Vacations with Grandchildren are the Best

 I am late catching up on this blog.  In June I had a road trip taking 4 grandies from Texas and Tennessee to Michigan.  It was lots of fun.

Koala Progress

 I had a day retreat with a friend.  I added 2 new Koalas.  I love the blue one.

Koala Started

 I am still juggling projects.  The one project with a deadline is for a gift.  I am doing Elizabeth Hartman's Koala pattern.  I have time but I thought I'd feel better if I got the top done.  I was at a day retreat with friends last Tuesday and I worked on it there.  I think it is going to be a fun project.  Picking the fabrics has been fun too.

Not A Lot of Sewing

 I haven't sewn much in the last week.  I made another log cabin block and that project will probably just be a couple blocks a week until I finish a couple things.  I also tried my new accuquilt Glorified Nine Patch die and started a new mandala.

I love the new die.  I only made one block and will probably make a few more blocks to perfect the techniques but I think it is pretty and once I am caught up on projects I'd love to make a quilt.

I also practiced quilting for the Mandala Club and have started a new one.

quilting practice

 I have tried the mandala practice a couple times.  I am struggling with quilting small motifs.  I asked for suggestions in a longarm facebook group and received some ideas.  People suggested microdrive handles (I have some but took them off the machine a long time ago so I need to figure out where they are), higher stitches per inch for smoother curves and stitching in manual mode.

I am starting to feel a little better but progress is slow.  2 pics below both pieces are about 14 inches square.  The brown was the first.  It was so wobbly I knew it was going to succeed as a mandala and I just added practice to it.  The red I tried stitching in manual mode and I can see lines are smoother for the most part.  Still knew early on it was not going to be a mandala I would be showing anyone, so continued practicing.  I am not sure if I will repeat this design or go on to another lesson.  I am improving although slowly

Not Your Daddy's Log Cabin

 On Friday I took a zoom class through Mancuso .  David Sirota teaching his log cabin class https://www.quiltmavendave.com/copy-of-not-your-daddy-s-log-cabin-1  

David is a good teacher and it was a fun class.  I am still trying to catch up and keep up with other projects but I had been wanting to take this class.  I need 36 blocks.  I used Bella Super Black, the green is a shot cotton and the beige a linen.  Picture of one of  mine below:

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.

Bag Class

 I spent the day at Best Little Retreat Center in Texas.  My friend and I took a bag class from Donna Petrick.  Donna is a great instructor.  The goal was to do a project that could be completed in one day but include sewing with vinyl, zippers, mesh.

We made Just in Case  by Annie.  Had lots of fun.  Pics below:

Tessa Quilt

 I made this quilt for my niece in the 2nd year of covid.  Her favorite colors are pink and purple.  I loved the pattern from Kitchen Table Quilting and was happy to make it.  Quilted it in swirls with one of the big boards from Circle Lord.  

2 Classes - Sew Fun

 I signed up for Dorie Hurska's Mandala Club which is a yearlong class.   Mandala Club 

I have a friend who is 9 months into her class and I greatly admire what she has accomplished.   My class/club started Jan 1st. There are video lessons every week.  I am really enjoying it.  Dorie is very talented and is an organized, thorough teacher

Practice piece below:

2nd  class was Bonnie Lagenfeld.   She offered a 4 week zoom class on thread painting.  class  I learned so much and it was fun.  She supplied the window picture from one of her quilts.  I want to change some of what I did - so I have bought a 2nd panel, but haven't started that yet.

Day Retreat with Friends

 Last month I spent a day at https://bestlittleretreatcenterintexas.com/   This is a great facility and we want to start going once a month to work on projects.

I think I should take pics of my friends' work next time because part of the fun of a retreat is seeing the work of other quilters.

first of my projects -- This is from a class Cristina Arcenegui Bono  through one of the Mancuso Quilt Shows online.  I took it in Jan.  I can't find a website for Crisitina so I will link to a description of an upcoming class.  

whimsical quilt class

She was a good instructor and I enjoyed the class..  I trimmed threads at the retreat center because I just did straight line quilting...starting and stopping to drag threads across the motifs.  I want to color this quilt but I need to experiment with how I am going to do it.  blue marks on the quilt are wash a way blue pen ....I am leaving them to show me where I want to color.

The other project I worked on was my Plaidish quilt.  which is a free pattern from Kitchen Table Quilting .  I actually started this pre pandemic at another day retreat with my small group.  It uses up charm squares that I had accumulated from swaps.  Ran out of time - so I didn't complete the top.  I thought I had all the blocks made, but I seem to be short some so I need to look through my sewing room before my next retreat. 

 I like simple projects at Retreat so I can relax and visit while I sew.

Siblings got together in Vegas for Super Bowl Party

 I love that we live in a time with free long distance calling, email and zoom but meeting in person is wonderful