My Quilting Journey

When I'm asked how long I've been quilting, that is a difficult question to answer. It's not like I can answer, "My mother taught me when I was 12 and I've been quilting ever since." (My mother wasn't even a quilter, but she was a seamstress). Or, "I took a class when I was 40..." No, my quilting journey is a rather long and convoluted one. 
Let me start by saying that I hated Home Economics (or Home Ec, as we preferred to call it) classes. I was required to take them in Grade 8. I think it was one afternoon a week, all of the girls in my class were required to traipse over to another school, where they had a Home Economics classroom and teacher, so we could learn the joys of cooking and sewing. The class was divided in half, so that half of the girls were learning cooking while the other half was learning sewing. I had baked cakes from scratch before I ever took a Home Economics class, so was quite insulted when we had to make a cake mix. Therefore, I didn't really feel that there was much to learn on the cooking side of things. 
Sewing was a different matter because, while I had used my mother's Sunbeam Mixmaster, I had never used her Singer. And, for whatever reason, there appeared to be a shortage of sewing machines in the Home Ec classroom. It seemed that every time I got up from my sewing machine, another girl in the class would "steal" it. It made for a very frustrating time trying to complete a project. My first project was a skirt. I think it was probably made from a yard of fabric (we weren't on the metric system back then). One seam up the side, an elastic casing and then hand-hemming. Boy, that hand-hemming was painful. Little wonder that when I finally got my first sewing machine, one of the requirements was that it have a blind hemming stitch. No more of that hand-hemming for me. As I was working on hemming my skirt, the teacher told me it was too short. Oh come on, this was the early 70s: all of our skirts were either minis, midis or maxis. And one yard was definitely not enough fabric to make a midi or a maxi! And why didn't she tell me that before I started hemming? The next project was pajamas. I asked if I could use a pattern that my mother already had from one of my older sisters' forays into the domestic arts, rather than the one the teacher suggested. Why spend money on another pattern if we didn't have to? (Especially since it was not likely to get used again). The teacher agreed and the project was started. She did, however, tell me to do something different with the armholes. Was it binding instead of facing? I don't remember exactly, but instead of making it easier, I think it made it more challenging. I had to take the project home to get it finished, and when my mother saw me so frustrated, struggling so much with it to the point of tears, she finished if for me. Was that cheating? Probably, but I likely would have done the same for my daughter. Except that I homeschooled my daughter, so I was the teacher.
Somewhere during that frustrating time, I decided to stop attending Home Ec classes, with my mother's full knowledge and consent. If that makes me sound like a spoiled brat with an indulgent mother, that's definitely not the case. My mother raised me to be mature, responsible and self-directed, and when she heard my rationale for wanting to quit, she allowed me to. Instead, I stayed home and cleaned the litter box. That is, I stayed home until the Home Ec teacher reported my continued absence to my teacher, and I started going back again. Looking back, I wish I'd had the courage to tell him how frustrating I considered Home Ec and what a waste of time it was. And that I had my mother's permission to stay home. However, I went back and endured the frustration until it was over. But it turned me off sewing so much that I never touched a sewing machine again until after I finished high school. I found shop class, which I took as an option, much more fun, feeling that I was learning and accomplishing something, with appropriate supervision and input from the teacher. I can't help but wonder how many of the girls in my Home Ec class never sewed again. At least for me, it wasn't an experience calculated to instill in me a lifelong love of sewing. 
So how did I end up returning to sewing? I really don't know, other than the fact that my mother always sewed, and so, in spite of my experience, it wasn't something that was seen as negative. Somehow I got back into it, only this time it was a wonderful journey. Yes, I had frustrations. I remember a green satin dress on which I just couldn't get the bodice right. And my mother ended up finishing that one for me as well. But I did successfully make a lot of my own clothing. 
And sometime in those early days of garment sewing, I developed an interest in quilts. That was back in the day of women's magazines that would feature craft patterns - I still have some of them in my library. One of the first I remember was a puff quilt that called for four layers of batting, two of which were cut up into squares about an inch smaller than the squares of fabric. When you stitched the quilt together, these two layers would be stitched inside the fabric squares. It made for a very puffy, and no doubt very warm, quilt. Unfortunately, I never did get around to making that quilt and neglected to preserve the pattern. The next one was the Meow-y Christmas quilt. I love Christmas and I love cats, so this was a perfect quilt for me. I think it had 16 or 20 blocks where I had to embroider cats in various poses. Each cat pattern had to be increased in size using a grid from a small picture in the magazine, and then transferred to the fabric. I managed to get 12 of them done, and eventually ordered the package from the magazine. 

