The Finished Product

Finally, Alisha's quilt finished and mailed to her. And I've even received a "thank you" text. It seemed like one of the longest projects I have worked on in a while.
I am still on my mission to reduce my generous stash and complete UFOs. To that end, I have been hand quilting every morning on my daughter's quilt and am happy to say that I have only 3 more borders to quilt. This might be the second longest quilting project, ha ha.
I have also completed a quilt top from a jelly roll that I bought a few years ago and it is layered and basted and waiting in the wings for hand quilting. This quilt will be a surprise gift to a good friend here in Tucson. Pictures will be posted later. One thing I can say about my photos is that I definitely need some help with getting good photos of my work.
Happy quilting everyone and enjoy the summer.

Machine Quilting Without a Longarm Machine-One Method

Wow-I can't believe how long it has been since I last posted anything. Life does get in the way of our plans and goals! Now that I have had my machine serviced I am making progress and have finally finished the machine quilting on all 4 sections of the quilt.
As promised, I will explain how I am joining these together. I can't take credit for this idea--it was taught to me by a good friend and fabulous quilter.
This method requires a little extra backing fabric. I cut strips 2 and 1/2 inches wide the width of the fabric. For this quilt, I only needed 4 of these. One strip was needed to join the top 2 sections together, one for the 2 bottom sections, and I sewed to strips to make a long one to sew the top and bottom halves together. The strips are then folded in half lengthwise and pressed, as you would binding strips.
Next, I trimmed off the excess backing and batting and squared of the edges.
At this point, I placed the 2 top sections right sides together and one of the prepared strips on top, all raw edges together and sewed through all layers with a 1/4 in seam.
Last step--I opened this up and stitched (hand sewing) the creased edge to the back of the quilt, taking care not to sew through to the front of the quilt.
Ta da!!
I can't wait to get this quilt bound and in the mail. I think sometimes that the binding is my 2nd favorite part of quilting because it means I have actually finished!
Happy 4th of July to all Americans and happy July to everyone else!

Machine Quilting Without a Longarm Machine-One Method

A big TA DA! here as I am finally ready to start the actual machine quilting on Alisha's quilt. I will be doing free motion type quilting with my Bernina and I have chosen to do it in sections. A friend of mine taught me this method and I have used it in the past with good results. First I assembled the pieced blocks into four sections.
Secondly, I added the borders to the individual sections. (Side note--if there is a definite top and bottom to the piece, it is best to pin a note to each section.) Now, I am ready to sandwich each of the four sections with the batting and backing. After that, I have a manageable size to work with on a standard sewing machine. Next post: how I join the four quilted pieces together. Oh, and I could certainly use some lessons on photographing my work! I'll take any suggestions!

Ocotillo In Bloom

Hope you like the pic of the ocotillo. I tried to catch the hummingbird getting nectar from the blooms, but he/she took flight.
I finally got those last 5 blogs for Alisha's quilt pieced and this weekend my plan is to assemble the blocks. The batting is purchased and I feel great that I am making real progress again. It is as if a blockage has cleared!! We are having cooler than usual weather for this time of year here, so I'm taking advantage of that to try and finish up the hand quilting on another quilt. Hip hip hooray, Katie bar the door, I'm on a quilting mission.

Back in the saddle again

No pictures to post today, but I am definitely getting my quilt/groove thing going again. It feels great to have the needle and thread back in hand. I'm not back on track to finish one project a month yet, but I am happily quilting again. I have always been a fan of having several projects going so that if I get bored or frustrated with one, I can put it aside for a time and work on something else. However--I have gone overboard recently and now I am under strict self-imposed rules to finish at least a few of these before I start anything new. I would welcome any suggestions from like-minded people out there as to how they keep those UFOs under control. I thought I would start by listing all of my unfinished projects and then prioritizing them. Maybe if I looked at the list in black and white, I could shame myself into sticking with the plan? LOL. We'll see. I am determined to reeeaaallly try this time! Enough for today. Time to actually do some quilting.

Max--the unquilter

I'm finally back after a long absence. I never would have dreamed that a 5 pound ball of fur could almost completely derail my quilting. Sheesh, I should have known better. Unlike my quilting assistant, Juan Pablo, I would have to label Max as an unquilter. However, we are settling in nicely and though I am off track to meet my goal of finishing one big project each month, I am quilting again. Yea!!!

My quilting assistant

This is Juan Pablo my assistant in all things quilting. He oversees the entire process. Right now I believe he is telling me that I am slacking off a little. I do have the excuse that we have a new addition to our family--a Shih Tzu puppy and he is adorable. I have only 5 blocks to assemble for Alisha's quilt and then it will be time to layer and quilt. I took a small detour on finishing projects--don't we always?-- and put together a small table topper that is layered and ready for machine quilting. I did stick to my own rule and all materials came out of my stash. This year is turning out to be a lot of fun for me and I have expanded my goal a little. I want to complete one project a month.
Next step for me is to add some physical exercise to keep me on that road to good health. Enter the Wii fit plus and a new puppy! These two should compliment my healthy shakes nicely! Happy Valentine's Day to one and all.

I found this pattern a few years ago in an old issue of Quilter's Newsletter Magazine. It is entitled "Kaleidoscope" and I thought this would be both an opportunity to use up some scraps and a chance to play with color. This has been a double edged sword for me, because it is very satisfying to use up some scraps, but this also feeds into my need to save every tiny little piece of fabric. I have pieced 25 blocks to date and I was startled today to realize that my baggies of greens, blues, reds, etc. have not diminished at all since I started! I really am starting to believe that they reproduce when my back is turned. This will be a quilt for my younger granddaughter and I think the bright colors will be a good match for her personality. 25 done and only 5 more to go.
One hour a day, One hour a day..................
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Feb 3,2010

Wow! It is Feb. 3rd already and I am realizing that I am already off track to accomplish my stated goal of completing UFOs this year. So it is time to get back in the groove. This little one block CQ is a pet project of mine that I started last year and then set aside. I needed a break for inspiration and I was unhappy with the ship's masts. I have deconstructed part of that and now I would like for all of you crazy quilters to take a look and give me some input.
For now, I plan to get back to work on 2 sane quilting projects. I am about 2/3 finished with the hand quilting on an applique quilt for my daughter and I'm very close to finishing all of the paper pieced blocks for my granddaughter's quilt. My mantra is going to be--one hour a day, one hour a day......

I'm brand new to this blog world and I guess I'm uncertain just how much I have to contribute. That said, I love quilting and sharing quilting stories, ideas, and I love to see what people are working on.

Now that the new year is well under way, I also want to renew my interest in finishing up those UFOs and reducing that very generous stash that I have accumulated. I'm hoping to connect with others that are chasing that same dream and share our progress. It's also just possible that by putting my goals out for all of the blogging world to see, I just might make a real attempt to accomplish these things.

I'm off to a good start with UFOs. I just put the binding on a quilt that has been "in progress" for 2 years. This will be a gift to my daughter-in-law and I am so pleased to have it finished. This particular quilt is a Pearl Louise design entitled "The Blizzard Bunch". It was a BOM from an online quilt shop.

I would love to hear from one and all about their current projects, UFOs or just anything quilt related. It would be really great to get ideas for stash reduction as well. Have a great day!