Here we are, already on the third week of the Free Motion Mavericks link up, with a very poor show at this end. No new projects for me to show you, for a number of reasons... The vegetable plot is suffering from three months of neglect, my frozen shoulder is vastly improved so I have been out doing lots of weeding and getting gloriously grubby. It is far too hot for any serious fast treadling, so FMQ can wait because every spare minute I have for sewing is being dedicated to turning outnice summer tops. My wardrobe is in need of an overhaul and I am in danger of turning into a ragbag. The computer isn't back from computer hospital yet, so even if I had new photos it might be difficult to sort them out. So just for fun I am reposting a photo I have shown previously, showing what you have to try not to do - just one of the memorable moments along the way while making the free motion quilted bedspread. Many thanks to everyone who linked up last week, in particular:- Chantal, the first to link up from Canada, Tamara, the first from Germany, and Dora in New Mexico, a girl after my own heart, who quilts on a treadle. So here goes for the third link up, and the rules are easy:- 1. Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project. 2. Link back to this post in your own post. 3. Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box. 4. The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday. So far bloggers from USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada and Germany have taken part. The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week!
Welcome to two new followers today, Quilting Nonnie and Ronda Asta - thank you for joining!
Well in time for my daughter's birthday, the free motion quilted bedspread is finished at last! Here you can see approximately half of it. I had to fling the quilt over two rickety wooden clothes racks which are standing on top of three dining chairs squeezed between the kitchen dresser and the fridge. It measures 76 x 96 inches. Taking pictures of a large quilt in a small house in poor light is a bit of a lark, so a picture of the whole quilt will have to wait until another day.
In the meantime, how about an artfully arranged shot of the folded quilt? Getting the binding on took most of the day, off and on, on Wednesday.
The binding is such a wonderful shade of pink, and the flowers and dots so pretty.
It was interesting seeing how the flowers on the binding would turn out at the corners - each corner has ended up looking slightly different.
Using so many different prints for the joining strips was fun too. If I wasn't particularly keen on a print, or if I hadn't got enough to make a quilted panel, I used it for the joining strips. All told, this has been an interesting quilt to make. It is the first quilt I have made entirely with Singer 15Ks - the quilting all done on the 1945 treadle, and the joining and binding all done on the 1949 hand machine. I have found out how much enjoyment can be had with lots of pretty girly prints, and what a lovely feel dress weight cotton poplins have once they are free motion quilted. I have also found out that brushed cotton is an absolute pig to use for a backing - too much friction and not enough glide when quilting.
Another bit of fun was making a test video, to see if I can make some half decent quilting videos in the near future. Here is the last bit of quilting I needed to do for this quilt, intentionally draining the camera batteries, which were about to go, and with my lovely patient husband squeezed in the corner of the sewing room to start the camera while I treadled. Not a brilliant video, I know. If you want to see a well made video, watch this one of Amy's, and give her a big cheer. Ideally I want to balance the camera on my left shoulder, or strap it next to my ear. It looks as though Amy has already perfected that rare skill, and can do the quilting at the same time. Finally, great news about a show! Midsomer Quiltingare putting together an exhibition to be held at Radstock Museum, to run from Saturday 1st February to Saturday 31st May. I visited their last exhibition in 2012, it was fabulous - so many gorgeous quilts! This year I am really thrilled that my Queen's Diamond Jubilee Quilt will be given an airing there too. Yesterday I took a drive across a stretch of very wet Somerset to deliver the quilt for the show. My friend Kate came with me, and we turned it into a proper trip, stopping off at a wonderful second hand book warehouse while we were out. We took a route that I was fairly confident shouldn't be too wet, and on the way the roads were not too bad. What a difference on the way home! A localised downpour on already sodden ground can be pretty drastic. Flood water was streaming off the fields across one section of road we had to drive down, and other roads were cut off... so all the pretty pictures I thought I would take on yesterday's jaunt just didn't happen. I'm just grateful we made it home without too much drama. Welcome to Sinead Mercier, the latest follower - thank you for joining! Linking up again to Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday and Julie's blog That's Sew Juliefor TGIFF and Nina Marie's blog Creations... Quilts, Art... Whateverfor Off The Wall Friday and Leah Day's blogfor FMQ Friday Update 3rd April Linking up today with Katy's blog The Littlest Thistlefor Finish Along 2014. This is the only finish I have managed this quarter out of the three I planned. I'm pacing myself.
