Twirl Around Finally Quilted

It's been a minute since my last post! I lost my quilting mojo for a while and haven't been very active on personal projects — though I have been quilting, just not anything I can show you. I've picked up a few paid gigs since we last talked, and since that's customer work, I don't feel right sharing photos here without asking permission.

Right after I posted my quilting plan back in December, I quilted Twirl Around on the long arm. But when I pulled it off, the tension was bad enough on a couple of sashings and bottom border that I knew I'd have to rip them out. I just... didn't. I wasn't motivated to spend my time undoing work.

Then I started seeing the same tension trouble on customer quilts, which was the push I needed to finally take the machine in for service. I got it back and set up again yesterday — and wouldn't you know it, that was all it took to find my motivation again. I've already ripped out the bad quilting on Twirl Around and finished requilting the borders that needed it yesterday.

This was my quilting plan I designed using elements from Kimberlee Diamond's (from Sweet Dreams Quilt Studio) Dawn's Bundle. (The individual pieces are still available, but it doesn't look like they're available as a bundle anymore.)

I used some large scraps of Quilter's Dream Green batting and I quilted it using a green variegated Madeira Aeroquilt thread. As usual, I still need to make the quilt label and bind it. I might have enough quilts at that stage now that I'll do that next.

Custom Quilting Gig

I had a new client bring me a little wall hanging and she wanted me to do a custom quilting job. Because it was fun, I spent quite a lot of time preparing a couple of different fancy plans.

When I showed them to her, she didn't like either. Her quilt is pretty small and she was worried this was too much stitching. She may have been right. So, I put together something way simpler. This is the one she ended up choosing.

I didn't get great photos, but it turned out pretty well. I didn't really like the cable pattern on the border because it had so much backstitching it was very easy it to knock it out of alignment so the second pass had shifted.

Since I was playing with my quilting software, I decided to also work on a custom pattern for my Twirl Around quilt. It always feels good to finish a simple quilt with fancy pantographs.

Jade Garden Quilting Plan

Our weather has been hot this week and my quilting "studio" is upstairs where it has gotten uncomfortably hot, so I've spent the past couple of days in our cool basement working on a number of quilting plans. I think this is the one I'm going to go with once it cools down enough to work upstairs. 

These pantographs are primarily from the Spring Sunrise Set by Christy Dillon.

I'm hoping I have enough fabric for the backing but I haven't taken the time to check yet.

Nine Patch Twirl Quilted

I finally got the Nine Patch Twirl on the long arm today and quilted it up. I decided to try a fun pantograph for this one.

I like the way this one turned out. I used inexpensive Navy MaxiLock serger thread and polyester batting scraps.

The pantograph is the Color E2E from Anne Bright Designs. It's a really large design but was fun.

Rose Lane Quilted

Just as June is coming to an end, I've managed to wrap up my One Monthly Goal! Taking inspiration from the floral theme and the original pattern name, I've decided to name this creation "Rose Lane". The pattern, Diamond Lane, was a free one from Wilmington. Although I made adjustments to the size of the blocks and the border, the final quilt still holds true to the spirit of the original pattern. This was my focus for June's One Monthly Goal.

I used a variety of rose and garden theme pantographs to quilt it. I'll go ahead and list them here for reference.

Donna Kleinke, One Song Needle Arts

Carmen's Roses Block
Carmen's Roses Border
Carmen's Roses Frame 2-Quarter
Carmen's Roses Motif (with an edit to add extra leaves)
Wind Dance Sash

Darlene Epp

Chloe's Garden Frame 5

Patricia Ritter

Rosebud Border (free right now)
Rosebud Border Corner (free right now)

The batting was the last bit of Hobbs Heirloom 80-20 batting. And I used Madeira Aeroquilt Red #8380 thread.

All in all, I'm thrilled to have reached my goal for the month, and I'm even more thrilled with the final outcome of Rose Lane. The floral patterns truly bring it to life, and I'm eager to start on my next project!

Linking up with:

Brag About Your Beauties
Finished Or Not Friday
Friday Foto Fun
Off the Wall Friday
One Monthly Goal Finish
Peacock Party
TGI Finished Friday

Comet's Revival Quilted!

Get ready for a comeback story – the tale of my second finish from the Comet blocks of my May UFO goal! It had a rough start; a quilt flimsy riddled with pleats and puckers that was far from perfect. I can't even imagine what possessed me to finish it in such a state (though, honestly, I probably just couldn't wait to be done...LOL).

