The 100 Inch Star

Sometimes we come up with a great idea.  Like this one I had...  Oh yes let's double a 50" pattern so we can have a star to cover my mother's entire bed!   When your brain tells you this is a good idea, take a second and think about what a 100" star looks like.  Okay well you don't really have to do that, instead you can try to look at mine.  Taking a picture of this quilt is like trying to have a nice conversation with my in-laws.  You think you've done it, you really do, but nope there's the zinger. 

The 100" Star

I have added a video clip especially for my fellow Fall Festival Quilt Visitors so that you may see this giant beauty. 



I made this quilt for my own mother two Christmas's ago.  It has a prairie point binding and the pattern, before I jiggered with it was called Wintergraphix Star by In the Beginning Fabrics.  It truly is 100" square designed for a Queen sized bed.   Now this not so little wayward quilt has come home to me (all the good ones do) and I have learned it wants to be a KING sized quilt.  I'm inclined to agree if only because this 16 point star could benefit from a bit of a drape down the sides thereby allowing the star line flat, shining on the top of the bed.

Tiny my Five year old Model

I am fully prepared to allow the prairie point binding to remain attached and visible in spite of the new 10" extensions.  How will I do it?  Well I guess you'll just have to check back in over the upcoming weeks to find out.

Thanks for Stopping by!

A Walk through Swirls

Yesterday while digging through my fabric to find an answer to "Anything you need from fabric.com that's under $10?"  I pulled out some of my blue fabrics and stuck them on top of the Denim Patchwork Baby Quilt that I finished quilting Monday.  Two of the blues seemed like they might do the trick so I set them on top of the quilt and walked away.  In the end of course one fabric one and the other fabric got put away for next time.

Here are my results.  I really struggled with how to quilt this.  For whatever reason I was actually afraid!  The backing flannel is as soft as the hair on a baby's head and I truly thought that if I quilted on something so soft and cuddly it would loose something.  Well let me tell you that was wrong!  Thankfully right?

All of your kind comments about my freemotion quilting the other day had me thinking about how I could apply that quilting to the patchwork.  Then it hit me the swirls and before I could blink I was quilting swirls all over it.  The needle was perfect, the thread was lovely, and then entire thing flew into and out of my sewing machine much like a dream (except for more bobbin refills than I can count!).    Unlike some quilts with flannel backing; I made certain to use a batting on this one and it paid off because my swirls really pop giving form and definition to that oh so soft quilt.

The patches are all from dd's baby clothes.  Dresses, rompers, sleepers you name it and the result is so cuddly.  Now I nearly forgot to mention, when I make quilts from baby clothes I love to clip out the little pockets and such and use them in the quilt too.  So in the top middle of the back is a little pink fleece pocket just right for a teething ring or a special treasure.  Go ahead click the picture above, you'll see.  I sew these in using small stitched and sewing over it multiple times.  The result is a pocket that is truly one with the quilt.

The quilt is about 46"x42" give or take a little bit as I don't recall right this minute exactly what I measured it to be yesterday.  So it didn't turn out as one of those bubble puffy quilts and I'm so glad it didn't.  I really think this way created a more cuddly quilt.

Cute little Quilt!

Christmas Hodgepodge Quilt Done

Okay I'll admit it there were times that the Christmas Hodgepodge Quilt and I did not see eye to eye.  In fact a couple of times I was certain that it was destined to turn out ugly.  But then I cut off the access backing and batting and found beauty within.  Or at least I did when it fell to the floor open and I could see it for what it truly is for the first time.  So often when we make things we get wrapped up in all the little details that we stop thinking of finished product.  It's good to finish something to have that reminder.

Christmas Hodgepodge Quilt Back

What do you think?  All done, binding stitched down and everything.  I've even stashed it away as I have no idea who will call this quilt their own.  Perhaps it will grace my couch or fill out my Christmas Gift Giving List?  At this point who knows?  Of course your model today is none other than Tiny's Backside!  Let's give her a nice round of applause that she's sitting!  

Freemotion Quilt-a-Long Update Kitty's Delight

Back of Strip Quilt

We're at the halfway point for the freemotion Quilt-a-long, so I thought I'd share some photos.  First off I have no idea how it happened, but I never photographed the back for you.  So here it is.  The strips go the opposite way of the strips on the front.  So if the back runs top to bottom the front runs left to right.

