Pretty Embroideries

I finished off my label for the Row Robin, I'm posting it here again with the row so that you can see how they match, there is a line for each group member to sign, embroider, or cross stitch their name. Someone else has finished their row as well, so we're rolling onward. With 2 down.
My embroidery unit has been quite busy in a bust of free time I began working on embroidering a couple of large butterflies that I'm planning on using in the Sampler quilt that I will be making in 2009. Yes I know I haven't trimmed all the threads on the upper two. I tried to make each on different from the others. Can you see my Black eyed Susan's? The blue fabric much like the green from the label I showed you above came from my Secret Santa, Elle in Spain. It's amazing how a bit of new fabric can inspire us.

Best Hopes and Wishes for your Entire Holiday Season

I hope everyone had a Very Merry Christmas, I know we did. It was packed full of love, laughter, mostly peace, and happiness. Now I'm not going to have a list of whats-wes-gots because my Christmas was wonderful for such deeper reasons. I am thankful to every power-that-be that I found some great deals long ago and stocked the closet. It really was Christmas to pull some beautiful much appreciated toys out of that closet. I kept it pretty low key and small scale for the " just in case" of tomorrow.
Now I would like to review my daughter's Calico Critter Toy Store, this is an amazing toy! It was worth whatever 70% off price that I paid for it and then more. It was better and more wonderful than I ever would have guessed. We just couldn't swing the doll house this time around (not enough money, or even supplies for dh to build it). This toy is great. She has already had hours of fun playing with all the little toys the toy shoppe came with. It's a beautiful thing. I would highly recommend it as an add on to your doll house or as a complete starter stand alone. My daughter said it best as "we're going shopping again!"

I promised so post Christmas photos so here they are. Daddy showing off the sweat rag I embroidered for him. He was quite surprised and gave me the look of, you weren't supposed to make anything! Haha, wait till he sees his birthday present on Sunday. This is my sister Ashley with her blue Butterfly Bouquet Quilt. Hopefully she wasn't just pretending to like it. My mom was the recipient of the Red Wintergraphix Star Quilt, boy oh boy am I happy to see that one go.
Life wouldn't be complete without a toddler enjoying a classic now would it? Here we have The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle thanks to our Book Club this one will be appreciated for years to come.

Row Robin

My first Row for my Row Robin is done. For medical reasons I'm way ahead. I wont be mailing my row to the next person till I know hers is done as well.

My center point is a double star that I embroidered, with two blocks by the name of Crossed Roads one on each side. This is quite symbolic because my theme is "Christmas Hope" and I am so sick of crossed roads, and picking paths and walking down this road. At the intersection of each road is a snowflake, I let the bobbin tension off unpurpose so it shows through the top stitching at different intervals, showing that no two snowflakes are exactly the same. Of course finishing everything off are the two hearts from the pattern I made up when I first started quilting. To pull the Christmas - Winter theme in the red hearts sit on beds of blue with white falling snowflakes.


More than once I wondered if I even liked how this was turning out, but the embroideries added just the right touch to bring it all together.

Currently the large quilt group is closed with 6 members. The two mini quilt groups are still open with five members each. Honestly I'd really like to close them a bit early as five in the mini groups will work out so well for some of the quilt sizes, but I haven't pulled the plug yet. My planned close date is set for Dec. 24. We'll see if I let it run. :)

Sometimes Ups...

Today has been a day of ups and downs, much like that song in Disney's Robin Hood. "Sometimes ups, out number the downs but not in Nottingham", I'm not certain which weighs heavier here yet.

The first up is that I shopped fabric today. My most favorite thing in the world it seems, which lead me on an inspired path including but not limited to giving myself a refresher course on batting. My friend Heather must be rolling her eyes by now, but that comes with being a quilter, sometimes people understand you, but not always.

Next up my mom came over and we measured my scarf for Soldier's Angels, I'm up to 28"! I might just have enough yarn after all.

Lastly that Double Star I made has been driving me crazy, something with the colors, ect. just wasn't quite right. So it dawned on me (no dish soap involved thank you) that I should turn it on point. So here it is and I can honestly say I'm much happier with it. I'm planning to embroider "Hope" in the middle of the white center, and my Row Robin theme will be Christmas Hope. I was going to do something fancy with the triangles but the Batik worked out just fine.

