Leah Day Block Party #2

I shared with you the piecing of my second block, here is the quilting.  First up- a video that shows how I quilted it. It's sped up, so it's mostly to get an idea of how I moved around the block:



Here is my finished block. I have a hard time quilting so big. It is so much quicker, but man, small is easier!  I wish I hadn't decided to use red thread last month, because this design doesn't look so great.

And the back:

 

This has been a fun project to do. So often I just stipple on quilts, so it is fun to practice other skills too.

I'm addicted! More Postcards

I am just loving the fabric postcards.  I love that I can create something in 15 minutes, half an hour, or an hour and have a finished project.

Today I quilted with my hopes for 2016 in mind. Last year was really hard. From being horribly sick for the first 22 weeks of my pregnancy, to the horrible ending of that pregnancy; and then the passing of my great-Aunt (which sounds somewhat distant relative, but she was essentially my grandmother). It won't go in the history books as a good year, as much as great things happened along the way. (I got to grow and love Sean, I got to go on a great cruise, I had a great job, I had my husband every step of the way, I found out even more than I already knew how blessed I am to live in such a great neighborhood.)

So for 2016, the first thing I quilted was sun, shining from the darkness. And then the next was a rainbow. And that is what I want for this year.

And what is the most fun about these little mini quilts, is that I'll get to mail them to someone during the year and brighten their day. That is, if I don't hoard them.

Faux quilted fabric postcard tutorial

Here's another tutorial on a different style of postcard- this one is the faux quilted look.
Mine isn't perfect, because nothing I make is- but the video includes a few tips to help yours look closer to perfect (if that matters to you). The number one hint is to measure you fabric, something I didn't do, and to pay more careful attention to where you are stitching. 



I like a quick and easy project more than I like a perfect product most of the time.  As long as you aren't looking super close up like the camera is, I think this looks pretty good!

Enjoy!

Fabric Postcard Tutorial

I made a video tutorial to show you how to make a simple fabric postcard.



The ones I've posted on previous days I've used either wonder-under fusible or a gluestick to secure fabric and then sewed it down. In this video, I highlight one really beautiful piece of fabric instead.

Do you want to recieve the postcard I made in the video? Comment below by January 2nd 2016 and I will pick someone (out of a hat) to send it to.

Make sure you are not a "no reply" blogger so I can get in touch with you to get your address if you are selected.
Here's a tutorial to check: http://morefromyourblog.com/no-reply-blogger-how-to-fix-this/
Chances are if you are a no-reply blogger you don't even know it!  (Or leave your email address if you are one on purpose and still want to enter.)

International readers are welcome to enter as well!

Four more postcards

My Christmas Eve goal was to get some cleaning done in my sewing room. I guess I still have time to do that, but I have my doubts it will get done.

Instead, I made 4 more postcards. These are fun and addictive.

I made one very similar to yesterday's:

I made one with some of my favorite batiks. I really like this one:

I tried something different, not my favorite:

And I made one that looks quilted. Not sure what I think. I do know it's a really bad picture!

Fabric postcards

My apologies for the months between posts. I don't know if anyone still reads, but if they do- I am going to try harder in the new year to post interesting things.

Things got very hard here since my last post.  In October we found out that the baby had a very rare (and extremely large) chromosomal deletion. Then in November we lost him.  I delivered Sean still on November 12. Needless to say, things have been very difficult. His life would have been full of an unbelievable number of challenges that we know this is for the best, but every morning that I wake up without my little boy I just feel empty.

In an effort to try to add a little happiness to my life, I've started making quilted fabric postcards to mail out for postcard swaps. (I'll post if I get any cards back!)

The first three I made using fused scraps. My favorite is the woven one!

Have you ever made a fabric postcard?  I'm told I can mail them with a normal stamp (not a postcard stamp- it's too little), but well, I have my doubts.  I will let you know if I hear they made it to their destination.  I hope to make a tutorial on how to make them soon.

New for 2015: Dancing Butterfly

I finished the quilt that I showed in the Mosaic tutorial. I do need to post it soon (though, as infrequent as I post- is anyone reading?)


