Time to Quilt

A few people may have found my blog this week through one connection or another since I’ve mentioned it to a few friends. I thought I’d share a few thoughts for anyone who may not be familiar with personal blogs.

• What IS a blog?
• Why do you have one?
• Do you make money on it?
• How often do you post?
• Do I have to “subscribe” to see your posts?
• Where do I go if I want to start one too?

What is a blog? It’s a journal of sorts. It’s a place to share thought and ideas, links, photos, and build a community with people who have similar interests. This one is personal but you can also find plenty of business blogs by doing a quick Google search for almost any topic you’re interested in.

Why do you have one? I’ll refer you to my first post here. I stopped blogging for awhile but I’m trying to renew the habit and revive some of my older posts that have since reverted back to draft form. The blog helps me communicate with quilters around the globe, and those close to home. Some of my friends are not on Facebook, and some friends there just aren’t that into quilting. (Go figure! LOL) It’s a place I can list my ideas and plans without losing them in a drawer and, an easy way to access my quilt photos when I’m with a friend and we’re sharing ideas.

Do you make money on it? No, I don’t. While some blogs do, mine is not at all monetized. Even though it’s a free blog, I actually pay a small yearly fee because I prefer not to deal with annoying ads and so anyone who visits the blog doesn’t have to deal with scrolling past advertisements either.

How often do you post? My goal is to post at least once a week. I’ve learned that even if I don’t have much to say, it’s easier for me to maintain the habit if I do it regularly.

Do I have to “subscribe” to see your posts? Nope. You can just come back to this website anytime. Subscribing is designed to make it easier for you. You’ll get an email with the post or, a link to come to the website to read it. Either way, you’ll know the minute I post (often before I’ve caught all the typos!). You won’t waste time visiting the blog if nothing has posted since the last time you checked.

Where do I go if I want to start one too? I use WordPress.com but Google also hosts free blogs at Blogger.com

I had a few questions about the size of my room so for anyone else that may be curious, it’s 14.5 feet long by 10 feet wide, not counting the closet.

The quilt frame takes just over 10 feet of that length and about 4 feet of the width when it’s rolled close to the wall – so it consumes a large portion of the room. Several years ago I had my first long arm in our (non air conditioned) garage. I’m happy to give up floor space to be able to quilt inside the house!

I posted this link to the YouTube video tour of my sewing room yesterday. Hopefully, these still photos will give you a much better idea of the size. In the first picture I’m standing in front of the closet. The second one was taken at the opposite end of the room in front of the widow.

Yes, it can be tight at times, but it works well if I keep things organized. That’s the easy part.

The real challenge is managing tasks so I don’t have too many projects going on at the same time. I also need to get better at using leftover scraps regularly so they don’t get out of control and spill out of their designated space.

Yesterday, I put in an order online to have some inspiration photos I’d saved printed at Walgreens. They’re having a 50% off prints sale until Saturday, August 23rd and the same day pickup is convenient. If you missed this one, they have their photo printing sales pretty regularly so the next opportunity to get them at half price won’t be much of a wait.

I use these albums from Amazon to store them.

This morning I woke up, did some laundry and vacuuming, then sat on the couch to organize my scraps from the last few weeks.

They’re all sorted now and put away. It always feels great having that out of the way and makes me wonder why I procrastinate doing it. 🙂

Stuffing the pieces into full little drawers was yet another reminder “I need to use this stuff up!!”. So I started cutting paper foundations to do just that.

I’ve tried fabric foundations but they do add a lot of extra weight to the quilt that we really don’t need here in south Florida.

The Publix grocery store ads I like to use are printed on 10.5″ by 11″ newsprint paper. It’s a good size and easier to remove later than regular printer paper.

I used my a rotary cutter, designated for paper only, and trimmed a set of 12 pages to 10.5″ squares.

I’m plan to continuously make blocks until I have as many empty little string drawers as possible. I won’t be able to set them all into quilt tops as I go but once the blocks are all made, I’ll do a marathon top making session.

There were two drawers of patriotic strings so that’s where I need to begin. I plan to work on block sets for specific ideas on how to set them. This first group will be set with sashing, cornerstones, and a border.

I’ll admit.. I am curious to see how many blocks one of these full drawers of strings generates. Care to guess?

Finally! A new video showing how my sewing room looks today. I’m not good at this type of thing at all but, at least it’s done.

Now if I mention “my strings are out of control!” or “I need to empty the drawers that held my fat quarters” so I can use them for something else… you’ll know what I’m talking about.

Here’s the link to the video below if you prefer to watch it on YouTube.

My room isn’t magazine worthy. Not even close. It’s small but it works and I’m grateful for a space to call my own.

As you probably heard several times in the video, I do need to stay on top of my smaller pieces of fabric- strings, scraps, and fat quarters. If they grow out of their designated space I have only two choices, use them or give them away. You can expect to see more string and scrap quilts in the near future because I’m clearly to that point.

The room is 10′ x 14.5″ and my longarm is an Innova M20 on a 10′ frame. It’s not computerized.

Here are a the wall hangings you saw in the video with links to the patterns used if they’re still available. If you have questions about anything please don’t hesitate to ask.

Pattern is Baby Love by Fabriculous using Confetti ombre by V & Co. I inserted the gold lame’ paper pieced paw print, free pattern by Paper Panache. This large paw print by Windham Fabrics made the perfect back. They even look like little hearts.  ♥

Over the door storage rack I use for thread was from Amazon.

