Patio Pillows

 Okay, so it's not a Design Wall Monday post but I can't resist celebrating the completion of my patio pillows. Just FYI, the design wall looks the same as it did last time, with snake blocks on the wall. 

The patio pillow project (say that three times fast!) started out as something for practicing free motion quilting, and it certainly was effective in doing that. I feel much more confident in tackling FMQ now. I'm certainly not very skilled, that will take lots of practice, but I'm no longer paralyzed by "I can't" anymore, either. 

I like the pops of color the pillows add to our patio. Our patio is covered and it faces northeast which is excellent in this climate. We get a lot of sun early in the morning but not in the afternoon. The batik fabrics will fade from the bright sun, so we'll have to bring them into the house when we're not using them. I have a basket for them in a corner near the patio door. 

Each of the four panels is different. The first is wavy lines, quilted with the walking foot. No FMQ practice here because I wanted to try out this wavy line concept. 

The second was simple leaves along a meander. I can FMQ a pretty good meander, and a friend loaned me a book about how to add motifs to a meander to expand your repertoire. After some practice on a muslin sandwich I quilted this. 

The third panel was spirals.

And the fourth one is leafy vines. This one is my favorite, but it took a lot more planning of the placement of the leaf clusters.  This would be hard to do allover on a larger quilt and get the placement okay. 

The last step was trimming them to size, adding zippers, and sewing them into pillowcases. Ta-done!

Just in time for temperate weather, and we can use them all winter because it's very pleasant to enjoy the sun in the wintertime here. 

Link ups: Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, Love Laugh Quilt

Friday Finish: Latest LCT

 My Log Cabin Triangles quilt with the white-based prints is finished. Spiral quilting, label, binding, and all. 

So hard to get good photos here - the sun is either too bright or the shade is too deep, and the sun is in the wrong place. Here the quilt is in deep shade but the sun was almost on the camera.

The spiral quilting went smoothly. There might be a tiny pucker, but once the quilt is washed it won't be noticeable. 

I'm glad I took time to quilt this right away. I'll share it with the PC Quilters at my trunk show in December and the girls who make veterans quilts can have the pattern if they want. Tutorial here for Quilts of Valor or any charitable purpose. 

This version finished at 54 by 72", too tall to fit on my wall vertically so here it is horizontally. 

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Alycia Quilts, Wendy's Quilts and More, and My Quilt Infatuation

Still Time...

 Remember my life sized Christmas Tree wall hanging that can be used to display real ornaments? 

There's still time to make one if you like. Get the tutorial here: 

 

O Tannenbaun tutorial

Link up: My Quilt Infatuation

Quilting Practice

 Last week it was FMQ practice on my domestic machine; yesterday it was long arm practice. Lots of quilting accomplished in the last few days! 

I've been gaining confidence in my FMQ skills with each of the panels for my patio pillow covers. Here's the last panel, quilted with vines and leaves.

I used the same variegated thread I used on the other panels so they all coordinate, even though the quilting designs are different. 

Now that all four panels are done - and the weather's getting cool enough to sit out on my patio - I need to hurry up and get these pillow covers finished. That's one of my goals for this month. 

I had time booked on PCQ's long arm yesterday and an experienced helper, so I was able to get the Asian Squares charity quilt quilted. 

The panto is called River Run and reminds me of an Asian sand garden with raked lines and swirls. I thought it would enhance this project, and even though there's a lot of bobbles and wobbles in the quilting, I think it came out okay. I used a pale sage thread because all the golds or khakis looked too red against the metallic gold alternate squares, and cream was too light on the  darker prints. The sage blends nicely with the print squares, and even blends into the backing. 

The backing is a Japanese print of gold metallic on maroon that was donated specifically for this quilt by one of the girls from Wednesday social sewing. Thanks, Hiromi! I'll use the off-cuts from the backing for the binding. It's perfect!

I re-learned how to use the long arm, and I think I'll remember more this time. I can sign up to use it again any time after Nov. 23, so I should probably book time after Thanksgiving to use it so I won't forget what I've learned. Just need to finish a top and make a backing...

Quilting is just one step in the process, so I need to continue to work on both of these projects to get them finished. I'd like to have the Asian Squares quilt done by Monday to donate it at the PCQ general meeting Monday night. I think that's do-able. 

Linking up with Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication

October Stash Report and Goals Update

 A busy month; my "optional" project turned into my primary project. I debated whether to quilt my latest LCT top for my trunk show in December because it's easier to show and store a top than a finished quilt. But I really like how spiral quilting enhances the LCT layout so I ordered backing and quilted it. Some of my other projects had less progress as a result, but I'm satisfied with all that I got done this month. 

As long as I was ordering backing for LCT, I ordered a couple other cuts of wide backing, so my stash report took a hit this month. Moving in the wrong direction here, and I hope I can get to the break even point by the end of the year. 