But first, Leah Day has struck again. In a great follow up to Building Blocks Quilt Along, she has released the dancing butterfly quilt. This pattern has amazing video support- you get a password when you get the pattern, and you can watch her every step of the way. I don't really plan to watch the videos, making it an expensive pattern- but I wouldn't even be quilting without Leah, so I think it is well worth it.

 

Even for a semi-experienced quilter, this is a great project. Especialy since I quilt such small scale most of the time, this is forcing me to work on my large scale quilting, something I'm not great at.

 

I picked fabrics from the $1.99 sale at Fabric.com so I didn't have much choice, and unfortunately my thread doesn't show up great on the busy fabrics, but I think that will just add texture and color to the quilt. The back is a really busy pattern, so the quilting won't show up much there at all.

So now, explanation of the pictures
The pattern is set up where you quilt two "design blocks"  and then use those patterns to quilt the butterfly square.

The first up: Paisley and Ocean Currents. You can't really see them in the design blocks- so I didn't do close ups. Paisley was a real challenge- filling space with a large design. And Ocean Currents I kept having thread issues, so it took me a long time to get through too.

And set two: Zippling and Feathers.
I didn't do close up of zippling, because it's just a stippling design, nothing exciting. The feathers I am mostly happy with. I used bounce back feathers, a method I've finally started to get better at.

 

The one thing with this quilt is that it is quilt-as-you-go so there is a binding that covers 1/4" of the edge. I was so nervous about having my feathers covered up, I did the border ones much too small. Since this is not a show quilt, I am not going to rip them out to fix them, but blah.

Feathers

Every month, I try to quilt 2-3 of the charity quilts our guild has. I don't usually post about them, because they are generally very simple. Sometimes I make a design, but I often just stipple to get them done.  This quilt came in and it was a GORGEOUS top. I thought it needed more time than just a quick large stipple.

I've been doing a lot of feather doodling lately, and decided to put some feathers on the quilt. I still need a lot of work on these, but they are much better than my last attempt 1-2 years ago.

Mostly because my travel stitching is better.  Traveling directly over the lines makes a HUGE difference.

This thread is much too thick for good feather work, Connecting Threads Essential. The build up is too severe. But I still think it looks alright.

I forgot to take pictures of one of the triangle sections. Oops.

Two of the triangle sections I filled straight up and down.

Two I filled with kind of a curve, I like the curve better.

Another triangle section

I still am not good with the 'inside' curves. This one is kind of awkward.

The end is near!

Today I spent pretty much the entire day quilting.  I finished stippling the outside of the center (large) square.  I did some pebbling, some spirals, and some lines to fill the rest of the middle of the snowflake.  And magically- all the quilting was done!

Up next was assembly, after a few false starts (sewing the strips to the wrong sides) I had the blocks all assembled.  Um, this quilt is big.  I've laid it all out before, but for some reason I kept thinking it would shrink once it was put together.  Nope- big, big quilt.  I'm not sure where it will go in the house, maybe it will have to go into my office.

I started putting the sashing on the front.  I tried to do the wavy sashing, but I couldn't figure out how to make it curve- I even made sure to cut bias binding, but I kept getting ugly wrinkles, so mine is just going to be square.  I need to sew together the LONG strips now- they will have to be seamed, although, since I'm not doing waves, maybe I can cut on the cross grain and do a 55 inch long strip?  I don't know if that is the best use of fabric, the seams aren't generally that visible.

I'm also trying to decide if I want to do some decorative stitching down the middle of the strips- I think it will give them a bit more weight and prevent the quilt from folding along the strips.  I could do it in white and it would be pretty much invisible, only seen by someone who admires it really closely, or I could do it in pink and pull the color out from the blocks (but then my stitching needs to be perfectly straight...)   I only have a 5 mm machine, this is something that would be really great with a 9 mm.

Before I can do the binding, I need to make a label on my embroidery machine and get it onto the back of the quilt.  I also need to decide if I think corner triangles will support the weight or if I have to do a proper hanging sleeve. The problem is- those require hand sewing, and I can't do that!

