Pretty in Pink

At the last MPQG meeting I also rescued two quilt tops.  Both are dresden plate pattern and pretty in pink.  The first I put on the longarm and topstitched it in feathered scrolls.  One of my favorite free hand patterns that is pretty, has lots of movement and, well, easy to get into the groove to do.

The quilt top needed a bit of thread clipping, and a bit of push pull to smooth and even it all out.  Maybe I should have removed the borders and cut them down to size a bit but I have worked with harder quilt tops.  It was a good test for the new longarm.

Detail

Using a very light pink thread kept with the overall feel of the quilt without making the pink overbearing.

Front and back.

The binding fabric also came from the give away table and worked perfect for quilt making this a wonderful and pretty in pink charity quilt.  I haven't decided which charity to donate Seriously Pinned charity quilts to.  So right now the quilt is for sale at $100 with half going into the charity cash bucket.  The other half to help pay for the batting and thread used in the quilt.  This Pretty in Pink quilt is 53" x 70".  Perfect for a single bed.




The other smaller quilt I started last week was bound and double thickness added to make this wonderful small throw rug.  Now gracing the front door of the sunroom.

Best thing is that you can just throw it into the laundry when it gets a little dirty.

I'll close with the kitties helping me bind the Pretty in Pink quilt.  They are always so much help.lol.

My two little helpers.

Snow, Snow, Snow!

The light was beautiful.

After a few years of not having winter (well a real winter) I have been enjoying the snow.  It makes for a busy day as on Saturday I must have shoveled the walkway off a dozen times.  Not sure why as anyone on the roads were crazy and I did not expect to see anyone in the shop for the day.  It took Tyler and I 2 hours to shovel out the car and the driveway.  Good exercise.  Made me smile and reminded me of living in the BC mountains.  But our 1.5 feet of snow is nothing compared to what they had in Newfoundland.  I think we got off pretty easy.  Then the sun came out and sitting in the sun room was brilliant.

Again it was another play week with lots of little things getting done.

The funnest was a small quilt made from a pile of blocks I found at the MPQG, on the give-away table.  I knew that they were a someones first attempt at a drunkards path and needed to be squared and would never quite fit together, but were fun to play with and create different patterns.  It will make a great little cat bed or throw rug. 

waste not want not

very fun

That and finishing up a few test pieces I have been working on made for a fun week of snow, recycling, and keeping warm (definitely need different cold weather clothes than what is in my wardrobe).

Re-designed

I was playing with the Leaf table runner pattern and made this wonderful table topper.  Just have to quilt and bind it.

A cute little candle mat

 Out of the left over bits and pieces of fabric from the leaf table runner and topper came this cute little candle mat (or mug mat).  A perfect size for those small spaces.  It was fun to applique each of the leaves with a different thread to see the variations possible.  Gold, purple, yellow and black threads.  Which one do you like best??

Close-up of thread colors used

Creating Lessons

For the next few weeks my goal to to create a few new quilting courses.  But to do that I have to design and figure out all the requirements of the item I would like to teach.  Since moving from across the country ment donating almost all my reference books and fabric, creating new classes has become a test of my mental recall.

One of the quilts I made years ago was a swirl table topper (or hanger) that had blocks arranged in a circle and spiral outward. So I sat down with pencil and paper and here we go.

Not sure I should have gone with the paper method of applique. Even with a whole lot of pinning I had problems keeping my squares, square.

Figuring out the size of the squares as I went along ment a bit of trial and error.  They had to just touch at the tips and stay aligned along the first circle.

As you can tell I got a few of the first squares a little skewed.  The next row went a little better and was much easier to calculate the size.

Still having problems with making the paper applique squares, square.

Thank goodness that as I am adding new blocks, the first seem to straighten themselves out.  Although I know this is an illusion, I'm hoping that as I go they are less noticeable.

This is how far I've made it in 2 days of figuring out and sewing.  It is a very cool design and once done hopefully will create a more defined illusion of the blocks spiraling outward. 

Pretty sure I am going to have to try this again only next time will go back to my favorite fusible web applique which, for me, is a lot more accurate. 

I think that taking more time to hand applique (not one of my favorite things to do) would have made the squares easier.

So the trials and tribulations of creating new instructional classes will continue for the next unforeseeable future.

Lots of little things

Very fun and busy week.  I've been getting back into the groove of having the shop open on regular hours and gearing my day to quilting.  This past week saw a new addition to the family in this wonderful little guy.

I call him Pokey.

The longarm needed a stable pincushion that would hold onto the longarm bars.  Pokey is working out great as his legs just hangout over them.

Just hanging out.

Now I don't have to worry about looking for the pins all the time.  He gives me someone to talk to as well. lol

Then I decided to check out what scraps I had hanging around. After discovering left over quarter circles from the OH HO quilt I have been working on ( Just have to find the right border fabric) came up with this new quilt.                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

 

Bright and colorful.

 Tyler calls this one the Buoy Signs.  He figures it is a warning to all ships in the area.  Made me laugh.  Once again on hold until I can find the right fabric for the borders.  It is going to make a great kids quilt when it is finished.

Look mom, almost perfect corners.

Then of course since it was scrapy week and what can I make next. Out came the scrap bucket again and this cute little table topper and 4 matching pot holder/trivets were made.

Perfect for the sun room lunch table.

I love using up scraps.

So all in all it was a productive week.  I've put my scrap busting techniques and ideas to work and had fun all at the same time.  A perfect mid week review watching the snowfall in our wonderful Canadian winter.  All is good.

Practice Pieces .. And a big Happy New Year!

Nothing goes to waste here.  Even the longarm practice pieces are used and made into something useful in a timely manor.  The first test piece from  Nikee (that is her new name) was made of two old sheets and a really cheap fleece blanket (Ikea $4.99) as the batting.  Lots of room to practice on and big enough to make .......

My new work apron

I must admit that I had forgotten the exact measurements for my work apron and made the waist band a little high above the pockets and will have to cut about 2" off the top (to bad as I really like the pattern).  Other than that, it turned out perfect.  A place to hold all my longarm tools including my phone.

A place for everything

and everything in it's place.

It is so nice not having to search for things that I use regularly.

The other big hit that was made from the practice piece was a new and bigger quilting bag.  One big enough to hold a king size quilt or a stack of smaller ones.

Side two

Side one

 



















Once again nothing went to
waste and by using an over-lock stitch a binding was not needed.  The handle is just long enough to ride on your hip but not long enough to drag the bottom of the bag on the floor if you are carting it by hand.  And since I am really big on pockets I salvaged enough of the quilted fabric to add 6 pockets to the inside.

6 pockets

All and all, a pretty good reclamation project if I don't say myself.  In the end there were only a few small ragged edge strips left to add to the fabric waste bucket.  Which most likely will get used for stuffing or something.