Category Archives: machine quilting

The Results Are In

Never got around to snow dyeing on Wednesday. I came to my senses and realized I just had a little bit of time to see what would happen with those little plexiglass cut-outs. And the reason I hauled out the dye to begin with was that I needed some more navy blue for a background I am working on. But- there wasn’t much pfd fabric left in my stash. I tried a 50 percent cotton/ linen blend from Kaufman that I had.

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The piece on the left is a fat quarter of velvet. So pretty. The others aren’t quite dark enough for what I needed.

These are the pieces that I used c-clamps on with the plexiglass cut-outs. I only had a few c-clamps. Not enough to make a big batch but something I will definitely do this summer when I can make more of a mess. Then, I had tried wrapping a piece of plastic pipe. Of course, without reading about how to do this.

Nice result on the one end. I just didn’t have the pipe placed in the right kind of container nor did I even come close to the true technique. Another technique to put on my list for summer.

I added a little sunshine to the day in the form of one of my quilt tops from vacation and machine stitched away. Bright colors definitely help on a snowy day!

Vermont Sunshine and Wildflowers
14×16

I heavily quilted this one just to work on fine machine quilting. I now truly appreciate those machine quilters that do lots of fine line work-this is truly an art. It reminded me to schedule an eye doctor appointment.

I love the fine lines! Now what else to do with them?

Happy Sewing, my friends!

A Little Stitching

   I have been doing just a little handstitching on a small quilt. Not much as we had eight soccer games this weekend. That was just insane. I was sitting there thinking of an even more insane person who scheduled these games-certainly not a mother.
   They have all returned to school and after three snow days last week, it is quiet. Peacefully quiet. Even the dogs are tired and just laying here at my feet.
   I want to share with you a link to a great resource for machine quilting. It is an e-book written by Frieda Anderson and Robbi Joy Eklow and it’s FREE! You’ll find it at www.quiltingarts.com under free stuff. I printed it out as it is an easy and concise guide to different ideas I would like to try.

Update on Project Joy: #7 is actually under the machine. I might actually finish all eight! Happy Sewing, my friends.

Machine Quilting 101

I read last night that it takes about 500 hours to become proficient in machine quilting. Since I only have at the most 250 hours in , I guess I have no choice but to continue. I have decided today, I will minimize what I rip out and just keep going. None of these would be for a show and I need to kind of go with what the quilt is and that is improvisational. I also took one of their suggestions and tipped my machine back a bit by putting a small book under it. I think that helped to open up my line of vision. I picked this beautiful batik of Vermont wildflowers for the back. It was made for a shop hop so I don’t think you will find any left.

I will not fight with the process today! I did finish another UFO. It was really fun. It has lots of fun stuff in it: recycled raw edge silk, hand-dyed silk ribbon, hand-dyed linen(the deep blue background), hand-dyed cottons, metallic thread, and it’s fused. I can’t use it for a challenge because it is three inches too big on one side. Have to think of something else….