Dresden Mini Quilt Finished

 I decided to leave some dresdens hanging over the edge and some wrapped around.  Overall happy with it.  

Dresden Pattern by Susan K Cleveland

 I wanted to try something new and settled on Ripples pattern from Susan K Cleveland's book Dynamic Dresdens  It went together pretty quickly. 

I still have commitment to my Mandala Club so I wanted something fast.  I used a Laura Heine fabric for the background quilting it with simple waves.  I made the 3 dresdens in a day of sewing with friends.  

2nd picture I have added 2 sided binding.  I wanted a pop of blue in front.  I have added one ring of dresdens.  I will hand stitch the binding down before adding the others, then wrap the parts of dresdens that over hang the binding to the back and applique them down.  

If all goes well I will have it finished and turned into Quilter's Guild of Plano this week for the Silent Auction at the August Quilt Show.  It's 18 inches square.

Brown Mandala

 I travelled last week and got to see 4 of my grandies.  Lots of fun.  But I haven't made much progress with my quilting.

I did complete the brown mandala.  I was backing it with a fat quarter (to make a small bag) and ran into some trouble because the edge of the backing with pins was so close to the little quilt that I would bump my rulers into pins and wobble.  So I took it off and added more backing.

As I stated before I really need to practice small motifs.  Some of my cross hatching was still off but instead of removing the stitching I opted to just add small feathers for practice.

Below is a pic of the mandala and the backing.  I started with an 18 inch square and it will be trimmed down to 10 x 16 for the bag - another reason I dodge removing and improving stitches.   The quilting won't show on the back which will be the front of the bag.

well....practice continues

 I didn't get as much sewing or quilting done this last week.  Every Tuesday I am working on finishing my Color My World BOM.  I still need to make the 4 corner sky scrapers and put the  top together.

As for practicing on the mandala, it's been challenge but that is why I wanted to tackle the year long work. I am not doing well on the small or tiny motifs.  I feel pretty comfortable with big feathers but I need to go much slower and work on the smaller ones.  I was eager to finish this brown one and start the next.  

I am still on the brown one.  Makes me 2 weeks behind, but hopefully I'll catch up soon.  It's like taking a class every week.  A video and handout comes every Monday.  I've watched all the videos but haven't stitched projects from the last 2 weeks.

What went wrong?  My crosshatching chalk marks were fading and I didn't sew straight or space well at times.  I didn't have enough extra fabric for the backing and rulers got hung up on edges and pins.  I am backing it with a fat quarter so I took it off the frame and sewed extra fabric to the backing.  I remarked the crosshatching lines.

Things are better but I unpicked some crosshatching that looked bad.  I ended up adding small feathers because that is one area I definitely need to practice.  

Positive things - this piece is 18 inches square.  When it is all quilted I need to cut it down to a smaller rectangle for the bag - something like 10 x 16.  So some wobbles will be trimmed off.    Also, I think I am getting better.

More Practice

 I finished all 3 Mandalas on the table runner but never got the background crosshatching looking good.  I have practiced almost every day and I am getting better.  

Today I loaded an 18 inch square and I am repeating one of the mandalas.  I am using headliner foam in lieu of batting.  I plan to use this piece in a bag like I made last month.  Bag  Years ago I had a design wall made of dark gray headliner fabric.  The front of the bag (bottom layer) is a dark floral fatquarter and I am quilting with gold Glide thread.  This brown fabric in the picture will be the lining of the bag.

Getting Back to Quilting and Garlic Knots

 

I got sloppy in my techniques.  This is on me and not meant as a critique of anyone or their way of doing things.  I didn't have my machine set up for the first 2 years after I moved from Ft Worth to Dallas so that probably contributed to my problems

I have floated quilts for years.  Lately it just wasn’t fun to quilt the quilts.  They became distorted as I reached the bottom.  I bought magnets to hold the top to the belly bar, and I bought a new string measuring device to track how the quilt was lined up as I progressed.  Maybe I didn’t pay enough attention.  I like jumping in and going full steam. 

I made Bonnie Hunter’s Garlic Knots pattern for a niece last year.  I loved the piecing but procrastinated on the quilting and it felt like such a chore to quilt.  I didn’t even get many pictures because I was just not enthused.

(2nd pic is after it's been washed.)

So, I pondered and felt down.  I decided to move my top bar up into place and start using it.  Things have been better, and I like the extra tension and stability on the top.  Another issue I have is I am wondering if I should keep the longarm if I never used it.  I’d wait to the last minute knowing a gift quilt was due before I’d tackle it.  My plan for 2022 was to try and improve and regain my enthusiasm.

One aspect of my plans was taking a year long Mandala Class. Mandala Club    The class has been great.  We get videos and practice every week.  

Below is picture of table runner I am working on for the class.  I am working on putting cross hatching behind the mandalas, then there will be fills in the mandalas.  All my previous practice I have used water erasable blue pens to mark the fabric.  This time I used the chalk pounce that goes away with ironing.  I have managed to remove/fade some of the marks and it is hard to see where to quilt.  I am going to keep working.  I finished this much just using the ruler.  It’s too late in the day to see well.   

Whimsical Quilt - Little Girl

 This is from an online class I took with Cristina Arcenegui Bono in January.  I have learned a lot of from it.  

This is a year were I am trying to work on lots of different things.  I wanted to complete this quilt.  I had it back on the frame to do  little more stitching but now it is done.  I think I will face it rather than do a binding.  

In the future I will do the coloring before I do the quilting.  I used some ink tense pencils and some Tsukeniko Fabrico markers.  

I do like some aspects of the girls hair - the way it is streaked...that happened because one end of a Tombow marker was dried and streaky.  But I did the highlights with a reddish-brown and they would have worked better with a lighter shade.