You Can Quilt That Out

I had to chuckle loudly when I received this via email from one of my clients. She's a great applique quilter, and has probably heard me rant about quilt quality and the grand multitude of anomalies that we as longarm quilters get to see. Most of these issues are truly minor. But now and then there are ones that make me really wrinkle my upper lip with bewilderment, and think long and hard how I will make it actually lay flat. Please, do have a look - It is funny, I promise!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzoL7ddTEnA&feature=player_embedded!



Funnier too because I had JUST finished this top and felt that rolled lip of disgust when I couldn't get that left side border to lay flat. It was my own doing and I knew exactly what was the culprit: My old sewing machine (of course it was not ME!!). My good Singer was being serviced. It has an electronic stitch width setting, so I can get great repeatability with my .25" seam. I borrowed my old (25 yr) machine back from my mom while the other one was gone, and it has 3 mechanical foot settings, so I guessed where to set it. I knew that it was just shy of 1/4" and hence the stoned middle border came out nearly 1" long. Curses. I did my best to reduce seams a little and ease it together, but it still ended up a tad big, and had that awful lettuce edge. I am a better quilter that than and I was pretty mad.

What did I do?


What else? I loaded it on the longarm and quilted it. And to my surprised eyes, it quilted perfectly. I didn't have to float the top, or use excessive pins, or even have to shout obsceneties and spit. It just quilted fine. Shock. Now I hope that this is not perceived as an invitation from all you out there that have D-cup quilts - I never suspected it would do this and i don't love getting quilts that are not flat. But, if you have ones with small imperfections and a little fullness here and there, do not fret.

This is a Bento Box pattern which I have been working on writing up. It is strip pieced rather than stitched the traditional log cabin way which we usually make a Bento Box block. It requires many less seams and fewer cuts. On top of that, the blocks were done from a jelly roll and result in about only 1" waste per full 44" strip! Here's the link to my tutorial. I made this top in about 2-1/2 hours.

I told you earlier in the month how much I LOVE this Moda OZ line. The fabrics are graphic and cheerful. This 60" quilt took just half a jelly roll, which I found for under $20, and 2 yards of ivory Bella. The backing is a rose Bella solid, and it took 3 yards to back and bind the quilt.

Not being a fan of stippling, I chose a different and completely non-linear quilting design. I think that juxtiposing a linear quilt with a non-linear quilting creates visual interest.

If you find yourself in the mood to try a Bento Box quilt, consider trying this method. I am sure you will be surprised how fast the quilt makes up.

MQ Frustrations

I picked up my oldest son's quilt from being machine butchered (aka "quilted") this week. At first blush, I know you are all thinking "this quilt's not so bad". That was my initial impression for the first 30 seconds I saw it. Elation of having another quilt nearing completion was quickly drowned by my frustration in not being able to find a machine quilter that is both decent and affordable.
The person that did this is local to me. I saw some of her work before taking this, and thought it was fine. What I saw, however, were leafy and flowy patterns. That just was not going to work on this highly geometric (male) quilt. When I suggested to her my scheme for quilting this one down the center of each row, she never gave me the impression she'd have an impossible time of it. I knew well enough not to ask her to ditch stitch the entire thing because if she was not in the ditch, THAT would show. Line up the rail, straight stitch right down the center, right??? My quilt is expertly pieced (little grin here...but all seams do line up nicely). Never in a million years was I expecting to see this...

She said that the machine sews straight, but that the material sometimes shifts a bit (BS, in my opinion. The fabric is held in a rack. It can't move upwards of an inch. So if she thought she was going away from the center, she found what she thought was a convenient spot to "jut" back over to the center. There are a TON of "juts" on this quilt. Most are a barely noticeable from the front, but some are, as above. From the back, which is mostly large blocks of solid color, these look like total CRAP.

See (above), the notion of my quilting plan really does work well with the Bento Box design. But here's a case where I discovered that she forgot two entire rows!! Fortunately she sent me home with one bobbin and a roll of the quilting thread. I can get these on my machine. At this point, I am still trying to get my eyes back to the front of my head. They're rolled back THAT far! How on earth can she expect me to pay $160 for this mess?

Here's a shot from the back... Isn't this lovely??...
The borders of the quilt have diagonal straight stitching. It's mostly OK, but there are a few places near the edge that have small puckers. Maybe the binding will mask it.

I made up the binding this morning and once I get the gumption to fix/finish the quilting, I'll be ready for the binding. I'm not a real fan of hand sewing binding on large quilts in the summer, so it may actually sit in wait until October.