As you can see, I still have it. And maybe some day, I will actually complete this quilt. 

One of my reasons for being interested in making quilts was because of all the scraps I was accumulating from garment sewing. Eventually, I used some of those to make my very first quilt.

And yes, I've still got it, too. And believe it or not, I think it has pieces of that original skirt in it (the orange fabric).

It's a real mish-mash of fabrics - cotton, poly-cotton, polyester, flannelette, and satin. And in some places, the fabric is totally gone. So, it is in definite need of repair. I did the quilting on the sewing machine, not really having a clue what I was doing. I don't even know if walking feet even existed back then. I got tired of making all the squares in the centre and decided to try crazy quilting around the outside. Look at those huge pieces with no quilting, aside from the edges of the pieces. If I ever get around to repairing it, I might try putting it on the longarm and doing a better quilting job. Not sure how that would work because I'm not going to take it all apart. I don't remember what year I made it, but I know that I had it on my bed in nurses' residence when I was in nursing school, 1982-1984.

Sometime early in my marriage, I belonged to a book club, and I am quite sure that's how I obtained this book. 

Owning a book on quilt-making and actually making a quilt are not the same thing. And this book, unfortunately, is about making quilts by hand. It's from the days before rotary cutters and rulers and walking feet were common. And as you can see from the spine, it's well travelled, going with us as we moved from province to province. 

My next quilt was not until I was pregnant with my daughter in 1990. I finally used 6 of the embroidered cat blocks I completed many years before. 

And this one is also still around and now in my grandson's possession. I had intended to use the other cat blocks for another quilt for my daughter, doubling the batting to make a winter weight quilt. But, once I had Sophia, finding time for making another quilt just didn't happen. Unfortunately, through my many moves, I have lost the other six blocks.

Somewhere and somehow, I acquired a rotary cutter and pattern weights to use with garment making. I'm not sure whose not-so-brilliant idea that was. Rotary cutters don't work very well for cutting out garment patterns with small notches and indentations and curves. And the pattern weights don't work very well with scissors. As soon as you lift the fabric up to cut, the weights shift. At least, I already had a rotary cutter and mat for when I actually started making quilts.

It was after I moved to Alberta (1999) that I really wanted to get into quiltmaking. And I wanted to take a class. But I couldn't find one. I could find quilting classes for my daughter, but none for me. So, I had to learn from books and magazines. This is one of my original books. 

And then not only was I able to make quilts, but I actually taught a small class of my daughter and her friend, my niece and a couple of my friends. It was just a basic 4-patch, and my daughter still has the quilt she made from that class. 

I made a few quilts over a few years, but when my marriage started falling apart, so did my motivation for quilting. And once the marriage ended (2006), I had to focus on getting my life and my career back on track. Not really any time for hobbies. I had been out of nursing for 20 years, and had to take a nursing refresher course in order to get back into it. I had started it preemptively before the marriage ended and finished it in 2007. Then, because I didn't have any recent experience to put on my resume, I decided to pursue my degree. In 2012, I was awarded my bachelor's degree in nursing. And in 2013, I started quilting again, starting with both the 2012 and 2013 Craftsy (now Bluprint) BOMs, neither of which is finished yet. 

In September of that year was the last time I quilted a larger quilt on my domestic machine.

The cats were extremely helpful, as you can see. I had been trying through online learning to figure out how to do free motion quilting on the domestic machine. I had even found a tractor tire design that I wanted to use on this John Deere quilt. But I just couldn't get it right, so I ended up just doing straight line quilting with the walking foot. I had wanted to do cross-hatching, but It took me days just to get diagonal lines done. And I'd had enough. 

I had probably been to the Creativ Stitches show in September and I think that's where I got the flyer about renting a longarm. So, in November, I decided to give it a try. 

And I've never looked back. Since then, I have only done mini quilts on my domestic machine, renting a longarm for all of my bigger quilts. And in 2018, I bought my HQ Amara. 

And since this purchase, I have completed over 20 quilts on this machine, plus a couple of tote bags, table runners and table toppers. 