Front of Strip Quilt

I've picked a name for this quilt so rather than continuing to call this little ditty of a quilt the freemotion Quilt-a-long Quilt I'm going to start calling it Kitty's Delight, don't worry as the indexing wont change. If you click the image of the back of this quilt you will see two cat fabrics.  Those combined with the butterflies and the sweet spring colors remind me of spring breezes which my own Sunny loves so much. 

Spiral Border Quilting

Now for my quilting details.  The first thing I freemotioned was the border spirals you see above.  I think with just a little bit of alteration they will look like waves, which could turn out very handy in future quilts.  I also really like the way this looks it feels a nice to my fingers as it looks to my eyes.  Yes I tried them wide, tight, and I tried them circular, but I like them a bit loose like this.

Broad Orchid Quilting

Next was to make a symmetrical shape to fit within a set space.  After realizing that daisy type flowers work best if you stitch one petal at a time going starting north, then south, east and west and go back and do sw, se, nw, ne, and so on it really helped keeping me consistent with my petal sizes and shapes.  I'm not much of a daisy person so then I started to play with quilting orchids.  I really like these results.  

Skinny Orchid Quilting

Some orchids have skinny petals, and some have nice fat petals.  I'm a fan of the fat petals myself, but have been captivated by skinny petaled flowers as well.  I quilted these orchids by making my northern most sepal (petal) first, then moving on to the east and west petals.   Next I moved to the lip (the petal at the bottom) and sized it roughly to the type of petal I was making.  I moved to the sepals diagonal up and lastly I added two above for a nice balanced look.  Sure not all orchids are like this, but I think when it comes to quilts most people will see them as orchids or lilies regardless of how accurate something is quilted.

Spider Web Quilting

While I was quilting my thoughts turned to my youngest brother and his love for nature in the raw.  So I tried my hand at a spider web.  I think this design is better suited for a nonsymetical area where the achor points would appear more natural and I'd like to try it over a bigger area where I will have more time to freemotion the machine into those gentle dips you see in a spider's web.

Entwined Border

This evening I've been working on the border for the "If you were a quilt what would you look like" Challenge.  I had a really difficult time getting it to turn back on itself at the right moment.  What do you think?

I'm not certain I'll make the deadline on this quilt, but I feel the need to proceed with making it anyway regardless of the time.

Right now the center is done awaiting the border and the rather extensive quilting I have planned.  I'm thinking it will just have a strip back with blue in the middle and the reds on either side.  We shall see.

Adding the Ice



8" Quilted Snowflake

I've been quilting on the Christmas Quilt and I'm happy to say I finished up the snowflakes on the paisley print.  Thank heavens for my friend Vicki who shared her snowflake patterns with me.  I was able to scale them so I have my 4 large and then the 8 small ones. That just leaves the leaves as I'll be adding Holly leaves over the twisted  candy cane border.  Considering the actual shape of a Holly leaf I think it will be an easy thing to quilt.  I'm not certain if I will have one holly leave per each strip of green and red, or if I'll be skipping the red strip.  Any opinions?

4" Side Snowflake Quilted

  Just in case you wanted a reminder I took a picture of the full quilt as it is right now. I think this thing is getting heavier the more I quilt on it. Does any one else have that kind of complaint? I'm telling you I'm certain it wasn't so heavy when I basted it.

Christmas Hodgepodge Quilt in Progress

We're all ready for Halloween here.  Would you believe my daughter said she's wearing the Tinkerbell costume I made for her again this year?  I'm loving that.  Way to go Disney for keeping fairies the in thing to be.   In years gone by we have always painted, added fabric, and otherwise "enhanced" our pumpkin without actually craving it.  But as I still have a slew of pumpkin in the freezer from last year I didn't care what they did with it this year, so DD and DH decided to carve it. My favorite part is his lopsided smile.

Our Jack

DK5 Review

One of the online stores I love to buy from submitted a request for  product reviews, articles, and how to projects.  Well I couldn't help myself and jumped right in.  Here is my review for DK5:

Get back to the Cheaper, Easier Way of Doing things

Did you give up on spray adhesive?  Or perhaps you avoid using it because you don’t want to have to clean up over spray?  I understand exactly.  I first found DK5 at Allstitch.net and I’m so glad I did.  It’s easy to use on many surfaces and I have even have found an excuse to use it away from my sewing room.