But OMG! the quilting is done!  I took this project on with just about a year of experience under my belt, to prove to myself that I could quilt.  And you know what- I can quilt!  (I'm thinking about entering it in the state fair this summer.  It isn't show quilt perfect, but I think it is pretty darn awesome (though once I get the binding on, that may not be true anymore, I suck at binding...)

Making Progress

In addition to the snowflake quilt, I have two other projects going on: Express Your Love and the Super Mario Quilt.

This weekend, I made progress on both.

For Super Mario, I found the painter's tape, so I can cover the bed of my machine and prevent any more Sharpie marker lines from forming as the interfacing rubs over the bed of the machine.  I also pressed the two blocks I had finished.

 

Neither of the blocks are 18.5" square.  Sadly, the place squares on a grid and sew method does not ensure perfection.  But I still think the shapes match up a heck of a lot better than if I was trying to do this through normal piecing methods!   I also think that having the lines for all the individual squares makes the pixelated pictures look more authentic, and if I pieced them individually, I would have definetly done larger "chunks"- not cut every single block. So I'm still glad I did it the way I did, even if it still isn't perfect. 

 

For Express Your Love, I did all the outlining, except the hair- I'm still not sure what color to do that in.

 I also quilted the Green part of the Earth.  I don't like it, but it is staying.  I echoed the outer part of the earth, and I should have taken the line inside and echoed the shape of the water- oops.  I also didn't use Isacord (didn't have green) and selected the closest match I had, which was Dual Duty.  The thread is not pretty (neither is the picture, sorry).  It is dull looking and thick.

Not sure how to do the water.  I'm thinking about pebbling for a bubbles look, but I'm going to wait to see what Leah shows us.

I've decided on a few of the phrases I'm going to put into the ribbons (or at least pick from), but am a bit scared of getting them there, because my handwriting is terrible, and I need to mark the words to fit the ribbons.

"Live in the now and design your future."
"Let your dreams fly free."
"Have an open and willing heart"
Live life courageously"
"Release all fear of failure"
"The future is bright and happy"
"Surround yourself with love"

The end is near!

Today I decided to really make a focus on my snowflake quilt.  It isn't snowy at all this winter, and at the pace I'm going it will be summer before this is display ready.

But I did get the 12th and final small snowflake done.  The design I did is inspired by Leah Day's Circuit Board, but I'm not sure whether or not it is that.  The organza is very shiny in the photo, so I'm not sure how well you can see it.  To me, it is like a medatative labrythith that you walk for reflection- not a maze, but a single line that has a start and end point (although since I trimmed the sides, it doesn't really work.)  If you knew where I started, you could trace your finger over the entire design.   You should be able to click and enlarge the design.

So how much left until the snowflake quilt is done?  I need to put in the giant middle block!  I am not entirely sure whether I want to stipple or do McTavishing.  I am leaning towards stipple.  My McTavishing isn't bad, but I always think it looks better in matching thread colors, rather than this big contrast of the white and pink.  But after all the hard work of this quilt- will people look at the big block being stippling as a cop-out, using an easy stitch?  At this point, do I care?

Snowflake quilt

So the snowflake quilt is nearing completion.  I have a small block and the big block left to go.  I plan to stipple the large block and do circuit board (square) stippling on the small block.  I had planned to McTavish, but in the end decided against it because while my McTavishing is good, I think it looks best in a complementary color to the fabric.

This quilt really got stalled for awhile because I ran out of designs and motivation.  And then a bunch of projects came along, but in the end, it is going to get there.

So here are the two squares I finished over Christmas.  The triangles have been in progress for months.  Not sure why I didn't get them done before. They weren't really that hard.  (You should be able to click to see bigger.  This one is hard to see the design.)

The loops were a design I didn't want to do, but I just wanted to have it done.  I wish I could quilt paisley- I pull it out to practice all the time, but it just doesn't look right, no matter what variation I do. 

