Moving Ahead

      Not one thing particularily has sidelined me, just a lot of little things. I am not going to try a bunch of catch up posts. I have been keeping a list of photos to share, so I am just going for it even if it is not in order. Besides computer issues, nasty winter weather and physical pain stuff, I, at times, feel overwhelmed and just try to keep taking steps. I have finished quilts and been able to keep the comfort quilt pipeline going to recipients. I read all the great quilting blogs I follow. So that's good.
    A finish. The batik flannel quilt is all done and ready for a recipient. I just love, love the batik flannel and would buy boatloads if I could find it. A blog reader sent these squares to me and I tried to make the best use of them with little waste. I had to buy some solid blue flannel for the border which I got a Joanns. It is a miserable fabric- it grabs every smidge of lint and dust and was a pain to longarm. The detail picture shows it all too well. The quilt did take the quilt stitching well.

Non flannel back

Detail

Regular batik binding

Batik Diamonds, big and done!

      A while ago, I bought some batiks on Etsy that were very reasonable. I think they were Boundless. I bought a layer cake and some jelly rolls. The jelly rolls made an Upstairs, Downstairs and I sewed the layer cake to kind of grunge white 10" squares. I made HSTs by sewing around al 4 sides, and then cutting diagonally twice. The trimming is the long part, but I used the Clearly Perfect slotted trimmer ruler and I had to cut only 2 sides. I showed the layout before. I was able to web it during the fall quilt retreat and used a wide backing as it is quite long and wide. Glad I stocked up on some a while ago.
     This was the first quilt on the longarm since November when I did one of the kid quilts for my friend before Chasen Dreams finished all other 6. I use chalk to draw my designs on the fabric and pencil doodle on newsprint before I start. I used Blizzard Glide on the top and PremoSoft prewound blue on the bottom. I find I like a finer bobbin thread, so I have been mostly using DecoBob or Glide 60 and it makes me the happiest quilting. The grandkids helped me pick out the green batik for the binding and I am happy to say it just needs a recipient and they can be quite tall.

On wall before webbing

Back

Detail

Making lemonade

     Long ago, I bought a kit from Craftsy that had batik strips. The two sets of colors did not coordinate well to make the quilt pattern. I made the blocks and they sat until I could redirect them. After some time, I divided them and made two quilts. The gray and orange batik is finally quilted. It is 49 x 68. I used Glide Cleopatra on the top and Glide 60 gray in the bobbin. I used a print for the binding that surprisingly worked. Like the way it turned out. Ready to go out when I get a referral.

Batik Rail all quilted up!

     Despite having some long arm issues, like having the hopping foot get loose and bust the needle guide and waiting for new ones in the mail, I was able to finish up the Batik Rail Fence inspired from the book, Cultural Fusion by Sujata Shah. I quilted each big block section differently- one pattern for the dark fabric and a different for the light. This helps me to try different things and practice more. I used Mocha Glide on the top and blue Omni in the bobbin.
     I really like the quilt. I have 7 blocks left, so I need to make some more to get another one done. All the batiks I have now are too dull for this and my local quilt shop closed in December. It is so hard to see if the colors on shops online are bright enough. It used 6" WOF strips. First, the quilting detail photos.

Whole quilt minus the not yet done binding-what color, hmm, or scrappy?

Just the Binding, then it is Hot Flash!

    I have been quilting like crazy to get ready for the guild show Oct. 4th and 5th and next week I am going to the Central New York Treadle Conference, so I have been in high gear. All Hot Flash, pattern from Strip Therapy book, must be the first as there is no number on it, needs is the binding which I am making right now. I made it from a jelly roll, but I did not like all the colors, I added a few, but I should have taken out the white one. Each row has a different Leah Day kind of leaf, all Leah Day patterns from her blog. Thank you, Leah! I just love batiks, but hand dyes are getting to me now, especially multicolor ones. The binding is going to be a yellow orange. Sewn on the Singer 301s, Isacord thread for quilting.

Sans binding

Border pattern

Leaf patterns per block

Heart Bargello- it's a wrap!