On the sad side, my nearly 9 year old cat Kitty got herself into an awful bit of trouble with the Christmas tree, and injured herself quite badly. We are under strict orders to keep her quiet and to keep a close watch on her. Any spare happy thoughts we could use. Kitty's birthday is this Jan. 1st (well as close as we know to celebrate it) and her 8 year anniversary of living with us is the 3rd of Jan. I certainly never would have guessed that when I mentioned her the other day that I would be beside myself right now as to if she'll even make it to celebrate with us. So any happy thoughts you have time to give us we'd appreciate it.

Tribulations

My one of neighbor from the North have returned this afternoon. It's always nice when the subdivision starts filling back up. It works out to be great timing as well, because we just raked up all the leaves and moved all the brush off his driveway, so he can feel nice and welcome. It's not our job, he has a lawn service guy who takes care of it, but let's just say the lawn service isn't very through.
I've been working on the first row for my row robin. So far I have one block done. It's a double star with two batiks, a white on white fabric, and a blue that looks like the ocean. Hopefully that will provide a nice blend of fabrics for the other ladies in my group to tie into. I haven't settled on a theme, but currently I'm liking favorites of the holidays. So each person can add fabrics, blocks, or embroidery of their favorite things. Currently my plan is to add two applique blocks on either side each containing a Christmas Cactus. Oddly my own little plant hasn't started to bloom yet. Not one trace of a bud. It's been cold enough so I'm not certain what it's trouble is.
My friend Gail sent this to my daughter. I helped Jessica to open it and she hauled it all over the house until she decided around about her nap time that she needed a bath. She just loves buttons, so this is wonderful for her.

Last but not least my Sunny Boy tried to run away today. Jessica was playing a bit rough with him when he was out on his leash today and he wiggled right out of his collar. Eventually Rob found him up under the house. Only after he was found did I allow myself to fully feel the terror I had over thinking him lost. Silly cat putting me through that.

The Blue Quilt Is done!

My oh my oh my! The blue quilt is completely done. This is a dual sided quilt with no real top or bottom, just which ever side you want up when you put it on the bed. The blue side is a lattice with nice big squares turned on point to form a lattice. The heart fabric an all proceeds go to charity print and I used it to bind the entire quilt as well. The Second side is partially pieced, partially embroidered, and a bit of hand turned applique in the center. Those in fact are hexagons for the insanity that I found myself a couple of months ago. Each one has been detail hand quilted so the blue roses have that extra pop. I wove the basket from tubes of fabric. I think sometimes I like to do things the hard way.

If you look closely at both tops you can see the radiating diamond I quilted upon them uniting them together. I really struggled with how to quilt this so the diamond was truly inspired.

Last night Jessica decided it was cold in the living room and she needed her quilt to sit under while she watched the Dora Special that was on last night. She huffed and puffed until she dragged that quilt up the steps and to the couch. I saw it coming and bit my lip for a moment, oh all my work! And then it occurred to me, I've always wanted her to love it. That is what children so with things they love. So I took photos of her playing peak-a-boo with it.

The things my 3 year old says

DH takes DD's nose. She yells "don't eat it don't eat it, there's boggers in there!"

DH say's "well then I'll just have to blow the boggers out and then eat it."

"I need my nose back," she says.

"Why do you need it back?" DH asks

"So I can put it back on my nose!" DD retorts.

At this point I can't help but ask, "how do you put your nose back on your nose?"

Jessica's Check up

As much as I wanted to I can't seem to bring myself to label this post with what my daughter said at the doctor's office yesterday. You might worry about me.

So dd went to the doctor's yesterday, we needed her shot records and they wouldn't give them to me. Which was crazy because they were up to date. I thought there was a law about that? Ahh well, so we went. First off to the scale, It's a tiny little thing only about 2 feet high, with a silly simile on the stainless steel. The step plate is "bubbly" as though to be silly on your feet. Well my daughter takes one look at that and stops dead in her tracks.

"Noooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm not DYING! I'm not DYING!" She screams, "Did she just say..." says one of the CNAs standing there. Her daddy and I glance up from trying to get her on the scale. "Yes, she did" we say together. We did manage to get her on the scale with her shoes off. Silly again since then were those foam clogs that weigh about an ounce, and most likely added more insult to the injury. 30 pounds that's my big girl. It was so bad at this point the nurse takes us off to the room and measures Jessica on the exam table like a baby.

After that it was smooth sailing, she's been talking about it ever since. Any why not, in spite what they'd told me she didn't need any shots!

Today I have the blue quilt in the sewing machine! Oh it thrills me to have it there. I'm quilting a exponentially growing diamond over it, and I'm going to quilt back in some of the blue borders. I'd say in one day I got it about 80% quilted. Not bad for a full size quilt. Of course I will have photos when I'm done.

My knitting is only 24"! That's half way, but it means I need more yarn. Hopefully a way to get it will appear, so I can send it before Christmas like I wanted.

My handmade Angel doll made it's way north and has been received. Apparently I didn't dress her well enough and the new owner thinks she needs a quilt. I thought angels could regulate that stuff without clothing, but what do I know?

My sister has assigned me another pair of pants to embroider, so when my arms became tired today I looked at designs. I have plenty of ideas of what not to do. Hopefully what to do will come to me soon.

DH and I have been playing an old GameCube game. We once beat it, but since it has been collecting dust on the shelves. We pulled it out I guess two years or more ago, but Rob played it without me, so for me to play I had to use his character and that's no fun. So this time around we have rules. No playing without the other, unless you're bringing your character up to the level of your spouse, and no playing unless Jessica is in bed. Regardless of animated blood and violence the music is a bit on the creepy side. It's a nice change of pace. But it had me going to bed a bit later than normal, maybe that explains the sleepiness I'm feeling?

Tomorrow is our Secret Santa Christmas Party on the Quilting Board. I'm certain that will be loads of fun. Did I mention that my Santa lives in Spain? Her work is simply amazing. A pox on the $20, a part of me hopes she invested just a tiny bit of time into making me something. Oh where is the big happy eye smiling face when I need it! LOL. I also invested time over money, more than a little time, as I hand stitched... Okay no more hints until tomorrow. Our party starts at 4:00PM so pictures of the gift I sent and the gift I received with post after that. DH has been keeping my package put up and away somewhere. I don't know where, hopefully he will give it back so I can open it tomorrow.

Bake, Quilt, and Love

Today I made binding. A real treat I know, yes, yes it says I bought it, but that's because I bought it one time and the card that held the binding was the best thing, so I just add whatever binding I need to save to bits form before. I asked DH to perhaps make me some so I could have yardage of it, someday, perhaps. The good news is that with just a bit of gentle prodding I was able to convince DH to help me baste up the blue quilt (the last one with a deadline before xmas). I'm not certain how I will be quilting it, since it's two sided and one side is on the vertical and the other is on the bias. Fun, fun, fun. Perhaps tack quilting with my sewing machine.

One of the ladies on the quilting board wanted so heart embroidery, so I will be doing that for her shortly. I took a photo of all of my embroidery threads, only for her to decide perhaps she will buy the color she'd like. Ahh well this way all of you get to see my threads.

Today was baking day. I started this afternoon with sweet bread dough (not sweetbreads, that's something completely different) and then I made a nut past to spread inside them, then rolling them up like a Jelly Roll. These are a super yummy Christmas treat in my family. We call them Kulich (call-lotch), which is strange because we've always passed it down in my family and none of us are Russian which is where my ancient cookbook claims it came from. Hey we don't make it the tradition way with the coffee cans ect. so maybe that's the difference. It was my intention to make 7 loaves this holiday. I doubled my recipe forgetting that it only makes two loaves, and then there was a thing, and another thing... So now I have four. Just four. I don't know how many I'll be sharing with the rest of the family, after all Jessica will be helping me eat it this year. It's only been in the oven for a few minutes, but already it smells like Christmas cheer.

Tomorrow Jessica goes to the doctor's office for a check up. She doesn't remember having gone in the past so this should be different...

Surprise!

