To Do Tuesday #22

Forgot to make a list last week! Never mind...I do know what I had in mind of finishing.

Very productive week for me...really knuckled down and got a lot of things done that have been on my 'mental' list.

But first of all, let me show you my little knitting adventure. Bought a beanie the week before and thought I could really knit that myself. Although a bit rusty in my knitting, I did find a number of patterns on the internet that seemed do-able and so I proceeded to knit up this little hat. Bit of a rocky start as I had forgotten quite a few things and reading the English patterns was a struggle (I knitted way back when I was still living in Germany and all the knitting terminology was obviously in German). After a bit of research and looking at a lot of pictures I got going...funny how quickly things come back to you. My only problem was that I needed to re-calculate my casting on stitches as I did not have the corresponding wool to the patterns I found. The hat took me about 2 days to knit. Loved it as I had some fun variegated yarn.

Here it is

Not perfect, but very cute. The next one I do I will need to cast on my stitches a bit firmer though, this one got a bit loose, however if you fold that over it fits perfectly. The decrease towards the top was an adventure as I did not have the right needles and had to improvise. Knitting this was a real pleasure and send me right back to those times when I was a very serious knitter. Will knit another one and then may attempt some socks, however will have to watch some YouTube videos before attempting that. I think I got the bug!

After this it was back to my quilting tasks.

Currently sewing on the binding on the table runner which is destined for a workshop in September. 

Had a lovely little surprise when Auribuzz featured part of my table runner in their Showcase Sunday post.

Nearly missed it as I did not read this post this time which actually was unusual as I normally read them. However I was alerted to it via Instagram where Aurifil had tagged me. That was really nice. The photo they took from IG was really clear and close up, so it looks really nice. Was a bit chuffed.

Also finished my charity quilts. Yah! Definintely was dragging my feet with this, but got the last one done in about a day.

A very brown quilt in country style fabrics. Initially I was going to do some ruler work in there, however decided against it as I needed to get these quilts out of the house. Had this lot for about three months by now and the charity quilters group only meets certain times, so I needed to get this done by the end of the month. So I meandered over this in a brown thread (which you actually can't even see in this photo). Felt that this suited this quilt as the brown pinwheels are very striking and I think ruler work in the cream parts would have been too much. Anyway, it's done.

Also basted my panel (and another little quilt which will showcase a new pattern).

For this panel I will probably do an edge-to-edge design over it using my trusted Golden Threads paper. Find that very relaxing and so rewarding. Just need to make a decision on what design to use.

A bit off topic, but last not least, I made another bread...this time following a definite recipe!

This is a Marbled Rye bread. Very yummy! If you are interested in bread making, I can highly recommend the following Craftsy class: "Artisan Bread Making"  with Peter Reinhart. This is just one of the breads that he is teaching. I have had this class for a while now and have made the beginner's bread a number of times and now moved on to the Rye bread. Still heaps more to explore. Peter is an excellent teacher and the recipes seem to work out great every time.

Now, my list for next week:

- start on an edge-to-edge design for the baby quilt panel; this will take some time as I need to trace the design a number of times on to the Golden Threads paper. Also I am a bit undecided about which design to use...feel like something new and have been exploring designs over at Urban Elementz (always dangerous as I end up spending money!)

- if time allows, start quilting in the ditch around my other small baby quilt and maybe even working on the draft for the pattern. We shall see.

- start knitting another beanie...got the right needles now for the decrease of the top of the hat, so that should come together quickly.

- finish sewing on the binding on the table runner.

Linking up to To Do Tuesday #22 over at Quilt Schmilt

Karin

Win Some, Lose Some

Well, I had an interesting two weeks. I have been working steadily away on my 'formal' table runner. It took ages to do the grid on there and I decided to take out the markings closer to the end as I found the blue lines were starting to be very distracting in terms of deciding whether to fill more or leave it.

It looked great so far. So I took the markings out by rinsing it in cold water as I always do. This time though I noticed that I had some brownish lines left, particularly on the center lines 😒. What happened?

