Month: September 2025

Sunday Summary: September 28

/ quiltinggail / 10 Comments

Splish Splash

Yes, I finally finished this quilt. It took a LONG time to quilt, but I enjoyed every minute of it! You can read all the details HERE.

Christmas Train

I have started the Christmas train that Simina from Essem convinced me that I needed to make. I’ve started webbing it together.

Laundry Basket Mystery Quilt Progress

There is a bit of progress on the quilt … Week 1 & 2 are done, Week 3 is started (the flying geese) and Weeks 4 & 5 will be started soon. You can access the Mystery HERE

Stitching Stuff

Kate, from Life in Pieces, is hosting “Stitching Stuff” and the goal is to sew for at least 15 minutes a day. I use Kate’s guideline, but my personal goal is to sew for 30 minutes a day. On those “blah” days, it does motivate me to sit at my machine and 30 minutes often turns into several hours. Thank you Kate for the motivation!

  • January – August: 238 / 242 days
  • Sept: 22/ 28 days
  • Total: 260 / 270 96 %

Design Wall Mondays

Judy, at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, hosts a linky party for “What’s on your Design Wall” every week.

Piecing projects:

  • Laundry Basket Mystery: Weeks 3, 4 & 5 (1 & 2 are done, the flying geese for #3 are done, but not sewn together, #4 &#5 are not even cut out.
  • Christmas Train: is cut out and I’ve started webbing it together
  • I need to trim Meadow Mist’s Magnificent Mystery September’s clue. You can find it HERE. And the October clue comes out on Thursday!

Quilting projects:

  • Teal blocks are sandwiched and need to be quilted. (Sorry, only a picture of one of the blocks)

Sunday Stash

Donna at Quilt Paint Create hosts a weekly linky party where you can display your stash numbers. This has really kept my stash from growing (somewhat!) Before I buy anything, I am always mindful of the fact that I need to report it on my blog … That sometimes stops me in my tracks!

Splish Splash used 6 yards of fabric.

  • Fabric used in the last week: 6 yards
  • Fabric Used in 2025:     190.5 yards. {59.5 yards of non Island Batik fabric}
  • Fabric Added in the last week: 0 yards
  • Fabric Added this year:    28.5 yards 
  • Net Fabric used:              162 yards

To Do

Carol from Quilt Schmilt is hosting “To Do” every week.

To Do from the a few weeks ago:

  1. Finish quilting and bind Jelly Roll Twist / Splish Splash √   DONE. 
  2. Piece together Rainbow Scrap Challenge –  Teal blocks √   DONE.  It’s even sandwiched!
  3. Make a decision regarding September’s Scrap Challenge: Pastel blue & green XX NOT DONE XX
  4. Start on October Island Batik Challenge. XX NOT DONE XX
  5. Work on Magnificent Mystery: September clue in progress
  6. Work on Laundry Basket Quilt Mystery: Week 2 & 3. in progress. Week 2 is done, Week 3 is in progress
  7. Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS! I NEED this continual reminder! √   DONE. 
  8. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes. √   DONE. 

To Do for this week:

  1. Finish Quilting Rainbow Scrap Challenge –  Teal blocks
  2. Make a decision regarding September’s Rainbow Scrap Challenge: Pastel blue & green
  3. Start on October Island Batik Challenge.
  4. Work on Magnificent Mystery: Finish September clue, work on October’s clue
  5. Work on Laundry Basket Quilt Mystery: Week 3 & 4 & 5
  6. Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS! I NEED this continual reminder! 
  7. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes.

Don’t Forget

I am now a Silly Moon affiliate! So what does that mean? When you use my affiliate code Quiltinggail2024 at Silly Moon, you will receive 10% off your order and I will receive a small commission.

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

Linking to:  

Splish Splash

/ quiltinggail / 22 Comments

I’m not in the water … but I’m using a fabulous 2 1/2″ strip pack from Island Batik called Splish Splash by the Whimsical Workshop. It’s full of sea horses, fish, starfish, seaweed, bubbles and stars … just wonderful!

I chose a pattern by the Fat Quarter Shop called Jelly Roll Twist (see HERE). It’s a super easy quilt to make and sews up quickly.

Here are the blocks on my design wall … but of course, I switched them around before sewing them together.

