Catch-up Post

It's been forever since I last posted. As usual, I'm getting stuff done, I just am not good about the blogging part. In my mind I want to eventually have a quilting business, including a large online presence, but I'll have to tackle this large aversion to the blogging. Maybe when I don't have a job that sucks the life out of me...

June's UFO project was to bind my twister quilt. Here is the finished product:

I ended up using the same purple inner border for the binding. This was definitely a color-study piece for me and is maybe 24" x 24". I'm thinking of taking it to work to put around my desk.

July's UFO is another binding project, my Turning Twenty quilt. You may wonder why lots of my UFOs are binding. While I love to sit in front of the TV or hang out with friends and do handwork, I am supremely slow at the process. Tonight I watched 6ish episodes of Downton Abbey and spent the entire time working on binding a small quilt. Still not done and my hands are tingly. I don't know if I'm using the wrong technique or what. So although I love the hand projects, they just take me large amounts of time.

I only have 11 days left in July, so I better get a move on the binding of the big quilt. I will be watching a lot of TV in the next week.

Those baby quilts I made I ended up quilting at home. I finally decided I could not spend the longarm time when they were easily done on my home machine. I have finished the binding on one and almost done with the second, maybe 3 more Downton Abbey's worth tomorrow. Then they will go back to their owners with the pillow shams I made. Pictures to come later.

I also today finished longarm quilting a friend's quilt that is for a baby. I will post something longer about that with pictures tomorrow. I have another two quilts from this same friend that are larger and I'm going to get adventurous. It before that I will be longarm quilting a special Christmas present using a pantograph for the first time. There is no lack of projects for practicing the long arm.

I'm hoping August will be the month that I was hoping May, then June or July would be. Sort-of hoping for a bigger project then.

If August goes the way we need it to, then October we will be on sabbatical. This is going to mean a large road trip for us through the Western US. I'm hoping to have my hand-piecing pieces all cut out and ready by then so I can make some progress, and a small UFO.

I also need to work on a project for a friend of mine. I already have the idea and it won't take too long, just need to do it.

See? BUSY!

 

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Second Long-arm Project Bound

Here is my second long-arm project, bound and finished! This one took me 4 hours of quilting.

I pretty much followed lines here as well, but it was much more detailed. This is the first quilt where you could really see the quilting on the back, so I took a picture of it.

You can see one of the fish here. This quilt had a lot of practice in it.

 

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Binding Still

Tonight I spent some time working on the binding for my second long-arm panel. I should have it done in the next couple of days.

June will not be the month I was hoping for. We had a couple of setbacks, one quite unexpected. My patience is being tested to my limits. But we will get through this. I am fairly confident that we will be able to take a step forward in July.

June's UFO is a mixed blessing. Connie drew #4 which is my twister wall hanging on my list, it needs to be bound only. This is good because it's small and quick and will give me time to work on the pillow shams and a friend's blankets. But I also had hoped for a large project to keep me busy. Knowing how fast time is going by, June will be gone before I know it.

Still haven't decided whether to long-arm the baby quilts or not. Going back and forth on spending the money to do it. I can finish them sooner at home just because I don't have to wait for a Saturday to be free to go quilt them. I really need to finish them and the pillow shams ASAP.

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Very First Long Arm Project

Although I posted my May UFO which was long-armed, this was my very first item to put on the machine.

It is a panel of course. It's called The Healing Tree and I found it on the last shop hop at Eudora. I liked that it was abstract and had many options for free-motion quilting, although we hadn't yet made it to the shop in Overland Park where I learned about renting the long-arm time.

I used a multi-colored thread and really just followed the lines. In the negative space I did some general free-motion, which doesn't exactly match the rest of the design, but that's ok.

I think the recipient of this will like the meaning behind the piece and not focus on the bad quilting that is my first experience on the long-arm.

 

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May Recap

Well, I didn't have the May I thought I would, but blessings come in all different forms. Hopefully June will be the May I thought I would have. I should know tomorrow.

I haven't posted a lot, but I've been doing a lot of sewing. I have completed three long-arm projects so far. I realized that two of them I've not photographed. I will have to do that as soon as I get the binding on them. So far I've really enjoyed working with the long-arm machine. I feel like I'm more comfortable with working the machine and soon I'll be able to focus on the design completely. This last time I went I didn't make a single mistake with the buttons or tension. All my projects have been panels so far but I'm about to move to a real quilt with my next visit. The only downside so far is that the only day I have as an option for quilting is Saturday. It can eat up the day.

I also spent some time recently making the two baby blankets for hire. I had to change my original design slightly because I was running out of fabric from the person. But I still think they are cute. I am now torn between long-arm quilting them or doing them at home. They are small enough to do at home and I can be more accurate with my home machine, but I think I could do them faster on the long-arm. I also am not sure how to quilt them yet. So many decisions...

A t-shirt quilt is my other project from this month. I am so excited by how it has turned out. I will definitely be long-arm quilting that and it will be my first pantograph. I don't know if the recipient reads this so I probably won't be posting it for a long time. Let me know if you want a picture!

I've also been working on a really large project that I want to write a long blog post on. I'm hoping I'll be in a good place this weekend to take some nice pictures and write about it.

My UFOs list is quickly becoming divided into two sections: binding-only and large projects. I'm both excited and dreading the June number. Again, if June is my exciting month, I will need a large project to keep my mind focused and busy.

Upcoming projects that are on my radar include pillow shams for the same lady who requested the baby quilt and some flannel quilts made from baby blankets for a friend. I also want to create a pattern and instructions from the items I'm designing myself and posting for download to see what the interest is like.

Another Hand-Pieced Block Completed

I recently finished another block for my hand-pieced quilt.

This would be my 8th block which means I'm half-way done with the blocks.

 

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May UFO

Under the wire with one day to spare!

This is a panel I've had forever. I took it to the longarm shop and used it as practice. Then I bound it by hand. I followed the lines so that the panel design was the focus and not the quilting.

The longarm is getting easier to use and it doesn't "talk" to me as much.

 

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