Lazy Girl no more

Happy 2016 my friends! I hope you found time to do a little sewing during the holidays. I did but nowhere near as much as I needed. I continue to work on my quilt for our quilt along. Now that the holidays are over I can work more diligently and get the top put together before I launch the patterns. While I do like surprises this is going to be a full size quilt so I think it is better that you see it beforehand; this means I've got lots of sewing to do before I can start the quilt along! The holidays are over so for me it is lazy girl no more!

If you've been following my blog you may recognize this quilt. I called it Lazy Girl because I used fast and easy methods to make it, including machine applique!

I made arcs with free-form cutting and sewing methods which you can read about here.

The arcs were machine appliqued them to the background and then four of these squares were sewn together. It was easier to cut four smaller squares than to cut one large square! I made twelve of these large squares. Then it was just a matter of sewing the twelve together to make the quit top!

The quilt was heavily quilted because there was lots of open space. I quilted feathers from top to bottom (the curled feather is either at the top of bottom of the quilt) and then I filled in the background with a mishmash of quilting designs.

Here you can see how I filled in the edges of the quilt.

I gifted this quilt to someone special. Her cat Rory has claimed the quilt as his own and honestly I think that he looks pretty good on the quilt! But then ginger cats generally look quite attractive on any quilt! I just adore his chubby little fingers!

If you would like me to put together a series of links to my blog posts so that you can make your own Lazy Girl quilt let me know and I'll add it to my "to-do" list!

Until I post again, happy 2016 and happy sewing!
Karen H

Filling in the spaces

I'm working my sock (or gloves) off on Lazy Girl! Do you think it is time for a pair of new gloves? They are pretty beat up but they are like a pair of old shoes....so comfortable!

I've quilted the feather that runs the length of the quilt on one side and am debating whether or not to stitch a feather on the other side. In the meanwhile I'll continue with the first feather. I echoed stitched around the feather. I'm using Superior's So Fine (LOVE IT) on top and Superior's The Bottom Line in the bobbin.

I added a second echo because I really want to flatten the area immediately next to the feather.

Here you can see both sides of the feather have a double echo. At this point the background on either side of the feather appears to come forward and the feather recedes. I want it the other way around.

To do this I'll fill in the background. My original plan was to meander or stipple but that gets boring very quickly. I saw my practice swatches and decided to just do a mish mash of different shapes and designs - kind of mindless doodling. I use my test swatches to test my threads, needle and machine setting each day before I start quilting and I think they look interesting so I'll just use a bunch of different stitches to fill in the background. Here is the first side filled in and I am a happy quilter! There are pearls, and swirls, feathers and bouncing bananas. I also tried a little bit of McTavishing! So Fine is a great thread for this type of quilting because it is fine enough that I'm not getting thread build-up but heavy enough that I can see the stitches.

Here it is a little closer. What I like about this stitching is that it is surprisingly easy or at least easier than feathers which require long, smooth, sweeping, large movements. While the feather shape itself is quite easy once you deconstruct it, you are working over a very larger area so you are making sure your quilt is flat and smooth and your hand/arm movements are even. The filler is small so it is very small muscle movement that is required and mistakes are less obvious! There is so much going on that if there is a mistake it isn't obvious and although it is densely quilted it goes very quickly.

Here is the other side of the feather filled in with doodling! When I worked myself into a corner I could just travel on or parallel to a line I had already quilted so that I could get to an unquilted area. Again I'm not getting a thread build-up because the So Fine thread by Superior is quite fine .

And one more close-up!

And this is the feather with both sides filled in. Now the feather comes forward and the background recedes which is exactly the look I was going for! I'm doing all of the quilting with Superior's So Fine and am just loving it! I'm having to do a little travelling (sewing on lines that have already been quilted) to get to other spaces so they can be filled in and I'm not getting a heavy thread build-up. The thread colour is soft grey so it works well with the background fabric and again helps minimize the thread build-up.

