Sally Said Sew

I was commissioned by a group of ladies from our local American Legion to make a quilt for them to raffle off for their scholarship fund. I decided to go with a red/white/blue theme and settled on a Carpenter's Star pattern. All of the fabrics are good quality quilting fabrics. No cheap stuff here! The batting is an 80/20 blend. Finished size is approximately 80" x 90". Completed Quilt Center of Quilt I did an edge-to-edge design and used Superior Thread's King Tut in a variegated red/white/blue color. Quilting Detail My mother graciously helped by finishing the binding since it is no secret in my house that I do not enjoy hand sewing, although I did sew on the label. The name of the quilt was inspired by the pattern. Carpenters are builders, and this quilt will go towards providing funds for some student's future. Quilt Label Tickets will be $1.00 each (so I hope the ladies sell lots of tickets!!). I know I will be buying some in hopes of w...

In addition to the bags and wallets I made for Christmas, I also managed to get a few quilts done in the last two months. My mother pieced and did the binding on this quilt for my Aunt Sally. I did the quilting on it for her. It was all free-hand work. Around the Block My mother also did the piecing and binding on this quilt for my Aunt Wendy. I used a pantograph pattern for the quilting. Bewitched My mother and I also teamed up to complete a quilt for my sister, Carrie. The pattern is Radio Way by Jaybird Quilts and the printed fabrics were a jelly roll from a designer named MoMo and her "It's a Hoot" line produced by Moda fabrics. I especially love the backing on this quilt. I was inspired by Jan over at Janice Elaine Sews . She always does something special on her quilt backs and I had enough left over strips of fabric to bring a touch of the quilt front to the back. I used a pantograph pattern for the quilt design. Quilt Front Quilt Back Cl...

A couple of months ago I purchased a used HandiQuilter HQ16 set up to replace Patience, my Voyager 17 longarm machine. Why the change? I couldn't get my stitch length regulator to work properly and was getting frustrated with my machine. After doing some research, it seemed that this was an issue from the start. I could upgrade my electronics and stitch length regulator but that would cost me several thousand dollars. An investment I wasn't willing to make. On a whim, I started searching on craigslist for a "new" machine. That is when I found Hope. Yep, I named her Hope because I hope to improve my longarm skills on her.  I figure the cost of buying this set up less what I will sell my Voyager for is about the same as what the upgraded electronics would have cost. "Hope" I was able to transfer over my Red Snapper system, light bar and batting cradle that I made. I float my batting and like to keep pet hair off of it. The clear vinyl cradle does the t...

The month of January turned out to be very busy with my job so not much quilting time was available, not even on weekends. I made up for it last month sewing up two more quilt tops for Quilts Beyond Borders and then quilting them on my trips home. I finished up the binding this week. Hard to believe I have completed seven quilts for QBB now! As I have said in prior QBB posts, I love the practice on my longarm machine I get, but I am finding I enjoy the creative side to coming up with new patterns. I use my EQ7 software to do this. Who wants to make the same quilt over and over again? Not me! For this quilt I cut 3" strips and sewed them "jelly roll race" style. It went together quickly. I am not thrilled by the lack of randomness I was hoping for but I know some child will enjoy the bright colors.

For Christmas this year, I made my son and daughter-in-law a quilt. It was my biggest one yet. Although the sizing said queen, it measured 105" x 105". A very generous queen size quilt. I wasn't sure if it would fit on my quilting frame but it did, with a couple inches to spare. It just fits! With some much appreciated help from my mom on finishing the binding, the quilt was delivered yesterday. Gregg & Markey with their quilt I need to find a way to photograph these big quilts should I ever do one again. Whew!

I don't even remember turning twenty. Years of age, that is. But I recently completed a quilt for my other granddaughter, Courtney, that feels like it took twenty years to finish. I used one of the Turning Twenty patterns but instead of using twenty fat quarters, I did a smaller size with twelve. This is a quilt that made me want to pull out my hair from the get-go. At least it is finished and shipped off to Courtney to enjoy. I called this one Skittles because the colors in the fabric reminded me of the candy. Skittles

I whipped up another Quilts Beyond Borders donation, this time using fleece as the backing and no padding. I like the pattern the quilting made, but I am not sure is the quilt is heavy enough. I am sure it can be put to good use though.   Quilts Beyond Borders #3 Stitch Detail on Fleece Back

My mom sent me a quilt top and all of the fixins' to quilt together on my Voyager machine. I had a few issues but still good practice. I found I prefer to use an 80/20 batting. It is less puffy and easier to work with than the poly I received. Good to keep learning these things! Plus I enjoy seeing the tops my mom makes! I believe she is calling this one "Boxes of Treats for Someone Sweet". Loaded on the Frame Close up view of a Block Finished Quilt

I volunteered to make and donate two quilts for Quilts Beyond Borders , a charity that provides quilts to children in underserved areas of the world. I found this group through my Yahoo! Hinterberg Quilters group. I thought this would be a perfect way to practice on my new Voyager longarm quilting machine. My first two quilts are finished and ready to send. I found the Dr. Seuss themed fabric on the 50% off rack at the Bay Window Quilt Shop in Perham, MN. The inspiration was a panel that was supposed to be made into a soft quilted book, but instead I inset the "pages" into a quilt using Izzy's Quilt Pattern by Katie Hennagir. I made the border around the panels wider to get a bigger overall size suitable for the QBB quilts. Are these perfect? No, but for the children who receives one, I'm sure they will think it's perfect. That is all that counts! Plus, the experience I gained using my "new" machine was well worth the effort involved. Quilts Bey...

