Hand Quilting Video

I took a series of short videos of my hand quilting last year and posted them on Instagram.  Content on Instagram moves quickly, though, so I also took one longer video to post here on the blog.  It only took me about a year upload it...

In this video you can see how I start a line of quilting.  I always quilt from right to left but I pop the knot and tail of my thread on the left and then my first few stitches stabilize that thread tail and knot from popping back out.  I use both hands to produce the stitches.  Even though I'm right handed, my left hand helps produce each stitch by moving the quilt up and down. 

If you have any further questions, leave them in the comments.  I will email you back.  If you don't have an email address linked to your account, please leave the address in your comment.

I hope you are enjoying your December crafting time. I'll be machine quilting tonight on a project that I hope to show you early in January.

Baby quilt for a new little MQG member

Jessie, the president of the DC Modern Quilt Guild, just had a baby.  I was lucky enough to get to put together the blocks from the MQG members to make the quilt for the new little bundle.



I was inspired by Teaginny's Tiny Log Cabin Quilt.  So I asked for monochromatic log cabin blocks in each member's favorite color, out of their favorite fabrics and measuring only four to five inches.  I also asked each person to send some pale neutral scrap for the sashing.

Once I received quite a few blocks in the mail, I arranged them on my design floor.  I like to use the back of a picnic tablecloth.  The flannel side is very sticky and the other side is slippery so it is easy to roll up or fold and then flatten it back out without my blocks getting rearranged.




Then I started improv piecing around each colorful block with whatever low volume bits I could find that worked.  Here is the first quarter,




the second quarter (after Henry trampled on it),




the third quarter,




and the fourth.




Once the top was all assembled I basted it,


and then did some quilting with white 20wt thread.


Then I added some black hand quilting around each block...














(that cerise block is mine!)


...and I hand stamped the back of the quilt with the first name of the person that made that block.




Linda attached the binding and hand stitched most of it and Anne finished the rest.  I'm so grateful that some people like to add binding because it is my least favorite step of the process.




I stamped DCMQG and wrote the year on it.

 


These are 11 of the 24(!) people that submitted blocks for this quilt.

Patchwork Death Star Pattern

I was hoping to post this a couple of days ago, but it turns out that I'm not very tech savvy.  Thank goodness I finally pulled it together.  Here is the link for the pdf file for the free pattern and some instructions.

I have a couple of pictures that I took along the way that I'll post here.  If you do make a patchwork Death Star please please please post a link for me to see.  If you are on IG, please tag it #patchworkdeathstar.  Thanks!  I can't wait to see different versions.  I originally dreamed of this all in tiny Libery florals.  Wouldn't that be cool?

Well anyway, here is a shot of a few of my pieces after glue basting.



And here is a picture of the top half pieced and sitting on top of my first drawing of it. 


The final pattern will make an 11x12" block.  The perimeter fabric can easily be made larger by extending the paper pattern.  The Death Star itself could be made bigger by bringing the pdf printouts to a copy store and enlarging them.

May the force be with you. 

Confirmation that I'm a geek

(As if you needed it.)

I sent this mini quilt off to a friend last week.  It is a Patchwork Death Star.




The inspiration for it started when my friend, Blair, sent me this most fabulous embroidery hoop.




Perhaps, more accurately, it started much earlier when we started talking about how smooth Lando Calrissian is.  Once it was determined that we were both Star Wars fans, the pins and tags just kept flying.  She is super sweet and talented so she made me that hoop of awesomeness up above.

It is really, really hard to craft for awesome crafters.  It took me a l-o-n-g time to decide what my theme would be.  And then I was stuck on making the Death Star all in florals.  It turns out that I didn't have enough small scale florals for my idea and getting the right value changes was going to be impossible.  But I have gray fabric up the wazoo.  Once I decided to do the pattern with English paper piecing things went pretty smoothly.  Some advice from Melissa and Jessie helped, too.

I really didn't think that there would be many people who would want to make a Patchwork Death Star of their very own.  But the requests for a pattern have been pretty insistent.  I still need to finalize how to print the pattern out, but I hope to have it up tomorrow. 

Have you ever shown your geeky side in your quilting?

Speaking of Samplers

I've been hand quilting my Farmer's Wife blocks this month. 

I'm varying the color of the perle cotton (size 8) and varying the width of the seam allowance to match the fabric patterns and block design.  It is s-l-o-w going, but it is so beautiful, and cozy, that I think I may work on it for a few more weeks before I need a break from it.

Have you ever done hand quilting before? What is the biggest quilt you've ever hand quilted? Do you feel comfortable with your technique?

Quilting progress

I basted my Farmer's Wife quilt a month ago.  A friend let me borrow her quilting frame to thread baste it on. 