It was a very fun quilt to quilt on my domestic sewing machine. I used Silly Moon’s 4″ Beanie to create the orange peel flowers in the neutral squares. Each short and each long strip was quilted differently. I used rulers for some of them and free motioned many of them. There are swirls, loops, circles, feathers, flowers, hearts, squares, ribbons and many many more.

Here are some closeups of the quilting (one on the front, the rest on the back.) I used a product called “Fireside” which I recently learned is only available in Canada (although some shops may ship internationally). It’s wonderful for the backs of quilts. It’s nice and cozy, but doesn’t stretch or make as much of a fluffy mess as Minky. This took awhile to quilt, but I had fun quilting it!

And the best part: The wedding is on Saturday and the quilt is done!!!

Quilt Stats:

  • Size: 60″ square
  • Fabric: Island Batik: “Splish Splash” by Heidi Pridemore of the Whimsical Workshop and the neutral is Milk Shake (an Island Batik basic that is available year round). The binding is Small Pointed Floral-Tu -a blender.
  • Hobbs Batting: Heirloom 80/20
  • Aurifil Thread: 50 weight
    • Piecing & Quilting: #2600 (Dove Grey)
  • Silly Moon Rulers: Rocket, Cheesie, Charming, Jelly, Turkey, Twinkle, and Beanie (4″)
  • Schmetz Needles: Universal 80/12
  • Oliso Iron

Threaded Chaos Blog Hop

The blog hop is over and there have been a LOT of wonderful and creative crazy quilts featuring new collections and Aurifil thread.

Make sure to check Lumin Fabrics FB and IG post for a round-up of this week’s Threaded Chaos Quilts and enter to win some fabric!

Don’t Forget:

I am now a Silly Moon affiliate! So what does that mean? When you use my affiliate code Quiltinggail2024 at Silly Moon, you will receive 10% off your order and I will receive a small commission.

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

Linking to:  

Sunday Summary: September 21

/ quiltinggail / 10 Comments

Ain’t this the truth?

My Threaded Chaos Quilts

Did you see my quilts for the Island Batik (Lumin Fabrics) blog hop? You can read about them HERE.

Not ANOTHER Squirrel???

Yes, another squirrel!!! I was in Essem the other day and Simina convinced me that maybe, perhaps, a Christmas Train quilt would appeal … remember my Train Quilt?

Well I came home with all the fabric to make a top for a Christmas Train … a wall hanging size. I’m using a Christmas Sweet Water charm pack from Moda.

Laundry Basket Mystery Quilt Progress

There is little progress on the quilt … Week 2 is started and Week 3 &4 will be started soon. You can access the Mystery HERE

Stitching Stuff

Kate, from Life in Pieces, is hosting “Stitching Stuff” and the goal is to sew for at least 15 minutes a day. I use Kate’s guideline, but my personal goal is to sew for 30 minutes a day. On those “blah” days, it does motivate me to sit at my machine and 30 minutes often turns into several hours. Thank you Kate for the motivation!

We were away for 11 days, so I missed sewing on the travelling days and a few other days when I was busy swimming and biking … But I did manage to sew for the days we were at my sister’s and for a couple of days when we were camping.

  • January – August: 238 / 242 days
  • Sept: 15 / 21 days
  • Total: 253 / 263 96 %

Design Wall Mondays

Judy, at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, hosts a linky party for “What’s on your Design Wall” every week.

Piecing projects:

  • Laundry Basket Mystery: Weeks 2, 3 & 4
  • I need to sew Meadow Mist’s Magnificent Mystery September’s clue. You can find it HERE.

Quilting projects:

  • Splish Splash is webbed together and needs a backing, sandwiching and quilting. And needs to become a priority as it’s a wedding gift and the wedding is less than a week away!
  • Teal blocks are sandwiched and need to be quilted. (Sorry, only a picture of one of the blocks)

Sunday Stash

Donna at Quilt Paint Create hosts a weekly linky party where you can display your stash numbers. This has really kept my stash from growing (somewhat!) Before I buy anything, I am always mindful of the fact that I need to report it on my blog … That sometimes stops me in my tracks!

This week, I have the 2 Crazy Quilts that used at least 12 yards of fabric and the small baskets that used about 1/2 yard of fabric.

