Problem Solving

I don’t think I’ve mentioned this here publicly. I have vision issues as a result of not taking care of my diabetes. I have a great doctor and he is working closely with me to get the problem solved.

Because of this I struggle with seeing the thread while quilting and where I’ve been unless I use a contrasting thread. This isn’t necessarily bad but I do get asked why I use high contrast colors and sometimes, frankly, it feels a little judgemental.

Somewhere over the course of the past two years I put a call out on a facebook group asking for ideas and help. Someone mentioned watching a Jamie Wallen video about side light. Also, I set out to get glasses that were for mid range vision only.

I went to Home Depot and bought a battery operated light and a board. The boyfriend taped it to the board so I could see if it worked. It was a failed experiment for me. I didn’t understand I’d have to turn off other lights.

This past week I found my light and decided to give it another try. Here are some pictures to illustrate.

My machine, overhead and ceiling fan light are on. Notice the shadow.

Here I turned off the machine light.

Here I turned on the sidelight and ceiling fan light is still on.

In the picture the contrast is better than to the naked eye.

Here I turned off the ceiling fan light. What an amazing difference.

Here is my little contraption. The boyfriend put screws on the side of the board to mount it properly.

The quilting you see in the pic was accomplished with my light. I have my glasses in hand and I’m ready to go!

Got any more tips for me? Hope someone finds this useful.

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Meh

I’m stuck once again. I have a quilt on the machine trying something new to me. I think I have the kinks worked out and will try again tonight. But, it’s been sitting there for weeks. Inertia!

Most of what I have to work on are unquilted tops. So I need to quilt or get off the pot!

I have decided to start some new things. Forcing myself to just quilt isn’t working so I may as well piece!

Last week I spotted the tote that I knew contained my shirt plaids. The only problem was there were two other heavy totes on top of it. I cornered one of the kids that run through my house on a regular basis and had him move them.

Friday night I started sorting the non-plaids out of the tote and started locating the other plaids I’ve acquired to put in this tote. I also started locating fabric that I wanted to group together for other projects and placed it in there.

Here is the tote I’ll be drawing from for my new projects. The plaids are for Bonnie Hunter’s Scrappy Mountain Majesties. The bright colors are two jelly rolls and a FQ bundle that I plan to make A Walk in the Park by Craft Sew Create from. I may add a neutral to the grouping.

Stayed tuned. You’ll be seeing more on these soon.

What are you piecing?

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Paper Piecing

I’m sure with more practice I would enjoy it more. For this block I had directional fabric I was trying to lay in a certain way. My spatial abilities were challenged.

Here is block 5 of my Saturday Sampler BOM.

Paper piecing...yes or no?

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Insert Your Title Here

I was prepared to make a post titled “Friends Don’t Send Friends UFOs”. The reason is my good friend Glen sent me one of her UFOs. THEN....she posted on my August OMG post and asked “where do you come up with all the quilts to quilt?”

Really? Well, it seems I have people that tell me their stories about their broken quilts and I fix them. I have people that make quilt tops and don’t like them so they give them to me. I have people that don’t like how their blocks are looking so they mail them to me. I buy them when I see them at antique stores, estate sales or garage sales. Finally, I make them myself from beginning to end. I think that about covers it. Oh wait, there are charity and comfort quilts too.

Where do you come up with all the quilts to quilt?

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August OMG

Not sure why I have to figure out what I am going to do for my goal when it’s right in front of my face. I’m going to quilt the quilt I loaded last week.

I was given pieces of this quilt way back in 2008. I made it into a top in late 2016. It’s time has come!

Linking up with Elm Street quilts for August goal setting.

Are you playing?

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Lynn’s Repaired Quilt

Here is #6 from my 3Q FAL list. I just pulled it from it’s spin through a wash and dry.

Here is the before.

The quilt had been repaired previously. The sides had been rolled up and sewn down and even then were damaged again. You can see most of the damage is to the green fabric. The back had damage too.