Now aptly named Comet's Revival, this quilt breathes new life into the purple Comet blocks with fresh sashing and corner blocks. I'm thrilled that I didn't purchase a single new fabric for this revival! Instead, I used only fabrics I had on hand and I recovered the purple paisley fabric from a square dance skirt I made years ago for the sashing corner blocks. It was a small sacrifice to make, considering the skirt was gathering dust in my closet. For the backing, I unearthed a hefty piece of green marble-look fabric, a relic from the early 2000s.

For the quilting, I experimented with various feather blocks. Admittedly, I'm not completely in love with the result, but the idea of disassembling the whole thing never really took a serious hold. After spending an abundance of hours earlier this month unraveling the quilt stitch by stitch, I simply didn't have the heart for another round! The main culprit of my dissatisfaction is the large square feather block – it lacked symmetry, and with a nine-patch design, it's all the more noticeable. Nevertheless, I decided to stick with it.

But it's not all bittersweet! I adore the outer border feather from mycreativestitches; her Midsummer Dream Simple Border and Corner worked wonders. For the sashing, I went with a pantograph called Flipped on Feathers that came with my long arm. And the adorable corner blocks are the Funky Feather block by Anita Shackleford, another that came with my ProStitcher software.

The batting is my go-to – Quilters Dream Green 100% recycled batting. I paired it with another MaxiLock serger thread, this time in a Churchill green shade. For these low-stakes leftover block quilts, I see no need to splurge on pricey threads.

What a relief it is to have completed my May UFO before the month's end! There were moments of doubt, but I pulled through. And now, with a quartet of quilts piled up, I'm considering dedicating a few days to creating quilt labels and binding them all. A perfectly productive way to celebrate the completion!

Linking up with:

Midweek Makers
Needle & Thread Thursday
Brag About Your Beauties
Friday Foto Fun
Off the Wall Friday
TGI Finished Friday

Cosmic Cabin Quilted!

I was on a real roll from Sunday afternoon straight through to Monday evening, only pausing for a well-deserved sleep break! I've been absolutely set on completing these two quilts by month's end, and that resolve has turned me into a quilting powerhouse. It's been all about stitches, patterns, and fabric - until these quilts are done, my world revolves around them!

It's 92x92 so a little large for one person to hold it up

Here's a glimpse into my quilting strategy...

I employed Donna Kleinke's Spiral Pantograph (slightly tweaked to make it a block design) on the Comet blocks, while her Simone's Gems Corner block brought the log cabin blocks to life. The border was adorned with her Simone Feathers Border and Corner Set, and oh boy, did it turn out beautiful! It was rather thread-hungry, practically devouring a whole 3000-yard spool, but it was worth every inch.

The backing of the quilt sports the 108" Dream Cotton Solid in a rich Hunter Green from Marshall Dry Goods. The quality-to-price ratio is just stellar, and I'll likely incorporate more of their fabric into future projects.

As for the batting, I opted for Hobbs Heirloom 80-20 Premium Cotton Batting. It was the perfect width, so no piecing necessary! I bought a 15-yard bolt several years ago and I've been slowly using it up. After this quilt, there is just a remnant left, freeing up some much-needed space in my long arm room.

And let's not forget the stitching! I used a budget-friendly MaxiLock serger thread in a delightful Tea Rose shade. It was conveniently on hand, and this year, I've been on a mission to finish projects without splurging on extra supplies.

So there you have it, the cosmic journey of my Cosmic Cabin quilt. I should have just enough time left to finish quilting my Comet's Revival before the end of the month!

Linking up with:
Wednesday Wait Loss
Brag about Your Beauties
Friday Foto Fun
Finished (or Not) Fridays
TGI Finished Friday
Off the Wall
Peacock Party

Pieces of My Heart Finished

I've finished it! This is the Pieces of my Heart quilt I designed and finished for the Tickled Pink blog hop last year. I still need to make a label and bind it, but I did finish the quilting, which was my one monthly goal.

I spent way too long obsessing about the quilting pattern to use on this quilt, but finally I just stitched out the design my husband liked best.

For the batting, I used Quilter's Dream Green (again); this is my go-to batting because it is made from 100% recycled bottles. I didn't use fancy threads on this project, just some dark purple MaxiLock serger thread and red Madiera AeroQuilt thread.