Almost too good to be true... the free motion quilted bedspread for my daughter is nearly finished! Joining the Finish Along has really made me put in the effort, and the fact that there is an exciting outing planned for tomorrow helps too... So that's it for today, a fairly boring picture, with the prospect of something much more interesting tomorrow. Welcome to Rhianon Taylor, the latest follower - thank you for joining!
The sewing room is a tip, and part of tidying up is working out what I should work on in the next few weeks to try and get some projects finished. I need encouragement, so I am joining in with the Finish Along 2014 at The Littlest Thistle. This quilt top is lap size. I made it nearly three years ago, piecing it on my Frister and Rossmann transverse shuttle, using up lots of old Laura Ashley scraps that I had been saving for about thirty years. I needed to use a few other cottons from the cupboard, and only needed to buy one extra piece of fabric to make the colour scheme work better.
The deep rose pink was a handy little oddment in the bargains box at a sale I went to. Just the shade I wanted! It is not a big quilt. Why can't I organise myself and just finish it? There are two other projects I need to finish:- The Free Motion Quilted Bedspread, which I have hardly touched since July. It is for my daughter, and it is her birthday in just over a fortnight... and the Teapots Quilt, which is brewing so slowly it is embarrassing. Back to tidying the sewing room...
It is time to make a concerted effort to try and finish this bedspread fairly soon, so I put it up on the design wall today. In other words, I slung it over the settee. I am putting narrower panels in darker shades around the edge, and I wanted to see how they look. The strip at the top is a section of the border. No doubt it will look far better once it is attached.
I am really pleased with how all these prints work together. I am hoping that the darker shades in the border will contain the paler colours in the centre and contrast well with them. Does everybody start flagging when the finish is in sight, or is it just me? This post is linked to Lee's blog Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday - lots of other projects for you to see there! And also to Leah Day's blog for Free Motion Friday.
When it comes to joining quilted blocks, I use the method described by Leah Day on her excellent video, which you can find here if the video doesn't show up on this post:-
Leah describes the method really well, and when I first saw this video I knew I had found the method I wanted to use. There is just one snag - Leah recommends either a line of zigzagging or hand stitching for the last line of stitching. I had to adapt the method so all the stitching could be done on straight stitch machines. I also slightly changed the measurements. Here is the method I came up with:-
I use strips measuring one and a half inches wide for the top binding, and two and five eighths of an inch for the back binding. The seam guide is set to give a seam allowance of three eighths of an inch. For the first line of stitching, I put the folded strip on the underneath and the top binding on the top of the quilted panel. The machine I have been using is the 1949 Singer 15K hand machine, with the hinged regular foot attached.
Then I do the second line of stitching with the same foot and with the seam guide still in place.
Once these two lines of stitching have been done, I lay out the panels with the two edges together. With this project I usually find that there is a bit too much bulk for the edges to lie flat against each other. This is because I have been using brushed cotton for the backing and polyester wadding - when I made the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Quilt I used cotton wadding and standard weight quilting fabrics, so the edges lay flat first time.
Rather than trying to adjust the measurements, it is easier just to shave off a fraction from the seam allowance...
... and then it will lie flat.
Then the back binding can be folded down and pinned into place. The pins need to go through the quilted panel, but not the binding on the right side.
When the work is turned over you will see the pins, and a new line of pins needs to be put in on the right side. Once they are in place, the first line of pins has to come out.
Now the last line of stitching can go in. For this the hinged cording foot is ideal because you can stitch right alongside the top binding. This means that on the right side, the stitching will be barely noticeable...
... and on the back it holds down the binding just a fraction away from the folded edge. I love this method. It makes home quilting possible when you haven't got acres of space in the house. Linking up again with Leah Day's blog for Free Motion Friday - visit her blog so you can see what other bloggers are making!
Work on the bedspread for my daughter has slowed down a bit, probably because it is nearly finished and I am trying to get out and do some gardening when the weather will let me. I have quilted enough pieces to make a border but haven't sewn them together yet. These strawberries will be in the border somewhere... am I talking about quilting or gardening??
I ran out of the pink brushed cotton for the backing and have been using pale yellow. I took the plunge and tried spirals for the first time. They were easier than I anticipated, so I expect there will be plenty more spirals in future projects. Linking up again today to Free Motion Friday at Leah Day's blog, so plenty of other blogs to visit to see what everyone is doing! Welcome to the latest followers, Marcia and Kathleen. Thank you for joining!