I took it apart. Cut away the ties. Picked out the straight line stitching. I found a very thick batting. I wasn’t sure of its makeup. It felt like cotton but then it didn’t. I talked to several people and they speculated it could be wool. I took it to my LQS and showed it to one of the ladies there. We pulled it apart and decided it was actually a cotton batting and a poly batting layered on top.

I replaced all the green fabric. I replaced the borders using some of the backing and the new green. The binding was also taken from the backing.

Other than the green I added, the blocks were repaired with parts from the back and the original border. Even then there were small tears in many places. I used a combination of fusible interfacing and zig zag stitching in matching thread. There is a new back and 2 new battings.

Hey, this thing saw 40 years of heavy use. I think it has at least another 10.

I finally asked Lynn what this quilt meant to him. He told me he had been a long haul driver and took it with him everywhere. I asked who gave it to him and he told me it was his 5th wife. I must have made a face because later our mutual friend said “Don’t worry, she was one of his favorites.”

It was a lot of work but Lynn’s happiness makes it worth it. I started this project on May 22nd and put the final stitches in it yesterday.

Here’s the happy customer!

Happy quilting!

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Got Pink?

I sewed at the church tonight. Cut strips for two bindings. Trimmed the repaired quilt the rest of the way.

I had trimmed it Wednesday but my back was a smidge short on one side. I pieced in a slice to fill in the empty spot and attached the binding as much as I could. Will finish attaching the binding Saturday.

I spent the rest of the night repairing the kite quilt. When the night ended I lacked two pieces to finish. I need one more red piece and I need a light pink. I know I have it I just have to find it.

Here are some closeups. The red at the top is new and in the middle is yet to be done.

The dark solid blue are the replaced pieces.

I was given this quilt by a friend. I loved it when I saw it and she handed it to me when I asked what she planned to do with it.

Have you noticed I like to repair quilts?

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Fraying Fabric

My friend Renee gave me a quilt top a few years ago. She had two and I love yellow so convinced her to give me this one. She told me there were holes. Upon closer inspection I found frayed taffeta. I’ve repaired other quilts that had this fabric in it. I would suggest you zig zag the edges if you plan to use it in anything!

The blue was the worst but while working on the top replacing those pieces I found red and green taffeta too. The green is shot just like the blue. The red held up but I’m going to replace it since there are only two of them.

There is one piece of, what I thought was cotton, that frayed badly. It’s light pink. I’ll have to check for more. I want to prevent future issues before I quilt it.

I’ll share more pictures of the whole top once I’ve sewn in the patches. They’re pinned in place right now.

Stay tuned!

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Busy Weekend

I attended an in store retreat this past weekend. 12 hours on Saturday and 8 on Sunday.

I brought 4 projects with me and touched all of them. Two were brought to a completed top stage and the other two had a small amount of work done.

I brought my Double Wedding Ring project which consisted of 5 columns of blocks. I sewed the top together and it just needs a good pressing. I do need to inspect the seams of the four patches to make sure the background seam was completely sewn into the seam and not showing.

The other project was a panel that I wanted to build out to a good size for a very tall friend of my son. They’ve been friends since the third grade. He is deploying next month and I had bought this panel for myself. When he saw it it was apparent I needed to go buy another one.

I had a 36x42 panel and then two coordinates also a yard each. When I arrived at retreat I had a rough idea of what I wanted the quilt to look like. After consulting with my table mates I bought another 2.5 yards of a green grunge and a black bella solid.

Here is what I ended up with measuring at 65x83.

I posted this pic on facebook and Dylan, the recipient, loves it. Just have to find a backing and get it quilted. He knows it may not be ready when he leaves but will be sent soon after.

The other two projects are a paper pieced block due in 3 weeks for my Saturday Sampler BOM and a quilt top I am replacing the taffeta pieces with cotton. You’ll see more on those soon.

Are you a Star Wars fan? Do you like Yoda?

