It's A Cynch!

I finished Matt's quilt this weekend.  I didn't think I would because we've had a family member in the hospital. My Handiquilter was delivered last Friday, but I didn't really get to play as much as I wanted.  Huntsville Sew and Vac and especially, Sherri were very good to work with.  If you're interested in a Handiquilter, ask for Sherri! I had a few minor glitches when I started quilting Matt's quilt.  But...Matt will never notice them.  I hope.Tension is still a four letter word to me.  But after Friday afternoon, maybe not so much.  I have to say, the Handiquilter is the most user friendly quilter I've ever used.  After a little nervousness, I finally had fun. So the top half of the quilt is not as nice as the bottom half.  But, hey.  They are friends and they'll understand if I used their quilt to practice on! Here are some of the designs I finally got brave enough to stitch.  I even wrote Matt's name and wrote "Goal" and...

Have you ever completed a project and then looked at it and asked yourself why?  Why didn't I take the extra time to add that extra border? Or I wish I would have switched out that color to the other one that looked better?  Well, I'm happy to say that I won't be asking myself those questions when I'm done with Matt's quilt. I have made a bunch of tshirt quilts and each one is unique.  I make them that way on purpose. I add that extra decoration or embroider that special something on it.  To be honest, I was really dreading embroidering the soccer saying onto the quilt border.  I knew it would take hours to do and it has. I've probably logged ten extra hours adding that phrase.  But now that it's almost done, I'm soooo happy that I did! Speaking of embroidering or appliqueing, I wanted to share a little tip I learned out of sheer frustration!  After appliqueing the first "O", I had to use a needle to pull up the center of the "O...

I am a glutton for punishment. I freely admit it. I like to make more work for myself. Staring at Matt's quilt back, I saw too much orange on the top and bottom border. So I googled soccer phrases and found one that I liked.  I decided to cut the letters out of paper on my Brother Scan and Cut first so that I could figure out spacing and straightness (Is that a word?).  Four inch letters seemed to fit well.  After thinking about it, I decided to use the embroidery feature on my Babylock Unity machine. I bought an appliqué font that I liked on Etsy. It takes forever to appliqué that many letters! I finished only the first line tonight. But it is worth the time. It will look great when I'm done! Oh. The "O" in "goals" will be a soccer ball. Get it? Cute, huh? Happy quilting ya'll!

I had a realization today.  Well, not really today...it's been in the back of my mind since I decided to buy the Handiquilter longarm machine.  I've been piecing the back of Matt's tshirt quilt this week knowing that somehow I had to make the back 5 inches larger all around than the front to use the longarm machine.  The extra is needed when the quilt top and back are rolled onto the frame.  The problem is how do I make sure the back lines up with the front exactly how I want it to? Before I answer that question, I want to share another tip.  It's really my short cut because I'm inherently lazy and I take as many shortcuts as I can. I've been known to reconfigure a pattern if I see a shorter (smarter?) way to piece it together.  A lot of quilters that I know pin their layers together before they sew to make sure it lines up especially if they are sewing a long piece onto a huge top. The top tends to pull toward the floor because of the weight (and gravity...

I was wrong. (Don't tell my better half!) The quilt top ended up being 88 inches x 96 inches, so a queen not a king. I may add another border to make it a king. It is tall enough for Matt though. That is all I really care about...that it covers him since he's pretty tall.  The navy sashing and border really completed the look of the top. I am piecing the back now. I am going to position the rest of his shirts in the center and build a border around it to the size I need. To work in the long arm, I have to make the back 5 inches larger all around. The trick will be lining it up correctly. I found a nice orange and solid navy for the back. I plan to use orange for the binding. Almost ready for the long arm! I am pretty excited!

I want to share the tools and tips that I use to help the quilting process...especially tshirt quilts. The first is an ironing cloth. A hot iron put directly on the vinyl graphic on a tshirt will melt it. It will ruin the shirt and your iron. So use an ironing cloth to cover the graphics on the shirt when you iron. I will do another post on cleaning your iron later.  The second is to use distilled water in the iron to prevent build up and clogging. Or use a light starch. I found Mary Ellen's Best Press spray at the quilt store.  It is an alternative to starch, light and smells great. The third tool is a sheet to help glide the material smoothly under the machine. I bought Sewslip Multi-Purpose Quilting Sheet. It static clings to the sewing machine bed and is slippery on top. The Pellon stabilizer on the back of the shirts causes it to gather and bunch during sewing. This sheet prevents that and helps it along smoothly. I had to cut the hole in the sheet a little bigger to fi...

I know you guys are thinking I'm easily distracted by my previous posts. BUT I did finish piecing Matt's quilt top. I have a little bit of adjusting to do. And I'm trying to decide on a border color. I should have it ready to quilt on the long arm soon. Here is my proof below. I have a really cool idea for the back too!  And I was right...it is a king size quilt!

I saw this piece of artwork at the baby shower I went to. It looked like it would make a really cool quilt. Now that I'm getting my long arm, I have a ton of ideas for free motion quilting designs for it. So keep watch. I will make this quilt soon. Just for fun!

I made a monogrammed star quilt for my friend's first grandson, who is due to make his entrance in March. We can't wait to meet the little guy and his mom is the prettiest pregnant lady! I made this in one week! That's right. I said ONE WEEK!!! I signed up to take a long arm quilting class at Huntsville Sew and Vac on a Saturday. So I quickly put the top together using a pattern I saw online. I long arm quilted it that Saturday in about 3 hours! Needless to say, I bought the Handiquilter. It was the easiest machine to use. I should have it in about a week! Extremely excited doesn't describe how I feel!! Sorry. Back to the quilt...I monogrammed Parker's initials on the star. It ended up being a sample quilt to practice freemotion quilting. I was happy with how it turned out, although customers kept coming into the store and watching me. That made me really nervous and the quilt patterns probably suffered a little. But she won't know any difference. I hope ...