#quiltsforbroncos

Most, if not all of you, have likely heard of the tragic bus-semi accident in Saskatchewan that resulted in the deaths of 16 members of the Humboldt Broncos hockey team, as well as injury to 13 others. Many people around the world were touched by this tragedy, and 142,004 people donated over $15 million to the GoFundMe campaign set up to support the victims.  Meanwhile, Haus of Stitches, the crafting/quilting/sewing/whatever shop in Humboldt gave us quilters an opportunity to help the way quilters help best: make quilts. The call was originally for 200 quilts as the organizers wanted to be able to give them to victims, families, first responders and health care professionals involved. Last I heard, the expected number was 700, and they are still coming in. The Quilts for Broncos Facebook page stated this in their thank you post: "If you have not yet started a quilt, we kindly ask that you turn your generous and charitable efforts to other groups in need such as the Toronto Attack or other groups in your community in need of support." (Still waiting for a quilt shop or guild in Toronto to step forward and coordinate the efforts for the Toronto Attack victims). 
Today, I dropped my contribution off at Johnson's Sewing Centre in Edmonton as they are collecting and shipping them to Humboldt. 

I call it "Hope."

Originally, I tried to take this picture outside, on the same tree limb where I posed the Horsefeathers afghan in the previous post. Unfortunately, the wind was not cooperating and the quilt was blowing pretty much parallel to the ground. I later thought that perhaps I could have taken the picture if I laid on the ground beneath the quilt... Creative photo ops aside, I decided to back the truck out of the garage and take this picture inside. But first I had to wash my hands. Evidently, the warmer temperatures had gotten the pine sap flowing, and by the time I had finished fighting with the wind and the quilt, my hands were all sticky. Inside I discovered that pine sap does not wash out with simple soap. I had to resort to vegetable oil, which I then washed off with soap. After the picture taking however, I found a sticky spot on the edge of the quilt. Knowing I couldn't put vegetable oil on the quilt like I did on my hands, I sprayed a little Windex on it and then rinsed it out. That seemed to do the trick. 

I could have sent my quilt top in once I'd finished it. The organizers of the quilt drive were willing to take fabric, blocks, and quilt tops as well as finished quilts. But since the team is called "Broncos" and I have two different (and recently purchased) horse-themed pantographs, I was determined to finish the quilt using one of them. I opted for Mustang Stampede from Meadowlyon. I used a high-loft batting that was given to me by a friend, and I thought it would give the quilting more definition. But I found that you can barely tell (unless you look really closely) that it is horses. 

Look carefully, and you will see the horse.

Here's a close-up. You can see the horse's head just to the left of the light-coloured square.

If you look at the picture in the pantograph link, you can more readily discern the horses in the stitching because you'll know what you're looking for. I guess maybe I chose thread that blended in too well. 

And here the quilting is in progress at Central Sewing Machines: 

Meanwhile, I picked up this fabric for the Stellar Elegance Mystery Quilt:

I'm planning on using the black as the background fabric. 

And I'm making some serious progress on my Lilac Grove afghan. 

While I was in Johnson's, I just couldn't pass up this quilt kit. 

Isn't that tool fabric adorable? I intend to call it Grandpa's tools. It will probably go to the son of my father's oldest grandchild. Even though he's never met his great grandfather, I want him to have a memento of him. And tools always remind me of my dad. And I already have the perfect pantograph!