Just a little spritz on a clean cloth and another spray on whatever needs cleaning and then wipe them both together.  Rarely will you need to wipe more than once.  Long gone are my days of a sticky workspace.  Do you sometimes set up the roll of stabilizer as a shield to protect your work area so you don’t have to clean that part too?  I know, I’ve done it.  My hoops had so much build up they would leave adhesive on my embroidery machine as they would move, but not anymore.  DK5 is so quick and effective, I am able to easily remove all of the accumulated gunk off my sewing things with only a couple of wipes.  I found myself with nearly full can looking forward to an excuse to use it. 

I spray baste all of my quilts on the floor and use newspaper to keep the spray from getting on the hardwood, but sometimes a bit of spray ends off the edge of the newspaper in spite of my best efforts.  So I just reach for a clean cloth and my DK5 and it’s clean.

Whenever I see a bit of lint accumulating on my sewing machine needles I remove the needle and give it a spray of DK5.  I let it sit on there for about a minute and then I rinse the needle under running water and allow it to dry.  I have prolonged the life of many needles by doing this.

I have also been known to spray my templates with a bit of spray adhesive to prevent shifting.  I have found this is especially helpful on new templates.  When I’ve finished cutting my fabric, the template is covered in fabric lint.  DK5 cleans my templates so beautifully that I can put them away mess free.

DK5 is a great product to have around the house, in fact when air conditioner installers came to my house they used spray adhesive during the installation and got it on the paneling as well as my door.  I was really concerned at first but then I remembered my DK5.  I did a little spot check in a corner and when that was fine I used it on the messy over spray.  The entire mess came right off.  Perhaps they should be taking DK5 to job sites with them.

If you’re concerned about the smell it is completely negligible as there is a slight fragrance at first but it clears quickly; certainly faster and much less intense than the actual spray adhesive.  So why not be done with the mess? Grab your adhesive, tear away stabilizer, and pick up a can of DK5.

Shoe Radar and More Quilting

Last week, Sunday, my sister and I went shopping.  My sister has shoe radar and she goes tearing off to the back of the store.  She comes back with these.  Of course there was plenty of hemming and hawing over them, but I told her firmly they were only $13 (turned out they were $15 after tax - on clearance 10.65 euros for my friends over the big wide blue) and I knew she'd regret them for more years that that little bit is worth.  I think she's worn them at least 3 times since that fateful day.  Aren't they the cutest things?

Today I spent the morning researching snowflake patterns and the afternoon working on the stockings, filler, text, and so on for the Christmas Hodgepodge Quilt.  I'm very nearly done with those parts of the quilting with only two trapezoids left to go.  No sense in taking a picture of what you've already seen so I thought I'd show this one instead.  Hope you all had a great weekend.

Hodgepodge Christmas Quilting

Yesterday, I put my red cotton thread into my little Elna and we started quilting together.  It might sound strange but even with her small 6"+/- throat I like quilting with her and more than that I find that I really love the results.  For me seeing a quilt that I quilted on little Elna is like a glimpse into my own abilities.  Does that sound strange? Quilts I made more than a year ago delight me because I can look at them and say hey I was good.

Quilted Bright

This is the Christmas quilt, you know the one I'd intended for the freemotion Quilt-a-long and it ended up being so much more than just a bit of fabric sewn together? Yes, yes that's the one.  So now I'm just over half done.  Okay so I'm nearly 3/4 but I skipped on the blocks that I plan to quilt big snowflakes in.

Quilted Trust

I quilted my trapezoids with words like "Love, Peace, Hope," etc and then I did loops and stars all around the words.  I know that's the start of a bad habit and always doing what comes easily but in all honesty this will only be the second quilt I've done loops and stars on, and they both were Christmas themes.  Besides I didn't plan my filler before I started quilting and I really wanted to quilt NOW.

Quilted Gift

The little plaid blocks all are receiving one stocking as you can see the stocking spans the entire 7" square and then I have filled in around them with simple loops.

Quilted Stocking

When I'm done with these It will be on to the big red paisley blocks for either big white snowflakes or small ones, what do you think?  Oh and of course the border.  I'm rather excited to get started working on that holly border.  If I hadn't known better  I promise I would have started with that border!