Yesterday I made a veil for my daughter. Of course she's only three but she thinks anything that wears a veil must be a princess. I had extra material, because someone once told me you use crinoline on top of a towel when you embroider it. So I bought the first kind I found in the bargain bin. Of course it was the "sparkle kind" so that's not the "proper kind". Oh well. I was going to give it to Jessica for Christmas, but she's been pretty bummed that the birthday crown they gave me at 1900 Park Fare broke. It's completely "dress up" play style but it turned out okay. She tells me it's to big, in spite that I measured her head first so I put a tiny knot in the elastic.

My kitting is coming along just fine, with my "twists" yarn as long as the green. I wrap the entire thing around my needles every night before bed after I'm done working on them, but I promise my progress isn't worth photographing.

I also made a towel from a bargain bin purchase a while back. I made it from the terry cloth, would you have guess if you hem it, terry will stretch? It gives it sort of a rippled edge. Nice enough to give as a Christmas Gift. No photos till after Christmas.
I got a just because pressie! Yep, I swapped charmed squares with Linda a while back, and you know how much I just love cutting fabric. LOL! Well she sent me a nice present today, complete with a rice pack (sans the rice) inside. It was such a nice surprise. It's been a tough couple of weeks so it was nice to receive a little surprise.

BIG RED IS FINSIHED!

The Red Quilt is all done! Finished, complete hooray! I'm feeling quiet a bit worn from the final push to get it done, so it's nice to know I can move on to the blue quilt now. You're not seeing things the back is natural muslin.
Rob took all these photos so I didn't have to wasn't that nice? It's a shame he already knows he's going to have to help me baste up the next one. Basting even spray basting is not his favorite job.

So these are prairie points, the ones I'd been talking about for so long. Making the points is easy but time consuming. Then you sew the points to the quilt, and then because I didn't look up the directions on how to bind with them until after the quilt was 80% quilted, I then affixed a small strip of doubled over binding on top of the points. I was low on the fabric and tried to make it work but another inch in thickness would have really helped. You can see the red there in the first photo the solid row. I personally was hoping it would "border" the back and it did, so I'm happy. :) These are individually made, alternating, slightly nested, binding finished Prairie Points, with my own personal twist on the corners and the binding. I got my tips from Quilter's Cache

My friend Mary said "just when I thought it couldn't be any more beautiful" Isn't that nice? It warms my heart. :) Here's hoping it will be well appreciated by the recipient.

Roll in with the Holiday Cheer

I've been up to my knitting when my hands are free. I'm need to pay attention to what I'm doing, but all the same I'm up over 18". That's only 30" from my goal for my scarf that I'm planning to send overseas.

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving weekend, even if your Thanksgiving wasn't perfect perhaps you got the perfect gift or you put up all your Christmas things? Well I had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It was the Thanksgiving that almost wasn't but my sister came in and saved the day. We had a great time laughing and joking all afternoon. Sometime around 6 we settled down to eat all different kinds of food. Some that was Amazing all the way down to okay. Let me just tell you my husband's mashed potatoes and gravy was even better the second day and that's saying something since it was great to begin with.

I do not do Black Friday. What are you going to do with you see a scooter going at full throttle? You're just going to walk on your own way to get there. I tell you what I think they have governors on those things so they can't go fast. I can't imagine what it would be like. Instead Rob and I watched the "Mork and Mindy" Marathon that was on all day. Me on and off, Rob all day. You can see so much into the future parts of Robin Williams in that show it's just amazing really.

My daughter loves Eggnog, who would have guessed, right? Well not me. I think the price of it is up this year, but based on how she's been drinking it, I might need to make sure to have some in the house all this Holiday season. I even have baking plans this year.

We put the tree up yesterday (Saturday) and I have high hopes that Rob will get all the outside lights done today. We shall see I suppose. He's told me such pretty ideas I'm really looking forward to it. The photo above is without the flash. Funny how it all changed when the flash is on.

Currently on the back of my mind is the apple quilt I'd like to make for my husband, I already have the pattern picked out. As well as the child's quilt I'd like to make for Charity in 2009. So far I haven't decided which charity I will make it for. My sister asked if I might be just donating it through one of the local hospitals. I tried to look up doing something like that, but I couldn't find anything. I couldn't even find anything for giving a quilt straight to St. Jude's, if you can believe that. Oh well all that is slated for 2009, except maybe the apple quilt. I feel like I'm falling behind in what I'm working on because December is getting here so quickly. Tomorrow in fact. Take care all!

