Quilting With Invisafil - To Do Tuesday #78

Last week I planned for:

- to sew up a cover for my label for the wholecloth and also prepare the hanging sleeve✅

- maybe make a start on my next background filler project✅

- seriously look at a new pattern for my Etsy shop (which I have neglected over the last few months). - Well, I did look at it, but that's about all!

I started on my background filler project with the rather tedious task of quilting in the ditch. As this is an improvisational piece the quilting in the ditch has to be done largely freehand. A definite skill to practice! I am using Invisafil 100wt from Wonderfil Threads for the most invisible stitch in the ditch Using three different colours:

Antique White on the left, Orange (in the background) and Nude on the right (Yep, started another thread collection). I could have used just the nude colour...this would have blended nicely with everything as Invisafil does blend into the colour you are quilting, but given that I had the other colours as well, I used them for the most invisible finish.

Many people find Invisafil fiddly. Must say I don't...I have my tension on the lower end (on the Bernina Q20 on 2.25), use Decobob prewounds (80wt) in the bobbin and go in manual mode rather slowly. Never had any issues with that.

The thread just sinks in and virtually becomes not noticeable. Gives a really nice finish. Also made use of my new foot, the 72 S...a ruler foot with a slit, so you can switch between sewing feet if you need to without cutting your thread. Actually forgot that I got this...I have a couple of straight lines in this piece and only remembered when I was about to change the foot. 

So, I am working away at this, hoping that I can start the freemotionquilting some time next week.

For the remainder of the week I am going to

- finalise my quilt show entry ...only need to put a cover on the label, prepare my bag and that's it!)

- finish the quilting-in-the-ditch on my background filler project

- continue to knit in the evenings ( currently trialing a raglan jumper and also need to make a start on a second sock)

- keep looking at my Etsy shop until the pressure becomes so great that I will actually start on a new pattern.

Linking up to To Do Tuesday #78 over a Quilt Schmilt.

Happy Quilting

Karin

To Do Tuesday #41

Another week has gone by. I have not been doing much after my recent workshop finished. The group I had was really quite talented...they picked up the feather quilting very quickly and while not everyone finished the table runner during the sessions, we were able to go through all the fillers so that they can finish it at home. 

My list for this week was

- bind the charity quilt✅

- baste the class sample from above and work out the quilting design, path and thread✅

- cut the pieces for a couple more cat blocks (no piecing at the moment as I am taking my machine to the workshop and leave it un-connected in between sessions)

- maybe baste another of the little charity quilts.

Well, I got two things done at least. I did baste the Indigenous looking quilt top and then got side tracked into trying to figure out which thread to use. 

Also re-visited the course I did with Bethanne Nemesh in 2021 'Breaking Boundaries' to re-acquaint myself with some of the design options. Bethanne's classes are available on 'Teachable' when you purchase the course. While it is running, you can watch the sessions on FB live but afterwards Bethanne puts them on Teachable so that you have lifetime access. I watched a couple of sessions again to refresh my memory of some of the designs and the different ideas on how to combine them.

Then I trialed my thread. I decided to use 100wt Invisafil and will try to use a colour that blends across the burnt orange and white. Invisafil from Wonderfil has got the weird ability to just blend into the colour that it is on, its just a matter of finding the right match. Did a bit of testing on the various threads that I already have.

Not that you can see much on here...started off with my trusted tan colour (464) which was great in the orange section but slightly too dark on the white. Tried the Antique White colour which of course was great on the white and almost fine on the orange. Then used a peach colour and another darker tan...all almost there but not quite.

I now ordered a pastel grey, hoping that that will blend into the white as well as the orange. We shall see! If not, I might use the white colour to stitch across. If you are interested in this thread I also came across a great educational video on You Tube from Wonderfil explaining the many uses of this thread.

While I was at it, I stitched in the ditch around the seams with my trusted tan colour. I have been using Invisafil for a while now when stitching in the ditch but I am always amazed again at how well that blends in.

Close up

Stitching in the ditch on the orange fabric with my tan coloured thread...just about invisible.

And on the other colours...

Amazing thread!

So that's done, now I am just waiting for the grey colour to arrive to start with the filling of this project. should be interesting. all this is in preparation for another of these quilts which is a bit bigger and different in design.

So, for next week my list looks as follows

- once my thread arrives make a start on the filling of the quilt above once I worked out a bit of a plan on how to go about that

- baste another little charity quilt and hopefully start the quilting on that ...maybe another clamshell allover

- cut the pieces for a couple more cat blocks 

- continue on my knitting projects

Linking up to To Do Tuesday #41over at Quilt Schmilt 

Karin

Background Filler Project

I m back onto my background filler project after a few weeks of a bit of a break. Felt somewhat overwhelmed with the enormity of the project and lost some steam to keep going. So I did a few other projects to take my mind off mainly working on some listings for my Etsy shop but also 'playing' around on EQ8 with some new patterns (fantastic program...was able to manipulate a pre-existing layout into the custom size that I wanted, changed it a bit and ended up with at least 5 different versions of possible quilts - there is another blog post waiting to happen). Will finally include an applique design that my daughter drew when she was really young. 

In addition and to stall further I looked at social media, specifically Pinterest and started to clean up my account a bit, organized my boards and in general had a bit of a look what had accumulated over the last 10 years. Well, stumbled across their Idea Pins and got inspired to give that a try...so did some videos (which I generally find really hard), read about Idea pins and watched a few YouTube videos and finally managed to put some reasonable videos together to try that out. Did that on my phone which worked really well. The topic was not super exciting -  'Basting a Quilt on a Sitdown Longarm' but that was what I was doing at that moment. Must say, that came out really nice and worked a treat for me. Might do that again as I like it better than Instagram Stories or reels.

Finally though I re-looked at my background filler 'monster'. We had a bit of sunshine yesterday so I took some photos.

 Close up of the fern area that I really like

Those darker areas gave me a lot of trouble with the Invisafil thread. Being that fine at 100wt I had real trouble seeing where I was going. If you look at the darker area I had to do the pebbled area first leaving a channel to then fill in the rainbows. That was incredibly challenging on the old eyes.

...and then I finally continued and finished off that side...not too bad...

Almost there...continued a bit further on the right but will take that out today as I am not happy with it. The key on this thing seems to be pre-planning. If I am unsure what design to use, it is best to stop and think that through carefully rather than charging ahead.

So, hopefully I will make it to the end of this over the coming week!

Karin