Finding a good machine quilter is so challenging. I'm going to go berserk before I get a good one. I hate to spend a good amount of money on really nice quilting fabrics, meticulously piece a pretty top, only to have a machine quilter make a mess of it. One other local quilter I have used does a good job, she charges 25% more than this one, but she's generally boring. I tried another last fall for a Christmas quilt gift. She charged nearly twice this person, but the quilt was lovely. I used another this spring that charged $15 for a lap quilt. It did have it's issues, but I worked around them and it's now kind of pretty. What's a piecer to do??? I'm about ready to buy my own machine and flub them up myself. At least I won't be PO'd at every experience :-)

Top Nearly Done

And a very Happy Mother's Day to you ladies.



Sometimes when we have small children, and we are in the throws of constant tantrums and dissatisfaction, it's too easy to forget that it is a blessing that we have these rotten little creatures. Despite off and on morning rain drizzle, I dragged my entire crew to a local garden that is in full bloom right now. It's a very small public garden, that has thousands of tulips in bloom right now. It has become an annual tradition - we have been all but one of the last seven years. Even my 1st grader asks about going, so it is nice to have something that is looked forward to which is so simple as flowers. Go have a look...

The quilt flimsy for my oldest son is nearly completed. I added the diamond border this weekend. I love the way the border tames down the wildness of the Bento Box pattern. I never did use the inspiration fabric from which all of these fabrics were selected, but it will go on the back.

My son's room is in shades of the dusty blue so it ought to look good. Although, he was begging to paint his room this morning. It's always something!

It's been an uninspiring week...

I'm not really sure what I accomplished this week besides sewing 25 squares together. This is just the top. The borders will be done once the fabric arrives (hmm...I should just order 4 yards too many each time I place an order!). My son likes it this far, so maybe he will still when it is done. I did design the borders, but that didn't take too much precious time. Mostly I procrastinated this week :-)
I have been puttering, mostly this week. Without a stack of flimsies to quilt or a pile of blocks to sew, my direction is confused! I have hand sewn/appliqued one of my birthday block swap blocks. I'll show all of them soon - one is still on paper, as it is a New York Beauty. I'm not that motivated to conquer it. HA!

I am going to a local fabric fair tomorrow morning. I heard of it a couple years ago - it's known for having dirt cheap bargains! Just hope my daughter won't be still under the weather so she can go to her last day of daycare (and I can have my morning in peace.).

I sewed up 40 9-patch blocks for the 3 by 3 swap I joined. These are fast!

And, if you are a follower of the Four Seasons Quilt Swap, you know that I am gearing up for a Block Swap, of some form or fashion. Check it out if you think you might be interested or may have some block suggestions for me to consider.

Happy May Day

And a happy one it is. I learned this morning that I was selected for an award from my department. It comes with a very nice $2500 check too! Cha-ching (the fabric bells are going off!). It was a complete surprise considering I only teach classes part-time. Now I have to get myself a respectable thing or two to wear before next Friday, as there is a banquet to attend.

The rest of my materials for the Bento Box quilt arrived this morning. I discovered earlier this week that I likely did not have enough Kaffe prints to do the entire quilt, especially if I expand it from a twin to a queen. So a nice shopping trip was an order. I also needed a few Kona solids, but really wanted to order all of this from one place. I opted to try the Moda Bella solids instead, hoping they'd look and feel close to the Konas. And they do - they are a nice weight, and sew beautifully. I just lOVE the Kaffe Fassett Millifiore (on the right) - I tried to get a couple more colors, but it's sold out in many shops.
Here are the first nine of these 16" Bento Box squares. I have made them larger than the typically seen 12" block. I like the look with the added row of color. Individually, each block is wildly colored, busy, and borderline scarry. In person, however, this is looking so nice - reminds me of looking at a grove of trees, with the clear blue sky showing through the greens and browns. It's boyish and loud, without being garrish.

I still hope to somehow incorporate this feature fabric - the one that all of the others were chosen with which to coordinate. Perhaps a binding. Maybe somehow on the border. Or just on the back. Don't know yet.

I have been remiss this week in a major way. Last week I signed on to Lisa's Pay it Forward. I failed to post this sooner, but the first three people that comment, and agree to also send three people a handmade gift in the next year, will also receive one from me. Long winded and convoluted sentence, but you get the idea!

I also signed up with a easy little swap that Anina of Twiddletails is hosting. We are swappign 6" 9-patch blocks. I love the look of a little old-fashioned 9- patch quilt. We should get either 32 or 48 mostly different blocks from the swap. Worst case, they are quick and easy to make and it's a sweet donation quilt.