How to make a Doll Quilt from Memory Fabrics Part 5

There are many different things you can use to bind a quilt. You can buy binding. For a little quilt like this if you want that's just fine. Just skip to my directions on how to sew it on. You can also buy ribbon binding. This is packaged and sold right next to the packages of bias tape which can also be used. If you select the satin ribbon binding you can apply it folded and sewn as I will show you below or you can slide it over the unfinished edge and use a bit of your decorative stitching (learned in Part 4) to sew both sides down at once and you're all done. That stuff is pretty but runs about $4-$5 a package. You can easily get two doll blankets out of it, but I don't know how much more.

You can even buy wide ribbon in the ribbon section look for 2" or wider if you're a beginner. Iron the ribbon in half long ways and sew it on as written below.

You can also make you're own. Be it scrappy or not it sews together the same. Take a 2 1/2" strip of fabric as long as it is (hopefully at least 2 feet, more is better). Select a color that can handle a little bit of dirt if this blanket will be going to a child. If you pick white then be prepared for the results. I have chosen a green patterned flannel. Unlike black it will not show lint or fuzz, and with the patterning in there it is doubtful that you will see the dirt either. Well you might but no one else will.

Place them like this.
See how this is? I have drawn a diagonal line. Check to make sure your sewing machine has been reset from Part 4 to now sew the locking stitch or straight stitch again. Sew on that line.
Now here I have trimmed the excess off. That will prevent excessive bulk in your binding that sewing machines have a hard time sewing over. Continue on in this way until you have enough binding that when laid loosely around your mini quilt you have enough to go all the way around. If in doubt sew another piece.
Now iron your seam flat and open as sewn. Now this time you do need the iron because you are going to iron the binding in half long ways.
Now that the strip has been ironed in half line it up with the corner of the quilt. Allow at least one inch to hang off. The raw edges of your binding (formerly known as your strip) should be lined up with the raw edge of the quilt. You can pin the binding to the quilt for this first side. Do not pin more than the side that you are sewing on. Sew the first bit with a nice straight stitch.
When you reach the end, stop. Make sure your needle is down into the fabric. Carefully raise the presser foot and turn the quilt. Don't hesitate to click this photo big now, it's a good photo it can handle it. See how I have taken that extra there? It's a triangle of fabric the needle hasn't moved but I've slipped that access to behind the needle to make that little point. It will make a nice perky corner on your quilt. If it's not exactly right that's okay too, when you fold the binding to the back it will smooth away any little bit of trouble you might have had. Now that you have made the pivot you can pin again and sew the next edge.

Continue on placing that triangle pucker in each corner the best you can. Remember needle down presser foot up. And don't forget to put the presser foot back down after the pivot.
Once you have made it all the way back down you will come to the intersection that looks a bit like this. You will need to take the part of the binding you sewed first. Take it and pull it out so that the finished edge points outward towards the outside of the quilt.

Don't worry you've got this! Sew nearly to the end making sure to stop about a 1/4" from the edge of the quilt. You can feel it down there. Don't worry if you sew off the edge just put the needle back a bit. Sink the needle into the fabric. Pivot the entire quilt 45 degrees. Just as you see above how the sewing machine foot angles across the intersecting bindings.

Just like before when we made the binding cut 1/4" away from the seam you sewed right along but away. Creating a nice little seam allowance. Remove the quilt from the sewing machine. Now gently pull the binding towards the back. It nearly begs to move over there. The corners should flip right side in like they were made to do it, and trust me that's just how you made them.

Now you have two choices. You can stick with me and our non rules. Or you can now take your little Doll Quilt and hand stitch the binding on the back. Oh ick. Sounds dull and boring and we were having so much fun together! This is traditional but unless your hand sewing is at least good if not really good your binding will not hold as well as if you had machine sewn it.

Okay then. Place the quilt in the sewing machine upside down so that the back is up. Using a couple of pins pin the binding to the back of the quilt.