Sadly, this loop design will always be a sad one for me.  I was interupted while stitching it by my husband yelling down the stairs- he needed to go to the ER.  He sliced his finger on the router while making a bedside table.  For a woodworking injury, it is probably best case scenario, just a few stitches to reattach the skin flap to his finger and a badly torn nail (but not nailbed, they don't think) that will have to grow back.  I'm so thankful he still has the whole finger, though I don't want to minimize the amount of pain he is in.  This block is always going to be tied to that.  Not the most fun Christmas Eve.

So, like I said two more and then the challenge of putting on the border.  I am not sure if I will do wavy joining of the blocks, but I decided not to do scallops on the edge of the quilt.  I am also really confused how to add a hanging sleeve to it (I usually use triangle corners) because quite honestly, I'd really like to show the quilt (the websites for the shows I'm looking at all say you can use someone else's design, though I plan to email the designer for permission)- we had a speaker at the guild really talk about how show quilts are NOT perfect quilts, so I figured I can try, but everything I read about attaching the hanging sleeve talks about how it shouldn't go through to the front, which makes sense, but this is quilted so tightly there is no room to just get the backing. Maybe if I put my loosest blocks in the top corners?

Next post- about dyeing!

Snowflake #9

UFO Sunday

OMG!  This is a UFO I am SO happy to be done with.  Now, it isn't a long standing UFO- it is just another piece of the snowflake quilt I've been steadily making progress on... I started this three weeks ago, took it off the machine and set it aside to do the charity quilts, and have been steady working on it ever since.  A three week snowflake!  (To be fair, I spent a few hours with it on the weekends, then about 15 minutes a day the other days, if at all)  Yesterday I finally sat down and really tackled it.

Pebbling is a design I hoped not to use.  Not because I don't like it- I actually think it looks great, but because it takes FOREVER.  There is just nothing that can be done to pebble quickly, and because, unlike some designs it doesn't create really interesting designs that make you want to keep going- I get bored and stop quilting and leave, and that just makes it take even longer...

But snowflake #9 is finished and I have 3 more left to go.

Unfortunately, one of them is this one.  (Note: This is a cell phone picture, not one Kevin took. He would be appalled if anyone thought he took it, as he usually does my quilt photos.)

 I had sketched out an awesome idea based on Bubble Path (but filling in the in between space more densely), but when I sewed it, it didn't work.  I used water soluble thread to try out some ideas that might work to fill the spaces that existed, but none of them looked good.  The only solution left is to rip.  (Normally, I'd just go buy more fabric -I'm out of pink- and make a new one, it would take a ton less time.  But because of the new house, my anything budget is $0, so it isn't possible. I do have an extra piece of organza if this one doesn't make it. But it is slightly different from the organza I used for most of the project, and I was hoping if it is just in the corners for the two squares I needed it for it won't stand out too much. Using it for 3 might ruin everything... already I'm sad this quilt has been such a success, because if I knew I'd rock at it, I would have used better materials - LOL)

Last night I ripped for 3.5 hours, and the picture is how far I've gotten- you can barely see progress.  I did get to watch a disc of Better of Ted though, and I love that show.

Today, no sewing- I have a lot of homework to do.  7 weeks until I'm done with my Master's!  And this morning we stained the deck getting the house ready to rent, and this afternoon I'm going rowing.  It is a busy day, and I have a really busy week ahead.

The craft room is getting packed up, so all I have left are snowflakes, white thread, my machine, and a ruler/cutter for the snowflakes.  No other projects this month! (If I have much time to sew.)  I still hope to do 1 snowflake a week.  The one I'm doing right now is Trippy Triangles.  After that I plan to do some McTavishing, and some Stippling (for the large one).  I need one more design- any suggestions?

UFOs down!

