Soft

My daughter and I went to JoAnn Fabrics to get some border fabric for this quilt.


While we were there Bubba found the superhero flannel fabric. Bubba is very into superheroes. DD and I were looking at the flannels, but Bubba wandered over and found the superhero fleece fabrics.

A decision was made to make him a no-sew tied fleece blanket. He selected Superman and Batman fleece. He carried the Batman bolt to the cutting counter. On the way over this conversation occurred.

Bubba, "Mommy. "
DD, "Yes.
Bubba, "Pet it, Mommy. It's soft"


He watched carefully as the clerk cut his blanket fabric.

I worked quickly once we got back to the house, and had the blanket done by the time he was finished with baseball practice. It was a success. He cuddled with it when he went to bed.



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Come September

I'm still getting my baby cuddles, but I took a short break to meet up with some friends and visit a local quilt show. I was pleasantly surprised to find "Come September" hanging in one of the rows.

My customer created this to commemorate her 50th wedding anniversary. She collected fabrics for two years. Each of the fabrics used in the quilt has metallic gold accents. The wedding rings in the center are gold lame (I would have put the accent mark in, if  I knew how to do that). It took me in the neighborhood of 50 hours to quilt.









It was so rewarding to see people pouring over the quilt.

The quilt garnered four ribbons. First Place in Mixed Techniques, Large Quilt. Past Presidents Ribbon, Judges Choice, and one other. This other one has both my customer and myself quite confused. It is a First Place for Computer Assisted Custom Quilting. The confusion comes from the fact that none of the quilting is computer assisted. I don't have a computer on my longarm.

All we can figure is that the judges moved it into that category. On the entry forms there is a statement that judges may move quilts to a category that they feel is more appropriate for the quilt.

Unfortunately, the judges are not around for us to ask. Quite perplexing.

Presenting

Our newest grandson. He was born at 12:36 A.M. on February 4th. Isn't he wonderful!

Mommy and baby are now at home and getting some rest. Big Sister Spicy and Big Brother Bubba are thrilled with their new baby brother.

I'm going to be able to stay and help out for a week or two. Which means you'll probably be seeing more about babies and less about quilting for a bit.

Borders

How do you attach borders to your quilt? I have recently done three quilts that have had technical issues with the borders. I reworked two of the quilts. One of the quilts the piecer had measured and sewn on fussy cut cornerstones. It didn't fit. She hadn't taken into account the seam allowances. There was no more fabric to work with. I eased in the quilt to fit the border. Fortunately, the shortage was just the amount of the seam allowances. It was easily eased in.

The second quilt had borders that were too long. The extra fabric on one side was nearly three inches.  That is a difficult amount to ease into the quilting. After reattaching the borders I started the quilting. It's going very well. I should have it finished and ready to deliver when I visit California at the end of the week.







The last one had embroidery details, so I worked with it as best I could. I asked the piecer how she had attached her border strips. "I sewed on strips and trimmed them." This is not the best way to attach the borders.

Below are two links that have information about a better way to attach borders.  First, is an online article by Janet Wickell. The one from Longarm University is a pdf that you can download.
http://quilting.about.com/od/straightsewnborders/ss/straightborders.htm
http://www.longarmuniversity.com/tutorial%20page.htm#basic

They both recommend measuring your quilt to determine the length that the border should be. I would add that when I measure the quilt sides I measure along the seams, because sometimes the raw edges of the fabric stretch a little. You don't want wavy borders. Sometimes, it doesn't quilt out.

Playing Hooky

I am playing hooky today.

A beautiful day at Willow Lake

My big brother and sister-in-law are visiting.

They stayed with us for a few days before checking in at their time share in Sedona. We're going to visit them for a day.

I'm working hard (when I'm working) to finish three quilts before my daughter goes into labor. She isn't due until February 5, but you never know when the little guy will decide to make his appearance.

Back to work soon, I promise.

Note to Self

A note to myself, I really must remember that when I'm working on a time line to plan my quilting designs more carefully. I like the way that the feathered wreaths look. However, if I'd chosen a design that filled the space completely I wouldn't need to do the tedious backfill.

I've taken classes where the teacher said exactly that. I just didn't remember. Experience will help me remember, right?

Design Wall Monday

I started working on my Lone Star.

Saturday, I was able to get all of my strips cut in under 30 minutes, thanks to the Accuquilt strip cutter. It was so easy!

The book has a paste up page that is intended to be copied, and you paste your fabrics in place. I pasted on my original fabrics, but decided I wasn't sure I liked the light lavender (the bottom half of the diamond). I had one yard of yellow in my stash, so I tried it (the top half of the diamond). I like the transition with the yellow better than the one with the lavender.

I have sewn the strip sets necessary to make the star. When I pressed them I starched at the same time. I'm hoping that the starch will help control the bias edges.


I cut enough diamonds to lay out one arm of the star.  I think I like it, maybe I should have made a seven color star. That would have given me a color in between the red and the yellow. Or, maybe a five color star. That would have taken out the yellow, and put the red next to the green. Or maybe I'll end up thinking that it's fabulous just the way it is. Geez, I sure have a hard time making up my mind. It's a wonder I ever get anything done!


I'm working very hard not to look at anymore lone star books. I want to. I really do, but since I've started cutting and sewing I don't want to be sorry I'm making this quilt. All the eye candy in those books will be to much for me. I have too many unstarted and unfinished projects already. Pretty please, don't make me look!

Hop on over to Judy's blog, Patchwork Times, to see what others are working on today.