Remember that decorative stitch that looks so great all over your quilt? Yes tell the sewing machine to sew that one again. Line up and GO! Remove the pins as you need to. When you near the corner you can either ease around it, or you can stop make the needle go down and pivot 90 degrees. No matter either way you'd like. I like to round into mine, but it does take a little more effort. It you crash off the edge of the binding don't worry about it, just correct it and sew some more. All the way around. Beautiful.
You did it. You made a doll quilt just like you wanted to, and you even learned how to work with Memory fabrics while you were at it. Congratulations.

How to make a Doll Quilt from Memory Fabrics Part 4

For this Tutorial I'm going to be showing you a variation of something called stitch in the ditch. Take a look at your sewing machine. What kind of stitches does it do? That straight stitch and/or locking stitch you've been using but what else does it offer? Always be willing to take in a gander at your stitch choices. Some machines have more and some have less. Can you see the zigzag stitch? That's one that zigzags back and forth. What other stitches do you have that do that? Do any of them appeal to you? If not continue with your straight stitch right in the ditch of the seams on your quilt top. Start with a center seam and work out from there, if you forget and start on the edge that's okay, don't worry.

If you saw anything else that is called a decorative stitch. Sometimes it will zig a bit and then hop and then zag and repeat, it doesn't really matter which one you pick. Select the stitch and line up the sewing machine. Line the needle up with the center of your quilted square line. Now Go! Zoom! WEEEeeeeeeeee!!!!!!! Stitch all the way across and then do it again. It's fun isn't it! And it's so much faster than keeping the needle right in the ditch. You can make all kinds of fun things this way. Or use pretty silver threads neon ones, whatever you like. Zipp, zeeee! You're doing it you're quilting! Beautiful! And even if it's not exactly perfect... Here's the best part! No one will ever know! They will assume you did it exactly as you meant to.

Here's my quilted little blanket. Can you tell where the sewing machine tried to sew uneven? Or does it just look like I planned it all? The little wisps you see if you click on the photo are the threads from quilting that need trimmed. Don't forget to cut yours.
When you are done and satisfied with your quilting cut the extra batting and backing away.

How to make a Doll Quilt from Memory Fabrics Part 3

Selecting a batting. For small projects batting is inexpensive and you can easily select any that you would like. Polyester comes in many different "lofts" this refers to how puffy your finished project will be. Low loft is a little push, and high loft is much more full. You can also buy cotton batting, or alternatives such as Bamboo Batting. The cotton batting is called needled cotton this is like you took a felting machine and moved it all over the surface of the batting. It is nice to work with providing warmth with low loft. The more you need the heavier it is. The Red Star Quilt was made with this and to say it's heavy is a bit of an understatement. Three yards of Warm and White, plus the weight of batting and backing. Oh yes. My daughter told me in the summer months her Warm and White quilt is to "hot" whereas she expresses no such complaints over her light weight med. to low loft polyester quilt.

I have heard that Bamboo is like Warm and White (also called Warm and Natural, it just depends on the color) only it is not so heavy. I'd like to try it some day.

Other options for batting are to use flannel. One piece of flannel will do the job and be lightweight, just be sure to watch the cost flannel as it can be quite costly.

In my case I have a pretty flannel that I bought at "scrap prices" meaning someone else bought it and brought it back. Normally these cuts are under a yard you just have to sort through the bargain bins a bit. It is pretty hearts on one side and white on the other. Because we are making a doll blanket I'm going to not use batting at all and instead simply baste my flannel to my quilt and then quilt it.

There are three ways you select from your your quilt back. You can choose Traditional Amish, this is a natural muslin backing, plain of patterns. You can choose to select a printed pattern on your fabric. This will hide any slight perfections you might have in your quilting and will have a second appealing side to view. Lastly is a two sided quilt, that means you create a second quilt to go on the back. Be mindful with these, depending on how you quilt it the quilting lines might not line up.

Now that you have selected your backing you can begin to baste. If you're using a batting you will want to spread it out. I like to Spray baste but there are other methods.