I've said it many times and it bears repeating - the only way to learn machine quilting skills it to practice, practice, practice. All of that practice is paying off because now I've got an interesting filler design and the idea came from my practice swatches! If' you want to get started free motion quilting (FMQ) my best advice is to make yourself some small sandwiches and use thread that you and your machine like and start quilting shapes that are comfortable. I'll bet you can quilt your name with no difficulty at all. Cursive writing is a great way to practice FMQ!

I've also got the next quilt back ready so when I done with Lazy Girl I can get started on Piccadilly to the Nines. I've got some beautiful thread for the hourglass border. It is a variegated green thread by Superior and it is called Fantastico. It has a gorgeous sheen and I can't wait to try it out!

Yesterday I had a sewing day with friends. My Mom pulled out a set of six old linens with beautiful cut work. They are little envelope and Mom was asking if anyone knew how they were intended to be used. The motif is a pear so I am assuming they have something to do with a dining room. Does anyone have any ideas?

Finally I have a request. Does anyone out there know of a shop that has this fabric in stock? If so could you leave me the details in a comment or send me an email. I just love the little birds and the colour but can't find the fabric anywhere. It is made by Moda and it is from the line Dominique II. The colour is paprika.

That's it for today! Until I post tomorrow, happy sewing!
Karen H

Lazy Punk is done so I'm moving on to Lazy Girl

I finished quilting my Mom's Lazy Punk. I stitched in the ditch on every seam and then I outlined every propeller in the blocks. I was going to quilt the background behind them but we decided we liked the nice clean finish. This quilt is going to be used so it will be great as is! I do like the feathers in the triangles!

We always make our binding when the quilt top is finished, even if we aren't going to quilt it at that moment. I just wind it on a piece of cardboard and keep the quilt top and the binding together until I'm ready to quilt. Mom  is stitching down the binding so I'll take a picture and post it when she has finished.

After I finished quilting Mom's quilt I pinned up my Lazy Girl quilt. It measures 60" x 80". I wish I had pushed out the edges of the circles to make them a little more square shaped. The background fabric is a very subtle grey print that almost has the look of burlap. It is 100% cotton and I got it in the home dec department of a fabric store. It was 100" wide and I think I paid around $6/meter. Can't go wrong with that! While pinning the quilt I ripped open my index finger on a bunch of pins that were in a tangle and in bled like crazy. Before I knew it I had two large bloody marks on my quilt. Normally I would use spit to remove my blood but I recently watched an episode of Fons & Porter and one of the viewer tips was to use hydrogen peroxide to remove blood so I gave it a try. It worked like a charm!

I found a pretty blue April Cornell floral print at a sale. Since this is more of a summery quilt I thought it would be a great backing. I matched up the print on the back. To do this I turned under the edge of the piece on the bottom to line up the print. I unpinned and took that piece to the iron and press the edge under the entire length of the fabric. I then used my glue stick. I applied glue to folded under edge, lined it up on the on the other piece of the backing and pressed to glue it in place. When the entire length was glued and the glue dried I just put the right sides of the fabric together and sewed on the fold line. The excess fabric was trimmed and the pattern on the back matched perfectly!

The first thing I did was stitch in the ditch along every seam with Superior's Monopoly on top and The Bottom Line in the bobbin. I then quilted all around each circle on the outer curve and the inner curve. Time to decide how to quilt it! I made this quilt because there is so much wide open space, what is also called negative space, where I could do some big quilting designs. The seams appear puckered in the photo but they aren't!

So now for the wide open spaces. What to do? Well feathers seem to be working for me lately so I guess I'll start with a feather than runs the length of the quilt! I threaded my machine with Superior's So Fine on top and The Bottom Line in the bobbin. I marked the spine as a guideline. I started at the top and stitched the spine. When I got to the bottom I quilted the plumes of the feather to the right of the spine. When I got to the top I came right back down on the other side of the spine about 1/4" away from the first line.