Happy quilting!

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July OMG

Are you sitting down? Not only did I quilt the quilt (my goal) but I bound it and delivered it to the happy recipient.

This was also a goal on my 3Q FAL list. #7

Does it’s new owner look happy?

Linking up with Elm Street Quilts for a July completion!

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20 Minute Challenge - Double Wedding Ring

I took my DWR to the church Friday night with the intent to cut the centers then cut and sew on another project I need to finish sooner than later. That is not what happened!

I cut the centers I needed. I pinned the melon that goes on top and decided to just sew those on. Then I pinned the side melon and decided to go ahead and sew those on. But no more!

Next thing I knew I had the fourth column complete and the fifth and final well under construction. I even pinned the side melons on the first and last row.

Today I sewed the fifth column and the side melons and just have to sew the columns together. So much for a twenty minute challenge!

This will be a topper on my bed. I’m loving it and the assembly has not been hard.

Have you done curved piecing?

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Midweek Update

I have faithfully been working on my 20 minute challenge. I have 3 columns plus part of the fourth. Need to cut 8 more centers which will happen Friday. This will give me 5 columns in total.

I will do some of the fill in work on the edges and bottom until then. Maybe!

I have been quilting on my OMG. I want to finish it before Friday so I can get it trimmed on the big tables at church.

It is doable!

How are your sewing plans going this week?

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Fourth Finish for Q3

I finished the fourth item on my Q3 FAL list.

This Happy Block quilt is made from my boyfriends Dad’s shirts and then the boyfriends things, my daughters jeans are in there and some garage sale finds. I used widely spaced straight line quilting with a heart in the upper right of the quilt.

Beyond the obvious symbolism of the clothing use and the heart there is more. Ray’s dad Paul was a WWII vet. There is patriotic fabric in the backing. Paul was known for his barn building. When I talked with many family members the stories of them helping him build were many. The binding and the rest of the backing is red barn wood.

I included a piece from my daughters jeans because I wanted the dragonfly. Do you know the story of the dragonfly? You’ll find it here. Finally on the back I placed the label which contains a photo of Paul, his son Pat and then Pat’s sons Jason and Jeremiah. Jason will be the recipient of this quilt.

When Ray and I made the long journey to Michigan to be at Paul’s side Jason was right there soon after we arrived and never left until Paul had passed. Jason showed me such kindness and talked with me with such sincerity. I saw how Pauls passing effected him.

I originally offered to make this quilt for Rays sister. She declined for a few reasons. I talked it over with Ray and told him I felt Jason should be the recipient and he agreed.

This quilt holds a lot of emotion and I hope Jason will appreciate it.

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Third Finish for Q3

I finished item #3 on my FAL list.

This is the second of my three pink and green Strip Stacks. I made this in June of 2010. I had made a pieced backing but the quilter donated a back rather than use mine. I took the back apart and made these.

I have a love/ hate relationship with the binding I chose. Ah well it’s done.

Happy quilting!

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Second Finish for Q3

I finished my second item from my 3Q FAL list.

This tumbler quilt was cut out 2 or 3 years ago on my GO cutter. I used the 3.5” die. It includes scraps from some items I sewed when I was in my teens back in the 70’s, samples that my mother had in her stash and supplemented with additional scraps from my stash. That GO cutter is amazing!

I just leant my cutter to a friend along with this same die. I cautioned her that she needed to keep track of how many she had cut because before she knew it she’d have enough cut for 5 quilts! She has since texted me and confirmed it is addicting. Sewing them together is a breeze too! I’m anxious to cut another one.

Are you participating in the finish along? Stay tuned for more.

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First finish for 3Q

I finished number one on my 3Q FAL list.

Carleen’s Matchstick Marimba. I mailed her quilt to her and it was misdelivered. She got the post office engaged with no success. She went to the persons house with no success.

I just quickly remade it and here it is. She is on vacation now so I will mail when she returns.