If you are going to spray baste select a spray adhesive and spray the top of the batting (the side that is up, batting doesn't have a top vs. a bottom both sides are the same). Now roll your little quilt top into a tube. Line the tube up to one inch from the top of the batting and gently unroll it, pressing as you go. Smoothing it out along the batting.
It is now ready to quilt.
If you don't have any spray adhesive and don't want to buy any you can always pin baste. See here with the pins as I have worked my pins out from the center? Gently remove the pins as you come to them when quilting, old school says you can sew over them, but you risk breaking a needle or worse yet pieces in your eye. So use caution.
You can also hand baste with a needle and thread, sew nice big stitches outwards from the center. Or use really big stitches on your sewing machine being careful not to let the backing slide away from the quilt top.

No matter what you picked your quilt is now basted and ready to quilt.

How to Make a Doll Quilt from Memory Fabrics Part 2

This is the Second Part of our tutorial, how to make the quilt top. How are you doing? Hopefully following along right as rain, but don't hesitate to throw up a comment if you need a little extra explanation. Thread Selection! Thread always seems to stop creators in their tracks. What kind do you need? Any kind that doesn't make loads of lint or break when you sew will do. Some quilters love cotton others swear by polyester. Here you will find a very interesting collection of data on thread on the microscopic level. But if that's a bit much for you. Just look in your thread collection. Most everyone has one, while you create this little project if the bobbin area fills with lint from the thread you might want to think about getting a different kind. Or if it breaks and makes you crazy try something different.

Now color. Here I have a couple of spools from my thread box. The big guy is a cone of off white/muslin colored thread. It's polyester so it's strong and it's cheap, but not all sewing machines like cones. It's also a bit light for the fabrics here. But I'd use it in a pinch. To light is better than to dark.

Next you see the Polyneon Madeira makes this and it is amazingly wonderful. You can get it for about $2.45 a spool (over 1000 yards!)from Allstitch.com personally it's my favorite for embroidery and plan to replace all my embroidery threads with this when they run out. It's the perfect shade of purple for this project. But it would be better if it was cotton for quilting. My favorite quilting thread is Aurifil but it's not avail. locally, and it's a bit pricey at $8.50 for a 1300 yard spool. So I'll be using the polyneon. It's strong like poly without the lint.

The last there is Sulky Rayon. Avail in all Joann's in almost any color. It's great for embroidery (but my machine needs a bit of adjustment to really go to town with this thread), but it's not strong. I can pull it with my fingers and cause it to snap. That's the trouble with Rayon, it's not a good choice for a quilt. Not to mention this is a dark royal purple. Great for the quilting perhaps, but if any of your stitches pull a little bit that purple will scream "look at me this work isn't perfect" And it's so annoying when the thread starts yelling like that.

You can also see the bobbin thread I selected is grey. This is a fine choice, you can use grey for darker colors like this or you can match the upper thread. If you match the upper thread you might find yourself needing to buy more bobbins. My grey is Rayon which isn't my first choice but it was already wound and this will use it up.

I have been buying Madeira Bobbinfil which is Polyester for the bottom and this is amazing for embroidery. Loads go a long way. It comes in black and white so for other colors you sort of have to "make do", but it's intended for embroider. I have also heard and read raves about the Bottom line bobbin thread. Bobbin thread is thinner, and not the best choice for quilting. Before I make a quilt I select my thread color and order a nice big spool of Aurifil, then I can load the bobbin thread with that use it through out the quilt even to the quilting. It seems no matter what I've done nor the size of the quilt a spool of Aurifil gets the job done. But remember you're checking your thread to see what you have. The spool of white that came with your sewing machine will work just fine if that's what you have.

Now as a rule I ALWAYS work left to right top to bottom when I sew. It might not seem to matter now, but if you get any bigger it will help you keep your place. Let to right and top to bottom. It doesn't matter what rule you follow, just pick and order and stick with it. Right yourself a sticky note it will help. I have taken those first to and put them in the sewing machine.
See how I have lined the two fabrics together and placed them in the sewing machine? Now... A word to the wise. There are no quilt police living in your house. If this is your first project, just line the fabric up with your sewing machine foot. Do that each time and all your seams will be the same. Every time. I promise. And that my dears is the most important thing. The same each time.

