Quilt Border Patterns

Look at this repeating pattern around the window! I see pieced quilt border possibilities. And if you turn it upside down then you have a border for a pillow tuck. Do you see it there under the window sill?

Halted progress

I had to stop the quilting progress on this little quilt. This is another donation quilt using up all the pre-cut 2.5" WOW squares from the scrap bin plus all the 2.5" squares I saved from someone's trash bin at a quilting retreat several years ago. I've gotten the center portion quilted with this:

And the two outer borders are ditch stitched, but then I came to a screeching halt. I realized that even though I wanted to do ribbon candy quilting in that inner border, I had never, as in NEVER, done ribbon candy. Time to practice. I have found that lined notebook paper is the perfect thing to prqactice with since I don't have to drawn the line.

What are you working on? It's a Linky Tuesday post!

Quilt Marking

I keep seeing the question: "What is your favorite quilt making tool?" Over the years, I think I've tried them all; chalk pencils, chalk wheels, ceramic pencils, Frixion pens, Pounce pads, purple air erase pens, & blue water erase pens all clutter a drawer in my sewing room. 

I never really found a marking system that would work for me or that I really liked. To that end, I decided that the majority of my quilting would probably be free motion.  But I still need a reference point now and then.

This quilt has butted borders but I wanted to give the illusion of mitered corners. I needed a reference point so I drew it on with good old fashioned soap. I love using soap slivers because they wash out with no trace.

On this quilt, I wanted motifs and motifs need to be marked. So out came the soap slivers. The motif doesn't have to be finely drawn -- just enough to follow.

Now, to quilt it. 

Upcycled Sweatshirt in six easy steps.

I had this pale green sweatshirt that fit nicely; it wasn't one of those with raglan sleeves. It suffered a fate that involved bleach. Boo hoo. But I still wore it until about 3 weeks ago when I decided to make a jacket out of it.

Unfortunately I didn't take photos of the process, but you can search online for the technique to turn a sweatshirt into a cardigan or jacket.

1. Take the sweatshirt apart
2. Use the sweatshirt pieces to rough cut fabric to cover the outside of the shirt
3. Quilt the pieces. I lucked out, because the batik I used had a nice vine on it that I followed as my quilting
4. Trim the fabric to match the sweatshirt fleece
5. Reassemble the sweatshirt and add binding around the cuff and neck/front/hemline
6. Add the zipper

You're done!

This was some cheap batik that I didn't want to use in a quilt and decided that it would be better as a garment. It almost has a camouflage look to it, doesn't it?

Blog Hopping Around The World

My friend, Juliann over at Lining Up My Stitches, asked me to join in on the Around The World Blog Hop. And I did!

What I am working on

This is the second quilt I have sewn using the double four patch block and this setting. The color in this photo is a bit saturated; I can't seem to get good color on this quilt in a photo so when I shoot the final pic, I'll do it outside. You can see the other quilt here. This time I wanted to do a more controlled blocking with the both color and value. You can follow the progression from yellow to orange to red to purple to blue to brown to green. The values go from the lightest in the 'center' out to the darkest at the edges. This turned out exactly as I planned!

I thought the top was finished but it said 'no' I want more! And so I auditioned borders. I started by using a 2.5" strip for an inner border and a lovely batik I had in my stash for an outer border. The inner border just doesn't do anything for the quilt, does it?

So I move the outer border fabric in until there was only 1" showing. It is much better, but I still felt there was something better.

How about a quarter inch flange? Eureka! I really like this one and will probably use it.

How does my work differ from others? 
I do love to work in color value. It is a time consuming endeavor, but, oh so fulfilling. The results can be spectacular when you get it right! The challenge of creating a beautiful object is so rewarding, especially if it is functionable.

How does my creating process work? 
It starts on a whim and then I jump in 100%. First the idea comes to me and I start sketching. Once I get it a bit firmer I will create the quilt in Electric Quilt. I don't color it correctly because I love working with all kinds of different fabrics in a quilt and never know what is going to be used. This type of process does generate a lot of spare quilt parts, though. This quilt doesn't have a repeat of any of the colored fabrics so each block is different; it is almost, but not quite, a charm quilt. As I work on it, I let it talk to me about borders and quilting designs. Some quilts emphatically say they don't need a border and others, like this one tell you that it isn't finished yet. As I work on the piecing or applique I always ponder how I am going to quilt it. Now that I have a Handi Quilter Sweet Sixteen, I do all my own quilting. How am I going to quilt this one? I don't know yet, but there are several ideas bouncing around in my brain. This is another area that I audition. I have a large sheet of heavy grade vinyl that I pin over the top and then draw a quilting design on it using a dry erase marker so it is easy to erase.

When I am not quilting I am . . .
Knitting. I have knit since I was a child and have been knitting for over 50 years. I don't design knitted garments, but I could if I wanted to do so, but I leave the designing to others. I am a process knitter, I like the process and give away a lot of the things I knit.

I am going to link to Susan at Patchwork Reflections who will do a post on October 27. Please visit Susan's blog as she is a very good storyteller and takes great photos!

I am also going to link to JudyL at PatchworkTimes.com for Design Wall Monday.
 

Getting Better All The Time

I finished another donation quilt using that strip quilt from maryquilt.com

I quilted the border in a free motion back and forth. It is very organic looking isn't it?

The center of the quilt was quilted in an all-over floral looking free motion motif.

The outer border is another floral motif.

The binding was machine applied using the flat felled foot for my sewing machine, I believe I have blogged about this method. 

Size: 53x70

Signature thread: gray on the top and a variegated gold in the bobbin

Batting: 80% cotton /20% polyester

I am linking up to JudyL's Design Wall Monday.