  • Fabric used in the last week: 12.5 yards
  • Fabric Used in 2025:     184.5 yards. {56.5 yards of non Island Batik fabric}
  • Fabric Added in the last week: 0 yards
  • Fabric Added this year:    28.5 yards 
  • Net Fabric used:              156 yards

To Do

Carol from Quilt Schmilt is hosting “To Do” every week.

To Do from the a few weeks ago:

  1. Finish “Sliver of Silver” (this is a project for the Boundary Bay Quilt Guild’s 25th Anniversary.) √   DONE.  I did the hand stitching over several evenings, watching tv!
  2. Piece backing, sandwich and quilt Jelly Roll Twist / Splish Splash. In progress It’s sandwiched and the quilting has begun!
  3. Piece together Rainbow Scrap Challenge –  Teal blocks √   DONE.  It’s even sandwiched!
  4. Make a decision regarding September’s Scrap Challenge: Pastel blue & green XX NOT DONE XX
  5. Start on October Island Batik Challenge. XX NOT DONE XX
  6. Work on Magnificent Mystery: September clue XX NOT DONE XX
  7. Work on Laundry Basket Quilt Mystery: Week 2 & 3. XX NOT DONE XX
  8. Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS! I NEED this continual reminder! XX NOT DONE XX
  9. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes. √   DONE. 

To Do for this week:

  1. Finish quilting and bind Jelly Roll Twist / Splish Splash
  2. Quilt Rainbow Scrap Challenge –  Teal blocks
  3. Make a decision regarding September’s Rainbow Scrap Challenge: Pastel blue & green
  4. Start on October Island Batik Challenge.
  5. Work on Magnificent Mystery: September clue
  6. Work on Laundry Basket Quilt Mystery: Week 2 & 3 & 4
  7. Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS! I NEED this continual reminder! 
  8. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes.

Island Batik Blog Hop

Lots more beautiful quilts will be shown this week!

WEEK 3

September 22: 

September 23: 

Brittany Fisher

September 24: 

September 25: 

September 26: Make sure to check Lumin Fabrics FB and IG post for a round-up of this week’s Threaded Chaos Quilts and enter to win some fabric!

Don’t Forget

I am now a Silly Moon affiliate! So what does that mean? When you use my affiliate code Quiltinggail2024 at Silly Moon, you will receive 10% off your order and I will receive a small commission.

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

Linking to:  

TGIFF and Friday’s Finish!

/ quiltinggail / 18 Comments

We’ve been away and I neglected to look at my calendar … groan! My friend, Anja (from Anja Quilts) sent me a friendly reminder that I was hosting TGIFF this week. Oh dear!! What to do???

Well, unknown to the rest of the world, I have a container of ‘stuff to do’ that’s mostly quick and easy. This container has gone to many many retreats with me. I thought, “I wonder if there’s something in there I can do?”

Sure enough, there was!! YAY!! In the container, all the supplies were there, including the appropriate coloured thread to make two Petit Four Baskets!

If you’ve never made a byAnnie bag or worked with Soft and Stable, these Petit Four Baskets are a great way to get started. You can access the pattern and the free video HERE.

In an afternoon, both baskets were done. I will use one basket at the ironing board (where I tend to clip things) and another at the sewing machine (to put the clips in as I sew!)

Basket Stats:

  • Size: 4″ x 5″ and 2 1/2” tall
  • Fabric used: left-over 10″ squares from various Island Batik (Lumin Fabrics) projects
  • Inside: byAnnie Soft & Stable
  • Thread: Aurifil

TGIFF

Show us YOUR finished project for this week!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter
https://fresh.inlinkz.com/js/widget/load.js?id=c0efdbe6b4add43dd7ef

Island Batik Blog Hop

Have you been following the Threaded Chaos Blog Hop? Oh my!!! There are some very cool quilts so far!! Make sure you visit Island Batik’s Facebook page and Instagram on Friday to see a re-cap of this weeks quilts and enter your name for a fabric draw!

Don’t Forget!

I am now a Silly Moon affiliate! So what does that mean? When you use my affiliate code Quiltinggail2024 at Silly Moon, you will receive 10% off your order and I will receive a small commission.