Watch this space for more finishes!

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FAL 2018 Q3 List

I had twenty things on my Q2 list. I totally completed three things but I made lots of progress on many of the others. You’re going to see rapid fire finishes this quarter because of the Q2 progress.

My focused, thoughtful list for 1Q was a good idea for me. So I’ll continue with that plan.

1) remake Carleen’s Matchstick Marimba. First one was misdelivered and they deny having it.

2) tumbler quilt

3) pink and green strip stacks #2

4) Jasons Happy Blocks

5) Ray’s horse quilt

6) Lynn’s quilt

7) CBs Hells Angel quilt

8) Renee’s Yellow quilt
9) Renee’s Navy Quilt
10) Pieced together contest quilt
11) Dylans Yoda quilt
12) green four patch on point
13).Poppy BQ quilt
14) Armadillo Wallhanging
15) Nancies Peach Floral
16) Vikki’s baby quilt
17) Dr Liang pincushion
18) Postcards for Nancie and Meloney
19) Green Nancies 30s
20) Red Nancies 30s
21-25) Charity quilts I have hiding here

Mostly quilting except 17 and 18.

I’m linking up with Leanne at She Can Quilt for 3Q Finish-a-long.

Happy quilting!

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Stashbuster 20 Minute Challenge

My yahoogroup Stashbuster has a challenge that started on July 1. The challenge is to spend 20 minutes each day or 140 minutes a week on a particular project to move it forward. The projects are things that are more challenging than others or that you’re just plain avoiding working on.

I was not planning to participate but when I reviewed my UFO list I kept seeing my Double Wedding Ring listed. I had worked diligently on it to the point of getting all the melons made and cutting out centers then stopped. Friday night I took it to my church sew in and attached the first melon to a center. It was easy. I did not have my instructions with me so stopped there.

I spent the first day, which was more than 20 minutes, sorting out the project to see where I had left off. I have all the melons needed but lack 8 centers. I reviewed the instructions on assembling and did a little pinning.

The second and third session had me sewing more melons to centers and I have my first column mostly together. I’m pretty sure I am spending more than 20 minutes per session but there will be days I don’t spend any time on it.

I am planning a 5x6 setting which will serve as a queen size topper for my bed. With one column done in just 3 days I may have to choose a second challenging project.

What challenges are you working on?

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July OMG

Third time is a charm. I’m going to get this quilted!

The owner texted inquiring about his quilt. I have to get to it!!

Linking up with Elm Street Quilts.

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Yes I Am Insane

I took a quilt from someone and turned back one corner of it rrom its folded state. I sad sure, I can fix this. Then I got it home and opened it up all the way. I stared in disbelief at the tattered mess before me. I thought just dig in and get it done.

I worked on it at home taking all the layers apart. Later I wished I had just overlayed it with tulle and stabilized it with more quilting. You could tell this quilt had really been used and loved. I thought it was washed but as I worked on it I realized how filthy it was. I just kept going.

I finally got all the layers separated and put the front and back in the wash for a quick wash. After a few minutes I realized I needed to drain the tub and run it again. Ugh!

I got everything dried and decided to use the backung to repair the front and to provide the new binding. I started by removing all 140 pieces of green from the quilt. A few were ok but I decided just replace them all. I felt so dsheartened taking this thing apart and seeing the damage. I wanted to quit and just make him a new one. I texted him and he agreed but he still asked that I use as much of the original one as I could. That made me feel bad. I trudged on, got everything apart and cut new green replacement pieces.

When I got to this point I was like a dog with a bone. I sewed and sewed until I had all 35 blocks back together. I did have to steal from the removed borders and backing for the other colors. I used a fusible to patch some of the holes. What a relief! Of course I got the blocks all sewn together. Yesterday I went and spread out and have all the borders cut and ready to attach too.

This is definitely a labor of love. In this case it is more my love for saving these old treasures!

What crazy thing are you working on?

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