Last Finishes for the Year

Managed to finish off two more UFOs before the year comes to a close. Nothing too exciting but very happy to have completed this.

Natalia Bonner's 9 Patchalong quilt

This is from 2020...had finished the quilting and then just put it away. Even had the binding cut up. The binding has been sitting in my sewing room on one of the cupboards ready to go...since September 2020. Can you believe it?

Was actually really interesting to look back on this one. I had forgotten already what we did on this.

Looks great and is a really good visual of all the different designs to look back on.

Then saw the border...cannot even remember doing this. What a great idea to use the wiggly lines to split up the border width. Looks really effective, definitely something I would use again.

After this I also finished my Snowmen table runner. This was the first one I did and I completely mucked up the quilting on it. So did some unpicking and just went with some Ribbon Candy in the sashing after having soaked the entire area to get rid of the marks from the stitching. That worked really well and it turned out quite respectable in the end. Left the stars in the border, even though I did not like them, but you can hardly see them anyway. Ended up giving it to my daughter for her dining table. Have one more lot of Snowmen left to make into another table runner which will be another project for next year.

Would be great if I could say that this was it, but there is another UFO lurking in the cupboard waiting for a binding to do done. That will also be on the list for next year!

Also joined Bethanne Nemesh' Breaking Boundaries class which will begin in February. This is about improvisational piecing and background fillers and was the first class I looked at before I actually signed up for the Feather class (currently on a Christmas break to be continued in January). There is the option of piecing a number of quilts together before the classes start in February, so I made a start on this with some curved piecing. 

That was good fun. Can't wait to see what's next.

Karin

9 Patchalong Finished

I have been largely missing in action. Had some problems with my machine which put me a bit behind.

Have not kept up with Tuesdays either for the To Do List Linky or the the Longarm Learning Linky that I usually participate in.

Anyway, got sort of back on track and just made sure that I kept up with my blocks for Natalia Bonner's 9 Patchalong. Did some more work on it on the weekend and finished off the last block today.

These designs look so easy but some of them were quite challenging as my quilt had started to compact a fair bit and trying to align the ruler got just that little bit harder. Put piano keys around the border which I usually love doing but  when it was finished I thought that this was a bit of a fail. Looks all too uniform as my loops are also about half inch apart. Would have been better to insert an additional 1/8in of a line in between but now I am just not feeling it anymore and decided that this is finished. Will be a good reminder to pay some attention to this in the future.

This stitchalong was really good fun and I did enjoy having to stain my brain to follow the stitching paths for the blocks that Natalia demonstrated in her various videos. Felt in the end that I was getting better at this but I guarantee you that next time I will equally struggle to work out a stitch path. 

I decided to participate in Natalia's next quiltalong 'Let's stitch a year of stars which begins at the beginning of the new year. Purchased her piecing workbook, selected some fabric and now need to sit down and actually construct the blocks. This will take me a while, but hopefully I can knock this off over the next few months.

Linking up to Rebecca Grace Quilting to participate in the weekly Longarm Learning Party

 

Rebecca Grace Quilting

Also linking up to Free Motion Mavericks (hosted by Muv of Lizzie Lenard Vintage Sewing and Andree of Quilting and Learning - What a Combo) who celebrate their 300th Linky Party.

Karin

More 9 Patch Ruler Work

Block 3 and 4 of Natalia Bonner's 9 Patchalong

This one was a beauty...continuous line design, always looks great. Of course, mine was not entirely continuous as I got confused. I am certainly learning a lot in terms of thinking through your stitching path before you actually have a go. I made myself a little folder on the Ipad with these blocks and an accompanying stitching diagram, because no doubt, next time I look at it, I will have forgotten how it goes. 

My accuracy is definitely improving and I am finding the ruler work increasingly easier. The stitch regulator on the Capri is a big help as I can focus in on the stitching without having to worry about the stitch length. 

The next block was interesting

Lots of straight lines and again some concentration was needed to follow that stitching path to make it a continuous design. Easy to execute and looks also good when only stitched in one direction.

