Frugal to a fault AND stubborn

The is Star Spangled.  I had 11 blocks leftover from this quilt. 

When I embarked on my mission to use those 11 blocks, I vowed that I would do it with what was currently in my stash.  No additional purchases would be made.  I was able to piece 7 wall hangings or table toppers from my stash.  I found pieces of batting for all of them.  I did not have to cut into new batting or pieces that would work for much larger quilts.  I also found backing for all of the tops in my stash.  This is the backing I wanted to use for one of the tops.

The green part is not the wall.  It is attached to the backing.  But why on earth are these strange green strips attached to the back?

You've heard of hair extensions.  These are quilt back extensions.  The top measured 17 1/4" x 28".  The fabric that I selected for the back was a 1/2 yard cut that had been washed.  It was big enough to cover the entire back, but the obligatory 3" extra on each side of the quilt would not be there.  So I sewed these strips onto the backing very carefully to make sure at least 17 1/4" would remain for use in the quilt back.

Why would someone who owned all of this do such a thing?

That was my stash closet.  I buy a lot of half yards and fat quarters for my collection.  They are all folded consistently and stored in the stash closet.  What I haven't told you is that I have a separate stash of fabrics that would be good for backs.  Many were on sale in back rooms...or full price, but too beautiful to ignore.  These are stored in my stash piesafe because they are folded differently.  They don't fit in the stash closet anyway.

Why not use something from my stash piesafe?  Because I don't want to cut into a 4 yard+ piece of fabric if something from my stash closet is technically big enough.

Do you really need 3" extra for the backing/batting?  No, BUT (big but) if you don't have it and you plan to include free motion quilting anywhere close to the edge of the quilt, you will sacrifice a lot of control.  I was quilting feathers in my borders.  I had skimped on backing for some of the quilts posted in recent days.  Many feathers were less than perfect.  Could it be due to the fact that I didn't have enough control when quilting in the border?  It didn't make sense to sacrifice control in the border when my reason for finishing these quilts now was to get better at quilting feathers without marking. 

Refer to the picture below.  My thumb rests on the quilt top.  The rest of my right hand is on the backing and batting.  (This particular backing was a little less than 3" so my little finger was not on the quilt back.)  If it had not been holding the camera, my left hand would have been on the roll guiding the fabric.

I should have had my nails done...

To avoid cutting into bigger yardage, to restrain myself from running out to make a 3/4 yard purchase, and to still have 3" extra all the way around the top, I invented quilt back extensions.  I will probably not bother to get a patent on them so feel free to use quilt back extensions if you find yourself in a bind.  No permission required.

Still you might ask why someone would go to all this trouble.  Entire websites have been devoted to disorders of this nature.  This blog is not one of them.

This is the finished quilt.

These are the best feathers so far.  I felt more relaxed because I had better control while quilting.

The moral of the story:  To quilt my best, I need 3" extra backing and batting on all 4 sides of the quilt.

Thread of a different color

Would you use this thread to quilt this fabric?

The tan is far too light even thought it is the same color as the tan in the blue print.  I used the blue on both of these fabrics.  I used the rust for background stippling on the rust fabric.  But I wouldn't always have done that.

Flashback to November 17, 2000.  (The date has been changed to protect innocent dates.  It was sometime that year...or the year after.)  I'm standing in a quilt shop with my quilt top trying to decide which thread matches the border fabric best.  I was a fairly new quilter then.  I thought the thread had to match exactly.  And if the border was a multi-color print, I might just need to use monofiliment so it would match all the time.  End of flashback.

Is there a flaw in that thinking?  I don't know, but it isn't what I now do.  Now I use thread with some degree of contrast.  There is an advantage and a disadvantage to using contrasting thread.  The advantage is that you can see it better.  The disadvantage is that you can see it better.  (Hmmm...I could probably go into politics.) 

I can explain.  Free motion quilting is done in every direction.  When doing free motion quilting, you must keep track of where you have already quilted as well as where you will quilt next.  To keep track of where you have already quilted, you look at the thread quilted into the fabric.  It could be in plain sight or could be hidden somewhere behind the sewing machine foot.  I don't know about you, but I need all the help I can get to see the thread.  It is a definite advantage if the thread color does not match exactly.

