Round Two

I finished my Wedding Star quilt.  This is a little table topper 30" in both dimensions.  It is a Judy Niemeyer pattern and I do so admire her designs, but I found the directions to be very confusing in some parts.  However, I was able to tough it out without too much waste.  It is paper pieced and I have done lots of that so experience paid off.

In all my years of sewing and quilting this is the first bias binding I have done.  I went straight to Sharon Schamber's wonderful video on how to do it.  She has so many suggestions on how to avoid problems and a really cool method for cutting the bias.    She has some fussy steps in her process, but in using her methods you can avoid errors that might end in a sloppy result.  She also has an excellent video on how to do a straight grain binding.  I HIGHLY recommend that you watch one or both of her tutorials.

"Wedding Star" (pattern by Judy Niemeyer)

Now I am starting another quilt with the same pattern because I have two family weddings coming up and this is my way of celebrating.  I made some mistakes on the first one and I think I can avoid those on this one.  I have plenty of fabric except for one color that I just barely had enough to cut.  If I goof on that one I will have to replace that element with a different fabric.  All the fabrics are from my stash except for 1 yard for background.  That is helpful as the only way I can get fabric at the moment is online.

Design wall with the start of the second "Wedding Star." (testing!)

I hope you are all doing well during this time of isolation.  The virus hasn't changed my life much because we are pretty much a stay-at-home couple at any given time.  I always have plenty to keep me busy at home and soon I will be able to garden.  I feel badly for our 4 graduates this year as they may not be able to celebrate with the usual ceremony, but at least they are able to finish their course work online.  Our two weddings are in August and October, and I really hope that they each will be able to have the wedding of their dreams.  At any rate they will each have a small quilt from Grandma.

Sew some happy seams this week.  I wish you no flu and lots of time to sew.

Viral Quilting

We are all worrying about a tiny virus that packs a wallop.  Many of us are self-isolating ourselves as much as possible.  Some of you will be extra busy with the kids at home.  Others will be at home with time on your hands.  Well, I no longer have kids at home, but I am always busy within the confines of my house and yard.  However, I miss being able to go to the library, I will go to the store only for dire necessities (like food), restaurants are closed, etc.  So, even if I should feel housebound and want to get out, I won't, except for my daily dog walk.  Quilting can be a blessing at times like this to keep our minds on something other than the troubles.  We are so lucky to have chosen a business or hobby that can keep us immersed in something productive, creative and beautiful.  Of course I assume you have a stash to work from.  I could probably supply the neighborhood.

I have been busy getting my little quilt quilted.  Sometimes I plow straight into a project without planning each step.  I got so excited to get the top all together that I busied myself with building the sandwich so I could settle down to quilting.  About halfway through stitching-in-the-ditch I realized that I hadn't finalized my ideas for the quilting.  So now how am I going to mark it?  That should have been done before the sandwich, but now it was too late.  Never fear, where there is a will there is a way.

I like to completely mark my quilting design because I find it hard to see around the needle apparatus to figure out where I should go next with my freeform designs.  If the lines are drawn it is easier for me.  Some of this I can do free hand with the blue or purple marker, but I need a pattern of some sort with which to mark the bones of the design.  If I had thought ahead I would have used a light box to trace the design.  Now it is too late.  You can create patterns with plastic templates, freezer paper, kitchen dishes, and many other items.  I use old manilla folders.  I cut the pieces and trace around them with a blue marker onto the quilt top.  That sets the main directions of the pattern.  The bird is clipart from the Internet.

Manilla folder pattern for main lines of the design.

Then I draw in the feathers freehand.

Incomplete drawing with the blue marker.

I decided to quilt with pale, purple thread.  The background is white on white, but it looked very stark and blah when I was done piecing.  The purple thread will somewhat disappear after I soak it when I am done, but enough will show to outline the quilting and add interest and a little color to the dull, white background (lower right corner).

Now to the sewing machine.

Sew some happy seams this week.  I wish you novelty in finding/designing quilting patterns.  Stay well and wash your hands.

The Wonder Stuff Called Glue

I have been working on a double wedding ring table table topper.  It is full of curved seams, and I have done them many times.  Picture a dozen pins holding it all in place.  Force it under the presser foot.  Try to keep the puckers out.  Try to remember to pull the pins out before they interact with the needle.  Saliva is useful to remove blood from the fabric.

Two pieces to sew together in a curved seam

My pattern is from Judy Niemeyer and she simplifies much of the process...with glue.  I have used glue on tricky seams many times, but I hadn't thought about it for this pattern.  Wow!  It takes all the work out of sewing the curved seams.  I used 3 pins:  one on each end and one in the middle during the gluing process.

Pin Placement.  Glued together.

Press to set the glue (it will wash out later).  Then I pulled out the middle pin leaving only the ones on the ends...just in case. The sewing went so fast I couldn't believe it.  I did have to address a couple of tiny puckers but they eased out without trouble, and I did a LOT of curved seams.

Inside

Outside

I use Elmer's clear glue.  You can also buy a glue stick, but I have a needle nose, screw-on top on my bottle of glue.  I got that top at a local Woodcraft store, but I am sure they are on the Internet somewhere.  You don't even need to keep track of a cover for the pointy top.  This glue does not like plastic and does not stick to it.  If there is a little glue left on the tip it may get rubbery, but is pulled out easily with a pin and you are ready to go.  No muss.  No fuss.  No lid to lose!

All those tricky seams are done now and I am ready to free-motion quilt.  Well, first I will stitch in the ditch of every seam.  On this quilt I can do that with my dual feed foot, which makes that process easier because this is a very small quilt.  I don't think it would work as well on a large quilt so you would have to FMQ.  As you see, I am all for easy where possible.

Together

Sew some happy seams this week.  I wish you success with glue and curved seams.