I call this one “we are all New York”
Made during covid when crowds cheered the doctors and nurses who were overworked and exhausted by the number of patients, but showed up every day to care for them. The pattern I used was Shenandoah by Creative Sewlutions. The panel is Blue Skylines by Hoffman. I purchased it from Quilted Twins and it’s now out of stock but I located it online at Beaverhead Treasures.

I hang all my wall hanging using a threaded rod with endcaps from Home Depot and these heavy duty hook made by 3M from Amazon. They don’t require drilling holes in the wall but the adhesive it much stronger than Command hooks and I expect they might leave some damage to the wall if you had to remove them.

Illusion pattern by Caryl Breyer Fallert but her internet store has since gone out of business and I don’t see where it’s available.

Made a 3 or 4 years ago for the Palm Beach County Quilters’ Guild small quilt challenge. The quilt had to represent a song title. Singing in the Rain paper-pieced pattern is from Etsy.

Pattern is Tighten the Tension by Chris Gilman but if it’s still available, I haven’t been able to find it. (If you locate it, please leave the link in the comments.)

Woven Ribbons pattern by Jinny Beyer (not available online).

Made with the X-Block ruler by Cactus Queen Quilt Co.

I wish you a happy Sunday and hope you find some time to spend in your happy place too.

The 4 1/2″ squares for this quilt were free at the Palm Beach County Quilter’s Guild meeting about two months ago. I was surprised when no one picked them up by the end of the meeting, so I brought them home with me. ♥

I wasn’t quite sure what I’d make, but I took them up to use, not to store, so I laid them out Wednesday night, started piecing a top at my quilting bee on Thursday morning. I finished the last couple of rows later that night. When I woke up today, I figured I’d try to get it both quilted and bound if I could. My cutting table is a bit of a mess, so I have a lot to do on my Saturday reset day and I really didn’t want to put this away unfinished.

The quilting design is Hearts A Flutter by Urban Elementz. The pattern for the quilt top can be found at The Linus Connection. They’re a group from central Texas and they have a lot of free patterns available here. I’ve already decided on the one I’d like to make.

For being such a little quilt, 40″ x 45″, it managed to give me a few problems, like puppies tend to do!

I thought I had enough backing left from the quilt I finished on Wednesday to quilt this one too – I was wrong. Yikes! I had to remove the quilt, add about six more inches to the backing, reload it, then try to match up the quilting design. Luckily, I had a package of that made reattaching it a lot easier. They’re those pink things you see in the photo above. They were also free on the guild’s de-stash table recently.

The purple is the backing. I was happy to find I had just the right fabric for the binding to go with the colors in the top and match the back.

When I attached the binding, somehow I got the ends twisted when I joined them and had to stop, take out the seam, and restitch it. Grrrr… I haven’t made that mistake in years!

This little rascal is done though, and for all the trouble he gave me, I still love him. ♥

These were “My Own Round Robin” projects with a final ending date this coming Saturday. (Yes, I procrastinated making this last round until I almost ran out of time!) It was a group project but instead of passing the top around, each person’s original selection of prompts was rotated. The prompts were a choice of three different colors or one type of fabric. You had to at least use one of the choices for that round. No one knew in advance what their next prompt would be, we found out monthly.

This month one of my choices was “dots” for the fabric type so that’s what I used for both quilts

All week I’ve reminded myself why I rarely enjoy making the type of quilt you have to put aside for several weeks at a time. I’m much happier going from start to finish. When I put something aside for several weeks, it’s just fun to pick up and work on again if you’re in the middle of a project you really want to make. If I’m not careful, I’ll turn it into a UFO. I know that and it’s why I normally avoid BOM’s, round robins, sew-alongs, and mystery quilts. 🙂 Oh, and did I mention I was crazy enough to attempt making two quilts? LOL Maybe I’ve finally learned my lesson. Maybe.

The finished patriotic quilt

The first four months rounds

The finished teddy bears’ quilt

The first four months rounds

These photos show the backing used on both quilts.

I decided to make a flange binding for the teddy bear quilt. I make mine a bit wider than some quilters do so I can topstitch on the binding part rather than in the ditch on the flange.

I cut the binding at 1.5″ and the flange at 1.75″ and press the seams toward the binding fabric.

I had planned to use the same pink as the narrow strip between the 3rd and 4th rounds but when I chose this purple backing it didn’t look great from the back. I used it for the flange instead. It’s hard to see in the photo of the finished quilt.

When I’m attaching my binding to the back of the quilt, I don’t sew off the end at a diagonal like some methods demonstrate. Instead, I stop 1/4″ from the end and backstitch.

When I’m pressing out the binding to get ready to top stitch, I use my embroidery scissors to cut of a little tiny bit of batting from the corner. (You have to be super careful NOT to cut into the fabrics though.) It really helps those corners to lie a lot flatter and avoids that big bump… especially when you have a flange and even more fabric in that miter.

I use the line in middle of my walking foot as a guide and shift my needle position one click to the right. It allows that line of stitching to fall very close the flange/binding seam.

Here’s a tip… Always fold the button of the binding up first – not the side. That keeps the diagonal folds going in the opposite directions on the top and back of the quilt which also helps the corner lie flatter.

I also stick a large head pin in the diagonal to hold the miter. When I approach the corner I use my needle up/down to take the last two or three stitches so I don’t accidentally run over that pin. Once I’m next to it, I lift the presser foot and pivot the quilt, pull the pin, and keep stitching down the next side. The pin really helps to temporarily hold the miter in place.

I hope this helps and, that it makes sense! It’s easier to do than it is to explain. 🙂