To Do Tuesday Link Up

It's Wednesday and I am ready to link up to To Do Tuesday hosted by Texas Quilt Gal.

Last week I set myself the following tasks:

📌Attach binding to one panel and hand sew to the back of the quilt.

📌Quilt the second panel and attach binding.

📌If time allows, complete one more block of my Elizabeth Hartmann wall hanging

Here is how I went:

Did finish off one panel, binding and all

It looks lovely with the bigger clam shells on it. I used a 60/40 Wool/Polyester batting and the quilt is nicely lightweight and fluffy.

Also made progress on the second panel...finished attaching the binding and am currently hand sewing it onto the back. Really feel that I need to learn how to sew this on by machine...it is taking forever even though these are small quilts.

Got majorly side tracked again and completed two more blocks of my Elizabeth Hartman wall hanging, which is just a portion of the Fancy Forest pattern, namely Hazel, the hedgehog and Frances, the fire fly.

Here is the hedgehog

Love this block! Lost a bit in the seam allowance at the bottom but will be able to fudge that out with the sashing that will go in between. Having finished this I finally sat down to do the fire fly. Dreaded this block as it looked very involved. While I love Elizabeth Hartman's patterns, I do not enjoy piecing with that many small pieces! So, I pieced my little heart out over the last two days, going incredibly slow and deliberate, measuring, making sure everything was right, but mistakes do creep in very quickly by not getting the orientation right.

This is an absolute bummer when it happens as it means that you have to do the whole unit again...not enjoyable at all! Also interesting to me as a pattern writer: I do not read the text in a pattern at all, just follow the diagrams...so important to have good diagrams in your patterns.

Well, made it to the end and here it is, the fire fly

Not being the greatest piecer in general, this was an absolute nightmare for me (worse than Lana the Lemur which I thought was rather involved), however it turned out sort of ok. I have got a bit of a mis-aligned strip in the middle on the left but there was not much I could do to even that out, as it was more important to focus in on making the block as straight as possible as it is rather large. Overall I am really quite happy with it...given the different fabrics used, the little misalignment is only noticeable when you focus in on it, so I am going to leave it. This wall hanging is just for my sewing room, so it will do...finished is better than perfect! I thought that was it but noticed I still have to do another Fox block which will be a breeze after this.

 

For next Tuesday I have got the following tasks lined up

📌Finish off the hand sewing of the binding on the second panel.

📌Not sure this counts, but I will have to spend some time to put up the first panel as a listing in my Etsy shop...that always takes a moment as you have to be fairly specific in what you write, what photos you use  and how in general you present your item.

📌Continue on my Elizabeth Hartman wall hanging by making the last fox block and putting the sashings in between. Who knows...I might even get it basted. Can't wait to freemotion quilt this one!

Linking up to To Do Tuesday over at Texas Quilt Gal to see what other people are up to. Thanks to Linda for hosting this link up, it definitely helped me to stay on track and get some things done.

Karin

Finishing off some Panels

Found two more panels in my stash which I am currently finishing off. Went through some of my fabric and needless to say, I got way too much fabric stuffed in every corner of the room. Finishing off the two panels I thought that I would get rid of meters of backing and use up some additional fabric for the binding. However as I am also looking at a new pattern I promptly ended up at the fabric store purchasing meters of fabric (colours that I did not have in my stash), so in fact I ended up with the same (if not more) amount of fabric in the cupboard. Can't win...

I am quilting the trusted clamshell design again on the panels. Really like the design for baby quilts and for me it is the most time efficient design to quickly quilt out. This time though I made it a bit bigger for the first panel as the panel has larger characters on it and I thought it would look a bit better if I went up by an inch.

For this I used Amanda Murphy's 5in circle template. Was interested to see how this would work at that size and also how I would go with not having the 'stopper' that is on the Multi Clamshell ruler.

The wadding for this panel is 60/40 wool/polyester and the whole thing felt really puffy and light weight when I basted it. Wondered how that would go with a bigger clamshell.

First few rows went without a hitch. I actually did not miss the stopping notch that the Multi Clamshell ruler has. As this circle is bigger I had to anyway quilt half of it, then change my grip to quilt the other half. Don't think there was one stop where I went over. The fluffiness of this gave me some issues though as the whole thing was extremely movable as I went along. I again used a drawing 5in circle to always mark my mid point of each clam after I finished a row to ensure that my row continued to be straight and in line with the one underneath.

Inaccuracies do creep in as you go along however. For me it usually happens when I need to turn the quilt and quilt the clams the other way. I don't worry much about it though as this is not noticable and you can fudge your way through as I have done in the photo below...a bit of a side step to get back to how it should be. Not ideal, but does the trick and unless you go looking for it, will not feature at all.

Coming to the end of a panel is always interesting as you then can see how accurate (or not) your rows have been. Was pleasantly surprised with this one as the last row of clams was 'spot on'.

Finished this in a couple of hours and looks quite lovely in that size.

The quilt feels light and fluffy...will put the binding on tomorrow and then it's onto the next one. And that's it...no more panels in the cupboard and the next quilt show is months away, so theoretically no  opportunity to purchase any more panels unless I go specifically looking for it. Don't know what it is with me and those cutesy panels.

Linking up to the To Do Tuesday Link Up by Texas Quilt Gal. As this is my first link up I do not have a list from last week...

For next Tuesday I would like to have the following things finished:

📌Attach binding to the above quilt and hand sew to back

📌Quilt the second panel and attach binding

📌If time allows, complete one more block of my Elizabeth Hartmann wall hanging

Karin

Trialing A Cloud Design

Working on my next panel...Have it cut to size and was preparing a backing in order to baste this up but then discovered that my backing had tiny holes right across the middle in regular intervals right across the length of the entire piece. Only bought this yesterday, so it had not been lying around here. Looks like there was a label attached or something and that may have just been ripped off the bolt. Was not impressed.

So had to find another piece, wash it and was left with some time on my hands.

Decided to trial a cloud design with the Handiquilter Multi Clamshell ruler. Thought that this could look quite nice over a baby quilt. For this, I did mark a grid out as there is no way I can orient myself over two rows without having any reference points.

First tried the 3in clamshell. This comes out as 3in x 6in, so rather largish (the fabric is dark brown, however would  not photograph as dark brown as it is pretty overcast today and my sewing room is pretty dark...looks like I took a black and white photo)

...then tried the 2in clamshell

This is most likely the size that I will go with. Works well with the grid marked in and like the clamshell design... on a sitdown longarm or DSM, is a very forgiving design. Inaccuracies do creep in, but with the reference lines, I was able to do some fudging here and there and stay on track. 

Might give that a go on the next panel.

Karin