This book is a perfect segue to Pat Sloan's Teach Me to Make My First Quilt book I reviewed in my previous post. Christa Watson's Piece and Quilt with Precuts, published by Martingale, presents eleven quilt patterns made with precuts: they are beautiful, fast to make and teach you to use already cut or leftover fabrics. Christa is well known in the quilting community as a prolific machine quilter and, naturally, Piece and Quilt with Precuts is divided into three sections with quilt … [Read more...] about Piece and Quilt with Precuts
machine quilting
Wool applique and embroidery
This is my sister's Christmas gift for this year. She has two dogs but has fallen in love with cats. Hopefully, she will like this wall hanging. I had no idea what to do for the border. Then, looking through my stash I found this fabric which had all the colors of the applique. Plus, the yellow brightened the piece. I had made the center block a little while ago, but revisited it by changing the color of the cat's facial features, adding borders and quilting it. I did quilt all around the … [Read more...] about Wool applique and embroidery
Strip-easy Beach Cottages Wall Hanging
While my husband is 'working' in Hawaii this week, I dream of being at the beach. More than dreaming, I made this wall hanging entirely with strips from my scrap drawer, keeping in line with the Strip-easy Quilt Challenge which is coming up at this blog on May 26. It measures 32" x 18.5", pieced using Aurifil threads as always, quilted using matching variegated thread. I started by stitching together the strips. I had no idea what to do with the resulting strata, so I cut it into 8 rectangles, … [Read more...] about Strip-easy Beach Cottages Wall Hanging
“Quilt as desired”: here’s help!
When a quilt top is finished, the next step is to figure out how to quilt it. I have been quilting my own projects for almost 10 years, often deciding on quilting motifs just as I am placing the quilt sandwich in my Bernina. However, I have never taken a course on what to consider when choosing quilting motifs, relying instead on my instincts. That is why I was so excited when I received for review the book "501 Quilting Motifs - Designs for Hand or Machine Quilting" from the editors of … [Read more...] about “Quilt as desired”: here’s help!
Busy week…
Whew! It is hard to believe it is Thursday already! I don't know about your week, but mine has been crazy... ... canning pears... ... hand quilting with the guild... ... teaching machine quilting class... ... running errands... The closer we get to the holidays, the crazier things get around here. In order to get it all done, or close enough to it, I need to prioritize, be efficient, and stay calm. The Christmas row quilt needs two more rows, the drunkard's path blocks are ready to be … [Read more...] about Busy week…
Machine quilting – thin or thick needles?
This weekend I started quilting my garden quilt, the one made up of 27 blocks we exchanged in our quilt guild last December. I decided to use monofilament thread (polyester), as there are a variety of background fabrics and colors, and the quilting would not compete with the beautiful blocks. I was frustrated when I noticed I only had large quilting needles! I have quilted my projects on my Bernina 440QE for the past 7 years without ever worrying about the size of needle I was using. I've used … [Read more...] about Machine quilting – thin or thick needles?