7 to go

This issue quilt is finished. You can see in the picture that there is still some extra fabric in places. This will relax when the quilt is washed and you will hardly be able to tell where it is.






This is what the sashing and corner stones looks like when finished.

This is the sashing before quilting.

Here I've quilted one direction from the corner stone.

Here I've quilted from the other direction from the corner stone. Where the design meets in the middle is where the extra fullness is still apparent.

This is the corner stone before quilting.

This is the corner stone after quilting.

I'm quilting along, checking the back with my hand as I go. Then I notice this. Hmm.... need to fix it before I go farther with the quilting.

So I do an invisible stitch to close it up. This is also called ladder stitching. It's what is done in upholstery work to close up seams.

So here is the finished sashing and corner stones.

Another look at the finished block.

As soon as this quilt came off the machine I was trying to decide what to do next. I realized that my fair entries need to be dropped off this weekend. OH MY GOSH! I haven't even started my entry in the rug category. So I took some time to make a rug. Here are two pictures of it. I'm not sure which picture shows up best. This one is with flash.

This picture looks darker. Without flash.

I would have made the rug larger but I ran out of cording rope. I really like this type of rug making. I need to find a source for large quantities of rope, either online or local, if I'm going to make more of these. My daughter wants some large rugs for her room.

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Speaking of my daughter.... she may have to move in here sooner than expected. The tension between her and baby daddy is getting worse. He is still on the lease and seems H bent on making it miserable for her. He's supposed to be living with his parents; but, still being on the lease means he can come and go as he pleases. I suggested that she go ahead and move here and just let him have the apartment for the next 3 months. She's going to think about it and let me know later today. One thing is for sure.... one of them HAS to move out.

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Since this move is most likely to happen sooner than expected, I've got to spend the next few days clearing out the rest of my stuff from her room. I can't quilt and move stuff at the same time. I probably won't get any quilting done until next week.

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One other thing to say before I get to work. You will notice a set of three little boxes at the end of each post now. This is where you can give a reaction to my post. It's a feature of blogger that I just added.

I've been working on the issue quilt. See the extra fullness?




Here is what I've gotten done so far. The center of the blocks are done. The fullness is still there. It's simply spread out so it's less noticable.

I use designs that don't cross over themselves so small tucks don't happen. I also use the quilting's natural tendancy to draw up the quilt. The combination of the two will take out most of the fullness. Once the quilt returns home and is washed it will take out more of the fullness by relaxing the fabric.

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I'm making this a short post so I can put something on my other blog today too.

Still 8 to go

Still 8 to go

This quilt is the one I couldn't post the pictures of a couple of days ago. I don't know the name of the quilt design.




I did a pretty leaf feather on the outside border.

A curvy line on the inside border and line dancing on the blocks.

A leaf vine design on the sashing.

Here's a view from the back.

I also have room to post some pictures of right before the storm.

These pictures were taken at about 8:30 or 9 am when it should be daylight.

Even with street lights it's still very dark.

This is the intersection at the corner from my house.

Under the second traffic light it's knee deep.

Farther down the street you can see the cars floating and the city buses a little further away.

Here's another shot showing the floating cars and the city buses.

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The fire truck that came to check on the gas leak at the neighbor's house.

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As you can see, I made room for more photos in my blog. I deleted many, many older posts. It took a whole pack of paper and 4 ink cartrages to print everything out before deleting it. I did find out that just deleting a photo from the blog post does not remove it from Picasa. I have to go to the pictures stored in Picasa to delete each one individually there too.

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I had some posts as old as October of 2003 when I was learning how to use blogger. I also had bunches and bunches of pictures I started to put in a post but deleted when editing. I found them still in Picasa; which is how I found out that just removing them from a post is not enough. Another thing I learned is that blogger gives 500 free photos in Picasa "per user" not per blog. I have two blogs so I'll have to delete again when my quota is at max again.

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I spent most of today helping a neighbor take water soaked things out of her basement. Mostly clothes and books. This next quilt on the machine has issues. Starting with the seams of the back being sewn in different directions. I had to resew one seam.

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It's a vintage quilt with extra fullness in many places like this.

Now that I've cleared out space for more photos; I'm wondering if I should change other things on my blog. Maybe fewer labels? Maybe change the labels to quilt type? I'm not sure. I have to think on it a bit more.

More about 2 sided quilts

I got a couple of questions in my email about doing 2 sided quilts. I thought I should add the answers to my blog for future visitors. The questions were about having two quilts the exact same size and how to attach them to the machine. With quilting machines (on track tables) the backing should be larger than the top in order for the clamps and leaders to hold the quilt sandwich.

Usually one of the quilts will be larger than the other so the largest becomes the backing. If both are the same size....