The fact that the thread shows after quilting is only a disadvantage if you are disappointed with how it looks.  This is what I think.  If you can see it better while you are quilting, you may just do a better job of the quilting.  And even if you don't...please...cut yourself some slack.  You don't have to be perfect.  (Needing to be perfect only applies to me, a typical Virgo from the get-go.  It doesn't pertain to anyone else, including other Virgos.)  So quell your disappointment.  Accept that you did the best you could on that quilt on that particular day.  You will improve if you keep trying.

Does this mean that I quilt white fabric with black thread for ultimate visibility?  Certainly not.  The thread can be a little darker or lighter or a slightly different shade of the color.  It can be an entirely different color as long as the color of the thread and the fabric are the same value. 

Here is a closeup.  The blue looks better than you probably imagined.

The spool of tan looks too dark for the background stippling on the light, but the end result looks fine.

The key is to take a little of the spool and look at one strand against the fabric to be quilted. 

This is the finished quilt.

Do you know where your thread is?

I do.

To be clear, I know where my thread is.  I have no idea where yours is.

My thread was in numerous baskets spread around the room.  I sorted it by type, estimated how many boxes were needed, and went to Barnes and Noble to procure some cool, collapsible, magnetic boxes.  I'd been looking for an excuse to buy some.  The boxes were available in two different prints.  This one was my favorite.

This is my Aurifil thread in one of the boxes.  Notice that the inside of the box is pretty too.  The thread is not in sunlight, which is a plus. 

I have two more boxes of Aurifil, one box of YLI silk, one box of Superior King Tut, and a small box of miscellaneous thread.   This is an announcement, not a confession.  I have no remorse about owning all this thread.  The barn red in the bottom left, the rust in the bottom center, and the dark blue are standard colors that I use frequently as a murky quilter.  The bright yellow and lighter blues are perfect for baby quilts.  The others will be perfect for something someday in the middle of a snowstorm when I can't get to a quilt shop.

I freely admit that I sometimes have to open more than one box to find the thread I want, but at least I know that, for example, all the blue Aurifil is in one box.  This is thread I used for quilting.  When piecing, I normally use neutrals. 

I machine applique with a blanket stitch.  That requires a good assortment of colors.  To that end, I also own five sets of Aurifil thread in smaller spools.

Don't ask me what I'm going to do when I empty some of those smaller spools.  The ones that empty soonest will be the ones that I used the most and therefore need.  It stands to reason that they will have to be replaced.

A Few of My Favorite Things

This star block is possibly by favorite block if not my most favorite block.  It is easy to piece, especially when it is floating like this.  Once I start making them, I can't stop.  And that is why I had extra blocks from another project.  I love the block on point and not on point.  I like it scrappy and not scrappy. 

I love the fabrics in this one, but found it hard to mark the quilting design on the corner triangles.  I like to use the Clover white marking pen - the one where the marks come out with steam.  Instead I had to mark with a quilting pencil so this quilt was washed after it was bound.

At this point I have to mention that I experience terror when I mark with pencil because...what if it doesn't come out...ever? 

This next one was marked entirely with the white Clover pen.  There was no terror.  It hasn't been washed yet, but I think I might wash it anyway because I like how the other one looks with its crinkles.  Both quilts have Quilters' Dream Request cotton batting which is one of my two favorite battings.  (The other is Hobbs wool.)

If you look closely at both of these, you might be able to see the feathers which were quilted in a lovely gold Aurifil 50/2 cotton thread (#2975).  Aurifil 50/2 cotton thread is one of my favorite threads.  The gold is very nice for quilts with rich, strong colors.  (My other favorite thread is YLI 100 weight silk.)


I have one more of these 17" x 17" tops in progress.  I am chomping at the bit to work on it right now.  The End.