This has never happened to me before in all the years of quilting using the blue water erasable markers. Tried to get this out with a bit of stain remover soap...bad mistake, as it also whitened the fabric a touch.

Can you believe it? I tried to think whether I did anything differently this time, but can't really come up with anything. I washed my fabric before quilting as I always do, I used the same old markers...too weird. The only thing I could come up with was that I usually go through my draws and get a handful of markers out and then see which one has the most colour left rather than take a brand-new marker out of a packet. I remember I did mark the center lines in parts with one of the older markers which also happened to be a different brand. As it turned out too weak I then used my normal, newer marker to finish off the lines. Could it be that these markers have a shelf life and somehow chemically change after a while? I certainly have heard people talking about having brown lines left but this was usually in the context of having left the marker on the fabric for some time. This certainly was not the case for my project. The marking and quilting happened in the last two weeks.

Well, so it is spoilt...I was going to sell it but this is obviously not going to happen now. On the positive side, it freed me up to start the next table runner as I am not going to fill in any other areas on this one now. Bit of a pity but what can you do. Just glad that I did not start my larger wholecloth and have this happen...that would have been terrible and I would have been beside myself. Definitely will buy all new markers when I am ready to quilt that one! 

My new table runner should be interesting...less formal with a lot of fun elements which does not require any tracing.

Something similar to this...again, designed in Affinity Designer 2 this should be a bit more versatile than my 'formal' table runner was and should be a lot more fun to do. Thinking of quilting this out on a grey fabric with a light-green thread. 

Never boring over here!

Karin

Fearless Quilting

After all that practicing of the woodgrain design it was time for me to go on my actual project.

First though I basted my table runner. I did this in a loose grid following the seam lines where I could in order to keep it straight. I thought that this might help me to keep my design straight.

This time I used red thread for the basting so I could actually see the stitch line well enough not to get confused with my stitching. 

Thread choice! I was going to quilt this with a grey-ish thread, however during my trials did not really like this over my leaves that much. Also, the grey was much lighter than the background so every little imperfection was going to be a feature. Tried all sorts of different thread ideas...from different colours down to Invisafil and finally ended up with monofilament thread. This was not the original idea but I thought  that I did not really wanted the quilting to take over the project, rather the quilting was to go into the background and just give me the texture. The star of the quilt was supposed to be the falling leaves.

So, I made a start with Monofilament thread. I chose Superior Monopoly thread for this rather than the Aurifil Monofilament thread. Maybe I imagined it but I thought that the Monopoly thread just looked that little bit more matte than the Aurifil thread. So, I made a start...

You know that stupid feeling when you are starting something not that familiar...this fear of totally stuffing it up and for a moment then you are hesitant to start. Well, I still get that after all those years...however, I did make a start and it started to look quite decent. 

Mind you, came across another issue...skipped stitches! Not a lot, but one or two per row...enough to be annoying. Changed my needle to a Microtex Sharp 80/12 needle and also reduced my stitch length and that fixed the issue, except for one or two seams which seemed particularly bulky where the thread just did not grab. Noticed that when I went slower and more deliberate I could largely avoid this. For Bernina Q20 users:

Stitch length: 12 in BSR1

Tension: 1.25

Bobbin Thread: Aurifil 50/2

So, I kept going and going, the design going pretty much out of shape as soon as I started. You can see above that I did my first wavy line with a wave ruler to get off to a good start. I did echo this once and then started on the knots, then echoed again and slowly but surely got a bit out of shape. Must say that I did not mind my lines a bit flatlining here and there...with a bit of concentration and looking (and thinking) ahead this fixed itself up after a few rows.

Almost done...you can see that I lost a bit of straightness going towards the edge of the quilt and also managed to put some bigger, ugly spaces in...was not really too worried about it as you cannot really see the stitching...was actually glad that I chose the monofilament after all...I think it would have looked totally overwhelming in a slightly different grey colour. Like this you only notice lots of texture which is what I wanted for this quilt.

And here is the finish

Very organic looking...happy with the result. If I was to do this again, I think I might choose a different background, the contrast is quite strong on this piece. If I had a rusty brown for example, I could have matched the thread to that colour and it would have still looked ok over the leaves...or maybe even a somewhat faded green background. 