Stars Over Africa

I remember my mother saying about one car she drove when I was a child, "It's like driving a lumber wagon." Pan forward about 20 years and I got a firsthand experience of what she was talking about. I was about an hour's drive from home on a Sunday evening when my power steering belt broke. Nowhere to get it repaired, so I was left having to drive it home without power steering. While I've never driven a lumber wagon, driving that car home was about what I would imagine it would have been like. Well, this past Sunday, I got a chance to drive the "lumber wagon" of long arm quilting machines. 
I have used several different APQS machines (Millie, Freddy and Lucey, I think). More recently, I had the opportunity to "drive" a Tin Lizzie and a Pfaff Powerquilter. And I've been happy, for the most part, with all of them. However, I needed to get my entry quilt for Johnson's Sewing Centre's quilt challenge quilted. As a Seventh-day Adventist, I don't quilt on the Sabbath (Saturday). And I didn't have a day off - other than Sabbath and Sunday - until this coming Friday, which is the day I plan to take the quilt to Johnson's, so I didn't have time to quilt during the day and wasn't sure if my LQS would allow me to come in after hours to quilt it. And no place was open on Sunday. So, I resorted to following up on an ad I had seen months ago on kijiji. A woman was willing to rent her machine for $75 a day. I hadn't actually pursued this option previously because it was about an hour's drive to get to her place, and I wanted to have more than one quilt top ready to make paying for the day and driving that distance worthwhile. And then I discovered I could rent at my LQS for $35/quilt, so the kijiji ad no longer seemed worthwhile. However, I needed to get this quilt quilted and was running out of options. So I booked the time with her and Sunday morning loaded up Stars Over Africa and Evening Snowfall quilt tops and made the trip. I don't even recall what brand of machine she had, but as I started to quilt, I kept thinking the machine wasn't gliding smoothly like the other machines I had used, like maybe it needed a shot of WD40. It felt heavy and cumbersome. I was using the Fluffy Clouds pantograph, but my clouds didn't turn out very fluffy because the machine was so difficult to "steer." They came out looking sort of squarish, with rounded corners. Not exactly the look I was aiming for. The owner even mentioned (without me commenting on it) that her machine was a little harder to use because of the weight of the computer unit on it. I'm not sure if that was valid rationale or not. Somehow I didn't think so. Those little computer units really don't look like they would weigh all that much. Not enough to significantly affect how smoothly the machine handled. Besides, I think the Tin Lizzie I used also had a computer unit on it and that was the machine I used for my first free motion quilting on a long arm. And it handled like a dream. Nevertheless, I needed my quilt quilted and I had driven all that way, so I plodded along with it. Until I was about 3/4 of the way through the job and the machine went kaput on me. I felt really bad since it happened while I was using it. But then the owner informed me that it had been acting up for awhile and she had planned on taking it in for servicing, but she had already booked another lady (who quilted a few days previous to me) and me to use it. She was hoping it would hold out until we were done. Unfortunately for me, it didn't. She offered to allow me to leave my quilt on the frame and return to quilt it later, once the machine was serviced. But I needed to turn it in for the quilt challenge, so I said that I would have to finish it on my sewing machine. 
Fortunately, in my supplies at home, I have some Golden Threads Quilting Paper. I used this to trace the pantograph so I had something to follow while I finished quilting it. And here it is: 

I'm quite pleased with it, though I did get some puckers in the quilting in the lower left block, which frustrates me. But I really didn't want to pick out all the stitches and requilt it. I did pick out and requilt quite a bit, but still didn't totally fix it.  In my last post I wasnt sure what I was going to use for the border, and I ended up buying this green fabric. Here's a close up of one of the corner blocks:

You can see that I fussy cut the elephants for the centre of most of the blocks. Finally, here's the backing:

I love, love, love this backing fabric. 

I still haven't gotten the Evening Snowfall quilt quilted. That will have to wait for another time. I'm really starting to think seriously about getting my own machine. I found a couple of mid-arm machines on kijiji, but they only have 9" throats, so I'm not sure how genuinely useful I'll find them. Especially since I don't really like free motion. I'd be very limited in what pantographs I could use with such a small throat space. But, I called Central Sewing Machines to see if they could give me a retail price on a Viking Mega Quilter to see if the price on kijiji was a good deal or not. The woman I spoke with said that they don't carry that machine, but hopefully could get back to me with a price tomorrow. However, as we chatted, I discovered that they still rent their quilting machines for only $15/hour (only half of what Sparrow Studioz charges) and they are available most days that the store is open, plus evenings when they're having a class there. I'm not sure where I got the idea that their prices had gone up or that the machines were only available on certain days. Obviously something in their flyer I must have misinterpreted. I'd still have to take their training course for $150, but it's nice to know I have another option for long arm machine quilting. At least until I can afford to get my own...

