It's a Girl..... Quilt!

I just finished this quilt for a grand-niece who is 2 1/2 months old. Since my granddaughter didn't receive her baby quilt until she was 7... Let's just say, I am improving!

My nephew and his sweet wife were decorating the nursery in grey and pink, so that made my choices for the quilt easy. The pattern is Playing with Jacks by Bonnie K Hunter, and the quilting is my own freehand, free form, swirly, girly flowers and things.

 Here are some closeups showing the quilting.  It was fun to do! I even personalized it with the baby's name.

WARNING: The rest of this post may not be of interest if you are not really into quilting. It is going to be for my own benefit, including history and details I want to remember, so if you lose interest and wander off, I will not be offended!

There are many firsts in this quilt.

I realized this is the first quilt I have made with triangles in it even though I have done a lot of different kinds of quilts. I have made 3 or 4 of Kaye Woods' 6-Hour Quilts, one of Charlie's Less Than Traditional quilts, one Circle Jean quilt, one with appliqued hearts, and one with all rectangles. I have only done triangles in test blocks up to now.

This is also the first quilt I have finished on The Beast (my long-arm quilt machine--she has her own page!).  Since one of the first things I did to learn and practice when I got The Beast was to write the alphabet, it was easy to personalize this quilt by quilting the baby's name in with all the free-hand flowers, heart leaves, and swirlies.

Another first! Looking at all the practice batts I have done on The Beast, I realize this is the first time I have done separate border designs and not an edge-to-edge design.

And for the "last first", I used John Flynn's method and formula to make 45" wide fabric I wanted for the back wide enough to fit the 54" wide quilt top, plus extra on each side for loading on The Beast. I didn't want to piece the back, and I didn't want a lengthwise seam because it would stack on the roller of The Beast. And, thank you John Flynn, it worked beautifully!

I was pleased and relieved that the back of the quilt was something more than 90% good. No tension problems and only a few bobbles where a thread loop somehow got pulled and stitched over, making a little blob. None of it seemed bad enough to remove and redo as I intend this quilt will be used and washed and used some more. As long as those stitches all hold, I am happy!

We are becoming a team, The Beast and I. Beauty and The Beast, dancing along that 12 foot table. There are no bells and no whistles, but it is fun, and I am going to finish more quilts with her.

I have partially quilted two other tops on The Beast before this one. I had loaded them side by side as practice pieces but had to remove them about halfway through when I needed my living/dining room back and had to take machine off the table. That 12 foot quilting frame makes an excellent banquet table for holiday dinners!!

I want to acknowledge a couple people who were instramental in getting this quilt done.

The pattern, Playing with Jacks, is by my friend, Bonnie (that's for you, Gail--grin). Bonnie K Hunter has really been a big inspiration to get me actually quilting more lately instead of just planning to quilt. You can learn from her and be inspired by her seemingly boundless energy and ideas at her blog, Quiltville's Quips and Snips. At the top of her blog is a tab for Free Patterns! where you will find many great patterns, including Playing with Jacks.

Bonnie played another part in this finish as I learned about the LAQ machine on sale in a thrift shop while having dinner with Bonnie and classmates following a Bonnie Hunter class in January 2013. 

I also need to thank Sherry of The Other Quilt Shop in Phoenix, AZ. I had struggled with the fabric choice for the border and finally knew I would have to go buy fabric. I walked into the store where I was greeted by Sherry and her husband and started describing the quilt. Before I even had the quilt top out of the bag to show her, Sherry pulled out the perfect fabric. It was just the soft grey I wanted and the wrong side looked as good as the right side so I had options. If you are in the area, please stop into The Other Quilt Shop. It is a small local store, and Sherry has done everything possible to make it not only a fun place to shop, but a good resource and hangout for quilters with lots of classes, demos and sales events. It is a favorite shop of mine.

Okay, now it is time for me to get on with my life, too!!

Valerie

Thank you, Quiltmaker Magazine

Look what I received today!! I won on day 5 of the Quiltmaker 100 Blocks blog tour a couple weeks ago. Today I received my prizes!!

I cannot wait to dig into the pages of this 11th issue of Quiltmaker 100 Blocks for all the inspiration and fun it contains. I have a quilt ready and waiting to use a design I spotted in the preview of the Electric Quilt's Quilting designs CD. And who doesn't love a little fabric from P&B Textiles--looking at all the luscious shades of greens and blues here, I almost hear the katydids buzzing in the trees late on a lazy summer afternoon. And I bonus I didn't expect were three quilt patterns by Deanne Eisenman of Snuggles Quilts.

Thank you so much Quiltmaker Magazine and all the sponsors who gave prizes to make the blog tour so much fun.

I WON!!

Thank you, Quiltmaker Magazine!

Last week the Quilty Pleasures blog at Quiltmaker.com hosted a blog tour to preview the new block and quilt designs from Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Volume 11. My entry on day #5 won!! I am so excited. I will receive a free copy of that issue of 100 Blocks along with a luscious fabric bundle from P&B Textiles and a Quilting Designs vol. 8 CD from The Electric Quilt Company.