October Stash Report: 

IN this month: 6 yards (3 cuts wide backings)
OUT this month: 4 yards (LCT back, 1-7/8 yards wide backing. LCT binding, 5/8 yard. Gold metallic print for Asian Squares top, 1-1/2 yards.)

IN YTD: 94-5/8 yards
OUT YTD: 89-1/4 yards
YTD Net change: 5-3/8 yards added to the stash

Since I don't count fabric used in a quilt top until the flimsy is finished, I'm not counting all that I've used in my Snake blocks yet. But the blocks are coming along, with several more made this month. 

I'm also not counting the yardage used in HOW MANY. I started it long before I started tracking my stash usage. I tallied how many different batik fabrics (345 in the top), but not how much used. Some were charm squares, some were FQs, and some were actual yardage. The backing was custom dyed for this quilt and I didn't count it into my stash so I won't count it out. And since I'm not counting anything else used in this quilt, I might as well not count the binding, which is from years ago when I was collecting batiks for this project. 

Goals Update: 

October Recap: 

1. Continue making blocks for the Snake Quilt. Yes, made several this month at social sewing.

2. Start working on the color challenge project. No, and I'm glad I haven't started yet; my concept is too much like a recent class example. 

3. Practice FMQ on the last pillow panel. Yes, quilted vines with clusters of leaves.

4. Finish sewing the sleeve on How Many.  YES!!! Finally finished the very last stitch on this Work In Glacially Slow Progress.

5. Finish piecing the current donation quilt and quilt it on PCQ's long arm. Progress, the Asian squares top is pieced but I can't get scheduled on the long arm until Nov. 2.

6. Find and start a new project for social sewing on Wednesdays, another donation quilt. Yes, started a new Plus quilt with sock monkey fabric. Piecing is underway. 

7. Optional: Make a backing for the latest LCT QOV, layer and baste and start spiral quilting. Yes, not only started but the quilt is finished and bound. 

October's donation quilt goes on the long arm on Tuesday, and will get donated next week. The top was pieced at social sewing, from a combination of donated squares and my fabric. I can't find a photo of the flimsy, so this one of the layout will have to do. 

November Goals:

1. Quilt the Asian squares donation quilt on PCQ's long arm on Nov 2. Bind and finish it.

2. Continue making blocks for the snake quilt.

3. Finish the sock monkey Plus quilt top at social sewing. Make a backing and book time on the long arm in early December to quilt it. 

4. Come up with a new plan for the color challenge, which is due in February. 

5. Assemble the batik pillow covers. 

6. Play with the KK concept using the pink striped print bought in Florida.

Now that the weather is comfortable for sitting out on our patio, I need to finish up the pillows for our chaise lounges. These were intended for FMQ practice, and I quilted leaves on the fourth panel this month, using the same variegated thread as on the other panels. My confidence in my FMQ skills has come a long way because of this project. 

That's plenty to keep me busy in November, considering that I'll have a lot of non-quilty stuff going on this month. 

So while this isn't exactly a Design Wall post, it is what I'm working on, so I'm linking up with Small Quilts and Doll Quilts and Love Laugh Quilt.

LCT: Not Finished, But the Quilting Is Coming Along

 I found wide backing that I like for my white-based Log Cabin Triangles quilt. It took awhile for my order to get here, but it finally arrived and now the fabric has been washed and pressed. 

At 54 by 72 inches, this quilt is much too large to baste on top of my cutting table, so I moved the furniture out of the way and basted it on the floor in my sewing room. Crawling around on the floor is certainly not my favorite part of the quilting process, but since I want to spiral quilt this one, it needs to be well and securely basted. I use ordinary straight pins, because my arthritic hands don't like safety pins and the straight pins are easier to remove during quilting. 

Round and round... I mark the center with a template, then use a gauge on my walking foot to align the quilting. I'll come back and free motion the marked center later. Going clockwise, each round will get closer and closer to the edge of the quilt. The spacing here is 1-1/2" apart, the same as the width of the logs.  

Since I start the quilting in the center of the block layout, not the actual center of the quilt, as I go around the quilting gets to one edge sooner than the other edges. I've learned, having done enough spiral quilting, that that's a very good time to check the bobbin. That's where the progress is in the photo above. 

Lots more rounds - partial rounds now, since I'm off one edge - to go. After awhile I'll get to another edge, then the quilting will get easier because I won't be wrangling the whole thing. Last, I'll echo the spiral lines with the same spacing to fill in the corners. 

So, not a finish today, but definitely progress. Maybe a finish next week? 

Link ups: Confessions of a Fabric Addict,  Alycia Quilts

Snake Quilt Update

 It's been awhile since I've shown any progress on my Snake quilt. I've been working on the blocks at social sewing on Wednesdays when I haven't been working on something else. I put the blocks back up on my design wall to see how far along I am. 

Slowly but surely the blocks are coming along; it looks like I'm about two thirds done. There's no deadline for this project, so I can work on it when I like, and move on to something else when I get tired of it. 

Linking up with Small Quilts and Doll Quilts and Love Laugh Quilt