UFOs...Or a Study of Feathers

I made 7 small wall hangings to use up leftover blocks. (The one shown above is the second one.)  While marking the quilting designs on the first one, I decided to try quilting feathers in the border with only the spine marked. The reason - I love feathers; I hate marking them. My expectations were not very high for the first attempt, but - get ready - it didn't turn out bad at all. On to the next one. I expected it to be better than the first attempt, but that was not the case. Somehow the feathers got too long and the angles were not right. They started looking like fat little fingers or maybe sausages. Back to the drawing board.
With the third one, I started marking the first couple feathers on the spine. It helped me visualize the shape. There were still a few sausages, but it was much better.
I'm working on number four right now. If I was thinking that I had UFOs to finish, I wouldn't be excited. So instead I'm Monet doing a study of feathers.

If I can mark it, I can quilt it!

Life is so hard sometimes. First you have to decide how you want to quilt the quilt. Sometimes that is a challenge by itself, but eventually you decide. Then, unless you are very accomplished and can quilt without marking, you need to mark the quilting design on the quilt. Sometimes the shape you want to quilt is not a stencil; it's just a picture. It may or may not be the right size.

I was working on a 17"x 28" table runner with two 7 1/2" blocks set on point, setting triangles, and a border. I found a nice triangular stencil that was the perfect size for the larger setting triangles. It was a heart with feathers around it.  This one was traced from the purchased stencil.

I also wanted to use it in the smaller triangles. I did not want to run to the copy shop to reduce it. I did not want to check to see if the stencil was available in a smaller size. I wanted it NOW.

Last June I took two great classes with Hollice Turnbow at the NQA show in Columbus, OH. He taught us how to draft symmetrical designs and make our own stencils. I bought most of (The use of italics is an indication of where this is leading.) the supplies, but they were all still in pristine condition. I decided to draft the heart and feathers smaller. (Here I should mention that I have also taken multiple classes about drafting feathers, but haven't done that out of class either.)

I managed to draft the design in the right size. (I think I even did it the way we were taught.) It still wasn't a stencil. I almost used Golden Threads paper, but stopped myself because I feel that I lose a little accuracy with the paper. I forged ahead. I traced the smaller design on the template plastic. (Yes, I was able to find it.) I got out the knife and realized that I had never bought whatever you were supposed to cut the stencil on. I think it was a glass surface of some sort. At this point I had to improvise. I cut around the entire shape. Then I cut out a separate heart. I traced around the bigger shape. Then I positioned the heart in the center and traced around it. Then I had to do a little drafting of feather lines, but it was actually (get ready) EASY.  This one was marked from my makeshift stencil.  I think it looks good.  Hmmm...guess I need to work on removing the white markings.

Quilting the Three Musketeers

In early December one of the Hands All Around Quilt Guild show chairs asked if I would talk about machine quilting (on a home sewing machine) at our annual quilt show the first weekend in March. It sounded like fun; I said yes. For a few days I thought about this thing I'd agreed to do. I did not have prepared lectures about quilting. What exactly would I say? I would go to my closet to find a top that needed to be quilted. While quilting that top, words of wisdom would come to me. That was the plan.

The closet door opened and my eyes fell on a large lap size top made two years earlier. It was a guild block of the month project. The backing, batting, and binding were ready to go. It had nine 12" blocks set on point with plain alternate blocks, setting triangles, and a border. A perfect candidate in every way. I selected stencils for the alternate blocks and setting triangles. As I marked the quilt, I got excited about it and started wondering what the quilt would be named. Simultaneously, it struck me that, for unexplained reasons, I had made three sets of those 12" blocks and had assembled them using three different settings. Wouldn't it be "cool" to quilt all three of them and refer to them in my machine quilting talk? (Never mind the fact that I work full time and had only three months to do this.) The quilts could be named after something that came in threes - the 3 little pigs...the 3 wise men...THE 3 MUSKETEERS! That was it. They would be named Athos, Porthos, and Aramis.

It took approximately 3-4 weeks to quilt each top. It was a lot of concentrated quilting, but words did come to me. It was fun to talk about my 3 musketeeers at the show. And since they were not IN the show, I already have 3 quilts I can enter in next year's show.

Perhaps someday I will make another series of quilts and name them after the 3 Stooges just because it would be so much fun to talk about quilts named Larry, Moe, and Curly!