Just do it!!

Back in November, we had our final show and tell for the Lilla quilt. This was our year-long class at Oh Look Fabric. I made all the blocks, but decided to make two lap-sized quilts instead of one huge one. One of the tops got sewn together for that final class and it even got quilted. If you scroll down that post to where I talked about my quilt that was quilted with wavy lines, I was on the fence about adding more quilting.

The quilt has been on my list of quilts to quilt since November - and basically, it was to make a decision whether to add more quilting or call it done. When I initially came up with the idea of the wavy lines, I really wanted to try the lines in two different directions - similar to crosshatching. Well, the list of "urgent" quilts for this month was done and I really didn't have anything else to work on. So I loaded the quilt.

The quilt is loaded

Since it had already been on the long arm, I didn't have to load three separate pieces, I just pinned the backing to the frame.

Here's the detail of the wavy quilting lines  - they look nice all by themselves, but it's my quilt and what do I have to lose if I don't like it with lines going in the opposite direction. Before I committed to the additional quilting and had pinned it to the frame, I did trace these lines onto a piece of clear cellophane and then laid it on the quilt to see what it would look like. I like it - let's go!

The quilting pattern on the Lilla quilt

Now it was a question of replicating that pattern as I had NOT saved it. Oh well. A little bit of math and some finagling and I had myself a pretty decent replica of the original wavy line pattern. This was as close as it was going to get.

Wavy line pattern on the long arm computer

The first set of quilting lines (back in November) consisted of 46 lines. This time, I had to stitch 42 lines as the width was shorter than the length by about 10 inches. I'm sure that if we looked really, really close, we could see a few little issues - so slight that I bet you wouldn't even know what to look for. But after only two lines, I was dancing around the studio - this is EXACTLY what I wanted.

My quilt - DONE

Here's a close up of the quilting pattern. I LOVE IT!

The cross-hatching quilting pattern

This had to be babysat quite closely - simply because each line took only a few minutes to stitch out. I couldn't walk away. Well, I could and I did, but I only had snippets of time to do anything else.

It's going to be trimmed this morning and perhaps have the binding put on later today. I wasn't supposed to let this become a UFO so I must get it done. It also means that I should get the blocks out for the second one and assemble that top. The goal is to quilt the second one totally different so it would be a good comparison for different styles of quilting.

I know that that pattern isn't rocket science, but it doesn't matter, I'm thrilled with it and I made it up myself on the computer!

So it's time to check out the next quilt to be quilted. It's one for my Mom. I totally forgot it was there, but she remembered! Of course - she did!!!!

When I pulled out the quilt, I realized that it's much larger than I thought it was. It's about 66 by 76 or something like that. Pretty much my generous lap size. Oh great - the apple didn't fall from the tree!

Dresden quilt for my Mom

There's no binding and no backing for it. HOWEVER, I did remember seeing some backing fabric that might work. And it happened to be very handy.

Backing fabric

That fabric is actually supposed to be the backing for this quilt - or should I say, it's going to be the border after a cream inner border is added. And perhaps the backing and perhaps the binding.

Quilt top from 30s fabrics

Hmm - what to do? Keep the fabric for the original quilt or use it for my Mom's? HEY - there's a lot of fabric here - let's measure. So I measured and I think there's enough for the TWO backings, TWO bindings and the outer border on the small quilt. Yep - over 8 yards!!!!

Measuring the fabric

It'll be tight, but when haven't I relished a challenge? I'll be making the backing today. We do have a Sit n Sew scheduled, but with the weather, I'm not sure who will venture out. Doesn't matter - if they come - they are totally on their own. I've got a stack of stuff to do and I'm determined to get some of those small things cleaned up!

Everything from that piece of yardage has to be cut perfectly. The backings need to be big enough that the cut off pieces will become the binding so absolutely NOTHING goes to waste. I'll keep you up to date on the progress.

Now the next thing is how to quilt the Dresden plate? My Mom wouldn't know the difference between custom and edge to edge and I could get away with an edge to edge pattern because it's fast. However, I quilted a small Dresden plate quilt for her last year and I believe it was with an edge to edge pattern.

Back to the blog - yes it was in August last year and it was an edge to edge design.

Quilted small Dresden plate quilt for my Mom

I was thinking of using the robot to quilt a feathered wreath in the Dresden blocks. It's so darn busy, I know that you won't see anything. I do NOT want to do straight line stuff in the blocks - like an outline - that'll take forever. I'll contemplate it today and see what I come up with. I should be learning to do new quilting designs or styles with the computer so I might do the wreaths just because I can.

I kept a close eye on the weather yesterday as it snowed all day. However, the temperature was fairly warm and for most of the day, no snow accumulated in our driveway. My kind of snow! So I ventured out last night for my dressmaking class. More sample making. I finished off the two samples from last week.

Here's my sample of the gathered waistband. I know those darn gathers do not lay as nicely as I would like them. They are supposed to be even and look - there's a big gather on the left-hand side. Oh well - it is what it is. It's darn hard to work in small scale!!!

A gathered waistband sample

Then we had to do a skirt vent. I don't think I've ever done one of these before. Now that my sample is made, could I do it again? Well, our pencil skirt has a vent so I'd better remember. I swear it's the angle of the picture that makes the bottom look slightly off. I swear it's straight!!! Do you know how hard it is to make these samples? We're using contrasting threads and it's darn fiddly!

Skirt vent sample

And let's not forget about all the hand stitching details. The edges of the vent need to be sewn shut. I think I did a pretty decent job on hand stitching considering I used dark blue thread.

Hand stitches on the vent

I'll share with you tomorrow, the sample that I made last night. I'm up to date on the sample making - yeah!!! We have one more week of sample making and then we have to work on our skirts. I'll be away for two classes in a row, so I get to work on my skirt completely on my own at home. Oh, dear! I'm sure I'll be fine - after all, how hard can a pencil skirt be when I've already done all the hard work? The muslin is made and has been fitted. The fabrics (except one -yep - making TWO skirts) have been washed. The pattern is ready to go. It shouldn't take that long to make them up.

All those details that Mrs. Sealy taught me in Grade 8 are coming back to me as I sew these samples. I don't remember all the hand stitching details or making things like a vent, but I did a lot of this stuff way back when. But I have learned some new things and that's why I signed up for the class. I'm loving this class and so glad that I decided to take it. I'm going to sign up for the next one as well as long as my travel schedule doesn't interfere too much with the classes.

Yesterday was a great day for learning because I learned ONE more thing. That was how to edit a video on my phone. I was asked to make a short video for my events in Saskatoon. Oh boy - like I have time for that. But let's go for it. Here's the link to the video should you want to be amused. Now that I've cleared the path for editing the videos and using my phone on the tripod - I can see more videos in the future. Yeah!!!

Here's one more video that I thought was hilarious. All about those men quilters!!!

On that note, I haven't heard from any of the five people coming today that they won't be coming, so I'd best get myself organized.

Have a super day!!!


Ciao!!!!