Off to Ireland!

After 2 surgeries ( shoulder and knee), we are off on our honeymoon to Ireland. We had planned to go the spring after we married but babies started arriving, houses were bought, businesses started and parents got ill.  We are finally on our way, 32 years after the fact!  I'm so excited. Hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures from the trip!

It's boarding time!

My New Favorite Notion

While at Empty Spools I was introduced to a new WONDERFUL tool!

The Seam Fix!

It looks like a seam ripper with a funny end you say?  Yes it is, but it's so much better!  Here's how it works.

You use the conventional working end like you do any other seam ripper-cutting through every 4 to 5 stitches and

 pull the bobbin thread from the back.

But then you're left with all the little thread pieces to pick out!

You flip the seam ripper to the other side and "erase" the threads with the funny silicone end!

It really works!  It has 2 different silicone tips, one is on the top cover and the other is on the opposite end of the ripper.  I personally like the larger one on the cover but have used both and different times.

The only problem I've found with it is that the top does not fit on the end of the handle when it's removed.

It comes in 3 colors, Hot Pink, Teal (it looked more like blue to me) and Grey (which looked like black to me).  I got the Pink so I could find it easily when I'm in the throes of quilt making!  I got it at the store they set up during seminar but I found it on Amazon.  Maybe you can find it at your local quilt store.

Pictures from Ursula's Class

Okay. I'm going to try to join the 21st century and post pictures from my iPhone. Please bear with me while I try this. It could be ugly!

The first is a picture of my maquette (or model) of my dancing lady. (If I'm lucky, I'll try to figure out how to post the original inspiration).

The second one is of me showing last year's quilt at Show and Share in front of the entire session.

The third picture is of my friend, Ricki, and Ursula.

The next one is of some of the blocks I completed in their approximate position.

And finally, a picture of Ricki, Ursula and I.

I learned so much that week and I wish I lived closer to her to learn as much as I could from her. The commute to Switzerland is a bit daunting!

I'll post pictures as I work on my "Dancing Ladies" quilt.

Now, let's hope this posts with the pictures!

Happy Stitching!

I'm Baaaaack!

I just returned from 2 sessions at Empty Spools-one session with Ursula Kern (2nd year) and one with RaNae Merrill.  Let's just say, Ursula didn't disappoint and RaNae did.  I took most of my pictures on my iPhone and I need to figure out how to post them here but quite honestly, I'd rather be quilting!

Ursula

I went to Ursula's class thinking my project would be of an image in my mind of a woman at the Pushkar Camel Fair in India.  I was looking through my friend's, Ricki, pictures and came across a picture of 2 women dancing around the fire in the camp where we stayed while in Pushkar.  It was night, so it was very dark. The women were dressed in black, full skirts decorated in fushia, turquoise, white and lots of shesha mirrors.  The image of them swirling with the mirrors flashing, the colors swirling and the fire roaring behind them was magical.  So I completely changed my project and had to buy more fabric (Don't cry too hard but I did have to pack it up to bring home)!

My maquette for my Dancing Lady

The second session with RaNae was on Spiral Quilts.  From the description, I thought we would be studying what makes the spiral spin and how to draft them.  She touched on the drafting but I think she really just wanted us to make our "wedges" from her kit.  That's fine for a one or two day class but we are at Empty Spools for 5 days.  There were more than a few engineers in the class that was hoping for more.  I went ahead and drafted my own wedge for paper piecing.  RaNae had said we had to follow her rules-one of them is doing things her way.  Fine.  I'll try it but if I'm more comfortable with another way I'd like to be able to switch to my way.  She did have some good tips but I did not like not pressing with an iron but she insisted we use-basically a wallpaper seam roller- to press our pieces down.  I think she knew the people on our side of the room were not happy so she stayed mostly on the other side.  She commented on the last day how my pieces had little pleats in it.  I was rather snarky and said that I preferred to use and iron and considered this wedge just a practice!

Now that I'm home and the dust is settling, I'm starting a t-shirt quilt for myself as a sample.

 I'm finding that now that Lady Chamberlain is in the basement I don't have a large floor space without an oriental carpet on it!  Maybe I should get a cheap white sheet to lay over the oriental rug to play with the layout.  Tomorrow I'll get some interfacing and start stabilizing the shirts.  I also have not worked on the Lady since I left and should at least throw something small on to play.

I did quilt and edge to edge quilt for a friend of mine with the Pantovision and she was really pleased!  She has another one for me to do in a couple of weeks.  Got to keep my skills sharp!

Time to put my feet up!
Happy Stitching!