If you've done a project before see if you can see which setting creates a 1/4" seam. Does your manual tell you? If I set my ULT to 6.5mm wide on a straight stitch it will sew a 1/4" seam. If you don't know. Turn the fly wheel - that's the thing on the side of the sewing machine. Turn it until the needle is down. Now take a ruler or a tape measure and measure from the edge of your sewing machines foot (that's the part that sits on the fabric. Adjust the needle until you measure 1/4" Now the points on your other projects should all be perfect. Don't worry if it doesn't turn out perfect the first time, sometimes a tiny adjustment will move the threads over a tiny bit and then all will be wonder.

But for the purpose of this little quilt you don't have to do any of that. Select a straight stitch. As a beginner I found it handy to use a locking stitch. If your machine makes this stitch it will look like three dashed or straight lines of stitches. That means the sewing machine sews one stitch and then sews back half way and then forward again. This takes more thread but the machine sews a bit slower which can be helpful and you can handle your fabric more without worrying about the stitches coming out. To this day I love a locking stitch for bias square triangles or block swaps because they stay put so much better. Through all the wear and tear on them.

If you can't find that stitch with the three lines. Just select the straight stitch. This one is one solid or dashed line and when you sew a test bit of fabric it sews a nice straight line, so skipping about left or right.

Now when the first piece is sewn open it up to see your first row. Isn't it pretty? And easy too. The normal quilters "rule" is to iron the fabric so the fabric seam goes towards the darker side.

What are rules except things meant to be broken? In the case of memory fabrics some of them don't like to listen, especially the ones with heavier weights of interfacing. It's okay if the seam goes the other way. It will all work out. Now you can iron. Personally I have so many things going on around me when I sew, my three year old and my husband and my kitties, that the hot iron makes me worry about them. So if I can I like to finger press.

Finger Press? What's that? That's when you take newly sewn fabric turn it upside down. Look a see what the fabric wants to do, or which is the dark side, whatever. Now run your fingernail over that seam. That will cause it to lay flat. Nice wham, bam, thank you mam pressing of the seams. This will help your sewing machine move more easily over the seams as your top grows and will help the quilt to lay flat. You honestly don't have to use either method. You can just go with the flow, but your seams might not always line up perfectly. If that's okay with you then it's okay with the rest of us.

Now that you've sewn the first one move on to the next one, turning the pretty sides in together and sewing. When you work in a pattern such as left to right top to bottom, you can begin to string your work together. This is called a Daisy Chain. This chain will hold all the "first square sewn to the second square" all the way around the quilt. Above you can see where I turned the sewing machine to the side and you can see my sewn pieces collecting in a chain off the back of the sewing machine. They don't get in the way here and they stay in order. When all are sewn cut them apart going back to the first one you sewed and placing it in the upper left.

It should look something like this. Once you have this part you're ready to move on a bit.
Still going from left to right take to peices again. Since they are sewn this will be four squares! You're doing great the finish line is nearing!
I'd like to draw your attention now to a little error I made. This happens when you don't use interfacing to stabilize your fabrics. I have two options at this point rip it out, to try for it to be better the second time or the second is to just go with it. I've decided to let it be. This is a bottom edge that I can trim up later, so it doesn't worry me. Also I know it was caused by the strech of the dark fabric remember I cautioned you about this? Well there it is.
Now here I have lined up the next section of sewing. This is the entire upper corner of the baby doll blanket. Four squares this time! It's not any harder at all. Just be sure to look at the seam in the center. Try your best to make sure that is lined up so the two pieces will make a nice transion from one set of squares to another.
This is the back side of your four square. Check your seams and finger press as needed.

Look here all four are sewn and laid back out. Don't forget to go back to the first group on the Daisy chain.

Now again about left to right top to bottom. You might want to grab those two on the left and sew them together right as rain and then sewing the second two on the right. No, no... This is how the eye reads. That means that if anything is wrong with that center line that runs from the top of your square to the bottom the eye will see it. Strangers who don't know you will see it. But if you sew the one on the top left to the one on the top right, the eye doesn't see the lines the same, and voila beautious!

Congratulations, you've just sewn your first quilt top! I'm so proud of you! First and foremost be proud of yourself. These techniques can be applied to a quilt of anysize or even a wallhanging.

Next time we'll talk about batting and how to baste your quilt. Happy Sewing!