I am so excited and pleased with the progress I have made today. It has been great to be able to stay home and work on the quilt! After days and days of frustration the quilt is quilted and trimmed and ready for the label and binding! I have attached the quilt label that I created to put on the back of the quilt.
Archive for the ‘Quilting’ Category
Making Progress
August 17, 2009Monday Madness
August 17, 2009I am feeling in a real push to finally get something done today. I just spent the weekend with my son and his two kids and another granddaughter. It got pretty wild around here and of course nothing was accomplished!
Tomorrow I have to return to my paying job and begin preparing for the chaos and confusion of the school year.
So I am lamenting my return to work and my lack of ability to get my quilt finished. I was having a great deal of frustration last week with my machine and breaking needles, so now it is cleaned, oiled, new needle installed, and the frame has been checked for leveling and my goals have been set for the day. I intend to get the quilting done and the label made before dinner. Wish me luck!
The Past Day
August 13, 2009Well, I did not reach my goal of getting my quilt on my frame. I got distracted by trying to watch the dvd that came with the frame and trying to get the old computer working…funny it worked last time, but not yesterday or it crashed yesterday! It takes a long time to try to troubleshoot those things.
I also had been talking to people about how they label their quilts. It is hard to believe that so many folks don’t label them. Since most of my quilts are made for specific people I label them and use my creativity to create a label that fits with the theme of my quilt. I also wonder how people bind their quilts. I know some of you finish the binding with machine stitching. I don’t have good luck with that method (I seem to miss the backside of the binding when blind stitching from the front), consequently I hand sew the binding to finish it.
I know that some of the methods of quilting that I use have evolved through the years. When I look at what I created in the early 80′s it amazes me at how much I have learned. I am still very pleased with the quilting that I do, but wonder if it would hold up in a show. I tried to look at the quality of the quilts shown at local fairs and do think that my work is as good, but still have my doubts. This then leads me to wonder…how do professional quilters start out? I know that when I make a quilt I make it to be used, not necessarily for show, but it does bring a sense of satisfaction to a person when their work is shown and praised.
Check out my new pages and pictures. I added more pictures of quilts, sewing projects, and added a page for labels.
Newest Quilt
August 11, 2009Here is my latest quilt. It has been a chaotic summer and I have not had good luck working on my quilts. Too many things got in the way of it. I started one and decided that I must be a pointless person as Kay Wood talks about as I had so many frustrations with the points on the pattern. So I tossed those pieces in a bag and pulled out some fabric that I had picked up about a year ago. The fabric is very interesting as it fades from dark to light. So, I did not use a specific pattern for this one and just started cutting and sewing strips. This is what I came out with. I think it is beautiful!
August 2009 Quilt top
I am trying to decide how to finish the back of it. My sister adds a strip of fabric to the back that coordinates with the quilt top for her quilts. I have never tried that as I worry about getting it on straight when I roll it on the quilting frame. I guess if I put the strip off center it won’t matter in the end if it is straight or not. I may try something with this one though, since I have claimed this quilt! Most of my quilts I have given, sold or donated, so it is time for me to keep one for myself.
With luck I will have it on the frame this evening and quilted by the weekend!
I am going to try to set a goal for finding time to work on my projects. As I will be going back to work soon I know it will be come a challenge. I read where if you set an appointment time that could help (this is said to be a good way to fit exercise into a day) but, my days become very short when I take 8 hours of work time and 1 1/2 hours for commuting out of it. Maybe I can schedule 15 minutes a day, I will certainly give it a try.
Any suggestions as to how to find more time to sew, quilt, embroider, etc. would be welcomed!
Blog Update
August 9, 2009Check out my new pages! I have just added some photos of some of my quilting and embroidery projects.
Be sure to pick up the McCall’s Quick Quilts and Quilter’s Home magazines which will be on the newstands September 1 and September 15 respectively. There will be an ad in each of these magazines for my custom made embroidered quilt labels! Hopefully all this is the beginning of something BIG!!!!
Updating my Blog
August 9, 2009I spent a great deal of time updating my blog tonight. Boy if that isn’t a job and a half! I did learn quite a lot in the process! But, by spending so much time working on the computer I have not finished my latest quilt. I have the top completed, just need to get it on my quilt frame and quilt it. That seems to take a bit of time as I need to become inspired as to how to actually quilt it. I mainly use a meandering stitch. Since the quilt is a variety of colors I may need to go to a quilt shop to find a variegated thread to use on the top. I have decided this will be a quilt that I keep. I have not kept one of my quilts since the one I hand quilted, which has been quite a few years ago.
August Quilting
August 3, 2009Here it is August already and it is too hot to be outside, so I am trying to settle down and be creative. I had difficulty with the last quilt I was attempting, so set it aside and started a new one. Since my life is chaotic at this point I decided to try a chaotic quilt. Who knows it may not end up as chaotic as I think! But, I will give it a try.
I will need to come up with an idea for a label for it. I may need to design a border that is chaotic in my embroidery software. Who knows what will come of it. Perhaps order from the chaos!
Quilt labels
July 21, 2009I always label my quilts. I like to personalize my labels as most of my quilts are made for specific people. I saw a quilt that my husband’s aunt made as a graduation present for our niece. It is a beautiful quilt and she labeled it, but it was written in ink. I prefer to label my quilts with embroidery as that will last through all sorts of uses.
Back to Quilting finally!
July 21, 2009It has been so long since I have been able to concentrate on quilting. I finally am finding a little bit of time to finish cutting out the pieces of my new quilt. My time seems to be taken up with a new puppy, a 3 year old granddaughter and short trips here and there. I am trying to just concentrate on getting one or two things done in between!
I plan to get some samples of my quilt labels embroidered and pictures posted on the website. I have ads coming out in a couple of magazines in September, so need to have some samples available.
Quilting in the summer
July 5, 2009How fast the summer seems to pass by. I am currently on vacation and am wondering if I will find time this summer to get any quilts done. I had started cutting out pieces of a quilt that I designed on EQ but life got in the middle of that. I find it difficult to get back to a project when the interuption is longer than a week. I guess I have to try to wrap my mind around not abandoning the project completely. Please give me ideas of how to get re-motivated on projects.
