A Whole New World!

I'm very excited about my most recent quilt finish. It's been a long time in the making because I was waiting for a few key elements for quilting: 1. Inspiration, and 2. A ruler base for my long arm. ;)

In late June I had the very unique opportunity to spend the day with Angela Walters and a few other VERY exceptionally talented long armers in Denver. The airlines almost didn't let it happen, but Angela persevered, and made it to Denver, and we just really tried to suck as much information out of Angela's brain as conceivably possible in a 6 hour span of time. ;o)

 (Susan (front right) made each of us these little placemats, it wasn't part of our class)

One of the take-aways for me (of MANY) was how to use a ruler for quilting. I have a few quilt tops that are awaiting quilting inspiration, but I only really have one that was right for using the ruler base. (It's basically an acrylic add-on, similar to an acrylic extension table for your domestic sewing machine.)

(this isn't me practicing with a ruler, obviously, but it's the best picture of me and my BFF, Angela!) ;o)

So after that amazing "mountain top" experience, I seriously debated buying a ruler base for my long arm. It was $100, and I just wasn't sure it would be worth it, you know? I spend SO much money on stuff that I don't need or end up using (Hello, Accuquilt Go cutter!), but I decided to take the plunge on this one.

The Shape Shifters quilt that the {Faith Circle} of the Do. Good Stitches bee made in April was perfect for ruler-guided quilting. The problem? I needed to piece the top!! There were a few blocks that I had to re-make because they were trimmed wrong, but it really is an amazingly easy set of blocks to make. (You can find the tutorial HERE) Once I got the top pieced and the backing selected, it was time to get to work!

And WORK it was!! Man alive. Practicing on Susan's long arm for a few minutes was NOTHING like actually doing the quilting on my own quilt, on my own machine. The first block took for. eh. ver. Forever. Or at least four hours, which felt like forever! 

                                           

But then I figured out how to stream-line the process a bit, and eventually got to where each block was taking me about 30 minutes. All in all, though, I believe I spent about 20 hours quilting this quilt.

Totally worth it, yes, but goodness gracious! My arms ached, my legs ached, my back ached...Ruler-guided quilting is not for the weak, that's for sure!

                                                   

Now it's bound, and I'm going to put on the label, and take it to Restore Innocence so they can give it to a girl rescued from sex trafficking.

Here are a couple of pictures of the secondary design of the blocks, and the quilting in each.

  

And one more glamour shot for good measure. ;o)

                                                

{WiP} Wednesday ~ Week 38

Hiya!

Welcome back! Thanks for coming back! I've been spending my spare time sewing, and not blogging, although I haven't been spending that much time doing either! :)

I've been working on finishing my third butterfly quilt (Hope Takes Flight 3.0) using Scrumptious by Bonnie and Camille and Moda Bella solids. (I've been working on writing the pattern for it.) (Very exciting and very intimidating!).

And I've been working on another top secret project. I can't wait to get to show it to you and tell you the story. I can say, however, that it does not involve any fabric companies or books or magazines. It just involves family. A legacy. Heritage. And I'm pretty stoked about that. :)  If you follow me on Instagram, then you know what I'm working on. I'm fairly certain the secret is safe here, but I don't want to blow my cover! ;o)

So, back to the butterfly quilt. I finished the quilting on Monday night, but still need to bind it. I quilted swirls on the butterflies (like a broken record), and CLOUDS in the open space, and squiggles in the thin border.

Can we just talk about those clouds for a sec? OH. MY. GRANNY!!!!!  I love them more than warm brownies on a cold day. More than a full tank of gas and no one else in the car. More than a rainbow array of Aurifil thread. Well...maybe not that much, but they were SO fun!!! And different! (I love different).

And so easy. I'm not kidding. Free-motion clouds are no harder than free-motion swirls, and easier than pebbles. I promise!

You should try them.

I've got to get back to my secret project, but I am glad I got to show you my butterfly quilt. (again!). :o)

I hope you have a wonderful, and crafty, week!

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for {WiP} Wednesday.