Sweet Dreams

It had been over a year since the last time I quilted on a long arm machine. That was the Far Above Rubies quilt, for which I had chosen a more detailed pantograph. It took me 5 hours to finish the quilting and, at $30/hour, that was $150! For a 60" x 60" quilt! I was very frustrated. It should not cost more to finish a quilt myself than it does to pay someone else to do it. But I also didn't want to limit myself to just using very basic pantographs so that I could complete the quilts more quickly and keep the expense down. The time it took to load the quilt, if I needed help or stopped for lunch or to chat with another quilter, I was still "on the clock" and paying for my machine rental during that time. Yes, they did provide the thread and the pantographs, but I wasn't always happy with their selection and ended up buying my own, thus adding to the expense of the quilt. I decided to do a little shopping around. There was a sewing machine retailer that also rented their long arm machines - for half the hourly rate of the studio at which I had been renting! Unfortunately, they only had certain days when the machines were available for rent, which didn't necessarily coincide with my days off work. And when their prices went up to the same, or nearly the same, as the other studio, it definitely wasn't worth paying $150 to take the training required to use their machines. I'd already paid that to take the training at the first studio. On kijiji, I found an ad from a woman who was willing to rent her machine for $75/day, and I was seriously considering that. She lived out in the country, likely over an hour's drive away, so it definitely wasn't convenient, but the price was certainly more attainable. Then recently, one of my work colleagues, who had also gotten into quilting, informed me that our local quilt shop was willing to rent their machines out for $35 per quilt! Hurray! $35 including thread, and no need to take a training course as the store owner is willing to help as needed! And that's for any size of quilt. The only drawback is that only her smallest machine, an HQ Sweet 16 (I think), has a laser stylus to use pantographs, which are my preferred method of long arm quilting. Plus the fact that the longarm machines are in the basement of the store: concrete floors, not the most pleasing aesthetics, and it's cold down there. But these I am willing to endure for the sake of finishing my quilts. At least until a better option occurs, like buying my own long arm machine. I've already decided that if I ever marry again, I want a long arm quilting machine rather than a diamond ring.  Seriously! But since that is not likely to ever happen, I'll have to save up and buy my own.
I took Sweet Dreams and Unbroken (more about that one in a future post) to the quilt shop, with the intention of using pantographs on both of them. That never happened. I ended up deciding to try computerized quilting on the Pfaff Powerquilter 3 for Unbroken. And somehow, Geri, the proprietor, managed to convince me to try freemotion on the Tin Lizzie for Sweet Dreams. She demonstrated the first row, and then had me trace the design with my finger before finishing the quilt myself. I'm certainly not as proficient as her by any means, and there are lots of mistakes in my quilting, but it really doesn't look horrid. And as my mother used to say, "A blind man will never see it." 
Here's the finished product:

Now for Sweet Dream's story: Keepsake Quilting has some awesome deals in their clearance section, and, when our dollar was on par with the US dollar, I have made several purchases there. And likely will again, when the exchange rate becomes more favourable. Or maybe even if it doesn't... That's where I purchased the Sweet Expressions layer cake, which is all desserts - baking - candy fabric, and they provided a free pattern for the Uneven Nine Patch, which I chose to use for this quilt. It actually called for 25 - 10" squares while this layer cake only came with 20, so I had to add some other fabrics to complete the total. I decided to use this for a neutral baby quilt. I still have the Scrappy Shine that I made with pink binding for a little girl's adoption that never happened. And there haven't been any little girls born in the family since. So I have resolved to henceforth make neutral baby quilts (with the exception of a boy's quilt that I already have the fabric for). And I knew that I had two great nephews expected this year. One, Patrick, is already born, and he will be the recipient of the Sweet Dreams quilt. Here's the backing:

And a close-up:

When this fabric, and others like it, was on sale at Fabricland, I bought several metres of it to use as backings for children's quilts. I like to make my baby quilts less baby-ish, and more child-like. That way the child can use it throughout childhood, without being embarrassed by all of the diaper pins and storks on it. 
Now to finish the binding on Unbroken, which has been languishing for over a year while I got the basement renovations done and searched out a more economical alternative for longarm quilting. I did attempt to quilt it on my domestic machine, but that only resulted in a lot of stitch-ripping.

