Welcome back to REWIND! Every now and then I "rewind" and republish some of my older posts that you may have missed! Today I'm going to share a post from July 2013. It included a bit of information about the quilting of my Mom's Anna quilt and turtle yoga! If you can doodle it or write it with a little practice you can quilt it! I love drawing continuous figure 8s so I tried quilting them and they worked like a charm in the Anna quilt. Don't believe me? Try quilting your name in cursive. Bet it turns out pretty good! And as for turtle yoga.....well you'll just have to read to find out what it is all about!
Filling the elongated hexagons in the Anna H quilt and what the Turtle Girls got up to
There are some things I just don't like doing and filling bobbins is one of them!
One of the reasons I dislike filling bobbins is that I don't like having to take off my thread, load my bobbin thread, rethread the machine and then fill the bobbins. I do a bunch at once but eventually they need filling again!
My friend Barbara asked me about what I thought about bobbin winders. These are little machines that are used exclusively to fill bobbins. I'm starting to think that maybe I might just invest in one. I've read some reviews and they seem to do a good job and it is something I could do in the evening while I watch TV. Does anyone out there have any experience with these devices and if so would you recommend them to others? I would love to know.
I have gone through LOTS of bobbins quilting Mom's Anna quilt but the end is in sight! I now have a plan for the elongated hexagon inner border. Figure 8 is a comfortable shape for me to draw and stitch as are feathers. If you can doodle it you can likely quilt it with ease!
All of the elongated hexagons were previously stitched in the ditch. To quilt the design above I first stitched just inside the top and bottom edges of the middle strip of hexagons and then quilted the figure 8. The 8s don't have to be perfect or exact - the eye sees the whole, not the parts.
Next I quilted just inside the top edge of the top row of elongated hexagons, then the feathers were quilted and the feathers were echoed.
I repeated the same step with the bottom elongated hexagons. I did the same on the other three borders around the centre panel. Finito!
And this is the view from the back.
Tomorrow I move on to the outside edge of the swag! More thinking needed!
Yesterday I told you I caught those naughty Turtle Girls heading out to the garden with my little silk quilt. And what do you think they told me they were going to do? Yoga!
Yesterday I told you I caught those naughty Turtle Girls heading out to the garden with my little silk quilt. And what do you think they told me they were going to do? Yoga!
Hurry up - run! I see a good spot for yoga!
They started with some gentle stretches
Downward turtle? Don't you mean downward dog? And I can't do that!
Turtle Girl perseveres on her own and gives cobra a go. Stretch!!!! Inhale, exhale breathe. Ahhhh!
Happy baby, or happy turtle as she calls it, is very good for the back - like a gentle massage! Oh - it feels very nice but I'm pooped! Best not overdo things first time!
Forget yoga! This is more like it - let's just hang out with the goldfish!
Until I post again, stretch, breathe and happy sewing!
I made the turtle girls myself and I had planned to add to the family this summer but somehow time just got away from me! They are on the "to do" list for sure! I hope that you've enjoyed this issue of Rewind. I reply to every comment by email so if you don't hear from me it means you are a no reply blogger and I have no way to contact you unless you provide me with your email address (or you email me)!
Happy sewing!
Karen H
Funny you mention one of those winder devices ... I just ordered one not more than 3 minutes ago! ha!
ReplyDeleteLove those Turtle Girls! Love them. You need to run a syndication if all of their past appearances ...I 've only just met them and I'm already a major fan!
ReplyDeleteI have (2) bobbin winders, a small "Sidewinder" which was inexpensive and works well for my small bobbins. ( regular sewing machine) I have (4) different sewing machines each with different bobbins, the sidewinder winds them all. I also have a larger, more ( industrial) bobbin winder for the large * longarm* bobbins. I use both winders a lot. Once in a while, when sewing on the Viking machine, I do use the machine winder when my bobbin runs out. Mostly because I need the break from sewing for a few minutes, or I need to clean the machine/ bobbin area & might as well be winding a new bobbin while I do the cleaning.
ReplyDeleteLove your Turtle Girls! Amazing quilting!
ReplyDeleteHappy Holidays!
Changing threads over is a faff your right lol I can see it would save you time to use a bobbin winder.
ReplyDeleteLove those girls and they have better moves than me and that's with a shell on their backs!
Are they paper mache by the weay?
I assume no baby turtles were harmed in the making of this story lol
I hate winding bobbins too! About a year ago, I purchased the Simplicity brand of bobbin winder when it was on sale. It works pretty good, but you still have to unthread your machine...a new hint I have discovered is to buy two spools or more of each color of thread!! I no longer have to unthread my machine when winding bobbins!! Yay! Also, when I bought my quilting machine frame, it came with a VERY good and VERY fast winder! No brand name on it, but it is great!!
ReplyDeleteThe turtles cracked me up!!
ReplyDeleteI loved seeing the turtle girls enjoying the beautiful garden and pool--just what I needed on another gloomy day in Minnesota!
ReplyDeleteAh, my Juki has a second thread path, so I don't have to unthread the machine if I have to wind a bobbin - that is if I have an extra spool of thread of the same type and color that I'm using. Such cute turtles! Enjoyed their adventure. Thanks for this rewind, Karen.
ReplyDeleteYour quilting is always wonderful to see!! Those turtle girls are so cute and funny!! They really know their yoga moves!!
ReplyDeleteLove your "Rewind" feature, and your turtle girls. They are so cute, as was the story!! They brought a smile to my face. :)
ReplyDeleteInteresting post! Love those yoga girls :-) When you say 'stitching in the ditch' of the hexagons, so you mean, beside the seam, as the photos seem to show, as opposed to right in the ditch?
ReplyDelete