Thursday, September 18, 2014

Diamond Chips Finished

Diamond Chips is off the frame!

Quilted on fleece, with one layer of fleece folded over for the binding, I'm calling it a finish!

There are several recent teaser pictures on the quilting, but for a tutorial on the panto, see Tulle, My New Tool, plus this one on it's construction, Diamond Progress.   

Here's more detail quilting pictures.  The in-progress teaser pictures should now make sense.
Ruler work, freehand, and a panto were used on the quilting.

See, a panto doesn't have to be across the whole top.




Hope this inspires you on your next quilting adventure!

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Tulle--My New Tool

Yes, tulle is the newest tool in my quilting arsenal.

Plain, fine tulle is what I used to transfer the panto design to an odd shaped area.  I knew I couldn't do the design from the back of the machine and get it to stop and start where I wanted, nor could I do that from the front.  So, I bit the bullet and decided to transfer the design with a washout marker.
Yes, a washout marker.  Don't worry, I tested it on a scrap, letting it stay there for a week, and it washed right out.

To get the design on the tulle, a black sharpie was used to trace the design, with a piece of tissue paper between the original paper panto and the tulle, so that there were no stray marks on the original.  And two layers of tulle were used, so that I could see the design.  I had discovered on another project that one layer was not enough to see the markings.

Then using that washout marker, I happily marked away. Took maybe an hour, but the quilting was so easy!
If you look real close, you can see the faint blue line in with the stitching and without. Haven't washed it out yet, and I'm not worried.

And here's a picture of what I'm doing around the diamonds.
More diamonds!  With stippling as the fill.  I don't know about you, but I like stippling.  Some think it's old fashioned, but it really serves a purpose.  And when I was cake decorating, this fill was called Cornelli lace.

Have a wonderful day quilting!

Monday, September 1, 2014

September Book of the Month

Time keeps marching along, and it's now September!  Where has this year gone?  I feel I haven't accomplished all I've wanted to this year, but when I look back, I've done a lot. I'll continue working towards my goals, with one of those being to make something from all the quilt books I own.  With that, I'm introducing the September Book of the Month, Sizzling Quilts from a Simple Block by Anita Hallock (affiliate link)
It was a tough choice this month, but eventually I'll get to the other books than were second choices.  I'm hoping to use up some of the older stash this month--it's bogging me down.  

As are the scraps.  How is it that they just keep growing?  I think I've used some up, but the pile doesn't get any smaller! Ugh!  But at least I got the scrap quilt top done.  
I tried setting them on yellow, which could have worked, but it was just okay.  Then I found this dark blue fabric with the same blue blocks on it as mine,
and thought, perfect, time to use it up!  And that I did.  This is all I have left.
More scraps.  Such is the life of a quilter!

To make this top a bit bigger, I added a frame around each scrappy block.  
If I were to have planned this out better, I would have used a darker blue in the center of each scrappy block, instead of white.  But it's done now.  And the top measures in at 45 1/2" x 45 1/2", a good baby quilt size.

Now to get it on the frame today for a freehand all over design.  Quilting pictures to follow!

Happy Quilting!