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

Linking to:  

Threaded Chaos Blog Hop with Aurifil

/ quiltinggail / 17 Comments

Here’s what Island Batik had to tell us about this Blog Hop:

Aurifil is proud to sponsor the September challenge – Threaded ChaosBlog Hop! This challenge is all about crazy quilts, texture, creativity, and, of course, lots of thread – because crazy quilts are known for their rich, decorative stitching.
A crazy quilt is a truly artistic creation, featuring irregularly shaped fabric pieces sewn together in an asymmetrical, freeform design. One of its most distinctive elements is the use of decorative embroidery stitches along the seams, adding intricate details and embellishments. Common stitches include feather stitch, herringbone, and chain stitch, among many others.
Beyond stitching, crazy quilts are often adorned with appliqué, lace, ribbons, beads, and even personal memorabilia, making each piece deeply expressive and sentimental. With no strict patterns or rules, these quilts are a favorite for quilters who love to experiment and let their creativity run wild!
Are you ready to embrace the chaos and stitch something spectacular? Join us for this thread-filled adventure! 

I was pretty excited when I initially saw the fabric collection and got to choose which 4 Aurifil threads I wanted. These are the threads I chose:

  • #2880 Pale Green
  • #2110 Light Lemon
  • #5005 Bright Turquoise
  • #2525 Dusty Blue Violet

Now, can you blame me for being excited? I received Fossil Finesse, Designed by Kathy Engle and it will be shipping to shops in September. It was paired with 2 yards of Baby Powder (from Naturally Neutrals) and 2 yards of Jasper-Teal Bermuda from the Fossil Finesse collection. Isn’t it absolutely beautiful??? !!!!

Here’s a picture of the 2 quilts I made. (See below for details!) Each quilt used all 20 of the fabrics!

Quilt #1

Here’s the start of Quilt #1 (with the light sashing). I layered 4 fabrics and cut with straight lines. Then I sewed them onto 12″ squares of Hobbs Batting Heirloom Natural Cotton with Scrim, using a stitch and flip method. When the blocks were all done, I sized them to 10″. I laid them out on the design wall.

I used a variety of different stitches and threads on each of the blocks. The blocks were sashed with the Baby Powder neutral. Once the backing was made, I anchored the backing to the front using decorative stitches and a huge variety of Aurifil Threads. Yes, I am lucky to have a fantastic assortment of Aurifil! And thankfully, Aurifil supplied me with 4 new colours! I used 16 various threads in the top!

The back:

A scrappy binding completed the quilt:

Quilt #2

Then I got to thinking??? Could I do the same thing with curves instead of straight lines?? I know, it’s dangerous to think about it too much!

Again, I layered 4 fabrics of 10″ squares. I made the first curved cut and sewed them together. This time, I had cut 10″ squares from various fabrics in the collection and did a true Quilt As You Go. Once I had the first seam down, I realized that it would be almost impossible to do a second curved cut, so each block ended up having only 3 fabrics. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any photos of the individual steps that I took.

I chose Island Batik’s black solid fabric for the sashing and only 4 of the lighter threads. They showed up so well on the black sashing!

Here is the back of the ‘curved’ quilt. I used the solid black to bind the quilt and various decorative stitches with the 50 weight varigated green thread to hold the binding down. It worked out great!

And the front!

Quilt Stats: Quilt #1

  • Size: 46.5″ x 58″
  • Fabric: Island Batik: “Fossil Finesse” by Kathy Engle and “Baby Powder” (neutral)
  • Hobbs Batting: Heirloom Natural Cotton Batting
  • Aurifil Thread:
    • Piecing: 50 weight: #2600 (Dove Grey)
    • Quilting: 50 weight: #5832 ( ), #4647 (Variegated Berrylicious), #2110 (Light Lemon), #2880 (Pale Green), #1148 (Light Jade), #2835 (Medium Mint), #4129 (Turf Green), #5005 (Bright Turquoise), #2783 (Medium Delft Blue), #2510 (Light Lilac), #2805 (Light Grey Turquoise), #2581 (Dark Dusty Grape), #2525 (Dusty Blue Violet), #2815 (Teal), #4660 (Variegated Pink Taffy)
    • Quilting: 40 weight: #4654 (Variegated Turquoise Foam)
  • Schmetz Needles: Universal 80/12
  • Oliso Iron

Quilt Stats: Quilt #2

  • Size: 46.5″ x 58″
  • Fabric: Island Batik: “Fossil Finesse” by Kathy Engle and solid black
  • Hobbs Batting: Heirloom Natural Cotton Batting
  • Aurifil Thread:
    • Piecing: 50 weight: #2600 (Dove Grey)
    • Quilting: 50 weight: #2110 (Light Lemon), #2880 (Pale Green), #2510 (Light Lilac),
    • Quilting: 40 weight: #4654 (Variegated Turquoise Foam)
  • Schmetz Needles: Universal 80/12
  • Oliso Iron

Thank you!