Since then, I've been slowly chipping away at the hand quilting on the sashing.  I'm using a single strand of Presencia thread and a size 9 straw needle.  I'm pleased with how the tiny stitches are working out. 

I've been counting the blocks as I go to keep myself motivated.  So far I'm at the sashing of block 34 out of 121.  The tiny stitches of gray on gray gets a little boring, but I love how it is turning out. 

Once the sashing is all quilted, I'll move on to the colored size 8 perle cotton big stitch quilting. I think that part will move pretty quickly and it will be a lot of fun to add a little more color to these blocks.

Americana

I don't think I've ever been so deeply in love with a traditional patchwork quilt before.

Most of these fabrics are Suzuko Koseki, Lecien, Anna Maria Horner, Denyse Schmidt, a little Moda Hometown and some Lakehouse seed packet fabric.  I challenged myself by using red, white and blue and muted tones while trying to make this traditional palette look modern.  So, I named this one Americana.

I think the perle cotton big stitches and x's in black really make this quilt.

Here is the back.

The part that took the longest was burying the diagonal stitches of the x's in between the layers of the quilt so you can only see horizontal and vertical lines on the back. 

Here is a shot after washing the quilt.  The binding is from Moda's Mama Said Sew line.  I love that charcoal dictionary print.

Right now this quilt is neatly tucked next to the couch, but I'm certain that soon it will be dragged into service for Henry.  His favorite books seem to need a lot of naps in my bed lately.  "Buzz book sleeping...shhhh...Wake UP!"

Blogger's Quilt Festival--Spring 2013

If you are new to my little corner of the blog universe, welcome.  I'm thrilled to share one of very favorite quilts with the Blogger's Quilt Festival--Warm

This quilt measures roughly 32 x 28 inches, and is made of 258 different 1" hexies of my favorite  stash fabrics.  It is hand basted, hand pieced, hand quilted, and hand bound with an extra 76 hexies, just to finish the uneven edge.  I used a unique method from Amy of badskirt. 

 

This quilt was a labor of so much fabric and stitchy love that I'm so so proud to have it hanging on my wall in my sewing room.

Now go check out some of the other amazing submissions to the festival!

I submitted my quilt in the Wall hanging Quilts Category.

It takes a village

I am so so pleased to show this quilt.  Mommy Neighborhood is my first ever bee quilt finish.  It is also the first that I have mixed hand and machine quilting. 

The texture of the hand quilting portion is pretty amazing.  I only wish I was a better photographer to capture the white on white.

But this Mommy Neighborhood quilt is so much more than the fabric choices and the quilting.  I am grateful to my friends that made some blocks for me:  Rachel, Sarah, Jessica, Anna, Keri, Karen, Vanessa, and Veronique.  These and other online knitting friends (Katie, Laura, Suvi, Jennifer, Sindu, Charity, and Sheryl) were there for me during my pregnancy and ever since Henry was born.  They all have children Henry's age and we've become friends through sharing our trials and joys in raising our kids.  They were there for me through insomnia, severe infection, postpartum depression, anxiety attacks and Henry's diagnosis of autism.  Their commiseration, humor, acceptance and encouragement have helped make me into the mom I am today.

Hillary Clinton said that it takes a village to raise a child.   
This quilt will hang on my wall and remind me of the village that it takes to raise a mom.  

Thank you, thank you, thank you to my friends.


.    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .

Notes about this quilt:

• the green strips of lawn were inspired by this quilt,
•  I have two tutorials posted for making tiny house blocks if you are interested:  one and two.

Pulling it back together

After Henry got better, then Ben got sick and then I got a lesser virus...but we are finally all well in the Granola household. Thank goodness!

Since I've been spending so much time on the couch, I've been making good progress on my Mommy Neighborhood quilt.  Here is part of the back.  The large print houses are an IKEA fabric.

And here is a peek at one house on the front.  I have to find more fabric to finish the binding and then decide if there is any more quilting that I want to put in or take out.  I definitely put in too much in some places so I'm walking a fine line. 

Tonight everyone was well enough that my husband and I went on a date! It is our first once since November. A new and already dear friend watched Henry. Henry was already having a rough, rough day, and she did not get to see his best side. As we left the house, Ben paid my friend the highest compliment: "Wow. She's pretty fearless." She got on Henry's good side by feeding him bunny cookies on a wagon ride and playing in the park sandbox for hours.   And Ben and I got to go walk by the lake and eat sushi.  It sure is nice to feel like myself again.

Thank you all for the cheerful comments and birthday wishes.  We hope to go in to DC to see the cherry blossoms blooming tomorrow.  I hope to post some cheery cherry flower pictures here.