A false border can be basted to one of the quilts so you have extra room for your clamps and leaders. It's the same principle as you would do when a customer brings a backing that's exactly the same size as the top. Baste a false border on the backing before attaching to the machine and remove it when the quilting is finished.

This would be a pain if I tried to do it by hand. I baste the false border on with my domestic machine. I do a zig zag stitch set at widest and longest my machine will do. On my machine this happens to be a quarter inch wide and 4 stitches per inch. This is the seam allowance for attaching binding so it works out fine when the false border is removed. I keep several long strips of scrap muslin just for using as false borders. I cut these to fit a current quilt and sew them back together for longer quilts later.

I do stabilize the whole quilt sandwich (before stitching any of the design) being careful that the edge of the top quilt lines up along the basting of the false border. This way I know the false border is not going to be stitched by accident. The top quilt will over lap the false border by a quarter inch because of the zig zag seam. When the false border is removed (after the quilting is done) both the top and back should be even.

To stabilize the quilt sandwich; I do a stitch in the ditch around all the blocks (not the individual pieces) and the border. I make sure I don't go over any fabric warts when I SID. If a wart happens to fall in the SID line I skip over it. The warts are usually no larger than a quarter inch and rarely happens more than once or twice so it doesn't show much in the finished quilt.

If I do all the SID and everything lines up nicely along the edges; I know it's ok to go back and quilt all the designs. If for some reason things don't line up; a single line of stitching is much easier to remove than a whole design is.

If for some reason either of the tops is smaller than the other.... you (or the customer) must add a border to the smallest one or cut down the largest one. There is no other choice because the edges must meet to attach the binding.

How it's done

Here is how I deal with the fabric warts (thick seam intersections) of a double sided quilt. Using my hands.... one on the bottom and one on the top.... I feel for where the intersections are underneath that may cause a problem. I then mark it with quilter's chalk on the top. Like this.



When doing the stitching of the design I carefully avoid those marks. In the picture above I have stitched the feather spine. In the picture below I've stitched the feather plumes.

Another picture of how I avoided the marks. Can you see how the plumes are just a tiny bit odd shaped? A necessary step to avoid the fabric warts underneath.

On the blocks I did the same thing except I used a blue marker because of the lighter color fabrics. In some places I had to get very close to the warts. I was very careful and went slow. A stitch regulated machine helps but if you don't have one you will need to slow your speed down to almost a crawl when you near a mark.

Ok, let's talk about the oddities of stitching the designs. True there are places where the design is not quite right. You will see it because you have your nose a few inches away from the quilt. You need to be this close in order to see the stitching your machine does. But.... WHO is going to have their nose that near the quilt after it comes off the machine?

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Most people view a quilt from a standing distance. A quilter views it from about 6 inches away. Most people will see the overall design but the quilter sees the individual sections. Only another machine quilter (or a contest judge) will be able to spot the oddities. Hopefully they will ask you why you did that and you can teach them this technique too.

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I'm often asked why I so freely share my quilting knowledge when so many others charge for it. It all started with my grandmother. I spent many days with her when I was a child. She said the way a person lives forever is by how much others remember us and how much of ourselves we leave behind when we die. If we pass our knowledge to our children who pass it to their children who pass it to their children and so forth.... a part of us lives forever. People may not remember the person but they will remember the knowledge gained. So that's what I'm doing when I teach others the techniques I've learned. I'm helping someone from my past live forever while adding little pieces of myself too. Make sense?

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Enough deep thought for today. I have a doctor appointment this morning and need to get ready. Doctor appointments usually take several hours because I go to a clinic. The economy has many more people going to clinics these days. More people mean longer wait times.

Issue quilt - pieced backing

Yesterday, I didn't show pictures of the top of this difficult quilt. I knew I was going to work on it so I saved the pictures for today's post. I'm sorry, I should have explained that yesterday. It's a sampler quilt. See the on point setting? I've got it stabilized and started the quilting.

Here I've chalk marked where a feather spine will be. As you can see, there are multiple seams coming together in some of the blocks. (no way to see where the fabric warts are on the back)

This is the pattern photo of the quilt. I hope you can see the feather design in the photo. Notice the feather style? I think you can click on the picture to make it larger.

Here you can see I've started working some of the feathers. This is the setting triangles. I changed the feather. It's a branching feather instead of a single feather. Branching fills the space nicer. It still has the type plumes as the original quilt.

This is the starting corner. I also finished the feather on the outside border.

This customer does not want an overall theme. She wants it finished as closely as I can manage to match the original quilt. I told the customer that the backing will have tucks. It's unavoidable. She doesn't mind. I did tell her how to avoid this problem in the future. Want to know what it is? Ok, I'll explain it.