So today is UFO Sunday, and I took it to heart.  First, let's talk about unfinished objects: anything in the sewing room, that is not done.  Even if I'm currently working on it, because once I go work on something else, I'll have to set it aside, making it unfinished!

http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.com/2012/08/ufo-sunday-1.html

Here is what I can think of.
1) "First" quilt.  Finished piecing this in 2004ish.  I need to reapplique the center square. I didn't know how to applique at all then.  Then I need to see if it is quiltable (may not be, my piecing probably stunk then) and come up with a quilting plan.  Priority: Low
2) Snowflake Quilt.  Current project, making progress.  Prioirty: High
3) Dresden Plate Quilt:  This project is stalled.  I need more fabric, and have no budget.  I also need to decide if I want to make more plates or quilt blank squares.  I need to determine the finished size, I went into this without a plan.  Priority: Medium
4) Navigator's Compass:  This is just an applique piece, glue basted together.  I need to decide what it is being appliqued on.  Another project I went into without a plan.  Priority: Medium
5) Mandala Wholecloth:  After the feather/hearts wholecloth I traced this.  I wanted to use colored threads to make it like the Mandala designs I loved to color. Priority: Medium
6-8) THREE Charity Quilts: Picked up in July, these need to be turned in at the September guild meeting.  Priority: High
9) Eye Spy Quilt:  I got some of the squares sewn together.  But I've changed my mind.  I want to machine applique them all into alphabets, so this actually has to come apart so I can start again.  Priority: Low

So what did I do?

First, on Friday I attacked the Mandala.  After having a great experience painting, I decided to paint it.  Disaster.  The paint bled into the fabric so badly!  So then I took a more viscous paint and outlined and it saved it a bit, but I decided I didn't like where I was headed.  I took a deep breathe and threw it into the trash.  Project status: Finished.

Today I attacked the Charity Quilts.  Three quilts, DONE!  I think I quilted from breakfast until about 3:00, and knocked them all out.  They aren't perfect- all have some pretty bad wrinkles in the backing  fabric, but the fronts look good.  Two of the quilts are actually quite nice.  The "fall" one was this reall ugly panel, and I wasn't sure what to do with it, so I outlined the panel, but did some design quilting on the outside sashing, so at least the sashing looks nice.

UFOs left:  5

Probably won't make much more progress, as a lot of these rely on buying new supplies.  My quilting budget until about November is ZERO.  All money is being saved to replenish the bank account after our down payment is taken out.  But I have plenty of stash to quilt with (and snowflakes to work on, plenty of thread to go for awhile!), so it will all be worth it for the new big sewing room!

Snowflake #8

Seriously?  #8? I can't believe it. I'm making actual progress on this quilt.  I need to start thinking about how I am going to do the wavy binding strips.  I'd like to do the waves, but I'm not sure I'm good enough at binding to do wave edges.  Will definetly need to practice on something else.

I got a little bit of bearding on this one, not as bad as the first two squares, so I clearly need to make sure I'm changing my needle more often.

This design is Leah Day's Brain Coral, but I think it looks like oil slicks.  Maybe because I echoed more than she did.
I'm happy with this one.

I have #9 in progress- pebbling, and not sure what to do with #10- I had a great idea for it, but it didn't really work out.  I don't know if I should keep trying to adapt what I have, rip out what I have, or see if I can find the backing fabric so I can just start over from scratch on this one.  #10 is the first one I've been disappointed with...  I'm of a mind to just finish it, and then decide if it needs to be done from scratch.  It seems like ripping it out (it's about 1/3 done) is not a viable option.

Snowflake #7

This is the first snowflake I breezed through.  This design worked up SO quickly.

I like to think it is my own invention, I call it "tire tracks".  I designed this when thinking about how the C curves fill the space on McTavishing, and decided to see how they might travel along the quilt.  Originally I thought it looked like a snake, folding up upon itself, but now all finished, I think it looks like someone might have had a wild time mudding.

I know the design isn't really original though, as it looks a lot like Bananas which I've seen Diane Gaudynski (Bouncing Bananas) do, and are a design suggestiong in the pattern by Leah Day (Swirling Bananas), but I designed this idenpendently, and I think it moves along the quilt a little differently.  My tire tracks are always a continuous line.  Looking at the picture, I think Leah's Bananas sometimes start again in a new direction (maybe not).  I don't know how Diane quilts hers.  Actually, now that I look at the picture, the proportion isn't really like bananas, so maybe this is my design.