I then started quilting up the left side of the feather. The feather isn't perfect but neither am I and I'm okay with that! I'm not going to beat myself up over quilting that isn't perfect. I'm enjoying what I am doing and that's what is most important.

I'll echo quilt around the feather and then maybe stipple or meander quilt the rest of the background. I'll make the decision when I absolutely have to!

I've practiced feathers with a pencil and paper over and over and there is just no substitute for practice. Once you've got the movement down they go quickly and smoothly. The feather I quilted this afternoon took less that an hour and it covers almost one third of the quilt. I'll likely spend as much time filling in the background spaces but it will just add to the drama of the feather.

There'll be no  post tomorrow because I have a sewing day with friends. So until I post again, happy quilting!
Karen H

Lazy Girl quilt top is finished

I'm taking a day off to baste a quilt so there'll be no post tomorrow!

My Lazy Girl quilt top is now put together. The quit that inspired it was Denyse Schmidt's Single Girl quilt. I came across a tutorial for an improvisational version of the quilt and it was called Lazy Girl quilt. I tweaked the instructions in the tutorial to suit my methods. Denyse's pattern has circles that are pushed out to the corners so that they are slightly "squared". I opted to go with round circles however I've got loads of scraps left so another quilt might be in my future. In my original pattern that I drafted the circles had 1" of background between each circle but I decided to reduce the block size so that the circles are touching rather than floating. I think it is more effective.

I didn't trim the blocks before sewing them together. Instead what I did was mark a pencil line 3/4" away from the edge on the wrong side and it became the sewing line. Once the seam was stitched I trimmed the excess fabric from that seam with scissors and pressed the seam open. I did not trim the seam allowance on the four outside edges of the quilt top. The beauty of this method is that I didn't have to mark the sewing line on each side of every block. Instead what I did was mark the bottom edge of each block in rows one, two and three. On all four rows I marked the sewing line on the right side of the first and second block. In this diagram I use pink to show you which blocks had the seam allowances drawn on the wrong side of the block.

I pinned the blocks in rows, stitched them, trimmed the seam allowances and pressed them open. I then pinned the rows together, stitched them, trimmed the seam allowances and pressed them open. It was much faster this way than trimming each block with the rotary cutter.

There are lots of lovely spaces for quilting and I've been doodling away like crazy! I'm not sure which quilt I'll quilt next - maybe this one or maybe another one! I'll see what tickles my fancy when I'm ready to start basting.

I thought I would share a few more quilt pictures from the show yesterday.

This is an old quilt made of every imaginable fabric including crimpolene!

Very fresh! A really nice way to use half square triangles.

 

A real show stopper made of tiny hourglass blocks

 

  

 

 

 

Until I post again, happy sewing!

Lazy Girl Quilt block assembly and another Tiny World Make Do Pincushion

I had a pair of little gold demi tasses and I wanted to use them to make Tiny World Make-Do Pincushions. They are inspired by a pattern by Mimi Kirchner. I've already showed the first pincushion and now here is the second one! I made my own pattern for a house that is a slightly different shape - it is a little wider. So here it number two! I don't know if I mentioned this before but the trees are made with pins so I can move them around to do some landscaping if I feel like it!

And here are the two of them together!

Now back to Lazy Girl! I've cut the background squares for my Lazy Girl quilt and they measure 10 1/2"  so they'll finish at 10". Each will have an arc appliqued to it and four arcs made a circle so the circle block will measure 20" square finished.

I drafted my pattern so that the arcs will be 1/2" away from the seam lines. So to the 1/2" I add the 1/4" seam allowance to that I will need to position the arc 3/4" from the edges on each square. I made marks at the 3/4" point on each background fabric. I've place flower head pins so you can see the placement of the marks.

The next step was to trim the excess fabric from the arc. I left the 1/4" seam allowance beyond the line I drew when I trace the template. And one good press before pinning them to the background.