Dusting Girl

This morning my daughter told me she wanted to dust something, so I have to show this photo I took of her dusting.  She looks so grown up, at least to me.  Her school is having a pumpkin decorating contest and even though I tried hard to convince her to use other mediums she stood stoutly by her markers.  That is until I suggested using glitter for the inside of the mouth.  Yes those are my beloved PeeWee Glitters.  I think next time I'm at the store I get some of the "kindergarten kind", so I don't panic quite so much over the sheer volume it's taking.

Pebbles

I myself have been busy.  I mentioned a while back about buying a darning foot for the Elna because it's such a good little machine and the brother is clearly the rebelling teenage sister.  I found a great deal on Ebay for a Big Foot to fit Elna and it arrived a couple of days ago.  I quickly caught up with the quilt-a-long by doing zigzags, these ribbon candy wiggles, and I did pebbles because I've done loops before, as you can see I struggled the most with those.

Ribbon Candy Loops

ZigZags

Then I still wanted to quilt and as the machine was loaded and ready to go, (the spirls hadn't posted yet) I went on to sew over the lines the the butterfly.  I'm having a bit of trouble with getting the tension just right as I've never freemotioned on the little Elna before, and I feel like my stitches are way small but these by far were my best tracings in the history of my attempting to trace.  I just love how it lifts the butterflies.  Connecting them I have use alternating loops as though the butterflies are flying to each other.  I'm not certain how much the quilting should be filled in.  What do you think?

Butterfly freemotion trace

My Christmas kittens are all done!

I finished up my little Christmas Kitties last night, you know the ones with the crazy button eyes?  I only added one loop at the corner for hanging to allow them to keep their bit of whimsy.  They make me smile every time I look at them.  The pieces are cut and machine sewn.  They they are flipped and ironed.  I hand stitched the faces.  I hand stitched down the white sock patches.  At my DH's suggestion I ran a thickness of four cotton threads through the needle, then I made the big obvious stitches both in green and the a line of gold which is more subtle at the bottom of the top white ruff. When I had the kittens attached to their stockings I felt the desire to machine sew the stockings down to the background fabric, but I resisted and hand stitched those down too.  So if you don't see the stitches they simply aren't there to see.  I love these two little cats, but I have to admit I crumbled up the template pieces I used and threw them away.  I can't imagine willing myself to do so much handwork, it's lucky my tendonitis didn't flare up.

I've of course been working on my knitting, not to much as I don't want my DH to ask me what I'm doing but I did start another little dish cloth.  I've used this type of yarn before but never on a straight edged project so it's interesting to see it progress.  I did spend a minute dreaming of those knitting machines, but then my mind drifted to other things as often happens with knitting.

Dish Cloth Progress 3 of 4

Sunny has taken to sleeping here in the living room since we had those two or three pretty days when the windows could be open.  I think he's dreaming with his eye open about the thrill of the wind in his face.

Sunny in the window

Cats in Socks

My latest quilt mail has a pattern for felt applique card holders.  Now firstly I can't work with wool because I'm allergic and it makes me break out until I resemble someone you would not want to brush up against accidently in a grocery store.  Secondly, I don't want to put a huge amount of time into making teeny weeny card holders.

The yellow one above reminds
me of a cartoon character 

Oh the other hand I will sit for hours and rework a pattern to make it bigger and use materials that I have on hand.  Even if I have no idea what I will do with my results.

This one is my favorite

So yesterday I planned, traced, and cut.  Then today I machine sewed, trimmed, flipped, ironed, and hand stitched. I know that last part is a real shocker.  These are the two little cats I have to show for it.  I actually like the slightly alarmed look they have on their faced caused by the buttons.  It looks exactly how a cat would look at you if you tried to stuff it into a stocking, you know the moment right before they bolt and claw down your arm and entire side as they run away.  Haha, and to think I'm a cat lover.

Horrified together

I think these will be little wall hangings, one will go to my mother, because her cat is grey with yellow eyes and I'm not certain where the green eyed darling will go.

Christmas Quilt-a-long Evening Wrap up Session 3

Let's see after lunch I kitted one of these.  My DH told me many months ago that he prefers the dishcloths I knit to the ones we buy, something about more scrubbing power, so he's getting a pile of them for Christmas these are #1 and #2 (the first one I made a month ago) and I rolled the yard to make two more.