Thank you to the generosity of Island Batik and Industry partners! They have supplied the products for free as my role as an Island Batik Ambassador! Island Batik, Aurifil Thread, Hobbs Batting, Schmetz Needles, and Oliso Iron

Island Batik Ambassadors

Visit the other Island Batik Ambassadors to see what they made this month:

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

Sunday Summary: September 14

/ quiltinggail / 18 Comments

Again, this is actually the week’s forcast!

My Squirrel progress

A few weeks ago, I told you that a squirrel wormed its way into my life. I chose the fabrics and cut out the pieces for the first block. While we were away, we were dry camping for a bit. But, we had to have the generator going so that we could have lights at night and operate the slide when it was time to go. SEW … I plugged in my sewing machine and sewed!! What else is a gal to do when the opportunity arrises? I managed to get the first block sewn … This is from Laundry Basket Quilts Mystery Quilt, Week 1. You can access it their blog HERE

Stitching Stuff

Kate, from Life in Pieces, is hosting “Stitching Stuff” and the goal is to sew for at least 15 minutes a day. I use Kate’s guideline, but my personal goal is to sew for 30 minutes a day. On those “blah” days, it does motivate me to sit at my machine and 30 minutes often turns into several hours. Thank you Kate for the motivation!

We were away for 11 days, so I missed sewing on the travelling days and a few other days when I was busy swimming and biking … But I did manage to sew for the days we were at my sister’s and for a couple of days when we were camping.

  • January – August: 238 / 242 days
  • Sept: 8 / 14 days
  • Total: 246 / 256 95 %

Design Wall Mondays

Judy, at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, hosts a linky party for “What’s on your Design Wall” every week.

Piecing projects:

  • Rainbow Scrap challenge, Teal fabrics: need to web the blocks together
  • I need to sew Meadow Mist’s Magnificent Mystery September’s clue. You can find it HERE.

Quilting projects:

  • Splish Splash is webbed together and needs a backing, sandwiching and quilting. And needs to become a priority as it’s a wedding gift and the wedding is less than 2 weeks away!

Sunday Stash

Donna at Quilt Paint Create hosts a weekly linky party where you can display your stash numbers. This has really kept my stash from growing (somewhat!) Before I buy anything, I am always mindful of the fact that I need to report it on my blog … That sometimes stops me in my tracks!

Nothing finished, but I did buy 4 yards of white and light beige flannel for backing baby quilts.

  • Fabric used in the last week: 0 yards
  • Fabric Used in 2025:     172 yards. {56.5 yards of non Island Batik fabric}
  • Fabric Added in the last week: 4 yards
  • Fabric Added this year:    28.5 yards 
  • Net Fabric used:              143.5 yards

To Do

Carol from Quilt Schmilt is hosting “To Do” every week.

To Do from the a few weeks ago:

  1. Finish “Sliver of Silver” (this is a project for the Boundary Bay Quilt Guild’s 25th Anniversary.) In progress. Facing is on, I just need to do the dreaded hand stitching!
  2. Piece backing, sandwich and quilt Jelly Roll Twist / Splish Splash. XX NOT DONE XX
  3. Piece together Rainbow Scrap Challenge –  Teal blocks XX NOT DONE XX
  4. Make a decision regarding September’s Scrap Challenge: Pastel blue & green XX NOT DONE XX
  5. Start on October Island Batik Challenge. XX NOT DONE XX
  6. Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS! I NEED this continual reminder! √   DONE. 
  7. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes. √   DONE. 

To Do for this week:

  1. Finish “Sliver of Silver” (this is a project for the Boundary Bay Quilt Guild’s 25th Anniversary.)
  2. Piece backing, sandwich and quilt Jelly Roll Twist / Splish Splash.
  3. Piece together Rainbow Scrap Challenge –  Teal blocks
  4. Make a decision regarding September’s Scrap Challenge: Pastel blue & green
  5. Start on October Island Batik Challenge.
  6. Work on Magnificent Mystery: September clue
  7. Work on Laundry Basket Quilt Mystery: Week 2 & 3
  8. Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS! I NEED this continual reminder! 
  9. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes.