The next step was to place my arc so that the edges lined up and the top of the arc hit the 3/4" mark. I pinned and then did the same at the opposite end of the arc. Notice that I use two pins, one parallel to the edge of the quilt (this one is important because it prevents shifting) and the other is parallel to the outer curve. I pretty much always do this when sewing patches of any sort and I find it is really good to do at the end of seams because shifting of fabric (where the top fabric ends up a little longer than the bottom fabric) is virtually eliminated as a result of the pin that is parallel to the end of the fabric (the pin with the white head in my photo).

 Then I pinned close to the edge outer curve of the arc.

I stitched the top edge with a small zigzag stitch. I used The Bottom Line thread in a neutral colour on top and regular cotton Gutermann cotton sewing thread in my bobbin.

I moved the pins to the inside curve of the arc and stitched it down. The basting stitches are then removed and one final press!

Four of these make a 20" block (finished)! My Lazy Girl quilt top will be three blocks wide and four blocks long. The quilt top will go together like nothing! Can't wait to quilt this one! I've already got some ideas about what I might do!

I'm off to an outdoor quilt show at Black Creek Pioneer Village in Toronto so I hope to be able to take lots of lovely pictures to share with you tomorrow! If you are in the area it would be a nice place to go. There will be over 160 quilts on display outdoors!

Until I post again, happy sewing!

Lazy Girl Solves A Lazy Girl Problem!

If I can find an easy way of doing something I'll use it! I was working on my Lazy Girl arcs and while I'm okay with them I would have preferred that the angles on the individual wedges were a little more in keeping with the curve. In the photo below the top arc has some wonky angles and in the bottom arc they are quite uniform. I accomplished this by placing registration marks on top and bottom edges of my paper template. It made lining up the next piece of fabric to be sewn much easier.

 

I selected two pieces of fabric for the first two wedges and stitched them together. I shortened my stitch length because the arcs will be trimmed afterwards and I didn't want seams coming undone. I finger pressed the seam allowances open.

 

The next step was to place my paper template on the two fabrics I joined and I lined up the registration marks on the seam. There was approximately 1/2" of fabric beyond the paper template.

I selected the next fabric and placed it on top of the paper template being sure to line up the edge with registration marks. I pressed down with my index finger at the top edge and my thumb on the bottom edge and with my other hand I carefully slid out the paper template. I pinned and sewed 1/4" away from the edge of the piece of fabric on top.

 

 



The excess fabric on the bottom was trimmed and the seam finger pressed open.

Once again I place the paper template on the unit and then placed the next piece of fabric on top once again using the registration marks as a guide for fabric placement. I pinned, sewed and trimmed. Once the arc is pieced I give it a press with a little spray starch. As I told you yesterday I then trace around the paper template on the arc and trim away the excess fabric.

 

 

The registration marks are simply used to assist with fabric placement and I made lots of registration marks because my scraps of fabric are varying sizes. As for how I determined where to make the registration marks I simply folded the template in half, and then folded that in half, and then folded that in half. I unfolded the template and make pen marks at the folds. I then made registration marks half way between the folds and I just eyeballed those.

I like to make little tools to help with the job and one of the tools I made for this project was a cardboard template of a wedge with a 1/2" seam allowance. It worked well for cutting from strips of fabric or for cutting the first two wedges. For the most part however, I just cut pieces of fabric that were 3" (the height of the wedge) by whatever the width of the scrap was! In some instances I sewed two smaller scraps together (vertically or horizontally) to make a new piece of fabric that was large enough for a wedge!

So now I'll finish turning under and basting the seam allowance on the arcs so that they are ready to be appliqued to the background fabric with a zigzag stitch. I decided to use the light grey print for the background. I want to do lots of pretty quilting on this one and I think it will show up very nicely if a single fabric is used.

Tomorrow I'll show you how I'm going to place the arcs on the background fabric so that everything will match up when it comes time to sew the blocks together!

So what's blooming or about to bloom today?

Joe Pye Weed

Kniphofia

Salvia

Agastache

That's it for today! Until I post again, happy sewing!