Work has started on panels to go around the border of the bedspread I am making for my daughter. I have chosen darker colours in similar style prints. These strawberries go well with the other strawberry prints.
This rose design is lovely, but it took me a while to get used to the shade of pink. It stops just short of being sludgy.
The backing is yellow because I have run out of pink, and I have enjoyed doing this pattern with the free motion quilting.
Unpicking this folded over corner wasn't such a marvellous experience, but I thought I would turn it into an exercise in serenity. It didn't take half as long as I thought it might, which is just as well...
This post is being linked to Leah Day's blog for Free Motion Friday - plenty there for you to see!
Not a brilliant picture, I know. I slung the quilt over our bed and had to stand on the edge of the bed and hold the camera up to the ceiling and aim. Anyway, this is the progress so far. Twelve blocks are now all joined up, and it's not quite big enough, so I am going to have to quilt a few more pieces and add a wide border all round. I could be lazy and just bind it now, but there's nothing worse than a bed cover that lets in the draught at the sides.
Here's the back. Definitely not the pretty side, but the quilting shows up better. Not perfect quilting, but my daughter is the last person to care and she's looking forward to it. Linking up again today with Leah Day's Free motion Quilting blog. I hope you enjoy visiting the other blogs to see what people are up to!
Some panels went better than others. This is the last one that I did and I was pleased that I managed it all in one line.
All the panels have now been cut into rectangles, then four different rectangles made into one larger panel. Slowly I am joining all the panels with strips, and gradually putting the quilt together.
Even the joining strips are from fat quarters.
Much as I hate patchwork prints, this one looks perfect used as a joining strip. This quilted bedspread is going to look thoroughly girly. And because it's Friday, it's time to link up again with Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Blog!
Ten panels are now completed, and this is one of my favourite fabrics of the fat quarters that I have quilted this week. It goes really well with the panels I did last week. Pretty and delicate, and especially important when doing free motion quilting, I can see where I have already been.
It wasn't so easy with this darker floral piece. I have learnt that with a pattern I need to quilt in daylight rather than using artificial light. I have an anglepoise lamp shining down from the windowsill just above me when I am treadling, so I can quilt paler, less busy fabrics in the evenings.
This blue material was a complete pig to work with, even in natural light. You can barely see the quilting on the right side because it blends in so well. Hence the close-up.
This is the back of the blue panel.
The first nine panels turned out fine. I waited until the tenth panel to make a complete and utter dog's dinner of it. Some seriously bad and nasty rumpling had been going on underneath. All carrying on from yesterday's botch job biscuits, I suppose. It's because I have been using brushed cotton for the backing and it doesn't glide so easily. I am determined to be blasé and not grumpy about it. I intend to cut the panel into four smaller pieces, and these rumples fall where I shall be cutting. I'll fudge the quilting into passable shape when I do the cutting. This post is being linked to Leah Day's free motion quilting blog so you can follow the links and see what wonderful work is being done by some jolly clever quilters. Special thanks to Mary Ellen, Laura Jean and Marianne for being so sweet about the dodgy looking biscuits. I will have another go sooner rather than later. Welcome to the latest follower, Sheree Isola. Thank you for joining!
Some things you just have to practise, so this week I decided to start using all the cheap and cheerful fat quarters I have stashed in my cupboard. So far, all the free motion quilting I have done has been the same pattern, the meandering infill. It was time to try something else. As well as having lots of fat quarters in pretty cotton poplins, I have yards and yards of brushed cotton, left by my sister-in-law's mother. She was a great one for making nighties and pyjamas for her grandchildren. I have been making quilted panels with the fat quarters backed with brushed cotton. The wadding is polyester. This is a very economical project, and by the end of it I'm hoping to be confident with a range of patterns to use on my posher, more expensive projects. Here are some views of the back of the panels:-
This one I started in the centre and worked out.
With this one I tried to keep the lines wavy.
This one looks like contour lines on a map. O-Level geography and all those Ordnance Survey maps came flooding back to me.
Here is the front of the same panel.
I am going to cut each panel into four rectangles and make a bedspread for my daughter. She is already looking forward to it, and particularly likes these strawberries.
This post has been liked to the Celtic Thistle Stitches blog, so you can visit other blogs where people have been trying out something new this month. Plenty of inspiration and ideas there! Welcome to four new followers today - Bea, MQuilter, Nancy and Sylvia. Thank you for joining!