Well, this was good fun and I might do another one of these with a different background. But for now, I'll do the binding and then get going on writing up the pattern. 

Karin

Let's Do Some Ruler Work #7

Just when I thought that I had to wait several months for the new machine, she arrived...the Handiquilter Capri machine!

Now, this was very exciting and I have not done a lot, other than playing and more playing. Had several rulers that were new to the collection and also a new foot for the machine that I had not yet tried. The machine has got stitch regulation, something I have never really tried before and yes, it is very different. Initially, this was completely weird and very unfamiliar, however after the first day, I did get a bit of a sense on how this works. Yesterday then, I continued on the table runner...had several squares to complete and fill, doing them sometimes with and sometimes without stitch regulation. Basically, gave the machine a bit of a workout to see what she can do.

Now sometimes that worked really well and other times it got a bit sloppy, however was really happy to be doing the ribbon candy again on this machine. Somehow I am more used to be doing it on the bigger machine.

Then came the border...by now it was evening...was ready to give the stitch regulator a 'real' try using a very basic design (used Cindy Needham's Border stencils for this to pre-mark the border), just lines up and down, forming a nice diamond pattern.

This was very easy to do, using a small straight ruler, and the stitch regulator worked extremely well. I hardly had any build up in the points (which I usually get) and the stitches were consistent right to the point.

Was extremely impressed with this, even more so, as I had been lazy again and used a light thread in the bobbin...hardly any pokies! Echoed once more around this design to finish it off...I think this is it for this orphan piece, maybe one day I could fill the area around the diamonds, but not now...I have got several quilt tops that need doing.

What have you been working on?

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Karin

WIP Wednesday: Progress

Made some progress this week. Here is my table runner

Will post more detailed FMQ shots about this one on Friday. While nice, it lacks a bit of planning, i.e. I should have thought more about the quilting of the actual blocks. Border is beautiful but I was left wondering what to do with the blocks (which ultimately produced some unevenness in the quilting...hmm, maybe I should have used a filler design over the blocks...

And here is me hard at work on my baby quilt. Have decided on a loopy - loop design . In order to keep me focussed I had to have my drawing of the design next to me the whole time just to refer to the scale of the design and also to check every now and then in which direction I was going.  Loops are easy to stitch, however I don't find it that easy to fill up an area with any level of consistency. I am aiming for a scale of about an inch over a 3 - 4in area, so have to have a fair bit of speed to make those more sweeping kinds of movements. Very easy to then get lost in it all and end up too close or between some loops. So far, so good...half way through

Linking up to  WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced. (guest hosted by Claire from Sewing Over Pins)

Karin

FMQ - Beautiful Feathers

As you can see I am hopping from one project to the next...well there is some method to this madness.

Firstly, I am not keen on leaving those basting pins in for too long on my white table runner. 

They leave pretty big holes as it is and are well used...I have had marks from them in the past when I have taken my time with the quilting. Next quilt show I will look for those Pinmoors!

Secondly, I am in need of practice before I let myself loose on an all-over design for my baby quilt.
So I decided to continue on my table runner with a feather border. As usual, this took me ages to work out...I used a commercial stencil, however did not have a corner element, so I had to draw one in. No particular reason as to why I used a commercial stencil other than that I had one handy and it had the wavy-ness that I wanted. It would have taken me ages to get a consistent wavy line across the length of the runner (I need to get one of those flexible curvy rulers). Must say I do not enjoy marking a quilt and definitely do not enjoy making a stencil fit a particular space. Bit of a challenge to get that consistent. In the end it was ..."close enough is good enough".

I think I prefer doing feathers freehand, maybe just having a wavy line to follow as I believe you develop a bit of a style of your own with feathers. Having done a freehand feather border not so long ago, it felt strange following these pre-drawn feathers. Mind you all good practice.

Here is a bit of a look...I am approximately half way through...I am using Aurifil 50/2 thread (love this thread), backtracking over the top of every alternate feather. I am taking my time and apart from a few glitches here and there it is going really well.