Sometimes you come across a quilt kit or piece of fabric that you know will be perfect for someone. That happened to me not too long ago in my "home away from home" quilt shop in Perham, Minnesota. I went into Bay Window Quilt Shop looking for something else but no sooner had I walked in the door when I passed by a new display of fabrics from Shelly Comiskey for Henry Glass Fabrics called Bee Happy . They had a couple of quilt kits cut and ready to go with an accompanying free pattern. It caught my attention and I thought of Heather, my friend and owner of The Quilting Hive in Twisp, WA. She always has a bee-themed fabric in the shop but I hadn't seen this line on my last visit. I bought the kit and enough fabric for backing and set to work on the quilt. It was going to be a gift for her. Using my inexpensive Brother machine in my hotel room, I was able to assemble the quilt top in no time. Then using the same machine (which was a bit more challenging), I quilted the ...

I finally finished my first batik quilt. It is a gift for my granddaughter, Amanda. I called this one "Ocean Currents" because of the colors in the quilt. I just love the blues, greens and purples. I hope she enjoys it! Pattern Used

My mom made this for me. I hung it on the wall next to my sewing machine table. I just love it! Thanks, Mom!

I am getting lots of practice in with the Hinterberg quilt frame. I've completed the quilting on a lap size quilt for my mother, a throw size quilt for one of my granddaughters, and a wall hanging that my mother pieced. the wall hanging was definitely a challenge. Three different quilt motifs -- stippling, a free-form half flower, and then my first attempt at doing feathers. I also had to do blanket stitches on my other machine for the appliques. While the wall hanging is far from being perfect, overall I was satisfied with the finished product. Hey, its good practice. If I don't keep trying and learning, what's the point of having a quilting frame? Granddaughter's Quilt (before the frame was stretched) Mom's Wall Hanging Closer  Look at Wall Hanging

When I bought the used Hinterberg frame, it came with six foot poles. Sounds big enough, right? Nope. Even with doing a lap size quilt, I had issues with having enough space to quilt all the way across the top and still be able to access the drop in bobbin on my machine. To remedy this problem, I bought ten footers to replace the sixes. The poles are EMT thin wall conduit used for electrical installations. After a bit of prep work including increasing my leader cloth widths and re-leveling the frame, I now have plenty of space to load larger quilts. I have also added 2 LED clamp on lights to give me even more light. What a difference they make! Especially with the grayer wintery days and shorter daylight hours. I have new ball bearings for the carriage on order along with thrust bearings to make things easier when quilting. I will be able to turn the poles easier without having to loosen the knobs on the ends every time I advance the quilt. The next thing I want to do is to add Bow...

One thing I quickly discovered when loading a quilt onto my quilting frame is the inordinate amount of pins required. Five, count 'em FIVE rows of pins an inch or so apart. I despised having to pin all those rows. I looked at different systems and decided to go with the Red Snappers method. On your leader cloths, you sew a small casing and insert the hollow tubes. Then you load your quilt using the small clamps to start and putting the longer pieces across to hold the backing, batting and top. Red Snapper Kit Is this my last row of pins? Sewing the casing on the leader cloth. Quilt Back loaded using the Red Snappers I had to watch the video on the website to make sure I was doing things correctly. I couldn't figure out how to attach the top and batting to the back roller since the back Snapper already had the backing installed. Well duh! It was so easy to understand after watching the video. You use your machine and baste those layers across close to that back ...

Since I last posted, I have been busy sewing especially once my job ended at the end of August. So I have lots to update over the next few days. Here is a top I am piecing for a Christmas present. It will be throw size when complete. Batik Quilt In Process

I am not turning twenty. That happened many years ago! But I am Turning Twenty with my latest project and it IS making my hair turn gray. Say what?! I've started on my Christmas projects and the first one is a quilt for the youngest granddaughter who is sixteen. Her favorite colors are purple and lime green. Quite the bold combo if you ask me. But those are the colors she likes. The pattern I chose is Turning Twenty by Tricia Cribbs. Its an easy pattern to cut and make. You just pick twenty different fat quarters and go to town on your quilt. I chose to do the twelve block layout rather than twenty. I wanted to make a lap quilt rather than a big one. I picked out twelve fat quarters in different shades of purple, lime green and hot pink, all with a polka dot / circular pattern to the fabric and a coordinating flower print for the binding at my local quilt shop.  Cutting out the blocks took me less than an hour. There is very little waste and the instructions are well written an...