My first quilting blog

Quilts, Quilts...All over the Place!

I took a quilting class at my church many years back. Two wonderful, passionate quilters, Ellen and Sharon, taught me the love of making quilts. I was a little hesitant at first. As an engineer, I like things to be symmetric and even. I thought I'd never be able to finish a quilt because I'd obsess about making sure the points lined up...and the stitching was even...etc...

I got over that very quickly. They reminded me that these are handmade, so they don't have to be perfect! I do still try very hard to make sure my points line up, and the seam ripper is my very best friend, at times. But sometimes, I just let it go and move on!

I'll post some of the old quilts and tell you about them...as soon as I find the pictures. I've also begun making t-shirt quilts! The possibilities are endless!

This is the quilt I made for my sister, Brigette. I gave it to her for Christmas and she was so happy to get it. She only picked out the fabric 10 years ago! Some things are worth the wait!

The back of the quilt has these two different patterns, alternating.

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My New Favorite Toy!

I decided to try my hand at using the rulers with my Handi-quilter. I was very nervous at first. The longarm is still new to me. I've mastered loops, but need to add to my arsenal of patterns. So...I watched a YouTube video (my go to "how to" site) and decided I would stitch in the ditch using the straight side of the ruler. It is really hard to stitch a straight line on the longarm without help. How hard can it be with the help of a ruler??? It was the easiest thing to learn! I started slowly, but as I gained confidence, I got a little faster. Unfortunately, I got over confident and accidentally tried to sew straight through the ruler! Besides sewing through my fingernail, it was one of the scariest thing to happen to me! (Maybe I should have stopped and gone to bed sooner!) The machine set off a loud alarm, the needle snapped (thank goodness the thread was threaded or it would have flown off...possibly toward my face) and I had this horrible thought that I had just ...

If at first you don't succeed...

There are several old sayings I could think of in my situation. I think I can. I think I can. Or my favorite: If at first you don't succeed , try , try again ! Maybe that last part should be: Walk away and drink a glass of wine! I volunteered to quilt one of the guild's charity tops. I thought I could use it as a practice piece for the Handiquilter. Keep in mind this is only my second top I've loaded onto the rollers. Two tries to get it straight. Grrr....Then I had issues with thread breakage. Thought my friend, Tension, and I were going to have a fight. Nope. Finally decided it's a bad spool. You find those every now and then. So with one eye on the spool to make sure it didn't double over on itself as it unrolled, I tried to quilt. Well, you can see the results for yourself. Practice makes perfect! Right? Happy quilting ya'll???

Coiled fabric basket

I know. I know. I haven't posted in a while. I've been extremely busy and I haven't had the time. But I wanted to share with you a little project that I made this weekend. It took longer than I thought and my sewing machine didn't like to cooperate. But I finished it and it's really cute...more importantly, useful! I decided I needed a basket to keep all of my receipts till I file them. So I used clothesline rope and wrapped scrap fabric around it and made a basket. It's called a coiled fabric basket. There are several blogs and help online. The only tip I can suggest is to sew along the rope with a straight stitch to attach the fabric to the rope and it kind of flattens the rope, making it easier to sew. I used the largest zigzag stitch and a heavy blue jean needle. Don't forget the large blue jean needle. Or you will break needles. Trust me...I speak from experience! I even asked my husband to bring ...

It's A Cynch!

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