Island Batik Blog Hop

WEEK 2

September 15: 

September 16: 

September 17: 

September 18: 

September 19: Make sure to check Lumin Fabrics FB and IG post for a round-up of this week’s Threaded Chaos Quilts and enter to win some fabric!

WEEK 3

September 22: 

September 23: 

Brittany Fisher

September 24: 

September 25: 

September 26: Make sure to check Lumin Fabrics FB and IG post for a round-up of this week’s Threaded Chaos Quilts and enter to win some fabric!

Don’t Forget

I am now a Silly Moon affiliate! So what does that mean? When you use my affiliate code Quiltinggail2024 at Silly Moon, you will receive 10% off your order and I will receive a small commission.

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

Linking to:  

Yes, I Quilt on my Domestic Machine

/ quiltinggail / 20 Comments

I LOVE free motion quilting!!

This is quilting from 2016 when I made quilts for all my cousins out of my grandma’s fabrics. It was free motion quilted with no rulers.

For the most part, I make all of my quilts from start to finish on a domestic sewing machine. I say, “for the most part” because there was a time when a group of us made quilts to exchange and one lovely lady long-armed each of the quilts for us. So, I can’t really say that I’ve done every quilt from start to finish. And there are the times where I have made a block or 2 for a group quilt … and obviously that’s not done totally by me. Also, when I first started quilting, we had quilting bees to hand quilt the quilts that we made.

So, why do I do all my own quilting? First, because I want to! When I first started quilting I made only 1 or 2 quilts a year. Each of them was hand quilted.

THEN, life changed … in 2005, I started to quilt, or piece more tops. I had bought a decent machine (Janome 6500) and wanted to learn to quilt on a domestic machine.

I took a Free Motion Quilting class. In the class, we learned how to ‘meander’ and the golden rule that you must NEVER cross over a meander line. Of course, I broke that rule on my practice square. The instructor told me to take out the stitching on my practice piece so that I would remember to NEVER cross over the line. As a professional adult educator, I was amazed at this! I started to take it out and when she wasn’t looking, that piece got stashed away. The next blow was when she told me that I would NEVER be able to free motion quilt unless I bought a Bernina (that she & her husband sold) with a stitch regulator. Needless to say, I cried all the way home.

A few weeks later, I was at a quilt show and one of the venders had a quilt on display. I was examining the quilting. She had meandered the entire quilt AND in a few places, she had CROSSED over!!! OH MY!!! Then I found out she had a machine with a stitch regulator and hated it because it slowed her down.

SEW … I went home from that quilt show with a smile on my face!!! I remember thinking, “to H*** with what that mean instructor told me” and I then thought “I don’t give a d*** what she said.” [yes, sometimes swearing helps!] I pulled out one of the quilts I had pieced and meandered the whole thing!! I also made sure that I crossed over. (Call me a rebel!) I quilt my quilts for ME … they aren’t going to be entering any competition.

Since then, I’ve taken many FMQ classes from different instructors. All of them were very encouraging! And I’ve learned something new from each one of them.

I’ve been quilting my own quilts ever since! Currently, I quilt on my domestic Janome M7 machine.

One thing that stuck in my mind from the early days of quilting was something that Harriet Hargraves said in one of her books that to always quilt the same thing is like buying a mattress cover with the same over-all design. It’s always the same. So, I try to add variety to my quilts. Besides, I’d be totally bored if I always did the exact same thing!

When I was first learning to free motion quilt, I had a quilt that was really UGLY. I mean UGLY!!! The fabric was lovely, but how it was put together resulted in a truly UGLY quilt. However, it was the perfect quilt to practice on!!! If a motif or something didn’t work out – it didn’t matter!! I just moved on to another section and tried again! And yes, I had to practice!!

I no longer practice and just jump in to quilt whatever the quilt tells me to. Most of my quilts are custom quilted, but there is the odd one where I do an all-over design or diagonal lines.

Here’s a few close-ups of quilting, totally quilted on my domestic machine! There is some ruler quilting (straight lines, hearts and orange peels) but most of it is free motion.

SEW … I encourage you to practice your quilting! Yes, practice! You’ll be amazed at what you can do in a very short time!

