Tutorials

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

karen and marty's


Karen had me quilt up this jelly roll race quilt.


It's a masculine quilt in navy, grays and neutrals, so we went with a paisley design all over.


the back.


Marty made this 25 patch quilt using old fabrics from a friend that had recently passed away. 


I did an all-over flower/swirl/leaf design.


Instead of regular batting, she used a thin cotton blanket. Actually I think it was a flat sheet- similar to flannel, but not flannel. That's a new one for me, but it worked out just fine and it has a nice thin weight to it.


Thanks ladies for the quilting adventures!

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Selvage Table Runner


I completed one of my own projects recently with my selvages. I made a table runner. It's about 70 inches long and about 20 inches wide.


I started saving selvages several years ago because I had seen some really neat projects with them on the internet. So cut a whole bunch of 6.5 inch squares out of muslin and started sewing them on. A block here and a couple more there, they are kind of addicting to make once you get going!


So I kept all my blocks in my set of drawers, which my little 1 year old would take out and scatter all over the place. Every. day. So I eventually got tired of picking them up and thought I should just sew them together already and end this mess!


Once I had the layout decided, it went together super fast. I pressed my seams open--they are pretty bulky. I quilted straight lines along the selvages about every inch apart so it is barely noticeable.

So there it is. My selvage project is DONE! So why do I still have a drawer FULL of selvages??!

Linking up to the Selvage Along by Sparrow Lane Quilts. Yeah, if you think this table runner is cool, you should see her feather table runner. Pretty awesome!

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Mary's baby quilt :: Double threading my machine


Mary made this adorable baby quilt for her newest granddaughter. 


I did an all-over cury-Q with hearts design in a light gray thread.


She wanted me to put in her name and birthday on it too. She also mentioned maybe some elephants since her room is decorated with an elephant theme. 



I did an image search for 'elephant doodle' and found something super simple yet cute that I could do. This is what I came up with- I think he's pretty cute!



Angela Walters had recently had a post about double threading her longarm, so I thought I could give it a try.   I thought it would make the words stand out more, so I Mcgyvered a way to double thread my machine. The usual thread cone is on the left, and the right side is my contraption I came up with. There was a hole in the handlebar there, so I hot-glued a wooden dowel into it. but the dowel was too tall and the thread got wrapped around it, so I put and old thread cone over it and solved the problem. I used a pair of pinking shears as my thread guide with a piece of packing tape to hold it in place. 


A little silly looking, but Hey--It worked!!


A peek at the back.

Thanks Mary- I learned a few new tricks on this one!

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

2 from Norma


Norma from Colorado had a couple of quilts for me to quilt. First was this Christmas star.


I used a red, white and green variegated thread and did a simple holly and loops design all over.


The back.


Next was this quilt--same block, different layout.


I did a feathered swirl all over.


The back. Thanks for choosing me to do your quilts Norma!

Saturday, September 5, 2015

Log cabin quilt


I love this log cabin quilt made by Carol, aka-the scrap quilt queen.


Do you have quilts that you can tell who made it by their fabric? Neon pink and red and orange fish? That's gotta be Carol's quilt! She uses those among several others all. the. time in her scrap quilts. I love it!


Anyway, you can see what I did here--a simple feather in the dark and a swirly flower in the light. That design is kind of a new one to me, and I really like it. I don't remember where I saw it, but you start by doing a row of swirls down the center, then come back and bump-bump-bump the petals all the way back. Then you echo the petals and do a little round leaf here and there. Then you do the same again on the bottom side. It really fills in those log steps nicely--they can be awkward to fill in sometimes.


Circles in the red border, and a loop in the piano key border. Notice how she stitched the outer edge of her quilt. Your longarmer loves that when you have an outer border with a million pieces in it. It keeps the seams from pulling out and unraveling and helps tame the fullness that can happen.

Enjoy your quilt Carol!

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Luanne's


Luanne finally finished this quilt top that she started a loooooong time ago. 


I did an all-over design with feathers, paisleys and a few swirls. 


Love these big star blocks.


A peek at the back. Thanks for the fun quilt Luanne!