So You Think You Can Quilt

I have a tendency to compose blog posts in my mind while I'm driving. Some of them never actually get posted, but some of my best thoughts come while I'm between here and the city. I was in the city a week or so ago and mentally working on this post on the way home. Remember the sampler quilt top I made when I reviewed that quilting book? Well, I was trying to remember the name of the book and what came to my mind was, "So You Think You Can Quilt." No, I knew that was not the book's title, but I decided that would be a good name for this quilt anyway. (You can find the original post here). It's a sampler quilt, constructed by following the directions in a "how to" quilt book. And when it came to the actual quilting part, I was putting to use the skills I learned in my machine quilting class. So I figured that was an appropriate name for this quilt. 
Here it is:

I confess I really didn't like that border on it. I intended for it to pick up the blues in one of the black fabrics, but it just didn't work like I wanted it to. 
I still need lots of practice quilting, but it's coming. I bought a couple of new stencils when I was in the city and decided to try using my Pounce for the first time. Not happy. The white chalk dust barely showed up on the black print fabric and not at all on the pink fabric. Am I doing something wrong? Maybe I need to try the blue or the pink pounce (though the pink wouldn't show up on the pink fabric either.  I tried to use my blue quilt marker, but it didn't show up on the black print either. So I resorted to tracing paper, which is not my favourite machine quilting method, but it worked. I did use a stencil and marking pen for quilting the border, however. 
Here's a closeup of some of the quilting:

Sorry, the camera flash washed it out quite a bit. I need to refine my camera skills. 
I chose to use a variegated pink 40 weight Signature thread. (I used that brand because it was what was available at my LQS). I really love variegated thread (and variegated yarn, for that matter). I'm not sure what the appeal is for me, but I choose to use it whenever I can. However, the blocks and fabrics in this quilt are too "busy" for the variegations to make a significant impact. It makes more sense to use a variegated thread in a quilt with more plain or solid fabrics, like the Law School quilt. Lesson learned. I will keep that in mind for next time. Though I suppose it also depends on the look I want to achieve. If I don't want the quilting to stand out and a variegated would blend in better, then I'd go with that. For this particular quilt, even against the black, the variegated pink doesn't show up that well. If I had wanted my stitching to really stand out, a solid bright pink probably would have worked better. But as I am still learning, I'm not so sure that I want my stitching to really stand out yet. 
I used a different quilting motif for each block and a border stencil for the border. I had to modify it slightly as it was a little wide for the border. On the sashing, I just made a zig-zag pattern using my walking foot. 
Here's the back:

I love this fabric. I wish I had more of it. This quilt is 30" square, so either a table topper or a cat quilt. I could use it as a wallhanging, but didn't put a hanging sleeve on.
And here's the fabric I bought at Fabricland:

I used to love the Pink Panther and with a purple background, I can't lose, especially since it was in the clearance section at $2.50 a metre. This is a flannel fabric and will become the backing on a flannel quilt. I bought what was left on the bolt.

I couldn't resist this one, especially since it was also $2.50 a metre. Unfortunately, what was left on the bolt was in two separate pieces - 1.4 metres and 1.6 metres, but I'm hoping I can make it work for a backing as well.  I also stopped in Michael's and looked at art supplies. I could have kicked myself as I forgot both my art supply list for my Craftsy course and my 20% off Michael's coupon. But I got back there a couple of days ago and remembered my coupon and list, plus I had another coupon for 40% off one item and an Airmiles coupon for 5x the Airmiles, so the second trip was worthwhile. They also sell one of those plastic tag gun thingies for quilt basting. Cheaper than the one at Fabricland. Have any of you ever used one of those? I figure it's got to be easier than pin basting. 
Since I had taken the live Machine Quilting Class, I decided to use my dubious quilting skills to finish this sampler from my online machine quilting class.

I have to admit that this looks kind of like a map - the purple is water and the orange is land. Here's a close up of what was supposed to be swirls:

It just wasn't coming together for me. And here's my stipling:

I don't know if free motion is ever going to work well for me. I was never really a doodler, even with pen and paper, so doodling with my sewing machine is even more of a challenge. Here's the back:

This one is only 24" square, so definitely a cat quilt. Actually, the cats have already been using it before I finished it. I had it folded up on a corner of the sewing table and that's where one of them would sleep when he/she wanted to keep me company, although they haven't been doing that since I moved the sewing stuff to the basement.
My buddy Phil, who is also a cat lover, once asked me if I'd made the cats any quilts yet. Now I can say yes. Actually, all of my samplers from the machine quilting class will be cat quilts as well. I just need to get my serger back from servicing so I can serge the edges. And hopefully, they will help keep the cat hair off the furniture. 
As it's Remembrance Day today, I watched the ceremonies in Ottawa today on TV. Here's one of my favourite videos to help keep our veterans in mind:

Machine Quilting Class #4 - Final Class

For this class, we were supposed to bring in a project to practice on. While a few of us did bring in projects, none of us were actually brave enough to start quilting on them. We just continued to practice on our muslin samples. Even though I had both a project and some unused practice muslins, I decided to fill in the empty spaces on the ones I had already been working on. 