Hexie Queen Blog Hop

Welcome to my little stop on the Hexie Queen Blog Hop!
I was really humbled when Madame Samm contacted me asking if this rainbow hexie quilt was actually mine.  It was. :)

A friend had sent her a picture from Pinterest, and she wasn't sure how to get to the original blog post and quilter. She found me, though! :)  She told me all about the Hexie Queen Blog Hop, and it sounded like SUCH  fun blog hop that I jumped in feet first! :)

So one Saturday, when I was supposed to be working on a million other things, including potty-training Little Bird, I decided to start my hexie quilt instead. She helped. ;)  A couple of years ago, I participated in 5 rounds of the Hexie Swap on Flickr, and one round was all solids, so I had about 50 pre-cut hexagons, just waiting for a project! They were cut with the Accuquilt Go cutter, and they're perfect for a quick project like this!

Once Little Bird and I had decided on the colors we wanted to use, I set her free with her own stack of hexagons so she could make "her own" quilt. She didn't really do much with hers, but it gave me the chance to get mine all laid out. :)

Once I had the layout I liked, I adhered the hexies to the top of the 44" square of Kona White. I used the same method I used when I did my first hexie quilt. I sprayed the back with spray baste, and pressed it down with my hand. If I needed to adjust it, I could.

The next step was to heat set the hexies in place with a hot iron. I used a random scrap of fabric to protect my iron from any overspray of glue.

The beauty of heat-setting them this way is that when I inevitably had to put the quilt away, I could go away trusting that the hexagons wouldn't move a millimeter. And little hands couldn't move them, either. Security is a good thing when you've got curious little helpers around the house! :)

A couple of hours later, I was able to come back to the quilt. I raw-edge appliqued each hexagon in place with a straight stitch 1/4" in from the edge. I didn't want to stitch over any other stitches, so I stopped where I started, and tied a knot on the underside of the quilt top.

When the quilt top was finished, I just felt like singing! It felt soooooo good to put the must-do list aside and just follow the inspiration for once!

And then it came time to quilt it. I had a hundred ideas (and two more after I started, ain't that always the way!), but I went with a straight line between opposite hexagons, and then a spiral throughout the whole quilt.

Spiral quilting takes foreeeevvvvvvvvvvver! :) And this is a small quilt! I can't imagine doing it on a larger quilt. Sheesh!

Here's Little Bird claiming "her quilt" once again. :) I've never made a quilt just for the fun of it, so I've never had the chance to have one of my children claim it as their own. I'm not sure if she really thinks this is for her, but, other than it being a bit small for a 3 year old, there isn't any reason I can't give it to her! :) Plus, then I would get to enjoy it, too! ;)

Do you know this trick when you're attaching your binding to your quilt? I either wrap my binding around a pencil or an old thread spool, and then stick it on the extra thread stand on my sewing machine. It really helps keep the binding straight and orderly while I'm attaching it. Sure beats the pile of binding I used to have on the floor!

Here she is again! This time she is tracing the quilting lines with a play-doh cutter. :) Maybe she's just as attracted to rainbow quilts as I am... ;)

Uh oh! Buzz is making his move! Move over, sista! This one's MINE! ;)

It's hard to tell in this picture, but I backed it with a random yellow-and-white polka dot fabric I had. I'm happy to use something that I already had on hand. Going to the fabric shop with 3 little ones is NOT fun! For anyone! :)

You can see the quilting a little better here, I think. I realize it looks a bit like a spider web, but c'est la vie. I like it. And I have an even greater respect for spiders now! This web was TOUGH to weave!

I hope you enjoyed learning about my little hexagon quilt. Where else have you been on this Hexie Queen Blog Hop? Here is a list of the others that are posting today. If you haven't already been, you should go visit their blog! I am confident inspiration awaits. :)

Life@RuffHaven 

Pieced Brain 

Den Syende Himmel 

Creatin’ in the Sticks

Meadowbrook 

Sandra Kaye Designs 

Let’s Patch it Up

Sew Many Yarns

Around the Homestead

Sew Mollie Sue, Quilt Much? 

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you enjoyed my little hexie project! :)

{WiP} Wednesday ~ 29/52

I'm this close to finishing my do.Good Stitches quilt. I finally pieced the back the other day and spent less than 2 hours quilting it - and that includes thread and bobbin changes! Stippling is the way to go when you need a fast finish!

