Mid year goal check in. All quilters start every project with good intentions of finishing. I am no different. So far this year I have worked on a couple UFOs.
The 60 degree stars is now finished.
Jack’s chain is now a top.
Baby quilts galore this year. Here are some that are finished now.
And there are a couple more to go. One is in progress, one is in the planning stages.
I have longarmed a large quilt for mom with custom quilting that took a gob of my time.
I have made a few small projects.
And I have written patterns and gave away for free. This is one of my WIPs.
And all the quilts sewn from scraps. I think most of what I have worked on is scraps!
I am trying to grow my youtube channel. The competition is fierce out there! Please visit my channel.
I have taken judges training for textile arts for county fairs.
This will be loaded on the longarm Monday. I have stressed about how to quilt this. I will be custom quilting the #EmbroideryFlowerQuilt.
I am linking up with Quilting Jetgirl in #2022MidYearCheckIn. Make sure to check out her blog with all the links!
Due to a longer weekend last weekend, I got a gob of stuff done. Mom’s Dresden is quilted. Turned out beautiful.
And I got this one quilted, sorry no quilted photo.
I made a chicken pincushion.
And I started piecing a new baby quilt. I had just received my copy of Farm Girl Vintage 2 and skimmed through it, and then got out the Farm Girl Vintage book to plan on making a barn quilt out of 2. I changed my mind and enjoyed piecing a cow block. And what goes with cows? Milk Cans of course. I hope the mom to be is not offended by this theme. It is cute, but you never know eh?
This picture is the bom cut out of all the pieces for the larger cow.
This block sure has a high alphabet count!
And just like that it turned into this.
And I got borders put on the blue boy quilt top. All this is, three 2 1/2 inch strips sewn and trimmed to each side. Each side had a left over 10 inch or so piece. I turned my 6.5 square on the strip set on it’s diagonal and made each corner. Looks like a fancy churn dash (which was unexpected). Love, Love, Love how this one turned out. Sometimes the fun of just winging a quilt design has a wonderful outcome. #Scrapathon2023 And who says that a quilt needs 90 degree corners. I rather like this design element.
The weather is still cooler than normal so hopefully I will get the blue quilt quilted soon. Other stuff on my to-do list, I have a couple of bindings to install, but there is no rush.
I also got this sent off to see if it will make the cut in a quilt show. I have a little more work to do on this. The binding is complete, there are quilting stitches that need ripping out. I need to install a sleeve as well as a label. I have plenty of time to do all this, but the ripping out is very time consuming.
Summer came and we reached highs of 97, and then just like that it was way cool for this time of the year. Usually May is a muggy month where we have a bunch of gulf stream moisture with highs between 85-92. Last weekend a cool front came and cooled us off to highs in the 60s and low 70s. It has been a quilting kind of week!
I have been working on mom’s quilt. It is 90% complete. And the weekend is long so maybe I will get that finished up and get something else on the frame.
There is mega texture in this echo quilting AND it took the fullness out of the spots that needed it.
I am down to one seam left in the scrappy buckeye beauty quilt. I will probably add borders this weekend. I did place a poll on youtube for selecting a border. At the beginning of the poll, the two fabrics were neck and neck in the percentages. Make sure to go check that out so you can vote too!
And a while back I was viewing another Nolting longarm on youtube and noticed they had a CLX like mine but their handles came further to the front of the frame. I reached out to the owner (Ann) and she let me know that those are just extension bicycle handles (only $10 dollars on Amazon). She actually added two sets to make it more ergonomic for her. I only added one because I do ruler work. This changed has taught me a few things.
So for the few years I have owned this machine, I would leave my machine with a back ache. I mean the belly bar is a fulcrum on the body and you have to bend over to reach the rear of the quilt while quilting. This helped tremendously with that! My arms are bent at 90 degrees and kept by my side which is a very natural position. I did not need any technology to make this change but a screwdriver. And because I removed the foam pads that were original to the machine, when I do ruler work and grab that right handle, it fits marvelously in my hand. Those handle cushions are too big, which is not ergonomic for these chunky dunky hands (those handle grips were made for man’s hands….hmmm not well thought out Nolting). Was I able to do more quilting for longer periods? YES! I wish I would have asked a long time ago.
I did have a tension hiccup. I got jammed and the machine went into fail safe mode. I thought I broke the machine! I oiled heavily and left it rest for 24 hours. That dislodged a large piece of lint put off by the green thread I am using on the backing. My eyes don’t see green very well any more. I cannot see the lint below in the machine. My machine is still not just right. I presume there is another hairball this cat needs to hack up.
May is almost over, what does June hold quilt wise? Well, I am still waiting on grid interfacing! Yeah, after the wrong stuff was shipped, I ordered AGAIN and because I am relying on a drop ship, it has taken all month. I had hoped I could start on this.
I have decided to enter this 365 quilt block challenge in a quilt show. It has been on my table needing the binding added now for months. I did work on that a bit this week. As I see it all rumpled up on my table, I see how accurate my points and nested seams are. This quilt deserved to be seen! I will be making arrangements for a label as well as a hanging sleeve. I know when other quilters see it, they will be inspired and they will know how much work went into this. And I finally measured the quilt. It turned out to be 90 X 90. I was shocked by the measurement haha, it is spot on. In the description box to tell a bit about the quilt, I am listing I now hate red hahhahaha. Other quilters are going to relate to this.
Have a wonderful weekend! Be safe! Summer is officially here! Thanks for reading my blog!
I have not done much this past week. I was waiting for interfacing last week. They sent on point grid interfacing and I wanted regular 820 pelon. So I ordered more and am still waiting. If the pandemic has taught us anything is to be patient with what ever mail service you are using and expect delays. So the Embroidered Flowers Quilt is on hold for now.
And Texas summer arrived last weekend, which left me feeling tired and drained all week. So no quilting happened in the garage.
And I found out today another coworker is expecting a child, and knowing the time line, I have to get off my keester and get busy! Most of the parents are not going to find out what they are having and others it is too soon to know. I kind of went into panic mode with the news of someone else expecting because I have one top to quilt for that regard. I have oodles to get done between now and then. So today I searched for a block that I could go scrappy. After clicking around with Moda Block heads I found the buckeye beauty block. Perfect! I had to go all the way back to Moda Block Heads II. If you are interested in this free pattern click here.
So after a few hours of starching, ironing, cutting and sewing, I have a nice scrappy sampling and am pleased with this so far. I shall get this top sewn this weekend, or at least that is the plan.
Scrappy Buckeye Beauties, what are you working on?
I am participating in the second annual #Scrapathon2223. I wonder how many scrap quilts I will happen this year. I think I have three that will probably fall into that category. We shall see, eh?
Make sure you swing by my youtube channel and hear about all the things judges look for at county fairs as far as quilts are concerned. Lots of good information. See below.
The blog is rather short and sweet this week. A first time for everything LOL! Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog!
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