I also made 8 items all the same that you use around the house, but I'm not posting those yet.  Yes I do feel a bit odd that I spent the afternoon of a quilt along knitting, but it was nice to sit on the couch a while and watch some of the sewing shows that had built up.

LOL!  I just noticed that the yarn ball I worked so hard to make look like a ball actually looks rather egg shaped.  Oh well.

Christmas Quilt-a-long Lunch Checkin Session 3

Hooray!  Yippie!  Three Hip Hip Hooray's for Sue our leader!  I'm so glad I finished up this wall hanging!  Of course DD helped me (the cats vanished when the work started) so now she's chomping at the bit about who is it for.  Well I'll go ahead and tell you.  Her bus driver.  I sort of wondered if the teachers get all the little presents, so this takes care of that.  Besides she is a much nicer bus driver than I ever remember having!  Oh the stories I could tell would curl your hair!

Not sure what I'll be making after lunch as at this point I can't think past the sandwich I want to eat!  Happy Sewing!

Christmas-Quilt-A-Long Morning Session 3

Good Morning, I had a heck of a time getting up this morning.  My bed was so cozy not even the thrill of my sewing machine wanted to pull me out, but I've found my cup of coffee granted it's not the one I wanted to photograph for you this morning as the one I wanted was dirty in the dishwasher, but it would have taken to long to wash it. 

I have my two cat helpers all lined up to help paw everything as well.  

Happy Sewing!

Poor Little Tree for Session 3

Tomorrow is the Christmas Quilt-a-long.  I'm ready.  I'm armed with freezer pizza - thank heavens they don't take like cardboard (unlike a decade ago!)   I am armed with knitting and I have my Christmas Wall hanging.

Remember me?

I laid out the wall hanging earlier and I noticed the Christmas tree has a distinctive pull to the top left of the tree.  Now tell me aren't natural Christmas trees always a little less than perfect?  That's what I'm telling myself.  I'm going to add gold seed beads to the background to make it sparkle, but I'm not certain why anyone would want a sad little leaning tree wall hanging as a present.  So what could I do with it instead?  Maybe a tote?  I'm not certain I'll have to go through my fabrics and see.

I also have some nebulous ideas for ornaments if I have the time.

Nothing Left but to Quilt the Quilt

Patisserie Quilt Back Side View

To hopefully make up for the small pictures in today's post I added this nice big one of the piano key border. Oh yes and that pink thing in the upper corner is DD's PJ shirt, she only missed the basket by about a foot or so and here that counts as good enough.

Here is the piano key border I threw together this afternoon.  I went with 3.5" strips and then when I demoed them together I found I liked the white and pink fabric a bit thinner to keep the colors balanced.  I pieced these strips as 10" long by 3.5" except for the pink and white which I cut up the center of the strip; after I'd sewed together all my repeats I carefully laid it out and cut it in half.

Adding it on was no big deal, but 93"+ is really long so I pinned everything first.  I must admit I'm in a little bit of a shock that the quilt is to this point already.

Top of Patisserie Waltz

Back side of Patisserie

On the left you will see the front of the Patisserie Tennessee Waltz Quilt and on the right is the back.  I'm not thrilled I had to make the pictures small for you to see them side by side this way, but as always you can click on any of my images to see them in more detail.  Do these two sides look very different to you?  I look at the right one and then the left one and my brain hesitates for a moment as though it's odd two different quilts could be created from the same fabrics, but it's true of course.  That's what makes quilts so unique and special to those that make and those that are lucky enough to receive them.

So what's left?  Well I talked my daughter into letting this be a light weight quilt as it reminds me of Spring (I tried to tell DH that DD wanted it to be a light weight quilt but he caught my slight fib - so I figured you would too).  That sadly means no Warm and White because one layer of that here in Florida and it's a winter quilt, but it does mean I'm open to suggestions.  What battings other than polyester and needled cotton have you tried and what did you think of them?  Nearly two years ago I made a nice big bed quilt using Dream Angel Batting but spray basting it on was rather like being a fly caught on fly paper and each spot where you stuck the batting clung to the shape of you instead of nice and flat.  It did have a nice drape and didn't seem to heavy though.  I'd like it to be nice a breathable, but with enough loft to really feel all the time and love I'm putting into it.