Don’t Forget!

I am now a Silly Moon affiliate! So what does that mean? When you use my affiliate code Quiltinggail2024 at Silly Moon, you will receive 10% off your order and I will receive a small commission.

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gai

Threaded Chaos Blog Hop with Aurifil Thread

/ quiltinggail / 2 Comments

Make sure that you follow along and check out all the wonderful quilts that are being shown!

AND … go to Lumin (Island Batik’s blog) to enter in to win fabric each week!

WEEK 1

September 8: 

Brenda Alburl

September 9: 

Sarah Pitcher

Solomae Stoycoff

September 10: 

Lisa Pickering

Renee Atkinson

September 11: 

Connie Kresin Campbell

September 12: 

(ILumin (Island Batik’s blog) : Blog Hop Week 1 Round Up + giveaway)

WEEK 2

September 15: 

Jennifer Thomas

Preeti Harris

September 16: 

Gail Sheppard

Susan Deshensky

September 17: 

Denise Looney

Kimberly Flannagan

September 18: 

Mania Hatziioannidi

Tina Dilalrd

September 19: Lumin (Island Batik’s blog) : Blog Hop Week 2 Round Up + giveaway)

WEEK 3

September 22: 

Kim Jamieson-Hirst

Carol Stanek

September 23: 

Brittany Fisher

September 24: 

Suzy Webster

Leah Malasky

September 25: 

Connie Kauffman

Emily Leachman

September 26:

(Lumin (Island Batik’s blog) : End of Blog Hop + Final Round Up)

Monthly Viewer’s Choice contest: September 29 – October 6 (winners announced on October 7)

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

School supplies and Dollar Store ’25

/ quiltinggail / 10 Comments

It’s September and kids are back to school.  At any rate, the stores have all their “back to school” sales on.  Do you take advantage of these sales for your sewing room?

I do.  Here are some of the products I use in my sewing room and some are suggestions from other bloggers and quilters.

  • A flannel back tablecloth is great for a design wall … especially if I’m going sewing somewhere besides in my home.
  • Hair clips are great for clipping labels onto fabric
  • Spray bottle for water (I always use a dry iron … and I spray the fabric if I want steam)
  • Shelf liner
    • will hold your sewing machine foot in place
    • add it to the back of pincushions to prevent them from slipping around
    • in a pinch, you can use a couple of pieces (3″x 3″) to place under your hands when you free motion quilt
    • Put a small square between your small rulers and your fabric – it’ll prevent the ruler from shifting
  • Hair ties – place them around the thread and the bobbin and you know which bobbin goes with which thread … plus it keeps the thread from unwinding

These are the small hair ties … they are cloth covered elastics. You can see in the picture how small they are. When my thread and bobbins are in the drawer, it’s super easy to figure out which bobbin goes with which spool of thread. Plus there isn’t miles of thread all over!

Notebook with grid lines … for planning that next quilt and Pencil crayons to colour your quilt

Mechanical pencils for fine lines (on the back of HST) or to mark the centre of a block

Elmer’s School Glue … I use this a LOT … dilute it 4 parts water to 1 part glue and it’s perfect for gluing down binding or whatever needs to stay in place.

Binder clips – they are perfect to supplement your smaller clips … great when you have a large number of pieces or ???

Flag post-its, or just plain post-it notes are perfect for short-term labels.

Disappearing Elmer’s Glue Stick. These have MANY uses. I often use it to pre-baste my binding. Then when I get to the sewing machine, binding is done in a flash. It also works well with applique pieces … apply glue to the back, iron in place and applique to your heart’s content!

Coloured Sharpies … OK … confession here … these are great for colouring that white thread that is showing, or for outlining shapes (as per Helen Godden).

Painters tape. I use it to label things and to quickly mark my sewing lines when quilting.

These “Stained” Sharpie markers are fantastic for quilt labels, or anything you want to permanently mark.

Disposable Cutting Mats (or one that is well worn) can be used to cut out templates

small pencil boxes/containers for holding sewing supplies. The larger ones are great for holding my rotary cutter, snips, pencil, thread, etc for heading to retreat safely. 

Don’t Forget!

I am now a Silly Moon affiliate! So what does that mean? When you use my affiliate code Quiltinggail2024 at Silly Moon, you will receive 10% off your order and I will receive a small commission.

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail