Buttonhole Wheel

TAST Portuguese Knotted Stem
Originally uploaded by Kay Susan

A while ago I purchased the Leisure Arts Embroidery Pocket Guide Leaflet. It's laminated and folds up just like a map, which is extremely handy. I love using it to refresh my memory on stitches that I already know how to do-- the diagrams are great.

However, it lists some stitches I don't know, which looked pretty cool. The stitch I taught myself today was the buttonhole wheel stitch (seen above in Kay Susan's awesome embroidery).

If you're curious about how to do it, check out this video tutorial for buttonhole wheel stitch from Mary Corbet's Needle 'n Thread.

Variety Hour

I'm getting some brainwaves for my DQS7 project. My partner seems to like applique, so hopefully she will like what I'm cooking up!




Many quilters love putting binding on quilts, because it is slow and meditative-- at least, that's why I love it. But, I do so hate making the binding. Halfway there... all that's left is the ironing. :(



Finally, I got started on some embroidery. I'm working on the Bareroots Little Stitchies #177 August. There's one homestead scene for every month. I don't normally go in for this sort of thing, but those houses were irresistible. I'm tweaking the pattern a bit... stay tuned for details.

Prewashing

Is the devil.

There, I said it.

I hate prewashing fabric. I hate all the unraveling and the strings that happen (even if you use a lingerie bag). I hate ironing a huge piece of yardage.

I just hate everything about it. I have never prewashed fabric and I have no intentions to start. So far none of my projects have had problems, and hopefully they won't start.

(PS- I must admit that I did soak the red batik backing for this quilt because I was terrified not to.)

Back to life, back to reality

In case you were wondering, my 10 day beach vacation was utterly sublime. I did miss my little apartment in my little city, though. A summer rainstorm is rolling in, the wind is blowing, and everything looks a little muted.

List of Projects to Finish In Order of Importance:
1. Gloria's Quilt (back from the quilter and so beautiful!)
2. French Braid Quilt
3. Grandma's Flower Garden
4. Aunt Millie's Block of the Month


List of Projects to Start:
1. Gretchen's T-Shirt Quilt
2. Various Hand Embroideries

Not to mention the doll quilt for my DQS7 super secret partner...

Speaking of hand embroidery... I found something that Crystal will love:
Vintage Fruit Dishtowels Embroidery Pattern. I almost bought them for myself today at the quilt shop... instead I bought some other Bareroots patterns, including one for an Advent Calendar. Don't laugh.

I'd show a picture of my boon, but the lack of natural light is foiling those attempts.

dqs7 button.

dqs7 button.
Originally uploaded by rachelgriffith

Here goes nothing!

Beach vacation

Beach vacation
Originally uploaded by jenamoured

I'm blogging from the beach! I return to Richmond on July 25th, so expect to hear from me sometime after that. I'm not ignoring you guys, I promise!

French Braid

French Braid
Originally uploaded by jenamoured

Here's the quilt top for the French Braid quilt. Of course, it is not at all square and I've already cut off several inches in an attempt to get it square. I decided to fold it up and put it away until after vacation-- that way I don't end up with a placemat out of frustration.

I've still got to add borders to this thing.

Perfect Little Box Pouch

Perfect Little Box Pouch
Originally uploaded by Indie House

Here's a fun and easy-to-follow tutorial on how to make a boxed pouch. I've never put in a zipper before, but this seems an innocent enough project for zipper virgins!

Amy Butler and the Goblet of Fire

It may not be common internet knowledge, but I happen to be a megafan of Harry Potter. Books and movies. Since ABC Family was showing a Harry Potter movie marathon, I moved my table and machine into the TV room so that I could watch and sew. Like I haven't seen those movies millions of times already.

Anyway, I was working on a French Braid quilt (from this free pattern) using Amy Butler's Daisy Chain fabrics. I've finished all the braids and now need to sew them together.

Mischief managed!

Pattern 23033 Caspian

Pattern 23033 Caspian
Originally uploaded by jenamoured

Picked this up for Crystal.

The question is.. does she still need it?

Jennifer Can't Quilt.

It is with a heavy heart that I announce I have abdicated from the position of "quilter." This means I am temporarily demoted to "piecer."

Look, I can't quilt that giant ass quilt, okay? And, yeah, I totally feel like it's cheating to send something out to be quilted, but at least when it comes back it's going to look good. And I'm not going to end up tearing my hair out.

Here's how it happened: I went to ye olde quilting shop to use the tables and quilt. I quilted one circle... it was more like a polygon. So Laura was going to give me some tips on free motioning a big thing (instead of little practice things that are pretty easy), but when she tried to free motion that quilt, the machine started eating thread (it grew teeth). She also noted how difficult it was to move the quilt because my machine is miniscule and also the quilt is heavy. We conferred for about 40 seconds, in which time I realized I must be bat shit crazy to try to quilt that myself (not ready yet!) and needed to send it out.

...

I feel a little guilty and I think I even wanted to cry a little. But at least I get to work on other projects now. :)

Extreme Closeup

I marked the quilt top today. I used the largest circle template from Bigger Perfect Circles and it was perfect!

By the way, if you don't have a Sewline Ceramic Pencil, you need to get one. They are so awesome for marking fabric. Pink is my favorite. Read about them in this PDF from United Notions. (No, I am not working for them!)

!@#% Basting

I pieced the backing to the one block wonder quilt and then spent two hours basting it.




Of course, after I basted and the top was perfect, I turned the monster over to make sure the back was good... Not so much. It had wrinkled and puckered everywhere. Probably because I had been crawling around on it and it shifted.

So, I guess I will be re-basting at the quilt store tomorrow, instead of quilting. Alas.

!!!

Alright, so, finally I got Gloria's quilt top completely finished. It looks wonderful! I have a few ugly pictures to show so that all of you readers (ie, zero) can get an idea of what's going on here. Then, when it's all quilted up, I'll show the final product.



I used fabric from the Natural Effects line by Marcus Fabrics. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough of my original fabric, so I had to supplement with another fabric from the Natural Effects line (same print, smaller scale) and one Al Fresco print. I used this as the border, along with a couple blender batiks.

I think it looks great.

The employees at Quilting Adventures are the bomb because they really helped me out with this quilt, from fabric choice, to layout, to teaching me how to do mitered corners! Also, that's where I took the class to learn how to do a One Block Wonder. They also let me invade their shop and use their huge tables to do my work, otherwise I'd have been sewing that huge top in this:



I'll be basting this weekend so that I can begin quilting it on Monday.

Where have I been?

Oh, just without the internet.

Since my last post I have:
-learned how to do bead embroidery
-learned how to do one block wonders (and created one!)
-started work on a french braid quilt using a moda bake shop tutorial.
-been awesome


I hope people are still reading!

Now, to figure out mitered corners...

Finished!

I finally finished Gina's gift quilt for Jack! Yay. I get to give it to her tomorrow at the shower. It's in the wash right now.

Unfortunately, it is a dismal day and so it's too dark to take photographs, so you won't see it. But, you can imagine it from previous pictures.

Anyway, I kept encountering this terrible problem. Many times when trying to knot off and then bury the knot, my thread would break, leaving me with a very small tail and no way to bury it. What do you do when this happens?

For the record, I'm using high quality Mettler thread and it's not ancient. I have no idea what's wrong.

Finished Objects?

No! But we're getting there!

Just thought I'd share pictures of what I've been working on...

My flower garden quilt is growing. I've been working on it during babysitting gigs (a girl has to get tattoo money somehow). The kids seem to be fascinated with the act of sewing-- most of the moms I sit for don't sew. (One mother, however, showed me her Husqvarna from 1970. It was pristine and beautiful. She said it sews perfectly. I wanted to trade my machine for hers.)





That's my favorite fabric in the whole bunch. I love that batik. It's from timeless treasures. I have the item number, but can't seem to find that colorway anywhere on the web. :(



I have pieced but not quilted this cute, simple quilt for Caithlin's newborn Oscar. I love that traffic jam fabric.





And last, but not least, I am in the final stages of completing the Eye Spy quilt (the one that's not ugly)! I have quilted it, squared it, sewn on rock pockets (via Sew, Mama, Sew!), and attached binding. Almost done...

I used the Fons & Porter Easy Binding Tool to help create my continuous binding tape. The directions are not all that easy to read, but once you read through them and if you take it slow, it's actually very easy to use. And it produces PERFECT continuous binding. Get one. Seriously.

Confessions.

I use basting spray.


It's much more effective than my own shoddy pinning, plus it's faster.

Say what you will!

Holy Cow!

Two surprises:

1. Cherri of Cherry House Quilts is so graciously giving me a freebie! I won the I do quilt pattern (of her very own design). This is especially amazing because I never win anything. Also, how lucky of me to win a Cherry House pattern right when I'm inspired by the very quilts! Keep your eyes peeled for that, though mine will probably be ugly. (Not a big surprise there.)

2. I have commenters! Craziness. Ladies of the quilting blogosphere, I thank you for reading my humble blog. Oh, and Rollercoaster Teacher, too.



So, the machine is fixed-- seventy cool ones later. Apparently there was some sort of massive thread jam... When the serviceman told me that, I just sort of whistled and walked away with my head down.

I have since pieced one quilt top that is very cute. Of course, no pictures yet. Every time I think to take pictures it's just too dang dark. I'll get to that. I swear.

But, I have been working on a hand piecing project. It's turning out to be pretty beautiful. Pictures to come.

Cherry House Quilts

sliced fruit
Originally uploaded by cherry house quilts

Currently being over-inspired by Cherry House Quilts.

The reason I say over-inspired is that my machine is still broken, but I find myself planning more projects... Hopefully they aren't as ugly as the last ones I worked on.