Remember the hearts I did last week? I finished echoing this one:

I added one echo to this one and then filed it with free motion meandering:

This strawberry was done using tracing paper and a pattern from 

501 Quilting Motifs: Designs for Hand or Machine Quilting :

I'm quite pleased with how the end leaves turned out. The rest of it needs more work. I'm also pleased with the fact that I figured out on my own how to do this motif in continuous line stitching. I like the book this came from, but if you choose to order it, be forewarned that a lot of motifs are not suitable for continuous line machine quilting. They're more for hand quilting.
This following flower was also done with tracing paper. It's from the book Machine Quilting with Alex Anderson: 7 Exercises, Projects & Full-Size Quilting Patterns .

This one was actually quite easy to do in continuous line stitching.

Then I decided to just fill some space with some random meandering:

Really need to work on my meandering skills.

I watched a Leah Day video of a free motion spider web, but when I tried it, it definitely did not resemble the real thing:

However, I am still pleased with the results because I think it's kind of pretty, whatever it is. I finally remembered what it actually looks like: an ammonite fossil! Next time I will try this with a much larger square like Leah did.

After this, I got bored with red and switched to citrus. I also didn't want to do another motif for which I had to use tracing paper. I really hate having to pick all those tiny little bits of paper off. So I bought a couple more stencils. Here's the first:

I like it very much and am not unhappy with my stitching either.

The other stencil (seen partially in the top of the above picture) is actually meant for a 12-inch block, so I only quilted one quarter of it here:

I think I was getting tired by this time and the stitching certainly shows it. This was my last motif of the night. And I'm glad it was the last class. I'm not fond of night driving. I find it rather disorienting. On my way home, my mind kept trying to convince me that I was driving in southwestern Ontario (where I'm from, originally). I kept imagining that I could see the shapes of huge deciduous trees along the roadside, like they grow in Ontario, but definitely not here in Alberta. I was quite tired, so I'm sure fatigue was a factor. Maybe also a dirty windshield.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention something I learned in that class. If you're going to need several of one motif for your quilt, trace it onto one sheet of tracing paper. Cut out enough sheets for the number of motifs required. Stack them all onto a piece of batting with the traced one on top. Machine stitch without thread through all layers. Voila! All of the tracing papers now have the motif marked on them with the stitching. The batting just provides support to the tissue paper. On the other hand you probably only need to stitch one, because you can then use it as a stencil. The instructor demonstrated how to use a Quilt Pounce using one of these. A quilt pounce is a little "whatchamacallit" that you fill with Pounce chalk dust. You just lay the perforated tracing paper (or stencil as the case may be) where you want it on your quilt, rub the Pounce over the pattern and it's transferred to the quilt. I bought a Pounce at the class and plan on using it soon... The white dust can be ironed out, the blue has to be washed. Meanwhile, I also thought that, instead of tracing the pattern, you can just photocopy it, and then perforate the copy paper with your sewing machine.  And fortunately for me, I have a home photocopier.

And more on the subject of marking quilts - If you use one of those blue quilt marking pens, make sure you remove the markings as soon as you no longer need them. I didn't get around to removing the markings from last weeks samples until today and they were much more difficult to remove than the ones from last night's class. If you leave them long enough, do they become permanent? I don't intend to find out.

In my last post on acrylic painting, I also spoke about taking quilt photos. I dragged out the wicker peacock chair and here are the results:

Go Wild! quilt on the chair, Bearly Hockey quilt in the foreground.

Trying a better angle, but still not quite right.

Busted! Yes, I'm taking these pictures in my downstairs bathroom. The previous owners of my house had the shower removed, so there's a fair amount of empty space in there. If I was any good at photoshopping, I would get rid of the toilet. However, if I decide to paint this picture, I can just leave the toilet out. It's not my prop of choice. :-) If I ever get my basement finished, I will set up a corner for quilt photos, so I don't have to use my bathroom.



Machine Quilting Class #3

Admittedly, I will still need lots of practice with machine quilting before I actually become relatively good at it. I don't aspire to greatness, at least not in the field of machine quilting, but I'd like my stitching to be at least passably good. 
The lessons for this class were using freezer paper, stencils and tracing paper.

