Stitch or Puff - Evolution of a Design

I have four blocks on this quilt that are turquoise, as opposed to the black and rust of all the other blocks.  I stitched out the design I had drawn.  It had gold quilting in the center in a wavy grid, which I did first.  By the time I finished the rest of the quilting I noticed that the gold didn't even show.  It had no character.  What do do?  I decided to remove the gold stitching from the 2 inch center.  Then I sprayed it with water to relax the fibers.  As I walked by later I noticed the the center of the block now puffed up and looked so pretty, except for the seam down the middle.

Gold removed.  You can see old stitch marks.  Nice puff in the center square. 

  I placed a pin perpendicular to the seam to see what it would look like with four quadrants defined.  Voila!  I liked the puff in four quarters better than the closer stitching that had been there.  So...I stitched two straight, perpendicular lines and then a little, accent line in between, all with gold.  The gold still doesn't show much, but the puff does.  In the right light there is a bit of glitz visible.

Gold stitching in the center.  Puff remains.

TIP:  Sometimes you can't plan ahead, so be open to ideas as they stumble across your quilt.

I don't like the poor backstitching on two of the feathers.  I think I will do them over because they are so visible with the red thread.  Yes, I know!  I am fussy.

Sew some happy seams this week.  I wish you design serendipity.

Designs Under Duress

Have you ever heard that you are supposed to plan your quilting before you even begin piecing?  When I first began quilting this concept was way beyond my imagination.  I think it takes practice doing actual quilting before you are ready to think ahead very much.  Now I find myself at least thinking about how I will quilt the top while I am busy putting it all together.  Then I sit down and draw out my ideas on tracing paper.  BUT...

Sometimes those designs don't do justice to the quilt.  Grrrrrrr!  This results in ripping and re-designing.  My current quilt is the item under siege at the moment.   It truly has a mind of it own.  Gradually I have made my way out from the center with a fair amount of doing and re-doing.  I have stitched ideas on my scraps, but sometimes even those don't work out.  I have stitched new designs onto the quilt itself when I was sure they were perfect.  But they weren't.  Rrrrriipppppp!  Design looks dorky.  Thread color is wrong. Orientation is wrong.  I was off my feed and the stitching is wonky.

If... I mean when...this happens to you, pull out the bulldog in yourself and let it off the leash.  Rest a bit, but please don't give up.  Designs under duress are often the best ones yet and that is happening to me at this point.  I am now happy and eager to carry through around the other three sides of the quilt.  It is so much easier to quilt when you love how the design looks.  Sometimes you just have to listen to what the quilt is saying.  Sometimes it really has a mind of its own.

The quilt chose this design  It didn't like the orignal plan.

I hate to admit to all the ripping I did before this plan evolved.  This has been a very chatty quilt!  BTW the lighter color filler lines in the feathers is metallic gold.  It makes the quilt sparkle and glow.  The little square at the top is also stitched in gold.

Sew some happy seams this week.  I wish you perfect designs even if under duress.

Is it Cheating?

I am doing free motion quilting (FMQ), and work on a sit-down, domestic machine.  I don't have rulers because I have chosen not to spend the money on a special foot and all the rulers.  Straight lines are problematic when FMQ-ing.  They are probably one of the hardest part of any design.  I have done many of them and am not too bad at it, but I would prefer to avoid the imperfections that I invariably create.  So I cheat.  I put on a standard straight foot (actually my appliqué foot for visual clarity) and stitch with the help of the feed dogs.  In the designs I am currently doing there are a lot of almost straight lines and they look so much better with the cheat method.  I thumb my nose at the Quilt Police.

Is this really cheating?  Of course not!!  I believe that you need to do whatever will accomplish your vision.  I am not a purist, but you need be sure it will work on your quilt without puckering either the top or backing.  The only way to test this is to try it on your actual quilt.  You might have to do a little ripping if it fails...so don't do too much for starters.

TIP:  The best way to prevent puckering is to stitch all your piecing and appliqué in the ditch (SID) before you begin any fancy quilting.  This way you have small areas secured.  Every line of stitching takes up a little bit of fabric so there is just a little bit less to bubble up.

Stitching straight guided by my favorite marking tool (Sewline Pencil).
Even those curved leaves came out nicely and there were no puckers.

Another thing to think about is the size of your quilt.  If you need to outline even a little 2 inch square, you will have to turn your quilt four times to make it around.  This may not be practical on a bed-sized quilt.  I make smaller quilts and have a machine with a roomy harp so I am not having a problem except that it is a bit of a nuisance.  However, I think it is worth it to get the straight lines and even stitches.  I also have the whole quilt well secured with lots of SID (every single seam!).

TIP:  You can use your dual feed or walking foot, but the SID allows the use of a regular foot.  I find it hard to maneuver my thick quilt under the dual feed foot.  It depends on your machine and quilt.

Sew some happy seams this week.  I wish you success in evading both the Quilt Police and puckers.

Second Place Stitching

I am in a place where stitching comes second.

Summer is here:  lots of yardwork after the plumbers tore up the yard to hook us into the city sewer.