I've Been Practicing

Today, I am dedicating to Lady Chamberlain.  I am taking a break because I was pretty intense for 2 hours and need to give myself a break.

First, let me back up a bit.  The machine's name is "Quilt Chamberlain" but it sounds too masculine.  I'm really into Downton Abbey and love the whole lord and lady deal so she is "Lady Quilt Chamberlain", or just Lady Chamberlain.

I practiced my stippling on "The Quilt From Hell".  It was one of those "simple" quilts that I screwed up on every step!  I just wanted it done!  So I decided I'd practice on it and time how long it would take to do it from putting it on the frame to taking it off.  It's 64" square and I used some flannel plaid (what was I thinking when I bought it?  I do think it was on sale)

QFH in the frame

Close up of stippling

Q

And I finished in basically 2 hours  10 minutes!

QFH done!  All that's left is the binding!  I'll do that when I get my sewing machine set up.

 My friend, Ann, gave me a few of her quilts to practice on.  The first one was a small former  mystery quilt she had fallen out of love with.  I practiced my pantographs on it.

Yesterday, I figured out cross hatching.  I have a cross-hatch bar and after wrangling around a bit I "got it"!

 This program is driving me NUTS!  I just tried to move some text and it deleted a picture and turned my font blue and started underling!  I can't turn it off so please bear with me!  Okay-got it back to black but can't stop the underling.

Today I started back on the FMQP doing freehand straight lines.  I drew the star and did okay staying on the line.  I'll need to get a ruler to do the straight line.

The next thing I needed to work on (according to Leah Day) is outlining.  I cut a piece of a large patterned fabric and sewed it on my practice piece.

I then practiced going around all the motifs.  It was slow but not as difficult as I thought it would be.  The difficult part was trying to see through the hopping foot.  I need to see what other types of feet that are available.  I then echoed around the motifs.

I did try to pebble but, again, it was difficult to see where I was going with the foot I had on the machine.

Exciting development!  Yesterday, I had a quilting friend that I had not seen for a while call me to ask me for the name of a quilter to do a simple quilt for her granddaughter.  I told her what was going on with me and she said it would be perfect!  She just wanted large stippling done.  I CAN DO THAT!  She came over today to deliver the quilt, we picked out some thread and I told her I would get it to her in the next two weeks!  I had loaded 5 yards of fabric to practice on before her call so I'm going to practice, practice, practice then do the quilt!  It should take me under 3 hours!

Back to the Lady!

Happy Stitching!

First 3 Quilts from Lady Chamberlain!

So I can't find my camera at the moment but want t show my first 3 quilts done on my Longarm.

I stippled on the first one and found it pretty easy.

The second one I did was the Kaffe windmill. I used a pantograph and it went pretty well.

The last one was the Christmas Log Cabin. I used another pantograph and it went okay but I definitely have to work on circular pattern!

I think I'm going to get back on the Free Motion Quilt Project. And Saturday I'll set up my sewing area upstairs!

Happy Stitching!

Promised Pictures

Here are some pictures from inside the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum.  Pictures were allowed but without a flash.  I also forgot my camera so had to take them on my iPhone.  Without the flash, it was hard to get a non-blurry picture.  I'm posting the best of the pictures.  Some just did not turn out well.  I hope you get the idea.

The quilts displayed were all crazy quilts.  Most of them were antique, made with silks, velvets and satins.  The embroidery was wonderful.  It's amazing to think they were mostly made by hand. 

This is the front of a two-sided quilt.

  

 

The back was just as stunning in all satins and silks.

A close-up of the back shows it was machine quilted!

The next quilt was heavily embroidered.  It also had tartan plaids.

Beautiful embroidered peacock feathers.

This is another beautifully embroidered quilt. 

Close-up if embroidered star

Embroidered 60 degree star

This is a modern quilt.  I wish he picture of the whole quilt came out.  It had beautifully embroidered trees.  The quilting was also incredible.

This is a close-up of some of the embroidery!  Lots of little surprises like the dragonfly all over the quilt.  The bow is attached by the beads.

This is a modern quilt made by Silvia Einstein, who was in the class (as a student) I took last year in Asilomar.  She is such a sweet, creative woman.  I was so excited to see one of her quilts on display!

This was made from pennants.  What a cool idea!  I used to collect these.  Who knows where they are now.

This quilt is quite stunning in person.  All different shades of red velvet strips.

 I'm sorry more of the pictures didn't turn out better.  It was a lovely exhibit and well worth the trip up to Golden from Denver.  I'll be sure to check what is on display the next time I'm in Denver.