Wabi-sabi state of mind

I hear the term wabi-sabi describing the ambiance of a space or, more often, old, interesting, fading, peeling, wonderful objects. At its heart, wabi-sabi is the gift of finding beauty in imperfection and complexity in nature, of acknowledging the natural cycle of growth, decay, and death. It reveres authenticity and celebrates the blemishes and wrinkles that time, weather, and loving use create. Through wabi-sabi, we learn to embrace liver spots, rust, and frayed edges, and the march of time they represent. It reminds us that we are transient beings and our bodies and the world around us are returning to the dust from which we came.

As I prepare to roll forward both digits in my age once again, I am feeling a bit wabi-sabi.

Oops!

Hmmm.... I am sorry. I have deleted--or moved, more likely--some pics somewhere along the line this month. I will hunt them down and put them back where they belong. So, with apologies I don't have pics for this post, either, until I figure out what I did wrong--then I will rectify that situation.

In the meantime I have been trying to make time in the evenings to take care of some of these machines. The Singer 27 treadle is wonderful and I have been doing some sewing on it. I also have done some cleaning and polishing on her and have practically disassemble the bobbin winder in the process, but it's working fine now and little by little I'm getting her cleaned up. I need to do that with my Singer red-eye treadle, too. I'm getting comfortable with the whole treadle action, can even start without using my hand on the flywheel sometimes!

I also found an evening to clean up and look at my green and cream Necchi BU Supernova Ultra. I looked her all over and cleaned what I could see, then oiled like crazy and the poor thing was still binding like crazy when I turned the wheel. It was so bad I knew better than to plug her in, though we did see that the motor and foot pedal worked when I first bought her.

After opening up the back end I discovered that the v-belt is mostly disintegrated. Piles of black rubbery chips and dust all over inside and the belt itself has a couple 2-3 inch sections that are bare cords. I've been reading posts on the vintage Necchi group in Yahoo, and while there is discussion about the belts, no one who has found the correct belt actually says what belt they ordered. So far I haven't found a "parts" list for my Necchi. I also would love to find some sort of list to help date Necchis by serial number. The best I can do so far is go by the years my model was produced in Italy, 1958-1963, and then read and watch for clues.

AND today I replaced the leaders on the Quilting Beast, my APQS Millenium II long arm quilter. The ones she had when I got her last year were stained and as I discovered when I decided to put Velcro on them--ala Sharon Schamber--really stretched out of shape. I decided to replace them. Now they are attached as is the Velcro, and I have hemmed one of the two supplemental leaders that I need to also add Velcro to.

THEN I won't have any excuse not to get these quilts quilted! And by the time I quilt the ones I have waiting, I'm thinking I may take on quilting for pay. We shall see. Wish me luck.

Some new friends

I've been busy since my last post. Of course my day job takes up a lot of my time. But I've also managed to find a few new friends and here they are.

First is a Singer model 27 treadle with Sphinx decals, circa1900. She stitches beautifully and sounds so good.

I found this interesting Kenmore Imperial Rotary 117.591 from 1940 at the same time. I couldn't pass it up when I saw it was in a cabinet equipped with the pulley cable that automatically raises and lowers the machine when you raise and lower the lid. Fun!

Neither of those machines was specifically on my wish list, but this one definitely was! Pretty little light green and cream Necchi Supernova Ultra in beautiful working order. 

 

Right now I barely have time to clean and oil them let alone sew much. They've been around many decades already, so I guess they'll last until I can retire and spend time putting them to good use.

Oh, this cool double bobbin doo-hickey was in the drawer of the treadle machine. Anyone who can tell what it is made to do? What was this used for?

Well I'm off again. Getting ready for a much needed visit from my daughter and granddaughter. That's going to keep me busy for a while, but what fun!

Valerie

Playing Catch Up

Do not adjust your monitor--isn't it weird how black and white quilts look on the monitor--but really the color controls are fine! This is one of several quilts I've made since summer.

Now, let's save time--insert all sorts of excuses really good reasons here for why it's been so long since I posted.
My last post was a picture I took one morning while we were visiting my daugher and family in Texas celebrating GG's birthday. We are so lucky to be able to go and enjoy the time with them. This year it was COLD for these desert dwellers--below freezing every day except the day we arrived and the day we left!



The winter weather meant GG was out of school for three of the five schooldays we were there--so more time with her. Yay! And DD got hours cut from one of her jobs, but that also meant more time with her while we were there. The only one who had to work the whole time was our SIL, but he did schedule a day off to join us for a day at the Fort Worth Stock Show. The visit is always too short, but we enjoyed the time we had.


Time flies by for us, and I don't really get a lot done weeknights, and weekends often involve activities with family or friends along with the weekly household upkeep, but I have managed to get a few things done. I finished a 2-year-old UFO by adding the inner and outer borders on my sweet little GiGi treadle Singer 66 Red Eye. I also stitched up three very simple, fast baby sized quilts on her as well. And I made my first "1600 race" type quilting using 2-1/2" strips I cut from my stash. So I have a few quilt tops ready to let me get in some good time on the Quilting Beast soon.

And just for a grin--where else but in Sun City, AZ would you find a sign like this in a hospital parking lot?


That's all for now!