This is the quilt design I ended up using.

I actually created a number of these pieces from purchased pantographs. I started with the Ironworks Border 3 by Celine Spader and I took a portion of it and created the octagon, the square corner block and the diamond shape. (Have I mentioned how much I love my ProStitcher Studio software?)

And I used the Sweet to the Core melon block from Quiltable and took off the rounded outline border and used it for the diamonds and then created a four-pointed piece for the Amethyst block.

Finally, I used the Welcome Spring sashing by Darlene Epp, with a small edit, to fill the space between the blocks and border.

Considering how wonky this quilt was, I am quite happy with how it turned out. I did learn some good lessons which I hope to remember for next time, like I wish I had basted down some of the seams because it created some extra fullness having them flipping back and forth under the seams. 

Update a couple days later: It's finished!!

I'm linking up with 

One Monthly Goal Finish

Design Wall Monday
Monday Musings

Brag About Your Beauties
Peacock Party

Tuesday ToDo #66

As planned, I spent the past week trying to come up with a quilting design for my Pieces of My Heart quilt. I've made a number of them so far, and I haven't really been happy with any of them.

I also had a rush quilting job over the weekend, but since it's a gift, I don't think I should show a photo. I doubt the recipient follows this blog, but it's not a quilt I made. It was a straight-forward edge-to-edge design along with sewing on the binding.

Today, I'm back playing with my quilting design. I'm currently trying to make the appropriate shapes by taking elements from pantographs I like.

I'll probably play with it for another week and then I'll make myself choose one and start stitching it. I don't want to wait until the end of the month again.

I'm linking up with Tuesday ToDo.

Finger Lakes Quilting Plan

I think I finally have the plan for quilting my Finger Lakes log cabin quilt. Last week I came up with a design I really loved, but after fretting about it for several days, I decided I wouldn't be able to quilt it because the blocks are too large for my quilting space, so I'm settling for the easier option. I'm thinking done is better as I really would like to finish this quilt by the end of the month.

This is the trellis set of pantographs designed by Karen Thompson. 

I won't be leaving the blank areas blank, I just didn't take the time to crop every block that needs to go in there for the visual plan. I'll be inserting the appropriate piece and then cropping it at the edge.

I actually created the outer border flower from elements in the block itself. I went and looked at the designer's options for a matching border and I didn't like any of them and this design fits the quilt better. I think I might also make a straight line of leaves, if I can figure out how, to use on the thin cream inner border. Maybe I can print it out and re-draw the design in a straight line and then have ProStitch Designer turn it into a pantograph. I guess I have one more puzzle to play with before I get started.

Paducah Log Cabin Finished!

After four hours of wrestling with it to put on the binding, the Paducah Log Cabin is finally done! This is the best I can do for photos right now. Our weather has been rainy and stormy so who knows how long it will take me to get a good photo of it.

I will say it again, this is the Paducah Log Cabin pattern from Judy Martin's Extraordinary Log Cabin Quilts book. I made mine with a number of reproduction William Morris cotton prints. I started this project for my mother-in-law, but there was a miscommunication about the size she needed, so I ended up making her a different quilt and then made this one queen-size (98"x98").

For the batting, I believe I used Quilter's Dream 70-30 batting. I used Glide thread for the first time on this quilt and I'm still learning the correct tension settings, but it went pretty well. I actually edited the pantographs a little bit to add some tacking stitches to the beginning and end of each design because the thread is so slick that stitches will actually unravel which can be really disappointing.

I kept changing my mind about what pantographs to quilt this one with. I made at least 5 different plans, but in the end, I ended up choosing the Midsummer Dream pattern set from MyCreativeStitches because I liked that little knotwork detail, though it is hard to see on the finished quilt. I believe this is the final design I went with.

Linking up with:

• Finished (or Not) Friday
• Friday Foto Fun
• Off the Wall Friday
• Peacock Party
• TGI Finished Friday
• Whoop Whoop

Update later, managed to get a better, but still not great, photo at my quilt guild meeting.

One Last Broken Bricks

This was my leader-ender project during the past couple of months. I finished piecing it this morning. I made it crib-size so I can donate it to the local quilt guild for their comfort quilts program. These little quilts go really fast.