All that's left is the label, really. Last night I finished the binding -- it was magical!!! I used Susie's Magic Binding technique, demonstrated here on my friend Marti's blog. I stink stink stink at machine binding, so I wanted to try this, thinking maybe this will work and it won't look like something the dog rolled in!  And it does! It does! It DOES!!

Here is a picture of the purdy mitered corner...

And here you can see the front and the back. Honestly, this is the closest-thing-to-perfect my machine binding has EVER looked!!

I'll put a label on it this week, and take it to Restore Innocence.  They were very appreciative the last time I took them some quilts, and I know they are so happy to bless the girls with these quilts. :)

And then I'll put my sewing machine away. I've got a lot going on this weekend, and sewing isn't going to be a part of it. :(  But then next week, I will put on a brave face and make Janice's paper-pieced blocks for our Bee Happy bee. I'm only marginally better at paper piecing than I am at machine binding!  

And I've designed a few quilts that I am SUPER eager to make! Aunt Spicy is my partner in crime on these, and keeps encouraging me to make more! What a friend, right?!? And I loved getting back to the long arm. It seems I'm prolific at the first and last steps of the quilting process, but I'm a slow turtle at actually MAKING the quilts! I need to get faster. I have two baby quilts to make, and only know the gender of one of them. If the unknown is a boy, then I'll give my Huckleberry quilt I made when Latifah Saafir was here in May. If it's a girl, I'll do something quick and easy and double the recipe. ;-)

I am linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced. Go check out the linky party. There's some beautiful stuff being made!

{WiP} Wednesday ~ 17/52

I am very excited to share this new purchase with you:

It's a Baby Lock Crown Jewel long arm. It's pretty intense, but I LOVE having it!!

It is loaded up with Spot On Wide by Robert Kaufman for the back (in Chartreuse), and this giant for the front:

I think one of the reasons I am loving it so much is that the quilt I'm working on (my Mod Mosaic) is for me. No one else. No judged shows, no one's baby, no one else's bed. So I feel like it's okay to accept my mistakes, to learn where to go slow and where to go fast, to take my time, and really just ENJOY the ride! :o)

I'm quilting it with "interlocking circles" I learned about over at Happy Quilter/Melissa's blog. (It's easier drawn than quilter...that's all I'm going to say!)

And it's a proper long arm. On a looooong table. :o). We opted for the extension, so the table/frame is 12 feet long, which makes my 90" quilt seem small. :o)  It lives in our basement, so I get a bit chilled working on it at night, but that's nothing a few extra layers can't fix. :o)

I also opted for the larger M-class bobbin over the L-class. I'm not sure of the size difference, but I'm able to quilt a little more than 8 12" blocks with one bobbin, and I know I would run out after 5 or 6 blocks with a smaller bobbin. It's a luxury, I admit, but one I am happy with. :o). And just in case anyone asks, I have not noticed any tension issues as the bobbin empties. It's good from start to finish!

I'm also really excited that the quilt is always there, waiting for me whether I have 20 minutes or 2 hours. I always have snippets in my day, but to start a new project on my domestic machine, or carry on piecing a quilt top, or to make a bee block? 15-20 minutes isn't really that much time! But it's just enough time to go to the long arm and quilt for a bit.


However, I do have other things I'm supposed to be doing!

Like finish this block for our in-guild bee:

And piece my April do.Good Stitches quilt. I'm still waiting on one set of blocks. I've already made 3 extra sets, and don't really want to make another if I don't have to! :o)

And mail out the charms Kelly won over a week ago!

And start working on something old with some of the charms I won from Elisabeth so very long ago. :o)

Plus a million zillion other things craft-wise, and a zillion million other things home-wise. I know you all have just as many craft and home projects, so I just wanted to say that I appreciate you coming here and reading about my life. With the switch to Bloglovin, I am reading a lot more blogs than I used to (they would just sit, languishing in my Google Reader!), but I'm not always commenting. :) I love being inspired by you, though! :)

As always, I'm linking up with Lee of Freshly Pieced for her WiP Wednesday Post .