Handiquilter Ruler of the Month Club 5

I cannot believe I signed up for another ruler club, but I did. The temptation was just too great! There are a few rulers in this lot that I really like and I kept telling myself that this will definitely be the last one. Famous last words...you can find the Ruler of the Month Club details on the Handiquilter website HERE (this includes videos on how to use them)

So here is the first ruler, the small Hexagon Ruler 
The ruler makes a 1 1/2in hexagon and you probably wonder what you can do with this...

I stitched out this little sample to use up my bobbin thread. This is the first time using this ruler and you can definitely see that I initially struggled with aligning the hexagon properly (i.e. first row)         

 The diamonds are supposed to be connecting but somehow I could not get this right until the latter part of the second row. In the next few rows I just played around with different ideas. I particularly liked the fourth row where I shifted the ruler 1/2in along and created this very intricate looking diamond design. Could imagine this in a small sashing. Looks labour intensive but is very easy to stitch out.
After this I stitched the diamond length-wise and then filled it in...lots of options.

Very handy little ruler!                               

Karin

Best of 2019

Cheryl from Meadow Mist Designs is hosting the Best of 2019 Linky Party. Going through the blog posts of the year, here are 5 of my favourites. If you want to read more about the quilts, just click on the heading for each quilt to be taken to the blog post.

1. Pastel Baby Quilt

I loved making this quilt...particularly mthe making of the scrappy backing. Used up most of my Fat Quarter bundle for this quilt

...and the back

2. HST Quilt

Made two of those to be gifted to newly arrived twins. This is the citrus version

3. The Funky Bird Quilt

One of my favourites...a bit work intensive, but so worthwhile in the end. The block used in this quilt is the Fancy Foot block which is an old and almost forgotten block...suited the birds perfectly

4. Festival of Quilts 2019

My entry to the Festival of Quilts 2019. This was a slightly insane idea and I had a definite vision of this in my head when I started. The end result came close and it got me third place in the 'Other' category of the show.

5. The Fox Quilt

Another of my absolute favourites...Elizabeth Hartman's Fancy Fox Quilt. I so enjoyed making this quilt. Every time I pieced a face, as soon as the eyes were included I could see their cute little faces...I used my favourite Shannon Brinkley Dryad range fabric for this and have lots left over for another one. This is definitely on the list for the new year.

Linking up to the Best of 2019 Linky Party. Click on the image below to be taken to the Linky Party and check out the the amazing quilts on show. Just stunning!

Karin

Exciting News

Have you seen Handiquilter's new machine, the Capri?

It was introduced at the Houston Quilt Market and will come to Australia in the New Year.

I am super excited about this as it has got stitch regulation build into the table and a few other modifications to make life a bit easier (like more lights, light in the bobbin area, machine is slightly longer). You can see the stitch regulation in action in this You Tube video by Handiquilter.

This was actually really weird timing as I had just researched stitch regulation with the competition and had wondered whether Handiquilter would bring out a machine that would be an equivalent. About two weeks later I started seeing it on FB.

So, I pre-ordered the new machine and will be selling my machine. I did have a very long think about this and thought that this new machine is the best option for me. During my time over the last two years at my local Handiquilter group I have learnt a fair bit about longarm machines and often wondered whether I should go down the path of a machine on a frame. When the Amara came out I fell in love with that machine. WHAT A TOY! However thinking about this again, I came to the conclusion that a sitdown machine is the best option for me because
- I do not actually produce that many quilts...my passion is wholecloth quilting, the type where you spend a good 2 month on one little section. In terms of quilts, I cannot see myself piecing those enormous King size quilts. Beautiful to look at but not for me.
- I have no experience in quilting on a frame. Possibly could learn it but reluctant to then quilt all my projects on a frame. Would be ideal to have a sitdown machine and a machine on a frame 😆 to just play a bit.
- I think I actually prefer to quilt on a stationary machine using my hands to guide the fabric.
- cost and space is obviously a factor with sitdown machines being much more affordable.

I feel that the new Capri offers me the best of both worlds, being able to continue to quilt on a stationary machine while at the same time having the option of using stitch regulation. This will be very handy...
I have had my Sweet 16 for 2 years by now and obviously have become used to it and with continued use have become faster in my quilting. Stitch regulation will be great to keep consistency up to scratch. Also with rulers I think it is very handy. I have a habit of doing tiny, tiny stitches as soon as I am concentrating on hitting a particular point. Again stitch regulation should make that theoretically easier. We shall see. I am fully expecting that stitch regulation will initially completely throw me, however as with anything, it will be a matter of getting used to it. Should be very interesting.

