The Dreaded "F" Word

I had a 2010 lightbulb moment today.

I watched "Julie and Julia" a few weeks ago and while looking through a book wondered if I could make ALL the quilt projects in it during the year. There isn't anything fancy or terribly complicated about them. They are just sweet and simple quilts.

Like I need more projects to start and never finish. However; I wouldn't have to FINISH them.

GASP! *choke* *cough* NOT FINISH a quilt??

Without any pressure to finish them, I would enjoy doing them more. I do give myself the option to finish them IF I'm up to it. The "F" word just isn't in my vocabulary this year. I DO NOT need to finish up any project.

There are 12 quilts in the book. Some are wall quilts and others are larger. It's a chance to use up scraps and not worry about giant bed size quilts as I have enough of those stashed in my UFO closet.

So...the title of the book?

"Garden Party" by Cynthia Tomaszewski

If you haven't had a chance to see the book, check it out. The quilts are very sweet and beautiful. I've had the book for several years and have planned on doing the quilts, but have never gotten around to it. This year I plan on doing all of them.

Now I really want those Dovo scissors for applique work. LOL.

Woo Hoo! Now I have a purpose in life. At least for this year.

Outlining My Horse

I've managed to get a lot of the horse done.  I gave up on free motion quilting because it looked so bad.  Even while going very slow, I couldn't keep the stitches even like I wanted.  This project just screamed perfect stitches for outlining.  

Here's a close-up of the outline work:

From Quilted with Love

From Quilted with Love

This is turning out really beautiful. I can't wait to get it done. I love that the pressure foot lifts every time you stop for more detailed sewing. Once I discovered I had a clear open toe foot with a cover in front of the needle, it's been perfect for this. The fabric isn't sliding over the edge. I haven't needed a walking foot for this either. And..no take-up lever issues. I love this machine.

"Spring Storm" Horse Applique Kit

From Quilted with Love

I got brave today and pulled out my "Spring Storm" horse applique kit.  I've been dying to do it, I just wasn't sure how to do all the pieces.  Plus I worried about running out of fabric and tracing all the pieces. The fusible webbing I have is really thin and comes apart from the paper just by moving it.  It's all my LQS has as the ladies love it.  I like the heavier stuff but that requires a trip to Lincoln or Omaha. 

It was SO easy!  Big Fork Bay Cotton Company had several pages that fit perfectly under the fusible applique.  They were already reversed (THANK YOU) and you just traced and labeled the pieces.  They had labeled the fabric as well.  They also provided a full size picture of the horse. THANK YOU!

I had some projector sheets, taped 4 together and traced the horse template to position the top pieces.   I taped down the background fabric (I'll do the borders after the horse is done) and taped the top of the sheets over it.

From Embroidery Designs

What I didn't think of earlier was to put the pieces in bags from 1-9, 10-19, 20-29 up to 100 until several hours later..LOL.  Duh.  At least I did think of it.  

Here's the horse with the clear template over it:      

From Embroidery Designs

I'm up to the 50's now.  Halfway there!   I used my small Clover iron to press the pieces in place.  I've been doing this since 2pm and it's now after midnight.  My house is a wreck.  My kids had to fend for themselves for food..  Yep.  I'm a quilter.   

Horses And Roses

My package came today!! Kristie, you are going to die over this quilt:


The pattern is called "Spring Storm" from Bigfork Bay Cotton Company. I fell in love with the pattern even though horses aren't my thing. This kit will keep me motivated to finish up some previous projects even though I want to start right now.

I'm slowly getting these roses done for my "Rambling Rose" quilt.  It's not that it's hard, it's just time consuming working with a zillion little pieces.  I need 6 of one direction and 6 going the other direction.  Here are 4 of them.  5 and 6 are being worked on:

From Quilted with Love

 Does anyone else's quilting area look like this while working on a project?

From Quilted with Love

Stacks of papers?  Boxes of stuff?  Fabric everywhere?  I really do have a method to my madness in there.  Maybe.  This quilt has made a HUGE mess with all the bags of labeled pieces and strips of fabric.  I still have about 200 pieces more to cut out with all the extra strips.

The next 6 roses will be fairly easy now that I know where all the pieces go.  The worst is going to be the lace border. 

"Rhapsody Quilts" By Ricky Tims

I raided JoAnn Fabrics today while in Lincoln.  They had 40% off their quilting books and I came home with this:

From Quilted with Love

Now, I have a hard time getting excited about quilting celebrities.  I don't know why.  Jealousy?  Envy?  I think it's disappointment.  You do all this great work, yet you refuse to share the good stuff.  You show off your stunning quilts in magazines or in books, but don't really explain how you do it.  There are no patterns, no hints. 

Or if you do give a pattern, it's one I've done already or can easily do.  That's partly why I don't buy patterns/magazines/books anymore.  Yawn.  Been there.  Done that.  If you do a show, it's basic boring stuff that I already know.  Sometimes I think they just do stuff to promote the company and not what they want.

I have to eat my shorts with Ricky Tims.  This man is genuine.  I figured this book was going to be about showing off all his quilts with some bare hints on how he did them.  Or go on and on about why he chose this or that fabric and how wonderful he is.  Or go off on how if you don't own a Bernina you are a loser. 

He shows you EVERYTHING in this book.  EVERYTHING.  From basic design elements, to a master template,  expanding the size, designing the applique work, all the way to the finished project.  He wrote in a way that made you feel important.  That he really cared about your ideas and wanting you to finish the pattern.  He didn't talk over you or under you.  

Thank you Ricky.  I will treasure this book.  

Pattern Inconsistencies

I got the top done for my "Floral Meditation". Well..sort of. I don't think I cut down the panel right and it's off by a LOT. That's what I get for not cutting the panel first and adding the flower after it. So much for square.

Another part of the problem with the pattern is that the paper template is off on the border information. It's not 17.5 x 30.5 like the directions say. So if you followed the paper pattern with the corner pieces and the cutting, you really messed up as well. My other mistake was that I used one piece of fabric instead of making the six blocks and didn't adjust to make it right. The pattern was just really confusing direction wise with the layout. I got lost on the dimensions of the quilt because of the inconsistencies of it. I should have just kept to the paper template and gone from there with the measurements.

Here's what I have done:

From Blogger Pictures

It's still stunning though. I just need to finish up a few details and then will quilt it. I loved the border fabric and picked the colors from it.

It's a great pattern. The flower part was KISS simple but the confusion between the paper template and the directions really messed me up.

I loved doing the triple stitch on my Sapphire. What a beautiful job and it was so easy. The 1/4 seam allowance is perfect and even though the quilt isn't flat, the borders match up. I love this machine.

I also didn't like the fusible webbing my LQS had. It was a giant pain to work with. I'm not sure what brand it is, but I won't buy it again.