The large hearts and the rabbits were done by cutting the pattern out of freezer paper, ironing it onto the fabric and then quilting around it. Unfortunately, the white freezer paper did not show up very well on the muslin background, so I ended up tracing around the patterns. The poppies in the upper right and the pumpkin were both made with  stencils. You can still see the residue of my fabric marker that I have yet to remove. The "feather" and the heart circle on the left were made using tracing paper. I filled in the inside of the feather with some rather jerky-looking stippling after removing the tracing paper. But I'm learning. Each of the methods has it's advantages and disadvantages. Our instructor cautioned us about the use of fabric markers. On certain dyes, especially those in the red family, they can interact with the dye and become permanent. Tracing paper can be a bit of a pain to remove, especially if you have to double back over your stitching and don't place the second layer of stitches exactly on top of the first layer and you end up with a tiny "bubble" in between. Getting that tiny piece of tracing paper out of the bubble can be challenging. The instructor is quilting dragons on a quilt for her daughter. She says that she can quilt a dragon in 45 minutes, but it takes her nearly 3 hours (I think that's what she said) to remove all of the tracing paper. Freezer paper is great for shapes that you just want to outline, and then maybe fill with free motion or echoing. As you can see above, I was just beginning to echo the one heart. With stencils as well as with tracing, you have to be able to figure out how the stitching will go for it to be continuous. I got a little mixed up when I was doing the poppies and ended up going where I shouldn't have. But it's all a learning process. Even the instructor showed us a stencil that she'd purchased that she has never been able to figure out how to do continuous line stitching on. I believe free-motion would probably be the best method if I were any good at it. I've never been a doodler, which is what it's compared to, so I don't know if I'll ever get proficient at free-motion. I'd be happier with a pattern marked out for me somehow. That's why, so far, I've stuck with pantographs when I'm longarming a quilt. 

Second Machine Quilting Class - 02/10/14

I'm so thankful I'm taking this class. Not only am I learning things, but it helps to counter the not-so-enjoyable acrylic painting class I'm taking. I only wish it was here in town instead of over an hour's drive away in Edmonton. And, with the class starting at 6:00, I have to leave direct from work and contend with Edmonton's rush hour traffic. However, it's only 4 sessions, so I'm halfway through. Tonight we experimented with some free motion, using different threads and needles to see what works best. I had an open-toe darning foot on hold for me, which I purchased before the class. My machine came with an embroidery foot, but it has a closed toe, which is a little frustrating to use for quilting. I like the open toe much better. I started with a topstitch needle and some 40-weight cotton.

My bobbin does not like 40-weight and I had some "eyelash" problems on the back (not shown), but mostly was relatively successful with this. Yes, I will still need LOTS of practice for it it actually look good, but it was fun and I actually felt like I was catching on to the idea.
Next, I switched it up and started playing with some fun threads.

I've got rayon, viscose, polyester, metallic and 28-weight cotton. Gutterman, Mettler, Superior, Aurifil. I was really "playing the field" with threads. For the lighter weight threads I used a 60-weight polyester in the bobbin, and a 50-weight poly for the heavier threads. I didn't have any eyelash problems with these weights in the bobbin. The instructor said to use the same weight in both top and bobbin, and I have heard that before. But I have to use what makes my sewing machine happy. And I am NOT changing my bobbin tension. 
Next class, we'll be using stencils and tracing paper. 

First Machine Quilting Class - 25/09/14

As life has been incredibly busy with working full-time and taking two night classes a week, I haven't gotten a chance to post this in a timely manner. And it will be a shorter post, comparatively speaking.
Our first machine quilting class was relatively easy for me as it was on using the walking foot and I have done quilts using mine before. Here's my practice project:

 

Yes, I admit it. I didn't get the whole project done in class. And while I had good intentions of finishing it at home (not sure when I expected to get the time), when I emptied my bag, I could not find my class handout that had all of the designs to practice... <sigh> Hopefully, someone in class picked it up for me and I'll be able to retrieve it at the next class. It had all of the basic information on needles, threads, tension, etc, that I don't want to be without. 
Amazingly enough, when we were discussing long arm quilting, our class instructor said that she has a long arm, but doesn't use it much. Seriously??? Why would you take days (weeks) to do your quilting when you can do it in a few hours on a long arm?
This class is much more fun and much less messy than acrylic painting.