And this marks over the halfway mark for small snowflakes!  I also got organza on top of the two I ran short on, and the giant snowflake, and uh-oh, despite it looking nearly the same, the shine is totally different.  I either hope a) the huge amount of thread piled on top of it makes it indistinguishable, or b) if I place them both in corners you can't really tell it wasn't intentional. 

We looked at more houses today and found one I really like.  I dream of a larger quilt room, even though I know I am lucky to have one at all.  Kevin also got me some foamboard insulation and we upholstered it with batting so I have a tiny design wall now.  When we move, I plan to make an entire wall a design wall.

Snowflake #6

This particular snowflake has been a pain to quilt.

I call this design coffeee beans and it is one I came up doodling during a meeting.  It is surely inspired by something I saw at the Free Motion Quilting Project previously, but I didn't look it up there.

Well, it was just slow going.  I started this square 3 weeks ago, and got about 30% done the first day I quilted it, and then left it.  Then, last weekend I did maybe 10% of it.  (The Olympics have taken all my sewing time these past two weeks.)  Friday I have half days at work during the summer, and that is usually when I do a square- well 3 Fridays, and this one didn't get done.  This Friday, I took a nap instead.  Today, I decided to finally finish it up.

Whew!  Overall, I really liked the look of it.  I cut it square and damn it-
I turned it over and I had caught the extra backing in the stitching.  I had to rip out about 3 square inches, and redo it.  I don't THINK you can tell where the fix is, so that's okay.

But I made stupid ruler mistake AGAIN.  See, I have a 12.5" ruler, which is used to make finished 12" squares.  And surely the ruler makers know it is for that purpose.  But the center of the ruler is NOT the center of the square.  No, rather than a quarter inch being added to either side- the extra half inch is on one side (like a proper ruler should be, to be fair).  So half the time I use it to square up, I'm off centered.

URGH!

In the end though, it's done, and I like it well enough to go into the quilt.

(If you see black lines in the picture it is because I hadn't ironed them off yet.  I use the Frixion pens to mark my boundaries quilting, going just outside them.  But of course, if I don't pay attention to where I am cutting, then they stay on the quilt...)

Finished quilt...

I made this top quite awhile ago (it was a Jelly Roll Race, but I didn't use a jelly roll).  It sat, waiting for me to quilt it. Finally, I had the perfect opportunity- I took a class on basting at Pine Needles, and needed a quilt top. Thank goodness for procrastination- I had one!

The basting class was all about how to use a table top corner to pull your backing flat to your batting and then how to layer the top on it.  You let gravity do the work.  I still think it would be tough for a king size quilt, but certainly easier than crawling around on the floor.  I was about as effective at no wrinkles in the backing as normal (meaning there are one or two tiny puckers).

Last weekened as soon as I got home I quilted it.  I thought that an over-all spiral would break up the harsh horizontal lines, but it turns out you can't see the quilting at all on the front.  Still, like always, I love the back of the quilt.  I usually sit with the gray side up- it's about 60 x 60, a lap quilt.

I love it! 

Snowflake Quilt: Blocks 4 and 5

I'm making a bit more progress on my snowflake quilt.  I've run into a problem: there just aren't 12+ quilting designs that I've mastered...  I want this to be a sampler quilt, but I also don't want it to be a beginner one.  So once I did the scallops, the spirals, and the checkboard, I was kind of stuck.  I planned on stippling the large center block, so I can't use that.  So it sat for awhile, and I worked on my Dresden plate quilt.

Well, I made some progress.  First- I bought two more sheets of felt and did the applique of the snowflake on the two squares I ran out for.  Then, I tried to figure out what to do about the center snowflake- it's huge, and I was going to have to join felt (would look bad) or use a different material.  After a few small scale tests, I decided to use fleece.  I got it appliqued and after 3 days of cutting and many blisters all cut out.  Now I'm just worried because there is a lot of excess fluff.  If me and the lint roller don't work really hard, it will show under the organza, still I think it will look better than joining felt.  Maybe I should have used batting, but I thought that would look too different from felt.