     After 4 years ago buying the fabric and book, the Heart Bargello, all batik, is done. All bound, sleeve on for the quilt show. This is the first quilt for my own bed. Now, I think I would have picked another design, definitely curves, circles. Still love the colors. Pieced and quilted on a trio of Singer 301s. I have the Heart Bargello book, but will never make another. If any of you have a burning desire to make one, let me know, you can have the book for shipping if you really are going to make one. If it wasn't for the encouragement of my guild, the Kenmore Quilters Patch, I would not have finished so it is fitting that it will be in our show Oct. 4th and 5th- Only have a show every 3 years. I used the Sharon Schamber washable glue binding method, but I sewed the binding to the front, folded to the back, glued, sewed in the ditch from the front with invisible YLI thread on the front, Bottom Line on the back. No hand sewing. Sorry, I just can't make myself do it for binding. I can hear the quilt police whistles already. The designs are from Leah Day's except I kind of made up the last border.

Queen size all done

Edge of border

Inside borders

Pushing ahead, one stitch at a time

   My quilt guild is having its show Oct. 4th and 5th (once every three years) and I have a couple of quilts to finish quilting (Isacord Thread) for it. Quilting bigger quilts is hard on my neck and shoulders, so I take it in small chunks of time. I try to do other quilting things in between to keep fresh. I would love to sit and quilt these until they are done, but I would need some serious traction and medication in order to move.
  One quilt I'll show here is the Heart Bargello that is almost quilted. I am working on the outer border. I mostly use designs from Leah Day's patterns. I bought her book, page through it to find something I like, look up the video on her blog, and then quilt away. The border is something I made up. So here is the progress of the quilt. The other quilt I am working on is Hot Flash from one of the Strip Therapy books; I have to get it off the machine to photograph it. I have one Singer 301 with the Heart Bargello on it, another with Hot Flash, and another to do my piecing. I just move around like musical chairs.

All but the borders quilted

Closeup of some Hearts quilting

Closeup

Closeup

 

 

Big leaf sewn

Although I have never sewn using freezer paper templates, I pushed through and sewed the whole Big leaf from the Pat Pauly workshop. The finished size will be 24 x 24, but it is a lot larger now until I crop it. I cropped it for the photo. I am ambivalent about it. I think quilting it will make me like it more. Have to find a backing.

Big Leaf sewn and cropped by camera

A fine mess

  Over the weekend, I went to the Genesee Valley Quilt Show (gvqc.org) in Rochester, NY. One day I went with some of my guild friends to look at about 600 quilts and vendors, and another day to take a class with Pat Pauly (patpauly.com) called the Big Leaf. It was a draining day to make all kinds of color decisions and lay out the design. We used freezer paper templates. I had to take it all apart to go home and when I got home, I immediately put it on my design wall so I would not get real lost. This picture is the mess of the design before sewing together. When I get some sewed, I will post it again.

Batik pieces over freezer paper sections

Tulip Fabric Collage

I have been doing a variety of artwork, so I have not been timely in posting. Using a photo from my own garden, I sewed this 12" x 12" Tulip Garden with Batik scraps, a lot of them donated, on heavy weight interfacing with watersoluable interfacing over it, stitched with Superior's MonoPoly. I then added a backing of batting and quilted it again with Superior Metallic thread. I had lots of issues with the MonoPoly breaking so I have to tweak that. I had only excellent results with the metallic thread. Now I have to figure out how to mount this- in a frame, on a canvas or what. That is always the hard part for me.

12 x 12 Tulip Garden

Fabric sandwiches

  I love landscapes. I love batik and batik scraps, so here is a way I combined them. They are done on heavyweight interfacing as a backing, then the scraps are layered on, then overlaid with watersoluble interfacing, free motion quilted (sometimes with invisible thread on top), and then dipped in water to dissolve the interfacing. The first is one that I showed previously, but a better picture. The second is my newest and I will put it in a 12" square shadowbox. I want to make more! I keep collecting lots of value scraps.

I used invisible thread here. I am thinking of not trimming the edges.