Now it is just a matter of waiting for this machine to arrive in Australia.

Karin

The Challenge Quilt

 I am continuing on my goal list for the 2019 Finish-A-Long.

Currently working on my Challenge Quilt. This is a quilt that our local Handiquilter group has been stitching along for the entire year. I loved doing this. Although I am an experienced freemotion quilter, there is always something new to learn. This time it was the size of the designs in the block. I am used to smaller blocks and was surprised how difficult it was for me to quilt in bigger spaces. For example doing a simple loopy design would not work for me because the space was just too big. My muscle memory did not allow for this and I had to pre-draw them otherwise I was running the risk of them falling over.

Still got a fair bit to do...have arrived at the zig-zag sections filling them with lines and pebbles. Again, my wonky piecing made this a bit of a challenge at times and my channels are not exactly 1/2in in parts and I just had to overlook this and continue on.

I decided that I love doing lines with the ruler. For this I used the Handiquilter Ditch ruler...placing it on the left side of the foot, stitching against it and rounding it up on the bottom by approx. 1/4in. Then I just shifted the ruler over and did the same thing going up. Not always totally tidy but a hell of a lot tidier than doing it freehand.

This provides a lot of texture

Once I finished all of the zigzag lines sections I will have to fill the remaining zig-zags with feathers

Looking forward to the feathers!

A fair bit of quilting to do though before I can get to the feathers 😒

Karin

Second Finish For the 2019 Finish-A-Long Fourth Quarter

I am on a roll...finished my second project for the 2019 Finish-A-Long.

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 January 2020.

You can find my Goal list for the fourth quarter HERE

This little table runner is from the leftover fabric and test blocks from my Fancy Fox quilt that I finished in the last quarter. I thought that those foxes were just too cute to throw away. Each of those test blocks were ironed slightly differently and on some blocks the points were a bit cut off due to squaring them off, however I figured that this was good enough for use on the coffee table.

 I used every available last scrap of fabric that was left over from the quilt. Very satisfying indeed!

For the quilting I decided to do a bit of a grid over the foxes to practice consistency in terms of aligning the ruler correctly. That worked well, staying within my 1in grid more or less. Then did some straight lines at 1/4in intervals in the woodgrain fabric to accentuate the lines of the woodgrain.
For the border I thought I try a fern type pattern...have wanted to try this for a while. I used the HQ Wave ruler first to stitch in the spine using the very gentle curve (drawing the corners in very loosely). So, very little marking for this piece which was great. My fern design worked well although, must say, it looks a bit like  one of those caterpillars crawling around the border 😆

Easy to get around the corner if you watch that you fill the available space as there is little consistency other than the consistent S-curve (which makes it look very consistent overall).

Very unlikely I can keep up this pace of finishing things, but for the moment I am feeling pumped!

Linking up to Midweek Makers over at Quilt Fabrication.

Linking up to the 2019 Finish-A-Long over at Marci Girl Designs

Karin

First Finish For The 2019 Finish-A-Long Fourth Quarter

My latest baby quilt is finished!

This is the first finish from my (last) 2019 Finish Along goal list. 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 January 2020.

The quilt measures 36.5 x 43in and is made out of a Charm Square pack called 'Corner of 5th and Fun' by Sandy Gervais for Moda Fabrics.

I had some fun quilting this on my Sweet16 stitching simple arcs combined with the Ribbon Candy design in the sashing.

I used one of the Pro Echo Arcs for the squares and then moved across the quilt from side to side stitching some echo lines in the sashing traveling along the ditch to keep it continuous. This worked quite well. At first I lightly drew in the Ribbon Candy in the smaller sashing, however found that it was easier for me to stitch the design without any marking. Somehow I was more consistent if I had just the white fabric in front of me.

Now onto the next project...almost done, just need to sew on the binding.

For now I am adding my project to the Favorite Finish Monthly Link-up hosted by Meadow Mist Designs. Don't often have a finish that coincides with this link-up.

Linking up to the 2019 Finish-A-Long over at Marci Girl Designs

Karin