Quilting is it for Me?

Hope that everyone is having a very merry Christmas. It's been a very busy past few weeks for me. I will be glad when it is all over. One would think it would have been a bleak retail season, but not in the sewing machine industry. People are crafting and making more of their own gifts. In this time of a downturn, families are becoming closer by working on projects together. There were people doing last minute make-it-yourself gifts at 4pm today. It was hard to believe, but I think they get a rush off of it. Not to disrespect the procrastinators. Yes, even I have waited till the last minute before getting some quilting done.

With all hustle and bustle of the Christmas season I have managed to get some quilting done. I had thought I blogged on this quilt before now, but could not find an entry for it. I was working on a Quilt called Little Bits and it's from the book Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson. I just love this book. I am thinking I might need to own a copy of this for myself. Neat idea's in this one. Anyways, I have done my quilt in red and black as you can see in the picture of it. (I may need to clean my camera lens!) This is the first big size quilt that I have quilted myself on my sewing machine. I have learned a few things from this.

Things I have learned from quilting my own quit!

1. Make sure you have lots of room where you can freely move the quilt. (I had to move my sewing machine to the dining room table to get the needed space.)
2. Make sure your tension is set correctly before you start quilting your quilt. (The seam ripper and I are becoming close friends)
3. Try to use the same color thread for the top and bottom. (Even when the tension was correct I could see little spots of the bobbin thread peeking through.
   
4. When they say use a walking foot there is a reason for this. (I had to buy one)
5. They say start quilting in the middle of the quilt and work your way out. They really mean start quilting across the middle to lock it down and work your way out. (You can now tell where I started and stopped on this quilt.)
   
6. One should pull the bobbin thread to the top of the quilt. (I have a few birds nests on the back of the quilt)
7. Your seam allowance for one type of foot may not be the same for a different foot. (I was trying to put the binding on with one foot and was getting too much drag so I had to put the walking foot back on, but did not change the needle position so my seam allowance was off)
8. Make sure you're using the correct seam allowance for your width of binding. (As in number 7, I had made 2" binding and needed a 1/4" seam allowance, but with the walking foot on I ended up with 3/8" and it was too big. So the binding would not fit around the quilt.)
9. Whacking off is a quilting term and not an adult term. (Because the binding was too small and did not fit right on the quilt, I now have to whack it off (cut) and put on new. I am sure none of you out there have ever done this.)
   
10. 2 1/4" binding is easier to work with than 2" binding.
    
11. I am a better piecer than a quilter. (I just need more practice at it)
12. I am not as good at binding as I once thought.

Hope you have a very Merry

Charlie

P.S. As of this post I am one year older. I took my birthday money and bought myself a new Dell computer. I got it on clearance and saved over two hundred dollars. Ya me!

Stars By Magic

The nights are cold and it really is starting to feel more like Christmas with each passing day. I just wish spring would hurry and get here. I hate having to scrape the frost off my car windows each morning.

I love to come home from work when it is dark out because I know when I get home this time of the year I can turn on the Christmas tree and see it's full beauty. I am finding there is something peaceful and serene about this. I would not have thought this possible in years past.

I found an awesome book from my local library. It's called Stars by Magic by Nancy Johnson-Srebro. It looks to be super easy. You can do diamond free stars from squares and rectangles. Perfect point and no Y-seams! That is the best part. I have always wanted to make eight point stars, but with the Y-seams I'd avoid them. Has anyone played with this technique? What are your thoughts on this book?

The BH and I were coming home from dinner one night when I asked if he would like to watch one of our record TV shows with me and he said sure. I thought it would be nice if we would turn on the Christmas tree and watch it, but he said this program was better watched with out all the bright lights of the tree. I said but, I want to turn on the tree. We do not have it up much and this year I am really getting into Christmas and here you are being a scrooge. We are turning on the tree and watching it. YES, I put my foot down on this matter. I was sort of pissed off about it. I think our roles are being reversed this year. I found Christmas and he has lost it. He is getting better about having the tree on. Just last night when I came home from work the tree was already on. It made me smile and I thought how sweet my BH was for having it on.

Charlie

Christmas Is Here Everywhere

YES, Christmas has found me this year. It was a busy Sunday for me. Right after I did my post I got the Christmas tree up. Good things the lights were already on the tree or I might not have wanted to put it up. Placing on the ornaments brought back years of memories. Once the tree was all together the BH and I stepped back and took a look and felt it needed something else so we ran out and got some ribbon and that did the trick. The silver of the ribbon brought out the beauty of the tree.

Here is a little wall hanging I did two Christmases ago. I am just now getting it hung on the wall. I tried lots of colors for the outside border of this quilt and the blue worked best. I would have never thought this quilt would call for blue. The blue is of oriental flowers with some gold mixed in.

"If there is love in your heart and your mind
You will feel like Christmas all the time"

Charlie

P.S. For those reading this with a reader or something of the like I have updated the background to something a little more fitting for this time of the year. The old one was getting dusty and needed a change. I think we need to do a little cleaning from time to time.