If the backing squares have not been made then simply sew your pieces to a "leave in" non-sticky stabilizer. The kind that doesn't need to be removed. Use squares of stabilizer as a foundation to sew your scrap fabric to it. Do a sew and flip like you would do with paper piecing. The stabilizer prevents the bias of the fabric from stretching no matter which direction the bias goes. Be sure to press very well each time you sew a new piece into the block. Pressing is the key.

If the squares are leftovers from other projects then you should use an "iron-on" stabilizer. Press the stabilizer to each of the blocks and trim away the excess carefully before sewing the blocks together. Again, pressing is the key. Press the blocks very carefully before adding the stabilizer. You want to press out any fullness before adding the stabilizer.

Simple huh? Bet you didn't think of it. (wink) Yes, the stabilizer does add an extra layer of fabric to deal with but it's much better than trying to avoid tucks in the backing.

I usually don't quilt on Sunday. I have three appointments this week. I quilted yesterday to get some of the work done that I won't be able to do in the next few days. Tomorrow I'll show you how I avoid running over fabric warts and breaking needles when doing this type quilt. Providing nothing happens to take me away from the quilting machine.

Now if only, if only I could get blogger to stop messing with the spacing in my posts.... sigh.

The deadline quilt is done



She picked it up yesterday. This is the top.






I did a leaf and vine design on each side of the applique design.

I did a leaf and flower design on the pieced inside border and a different leaf design on the very inside border.

I did line dancing on the nine patch blocks.

I meandered around the photos and a leaf in the corners.

Another view of the borders.

Ok, now that the quilt is finished and the customer is happy I finished by the deadline.... I can relax. I want to thank Quiltin Library Lady for the comment you sent me. I needed it to remind me that I'm in control of my life..... not the other way around.

I got another stern lecture from my doctor when I saw her Monday. She sent me home with some instructions to make changes in my life.... right now. I'm trying.... really I am. She just doesn't understand. My budget doesn't allow for simply going out to buy all new groceries or changing a lifestyle on the spur of the moment. I have to plan my budget carefully. She wanted me to see her again in two weeks but there weren't any appointments available that soon. My next appointment is July 2nd.

I went to the thrift store across the street from the doctor's office. This is what I got.

No, I didn't pay 19.95 for it. They had a sale 75% off everything in the store that day. The extra beaters were free. The clerk gave them to me for buying the mixer. It's been sitting on the store self for a few months. I've been eyeing it and waiting for the right sale while at the same time hopeing that no one would buy it. It works fine. A bit of cleaning and it will look great.

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I'm not feeling quite up to par today. My head is stuffy and my throat is scratchy. I'm trying to decide what to do today. Do I finish the next quilt because I'm so far behind schedule and need the money? Or should I pick cherries from the tree? Maybe I should just leave them for the birds to enjoy this year? If I pick the cherries do I want to simply put them in the freezer or do I can some cherry pie filling? Last year I lost most of the frozen cherries when we had the power outage in the fall.

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I had the interview with the reporter. It was over the phone. She was asking me about how I save money and about my blogs. Her name is Katya Cengel. I forgot to ask her when the article will be in the paper and she didn't say either. I guess I'll won't get to read it myself. I don't get the daily paper. There were a couple of questions I didn't answer. For personal safety reasons. I do live in a bad part of town. Too much personal information can put a senior at risk. Criminals read the paper too.

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The ant problem is taken care of. I realized I pay a yearly fee for an exterminator. So I called. There wasn't any extra charge for him coming to spray for ants. I didn't see a single ant when I woke up. Yea!

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Well I guess the work won't get done until I go do it. I have to make a choice and get to it.

Well now.... this one is finally done


This is the vintage quilt I showed a few days ago. This is one side.



This is the other side. Can you see that the sashing is relatively straight?

If you remember after stabilizing, the blocks originally looked like this. Plenty of fullness in them.

The fullness is still there but it's distributed so it's less noticeable. See in the corner of this block where some of that fullness is?

The side of the block where more fullness is hiding.

A close up of the tulip and a part of the sashing so you can see the fullness is less noticeable.

Once this quilt is washed a couple of times the extra fullness will relax into the batting and be even less noticeable than it is now.

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When I get a chance I will put this on my helpful hints blog giving a little more details about how I accomplished it. I should have time by the weekend.... no promises though.... I never know when I might wind up in the hospital.

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I've noticed that since I started moderating the comments sent to my blogs.... I've gotten no bad or weird stuff. I'm glad I did that!

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Gotta go now... lots to do today. My doctor appointment was changed to another day due to her having an emergency elsewhere.

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p.s. The corn I put into the freezer was store bought. It was on sale 5 ears for a dollar and I bought 40 ears of it. My daughter took half leaving me wishing I had bought more. I'm sure it will be on sale again around the 4th of July holiday so I plan on stocking up again then.