing the segments in one hit. These last 9 blocks were much better in accuracy than the first few, so I felt that I was really getting the hang of things.

All the eyes done! I thought I was on such a roll until I noticed this...

I was trying to keep the direction of the fabric the same, but I am so spatially challenged that I got the eye section the wrong way around. Initially I was going to leave this, but then I thought that I was not going to be able to overlook this, so had to slow down and re-do a few eye sections.

Anyway, it got done and yesterday I completed the sashings and top border

So cute! This is the baby quilt size of 34 x 46in. In retrospect I wished that I had made this larger but I just had enough grey background fabric and for the white I used every available piece that I had down to the very last scrap. I think that I will do another one with a brownish background, maybe adding a row in width and length.

Learnings: don't be too over-zealous with cutting the blocks to size...I did on quite a few occasions and forgot that I was cutting into the seam allowance, hence some of the points were no longer points! Hmm...now the fun begins with the quilting. Would like to do a woodgrain design but am really not that good at it...may need to practice for a little while to see whether I can let loose on the quilt. Alternatively, a nice allover design...still pondering.

Karin

Fancy Fox Quilt: Half Way Through

Thankfully I am a bit busy lately, otherwise you would have had a blog post for every single new fox. I am so enjoying working with the Dryad fabric range from Shannon Brinkley. Absolutely love that fabric.

This is how far I have progressed over the last week...half way through!

I think I am hooked and will definitely be making another one of these. Took me a moment to get familiar with the pattern. The key seems to be in the organisation of your pieces. This is one of Elizabeth Hartman's easier patterns, however I found myself doing the first few one by one as I just could not get my head around all those different pieces, some of them very small. After that though it got easier and I started to work out an order for the construction and then was able to chain piece sections at a time. I am now half way through and have just cut out the remaining 9 foxes, all pieces neatly stacked in piles in the order that I am going to sew them, so it should go much faster now. Really enjoying this pattern and already have looked at some of her other ones, like 'Hazel Hedgehog'...bit of an obsession starting here, I think (I do also have her Bear pattern but that has lots more pieces and appears a bit intimidating). We'll see ...

Linking up to Midweek Makers over at Quilt Fabrication

Karin