So, I was back to needing to quilt- but I still don't have mastery of new designs.  I've been sketching a lot of McTavishing, but I'm not good enough at it to want it on this quilt.  I've been drawing echo-arches, paisley, etc.  And I suck.

I am taking a class at the Des Moines quilt show with Diane Gaudynski so I researched her.  She has a design called "Diane-shiko" that I love.  Without reading the instructions on how to do it (I found them after I figured it out), I started sketching it.  Unlike Leah Day's designs, these require marking a grid on the quilt.  So I started on paper and marked a grid.  Then I circumscribed a circle along each- way too much travel stitching.  So I thought that must not be how she does it.  So then I drew the arcs inside the squares- less traveling, but still some.  Then, I figured out I got it- I drew half circles up a line, and then back down it.  YES! The drawing was perfect. So I quilted it.  No, the quilting was not- I got build up whenever I had to change direction at the vertex of the square.  Plus, the 3/4" grid I marked was too large scale for this quilt.  So I ripped it out.

And then, I figured it out- squiggle lines!  Rather than reversing direction at each vertex, cross to the other side of the line and make that arc, cross back and forth down the length of the line.  At the end of the piece- come back down the line making the other circle.  It worked perfectly.  Once you have all the vertical done, do the horizontal.  And this makes the overlapping circles, with no circles to do at all.

Here is mine:

It isn't perfect but I really like it.  If you do a marked design, you have to mark well.  I marked very poorly.  First, the 3/4" lines were done well, but the Frixion pen was very hard on the surface of the quilt, and stretched the organza, making it dificult to stay straight.  Then I eyeballed a line between them to make it 3/8" scale- and that was my downfall.  Don't eyeball things.

I'm happy to report the lines ironed out with no issue at all. 


So the second Diane Gaudynski design is apple core- a common quilting pieced design. 

This is a building block for the previous one- I squiggled up the lines, but didn't squiggle back down to form circles.  It is important on apple core to pay attention to if the block is an "in" or an "out" on the horizontal, and do the opposite on the vertical.  This one had a grid marked at 1/4" scale.  I used a Frixion highlighter and was much more accurate with my marking- the soft tip of the highlighter didn't stretch the fabric.  However, it left prominent white lines when the color was ironed out.  Except only prominent if you get really close to the fabric and look for them.  You can't see them at all at a distance, and even up close you have to look- so I'm going to just cross my fingers and hope they wash out when I wash the entire quilt, but all is well if they don't.

So now I have 7 more small blocks, plus the large block to go.  Uh-oh.  I don't know what 7 other designs I have enough mastery of to use!

Three down...

I am sitting here early morning waiting to go to learn to row- a new adventure for me.  I am constantly seeking some form of exercise I can be good at.  Kevin has his doubts this one will be it, but I'm going to give it a try.

I'd like to post my progress on my Snowflake quilt.  The first two squares were completed last week..  Both of them bearded, with the batting coming through the back.  It isn't visible to the naked eye, but I had Kevin take a very magnified picture of it.  You can definetly feel it. I blame the needle because the third one I did yesterday didn't have any problem at all.  These squares take 6-10 hours each to do!  The three of them took an entire 1,000 m spool of thread.

My first one: Scallops.  (My small quilt group asked me if this was a stitch on my machine! These ladies are amazing at quilting, so that was a huge compliment.

My second one: Swirls.  (I LOVE this one.  I played with different size swirls and this is really the first filler I've done in such a large space that doesn't have a preplanned placement -like how the scallops always go in the next spot- it was a challenge.)

See how the batting pokes through? It is more of an annoyance than a problem.

My third one: Basketweave.  (I set this up with a walking foot, to make the grid.  Then I freehanded the in between lines.  It was important to me that the numbers weren't all the same.  I wanted it to vary a bit.)

The quilt has 12 small squares like these and then a center square that is the size of 4 little squares.  I still haven't figured out how to do that, since my felt comes in paper size sheets- I wonder if I can just join the felt with invisible thread?  I might do a practice piece to try.  

You should be able to click on any of the pictures to see it larger.