I used a neat pantograph designed by Donna Kleinke called Daisies Panto 4. It's nice that it doesn't have an obvious direction so you can load your quilt either way and it still looks good. And it stitches out well.

I tried the So Fine thread again that gave me fits on my Rhododendron Trail quilt and today it was fine. Clearly, I got closer to the correct tension this time.

I had this highlighter pink batik that I got with one of my fabric scores. I would likely never use it on the front side, but it was fine for a backing.

So now I have yet another quilt to finish binding in the next week. I have so many to do now, probably more than half a dozen.

2023 Planning Party

I cannot believe it's already been another year! Wow, this year went so fast. I didn't actually remember what I'd put on my 2022 list so I had to go back and look for it. First up, I said I wanted to finish an average of one quilt per month. I exceeded that. Since I finished so many scrappy quilts, my count exceeded more than one quilt a month.

Dunrobin quilt for my mother-in-law

Judy Martin's Snake River log cabin quilt, finally finished

Bonus Unbeweavable lap quilt.

Judy Martin's Paducah's log cabin quilt flimsy.

A bonus Rhododentrail Trail lap quilt, mostly following the original pattern.

My version of the first Sewcialites quilt. I created my own layout.

Aged Elegance quilt

My version of the Rhododendron Trail. I changed the sashing.

I also said it would be nice to learn how to applique and foundation piece. Yeah, I forgot about that one, though I did make a quilt with foundation-pieced blocks. I still have a lot to learn and need more practice, but I think I did decent for my first attempt.

Pieces of My Heart flimsy

I said I'd like to quilt the dozen or so flimsies I had accumulated. I was successful on that one. I do still have a couple of my most advanced projects still waiting for quilting mainly because I don't think I've learned how to use my Prostitcher software well enough to do a good job quilting them. In total, I finished quilting 19 of my own flimsies this past year, including scrappy lap quilts.

One of my goals was to be more disciplined about making pillowcases as soon as I finish the bed-size flimsies.  Yeah, I didn't do so good on that one. Though, in fairness, I really just finished quilting the Snake River this month so it's not too late to get pillowcases done before I start using it on a bed. And I didn't make pillowcases to coordinate with the Rhododendron Trail because I just use yellow pillowcases, which I already had. The other two bed-size quilts were made as gifts and we're gifted accordingly. Yes, it would have been nice if I had included matching pillowcases....

Finally, I said I'd like to engage more with my two local quilt guilds. That was mostly a failure, primarily because of the lingering pandemic. I did go to the last meeting of the Northwest Quilters Guild and I do plan to start regularly attending the general meeting. I also will attend any virtual retreats (those held online) but I'm still not ready to attend in-person quilting retreats.

Now for the part where I start looking ahead to 2023. 

I would like to finish twelve donation quilts, an average of one every month, to donate to Comforting Quilts. Most of the patterns only take me a day to piece the small sizes and then they only take an hour or two to quilt them up. I'm sure I can spare that much time from my own projects. LOL

I would like to spend more time learning to use my ProStitcher computer. I know there is a lot I don't understand so I need to spend several hours every month finding and watching whatever educational videos I can find. I would take an in-person class if I could find one that isn't crazy far. Or I may pay for online classes. I still need to look around to figure out what's available. 

I would like to figure out how to quilt my Deco Elegance quilt for my Aunt. I came up with a quilting plan I really like, but the individual blocks exceed my machine's quilting space. So, I either need to figure out how to put the quilt on my frame on a diagonal, or I need to figure out if I can break the quilting design into more than one piece. Most likely, I will put big triangle muslin pieces on the edges and install the quilt on the diagonal so I can quilt the center portions and then take them off to finish the border. 

I would like to make the Jade Garden quilt and the Diamond Lane quilt (in Farmhouse Chic fabrics) before I lose track of why I bought the fabrics.

Jade Garden quilt

Diamond Lane quilt in Farmhouse chic fabrics

I plan to participate in Bonnie Hunter's Chilhowie Mystery Quilt again and Cheryl's Melodic Mystery quilt. (I've been downloading the clues but I haven't started either.) In January, I'm hoping to start pulling my fabrics for both of them and get caught up!

That is it for my official goals. I have other projects I would like to make, but I think they'll have to be in the extra column. I'd like to make gifts for family members, but I still need to decide on patterns. Perhaps I'll get a couple of those done too.

Thanks to Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl for helping to keep us all on track with her annual planning party linkup.