Today then I tackled the border. Followed Natalia's suggestion of stitching a loopy design above the scallops, however then encased this with a wiggly design (Natalia cut her border off past the loopy design which I did not want to do). I used the HQ Wiggle Wave ruler for this exercise

This ruler is fast becoming my favourite wave ruler. 

The ruler makes it very easy to fit your waves into the border. All I did was measure my border and determined how many repeats I will fit into the border. On the long side I was out by half the repeat. If you look on the ruler, half of the length would have ended me up on a high point in the corner which I did not want, as I started on a low point. In order to end on a low point and make the corners look the same, I then needed to reduce my waves by 3/4in across the length of the border. I normally struggle with this when drawing out a border, but with this ruler I find it is quite easy as long as you keep track of what you are doing. So, as I am stitching along the wave and stop in the valley or a  high point, I shift the ruler by about 1/4in to elongate the curve, 3 times before the center and 3 times after the center. Without fail this works a treat and I arrived smack bang at a low point in the corner, making my corners appear identical. The only marking I did was an approximate position of the repeats so I knew I was on track as I was stitching along. I could, of course, have chosen a different starting point for the corner, however I thought it was safer to start at the beginning of the repeat as I get easily confused with these things. Maybe next time I try a differently shaped corner by starting on a high point or somewhere in between.
 Anyway, more ruler work coming up in the border. I am thinking of going around it one more time with a piano key design...not sure yet what width though or maybe a pinstripe arrangement. We'll see.

Thoroughly enjoying this quilt along.

Linking up to Cheeky Cognoscenti's Longarm Learning Linky Party.

Karin

9 Patchalong with Natalia Bonner - Block 1 & 2

The 9 Patchalong with Natalia Bonner has started with two blocks this week.

Block 1

Simple curves, love the look and often use this for my baby quilts.  Quilted with the Pro Echo 7 ruler in one continuous pass.

Block 2

This block was hilarious. I was watching the video and following the stitch path, however 2 sec. later I forgotten which way to go. Had to watch and re-watch 2 squares at a time to follow that. Only got the logic of the stitch path for the last 3 squares using the Pro Echo 8 ruler (felt better as it is longer). I knew I was challenged by spatial things but I had no idea it was that bad. Anyway, again stitched in one path. Really like this, looks great on the solids. My focus on accuracy is working fine, spending a moment to get my alignment right and taking my time. Also trialling my new stitch regulator which is behaving very nicely...really like stitching with it, just need to develop a bit of a better rhythm for that.

Also made a start on filling in some of the sashing today. Great fun...with this I am practising shifting my straight ruler along as I am quilting out those straight lines. 

As you can see the vertical sashing is filled in only every alternate diamond, but in the horizontal sashing Natalia did every single shape. Followed this, although I like every single shape stitched out better as it gives that lovely texture. Will be a good visual when looking for designs.

I am really enjoying this and am currently playing with the idea of participating in Natalia’s ‘Let’s Stitch a Year of Stars’ which is to start in January 2021. Again she is using a panel which you can purchase, however that is not an option for me here given the enormous postage costs. So I would have to piece that sampler...not sure about that as I am not that much into piecing and the blocks look tedious. On the other hand, we are still months away and I am always up for a project that is a bit more involved. Will ponder on this for a while.

Linking up to Cheeky Cognoscenti for her Longarm Learning Party#6

Karin

9 Patchalong with Natalia Bonner

So I made a start on the quilting of the 9 patch quilt that we are going to use  for Natalia's 9 Patchalong.

As I am quilting on a sitdown machine I thought it best to put in the frame of the sashing design (this will still be filled in later) and the border scallop before we get to quilt the blocks. This is to avoid the compaction that occurs when quilting...I did not want my sashings to bulge out which would make ruler work more difficult. The design looked easy enough and I thought that I would get this done in no time at all. The aim of the game was to focus in on accuracy!

Well, let's just say I was challenged...I forgot how hard I find curves at times, particularly when dealing with an unruly quilt.

