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.