Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Midweek Makers #13

Welcome to Midweek Makers, the place to show off your fabric creations!

Last week there were so many terrific projects, but these two really made me say "Wow"!

The first, from Alycia at AlyciaQuilts, is her pink leader and ender project,

which is not only using up scraps, but looks terrific! And I love how she's inventing as she goes along, something I like to do. Can't wait to see the finish Alycia!

The other "Wow" project was this beautiful butterfly from Yanicka at FindingMyselfasanArtist.

Made from scraps and a pattern on Craftsy, this is a stunner! Well done, ladies! Be sure to grab the feature button.

What's everyone up to this week? Personally, I'm working on scrap projects, with one involving a pattern, plus the usual UFO list. That's just too embarrassing to list anymore! But I, and everyone else, would love to see your projects! The guidelines for joining the fun are simple.

Please link directly to your specific post, not your main blog page.
Link any recent post that has to do with sewing and fabric.
Visit the other party guests and leave a comment. It's a great way to make new friends!
Grab the Midweek Makers button code to put on your post or sidebar to let everyone know about the party!

Have fun!

An InLinkz Link-up

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Needing Input - HST Challenge #2

Yesterday was a great quilting day for me - lots of focus to get projects further along to completion. But I've hit a design decision on Think Outside the Box HST Challenge project #2.

Choice 1

Choice 2

Feeling lucky to find 5" strips of a purple/green fabric in the stash, I've decided to cut them in half to make around a 2 1/2" border. Simple enough decision.

But here's the tough decision: do I just slap those borders on, framing the Notan inspired design to stand on it's own? Choice 1.

Choice 1

Or, do I use some of the few remaining pieces and bring the design into the border, reworking the a few of the light pieces in the corner since the leftovers are too dark? Choice 2.

Choice 2

Unfortunately, hubby and mom are of no help in my decision, as they are not artistically inclined. So I'm asking for your input - which one makes you say 'Ohh!'?

I welcome any and all comments to help with my dilemma. Thanks much and have a great day quilting!

Linking up at
QuiltingismorefunthanHousework

Monday, March 28, 2016

Matching Angled Binding

I'm really big on bindings that match the piecing. And Light at the End of the Spiral was no exception - another binding match adventure, this time with pieced angles.

So here's a tutorial on Matching Angled Binding, specifically to match angled piecing.

Starting with enough length of binding strips, both in the main color (green) and accent color (purple), they're joined as usual.

A quick double check shows that the sewn angle fits one of the piecing angles, and will be the start point.

After matching the seams, a few stitches are taken to make sure it's perfect. It's a lot easier to rip out a few stitches than inches, in case it's not perfect.

The match is good, and the rest of the accent binding is pinned to the top until the next match point, as an estimate of length.

To keep angle confusion down, a pin is placed on the side of the binding that will show on the front of the quilt, and placed such that it points in the same direction as the pieced angle. That's the red pin below.

The binding is laid on the quilt again, with a pin placed at the point of matching, allowing for the seam.

The pink pin marks where the stitching line is for matching, and the red pin marks the direction of the seam join.

Opening up the binding, a 45 degree line is marked, to match the piecing angle. The accent binding is joined to the main color binding along this mark, but not trimmed.

Laying the binding flat again, a few stitches are sewn at the match point to check accuracy and binding length.

The match is good, and the binding length not slack or taught. If the binding length were off, an adjustment can be made in the binding join seam. Once the binding fits, the test stitches are removed so the join seam can be trimmed and pressed.

Once again, the seams are matched up, and a few stitches taken. When it's perfect, the binding can be completely stitched down.

Since my start point is the first angled match point, the
binding was sewn in small sections, starting a 4-6" back and stitching forward to the previous sewing. This eliminated guessing the binding length, or having an inaccurate binding length.

After turning the corner, a point was reached that the two ends could be joined. For the final finish, this one got a hand sewn treatment.

Matching binding to piecing takes some patience, which is helped by taking a few stitches for matching, but the results are worth it!

For more binding tutorials, check out these:
Quick Fold Over Binding
Machine Binding
Piped Binding
Super Simple Binding
Two Color Binding
Matching Binding to Piecing
Reduce Bulky Corners

Have a great day quilting!

Friday, March 25, 2016

No Mark Straight Lines

Yesterday I showed off one of my HST Challenge quilts, Light at the End of the Spiral. Today, it's a short tut on quilting those straight lines.

What's the magic? Blue painters tape!

Scotch Blue Painters Tape

Personally, I use .70" and .94", but it comes in several other sizes to suite any need. For this project, I used .70".

On this little quilt, the purple spirals are 1" wide, which I wanted to repeat in the quilting. The .70" tape, in addition to the distance of the ruler foot outside edge from the needle, made for an almost perfect 1".

On a domestic machine, the walking foot should be used, with the distance from the foot edge to the needle taken into account when choosing the appropriate tape size.

Setting up the tape is easy. A 12" to 18" length is best, otherwise it can get bent when applying, and tangled when removed. The tape is pressed down next to the straight edge to follow, in this case, the spiral edge.

On the longarm, place the ruler on the other side of the tape, and quilt the line with the foot just skimming the tape edge. If using a domestic machine, use the edge of the machine's walking foot along the side of the tape as the guide.

Reposition the tape for the next line, using the previously stitched line as a guide. The tape can be reused around six times before it looses it's stickiness.

Continue stitching, and repositioning until all lines are quilted.

Such an easy way to achieve no mark straight lines. Here are some past quilts that have used this technique, some with tutorials:
Baby Feet, with tutorial
Modern Square, with tutorial

What else can be done with tape?