The scallops were an absolute breeze, the sashings not so much! I am participating along using my own rulers rather than Natalia's series of rulers.  I knew this quiltalong would be a great learning opportunity. I had to look at my curves and decide which ones to use. This was really quite interesting...I have the small set of Pro Echo rulers (plus the Pro Echo 8 and 12) from Lisa Calle. 

Really like these rulers and have used them on a quilt before. However, now I had to decide which one fits best into the spaces that I had and I found myself really inspecting them and thinking about which ruler would be most suitable for what, looking at the markings and how this would align. Ended up with the Pro Echo 6 and 4 for the scallops, the Pro Echo 7 for the blocks and the Pro Echo 8 (not part of the set) for the sashings. 

After I completed all of this I started on the bonus blocks at the bottom.

 Again, looks simple enough but some concentration was needed when travelling around the block in the ditch. I am using Rasant thread in a light gray colour. Discovered that I need the ditch in front of me or on the side if I wanted to keep the ditch quilting neat. Also, exploring my new stitch regulation on the Capri. I found that I need to increase my tension for the stitch regulator...don't really understand why that is but it definitely featured. If I leave the tension where I have it set in Manual and switch over to the regulator with the ruler, I would have a little bit of flat lining on the back. Not too bad, but enough to notice. So, I did a lot of tension testing throughout

Maybe my tension is not set correctly for either? Will have to ask about this in our local HQ group...thinking that it may have to do with the speed as I normally quilt quite slowly (in Manual) however when I use the regulator I do quilt a bit faster.

Linking up to Cheeky Cognoscenti’s weekly Longarm Learning Party

Karin

9 Patchalong With Natalia Bonner

Where is the time going...

I finished my Lana Lemur quilt and now am working on a nine patch quilt for Natalia Bonner's 9 Patchalong. This is going to start on 1st September  with Natalia showcasing new designs using her rulers every Tuesday and Thursday on YouTube. There is a FB group you can join to showcase your work and have a look what others are doing (already there are a few variations on this quilt top).

I am stitching along with a friend to further hone in on my ruler quilting skills. I think so far I have done about three ruler practice quilts, trying out different rulers and techniques. Find this very useful in terms of just focusing in on accuracy and how to hold a ruler for best results. 

So, I managed to get that quilt top together and am currently stitching in the ditch with a straight ruler.

I am using clear Monofilament thread in the top and a prewound in the bobbin. The Capri is behaving nicely and I am practising using the stitch regulator for this task. Must say it really makes a difference in how this looks on the back of the quilt. Quite impressed with that...looks so much neater compared to when I do this task in Manual mode.

I am looking forward to this stitchalong. Natalia's designs are always very straightforward, but quite clever in the way she uses them to dress up blocks in a quilt. While I do not have her rulers, I think I have enough rulers to match what she is doing on the quilt, basically using a straight and a few curved rulers. Already Natalia has posted designs for the sashings and the borders which I do quite like, particularly the scalloped border design. Looking forward to this.

Linking up to Cheeky Cognoscenti for her weekly Long Arm Learning Linky Party.

Karin

9 Patch Along with Natalia Bonner

I am working on my quilt for the 9 Patch Quilt along with Natalia Bonner which is set to start on 1st  September.

Blocks are almost done, now I only have to do the sashings and border, and insert another row of 4in blocks. You could have ordered a preprinted panel from Honest Fabric, but with shipping costs that was not an option for me. Luckily this comes together quickly which was half the attraction. I had been watching Natalia's YouTube series of Let's Stitch - a block a day over the last few months and was impressed with the range of designs she has come up with for 365 days in a row!  Unfortunately I did discover that QAL sort of half way through and  had too many other things going on to participate. So when I saw the announcement of the 9 Patch Along I jumped at it. I love what Natalia does with her rulers. Very straight forward and clever designs that will fit a range of quilts.

The focus of this stitchalong is Natalia's 4-N-1  and Inside Out mini rulers. While I do not have those, I have enough curves and straight rulers to substitute and use this quilt for practice. Should be good fun and keep me busy with another two projects on the go.

All in all there are going to be a total of 9 video lessons on YouTube. Those are free and anybody can join. A big Thank You to Natalia...incredibly generous! 

Looking forward to this...

Karin