Absolutely love the look of this. I really enjoy doing feathers...actually going a bit through a feather phase at the moment. Very pleased with my efforts, I think it sets the blocks off really nicely. This is exactly how I had visualized this project...ha, ha, that does not happen that often!
Should have this finished by next week.

Linking up to Leah Day's Freemotion Quilting Friday.

Karin

WIP Wednesday

Have been busy...

WIP #3: Baby Quilt top finished and basted read to be quilted. Thinking of a loopy kind of FMQ design

WIP Table runner

 

Finished the stitching-in-the ditch. Forgot how tricky this can be. I am using white thread rather than Monofilament, so I need to be a bit more exact. While necessary at times, I actually do not like Monofilament thread that much and try to avoid it wherever I can

The blocks are beautiful (looks rather wrinkled here because it was folded up) and this should turn out nice. Still planning on a feather border and found a nice motif to put in the sashing. Looking forward to this.

This white top on the cream batting is a bugger to photograph...looks much better in real life

 

 

Apart from this I still have to baste (and continue on) my Colour Adventure quilt and continue on my FMQ piece....I cannot believe how many projects I started this year! 

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Karin

WIP#3- Slow But Steady Progress

Making slow but steady progress ...

Bought some backing for my FMQ practice quilt as I did not have a large enough piece (dark enough) for this quilt. I could have pieced something together but just did not feel like it (did some gardening instead).

Quilt top

One of these days I shall write a post about prewashing of fabric. After some disasters with colour runs I now prewash all my fabric all the time. The colour of this backing fabric ran and ran and ran...it took quite some time to get a clear rinse. Obviously not the best of quality.
So next step is to do the basting which I will tackle on the weekend.

Made some progress on my table runner though.

Enjoyed this immensely...mind you, I am a bit out of practice with the 'Claws' block and had a hard time getting the points right which will be very important when I sew the first border around (as I have done the block a number of times I only know too well that the points can easily disappear in the border).  Also paid some attention to the blue fabric for once, i.e. cut the seams of the blue fabric (where it is pressed towards the white fabric) slightly shorter than a quarter of an inch so it is covered by the white seams and will not shine through. Very pleased with myself as I usually forget this step only noticing it when it is much too late to do anything about it. I really like this block and the colour arrangement. The fabric has a Japanese theme and a more elaborate but matching floral arrangement will be repeated in the second border.

Well that's it from me today. Can't wait to start the FMQ Wednesdays with Leah Day again.

If you have not done so already, make sure sure you have a look at Amy's Creative Side. She is hosting and organising the Blogger's Quilt Festival Spring 2012. The participation in this event is truly amazing and there are some wonderful quilts on show. If the truth be known this is where I have spent most of my time in the last few evenings...blog-hopping around looking at all the entries and trying to decide what quilts to nominate in the different categories. This is not going to be easy.

Until next time

Karin

WIP#2

Finished my practice quilt top that I will use for Leah Day's Quilt Along Wednesdays. Actually quite like the simplicity of this. Not sure about the inner pieced border though, a bit on the busy side...mind you, used up most of those Fat Quarters so I am quite pleased with myself.  Now I only have to find some backing (out of my stash, of course) and then do some stitching-in-the ditch along the sashing and I am done...

Bought some Polyester batting as I quite liked the way that quilted when I tried this on the little wholecloth quilt. Have not decided on thread yet...

Looking forward to filling this up with all sorts of FMQ designs. Once the squares are filled up, I still can play around in the sashing and borders. The outer border is 4 inches, this should be enough for a simple continuous border design...this should be fun.


Apart from this I have been working on my 'Arrangement of Small Pieces' project, however I am already looking around for other things to do (I get easily bored) and will probably continue on a table runner that I started a while back. This will be the second time that I am doing this table runner (gave it away as a present to a friend)...really liked the intensity of the colours, enjoyed doing it and love working with templates. Also lends itself for some microstippling and motifs in the background.

This is (close to) what it will look like...

Until next time

Karin