Thursday, March 24, 2016

Light at the End of the Spiral

What an incredibly corny, common, and mundane title. Light at the End of the Spiral.

Thinking that this really wasn't a thing, I Googled the term, and was stunned at how many spiral images with center lights there were. Ok, so I'm not crazy after all! Maybe I just don't get out much.

But really, this is an appropriate title, as I had been working on some blocks with a lot of black in them that were really dragging me down. Funneling that dark energy into this, then stirring it around to come to lightness and the feeling that it has all worked. I felt the quilting gods smiling down upon me after finding the perfect fabric for the funnel, then a beautiful batik for the back,

and designing a simple, complimentary quilting design in minutes. One of those Zen moments of being totally involved in the experience.

Made from 2" unfinished HST's, this finishes at 23 1/2" x 25", here are a few closeups.

See that squiggly line in the second spiral on the right? At first I thought it was a piece of thread, but no, it's in the print. Funny what the eye picks up on!

Straight line quilting, 1" apart in the green, 1/4" apart in the purple.

Now I know this isn't made with the prettiest or trending fabrics, or that the design may need more tweaking, but what's important is my experience in making it. Not only did I succeed in my HST Challenge, using up fabric scraps from Roundabout that would have been tossed, but designing something with meaning, at least for me. Now to find a place to hang it in the studio. And by the way, Roundabout was given to a dear friend who absolutely loves it.

Check out the tutorials for no mark straight lines and matching angled binding that were used on this quilt.

HST project #2 is still in the works, waiting for it's 'moment'.

The Notan inspired piece is sewn together, but needs some playing with as I have no more background fabric. But you know me, I'll figure something out.

Here's to your Zen moment! Have a great day quilting!

Linking up at
MyQuiltInfatuation
CrazyMomQuilts
FortWorthFabricStudio
AnjaQuilts
ConfessionsofaFabricAddict
Tweloquilting
CookingUpQuilts
LoveLaughQuilt
FreeMotionbytheRiver
QuiltingismorefunthanHousework
Don't ask me why some links won't show up in pink, but they are links!

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Midweek Makers #12

How's the progress on everyone's projects this week? Get anything done, or did everyone continue partying from St. Patrick's Day? Finished or not, let's see what you're working on at Midweek Makers!

Last week, Julie from PinkDoxies, had this very interesting tutorial pressing with aluminum foil.

A useful technique when a very crisp edge is desired, so be sure to check it out. And Julie, grab a 'Featured' button!

So how do you join in on all this fun? It's easy!

Please link directly to your specific post, not your main blog page.
Link any recent post that has to do with sewing and fabric.
Visit the other party guests and leave a comment. It's a great way to make new friends!
Grab the Midweek Makers button code to put on your post or sidebar to let everyone know about the party!
Following QuiltFabrication is not necessary, but it sure would be nice!

Have a great day quilting!

An InLinkz Link-up

Saturday, March 19, 2016

Happy National Quilting Day 2016!

Today, March 19, 2016, is National Quilting Day, and Worldwide Quilting Day! How exciting to have a day devoted to the art and love of quilting!

There are a ton of celebrations going this weekend, from parties at your local quilt shop, to online freebies and giveaways.

Some quilting fun that's caught my eye can be found at the Quilt Show, with a giveaway and free access to 220 videos, this weekend only! The videos are listed by artist, so if there's someone you've always wanted to see, check it out!

Over at Martingale, there are 24 quilting tutorials, with something for everyone.

My favorite quilt platform, Craftsy, is celebrating with 10+ free videos and a chance to win a mystery box worth $700 for you and a friend!

And of course, who wouldn't want a $100 gift certificate to the FatQuarterShop? Just leave a comment on their page as to what you love about quilting to enter.

Okay, that should keep us busy all weekend!

Happy Quilting!

Friday, March 18, 2016

3 Fun Scrap Ideas

Got scraps? Come on, I know you all do! I've seen a ton of great scrap quilts lately, but they all seem to involve larger pieces than what I have. My scraps would be considered crumbs. Small, oddly shaped pieces.

Yep, I'm ashamed to admit this is my scrap storage technique. Large bags, a few bins, ziploc bags, whatever I can find to throw a small scrap into. Roscoe, who was so gracious to sit in the picture (i.e. he was curious and didn't want to move), provides the perfect perspective as to how full the bags are. I know I should get better about sorting, storing, and using these scraps, but when in the middle of a project, scraps are the last thing I'm thinking about.

It's really time to do something with them or move them along with the goal to not be in a landfill. I'm really adverse to throwing away small bits, as evidenced by the 2" HST's in my spiral project. That's 1 1/2" finished, BTW.

What's caused this sudden urge to purge? A couple blogs I visited this week had fantastic ideas for scraps.

I've been saying for months how I should do a Scrap Vortex quilt, which was a sew along at CrazyMomQuilts last year.

While this is a great quilt, I'm not sure if my scraps could really pull it off. She's got a ton more variety than I have.

A take on this quilt, which I like very much, is from Kelly at MyQuiltInfatuation. It's randomly sewn scraps, but with a unifying background, making it easier on my eye.

And I also found this one, Rainbow Bites by Preeti at SewPreetiQuilts. This requires square pieces, which I'll have to really dig deep for. But definitely a beautiful quilt!

Inspired yet? I am. Just need the time to fit in a scrap bag dive!

Let me know if you find any others, as I would be happy to post more ideas for scrappy quilts!

Happy Quilting!