DH recovering from major surgery:  double duty for yours truly.

24 hour stomach upset:  just me, thank goodness; 48 hour recovery.

Ponderosa pine pollen:  all over the place, leaving us with headaches and sneezes.  It looks like yellow snow on the cars, furniture, kitchen counters, etc.  Lots of dusting to do every day.

Ponderosa pollen covers everything with yellow dust.

Clearly sewing takes second, third or fourth place in this scenario.  However, free motion thinking proceeds as usual, and I think I finally came up with a solution for quilting four, black blocks in my quilt.  I tried it on the actual quilt and below is the result.

Top motif on the black square has been the troublemaker.

Sew some happy seams this week.  I wish you inspiration that solves your problems.

Where Have I Been?

Actually I have been home.  It started with house guests - my daughter and grandaughter.  What fun!  We got one hike in when DH developed some scary symptoms and within a week had donated a kidney to the pathology lab.  It all happened so fast, but he is now recovering well.  It sent the family into a spin and I have been too busy doing double duty here at home to spend time writing or sewing. Sewing was curtailed additionally by the fact that my granddaughter was sleeping with my sewing machine until time to report to camp where she is a counselor this summer.

I am now back to quilting and making good progress on a lot of tedious, small designs.  I am slowly making my way to the outer verges of the quilt, and looking forward to working on large feathers in a wide border.

I am also pondering what to quilt on four squares, each 4 inches.  I drew a design, but now that I am there I don't like it.  What do you do when you get stumped on what to do?

1.  Head for Pinterest for ideas.  I do not mean copy verbatim, but be inspired and let your brain digest what you see until your own creative ideas emerge.

2.  Grab pencil and paper.  Draw your ideas.  Some work.  Some don't.  Some lead to interesting effects.  Pretty soon you will have a design worth trying with your needle.

Playtime with pencil, trying a couple of ideas.

3.  Work it out on a scrap sandwich made from the same batting and fabric in your quilt.

Playtime with needle; three ideas on one block.

I still don't like any of the ideas with needle.  The corners are a serious issue.  Yes, it is wonky in the tester, but will be straight and precise on the quilt with better stitching.  This is only a scrap venue for trying it out in a hurry.

4. (optional)  Go back to #1 and hunt for more ideas.  Go further afield than just Pinterest.  Play with it.  In the meantime there are many other parts of the quilt to stitch.  It will come together eventually.

Sew some happy seams this week.  I wish you a plethora of ideas.

Crunch Time

I am having guests all next week.  I'm down to the wire trying to get things done, but life doesn't always cooperate.

Thurs - Slush storm.  Have you ever seen slush come straight from the sky?  What a slippery mess and too cold to work in the unheated "Guest Cottage" (GC) (repurposed garage).

Sat - It is finally warmer.  I will do laundry while I clean the GC because my daughter will be sleeping out there if it doesn't turn too cold.  One load done and hung and the washing machine died so I spent my morning washing the rest at the laundromat.  No cleaning accomplished.

I did get some sewing done this week, but not on my quilt.  I will be traveling in the Fall and need a small bag to hold some knitting.  I will make some lacy bookmarks from crochet thread.  Check Pinterest.  They are so pretty.  I can't stand to sit around doing nothing.  I am a flea on a hot stove.  Thus, I ALWAYS take some kind of handwork.  I am also making an afghan, but it is too bulky to take along on planes and ships.  But I'll take it to work on in the car.

I bought a bag pattern that had a whole bunch of different bags to make...all sizes.  I am not a big fan of stitching bags, but the one I chose went together beautifully, even though I added canvas lining.  I didn't have any heavy fabric so used cotton from my quilting stash for the outside of the bag.  I am so pleased.  It is the perfect size (8 x 10"), and has a zipper closure at the top so I won't dribble knitting supplies everywhere I go.  It is squash-able for packing.  Don't you love it when things work out just right?

The new knitting bag on an afghan that I designed and made.

Sew some happy seams this week.  I wish you a week of things working out just right.

PS.  Here is a pasque flower amazingly in full bloom even though it had been flattened by the heavy, slushy snow that buried it.

Pasque flower in full bloom.

Time Travel

The weeks go so fast.  The quilt goes so slowly.  Spring seems to have come to the mountains.  We have wild pasque flowers all over our yard.  I have never seen so many.  They are small but so special...about the size of crocuses.

Pasque Flower

Another motif quilted.  This is such fun. I never get bored doing these intricate designs.  This isn't complete, but I couldn't sew today.  The feather will be repeated on the other three sides.  Those stitches really look bumpy in close up photo.  Do them over or not?  That is the question.

Motif with metallic gold and Isacord turquoise thread.

This is a busy time getting the house into Spring/Summer mode.  Pulling winter-stored stuff out of the Guest House (repurposed garage) so that visitors can stay there.  My daughter and grand-daughter are coming in another week and the sewing room has to be turned back into a bedroom as well.  To top it off we are due for snow in the next few days.  So much for Spring!

Life is never dull at our house and we love it.

Sew some happy seams this week.  I wish you joy in your spring cleaning and straight lines in your FMQ.