Author: quiltinggail

Make it Faster Workshop

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Early this year, I taught a group how to “Make it Scrappy and Faster”. This included using the “Easy Angle” ruler and to do “Leader’s and Enders” mug-rug project.   Leader’s and Enders is a phrase coined by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville.com . I had been doing a version of this before I ever heard of the Internet and blogging: I called it 2 at a time.  It’s basically an assembly line method of working on 2 quilts, or 2 different portions of the quilt, at the same time.  People often ask how I get so many quilts done and I believe these 2 techniques are the answer.

Here are photos of the participants quilts.

Dawn, Heidi, Linda and Isabelle put their quilts together in the traditional “Jewel Box” setting.

Matt, Barb, Dawn and Laurel  put them together in a different arrangement.  Matt made his larger with the design off-centre.  I find it exciting when people take what you give them and make it their own!  And yes, Dawn made both the blue one above and the pink one below.  Others have told me that they’ve made more, but I haven’t seen any pictures.

 

Linking to:
Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Crazy Mom Quilts
Busy Hands Quilts

Happy Quilting,

Gail

Grandma’s fabrics: Quilt #13 started

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I’ve started on the final quilt to be made with Grandma’s fabrics.  I haven’t gotten much done … just the start of a few nine patches.  With the goal to make another single Irish Chain.  These blocks are 2″ square. The unfinished 9 patch will be 5″ square …

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I started quilting on Quilt # 12 yesterday. Sorry, but I don’t have a picture.

Here is a picture of Quilts #10 (on the right) and #11 (on the left).

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To see what others in the quilty world are working on wander over to these blogs:

Happy Quilting!

Gail

Quilt #11 is Done, Done

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In my last post (here), I showed you some of quilt blocks.  I had taken a free-motion quilting class at The Quilted Bear in Ladner.  A lovely, talented lady, taught me a ton!  One of the things she talked about was ‘variety’.  “Don’t do the same thing everywhere … change it up … don’t be bored” (my paraphrasing).  So, I attempted to quilt a lot of different blocks in this quilt.  Some are repeated a few times, some were suggestions from a book that I adapted due to the fact that my neutral blocks were not square and some were made up as I went along.  It was a lot of fun and I love the look.

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Linking to:
Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Crazy Mom Quilts
Busy Hands Quilts

Happy Quilting!

Gail

Quilt #11: Binding is started!

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In this quilt, I attempted to do a lot of different designs in the blocks. Some of the designs were fun and I enjoyed doing them.  A few were a struggle, but I felt like I needed to push myself to do them. The following pictures will give you an idea of what some of the quilting was like.


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And the binding is started!

 

To see what others in the quilty world are working on wander over to these blogs:

Patchwork Times
Love, Laugh, Quilt
Quilting is More Fun than Housework

Happy Quilting!

Gail

Remembrance Day and Quilting on #11 has started

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November 11 … a day to Remember … When I was in high school, in the early ’70’s, we had a modern and radical English teacher and we were introduced to Leonard Cohen.  I find it fitting on the day following Cohen’s death, McLeans magazine has a clip of him reciting “In Flander’s Fields.”  Click here to listen.

Quilt #11 of Grandma’s fabrics is a simple Irish chain:  9 patches, alternating with plain blocks. The patches are made from 2 ½” squares.  I recently took a free-motion class and the instructor was really encouraging us to use a variety of designs in our quilts. So, I think I will attempt to do something different in each block.  However, I already know that I’m going to be doing a lot of similar blocks, but  I will definitely be trying out a few new designs. Or at least, new to me!

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Linking to:
Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Crazy Mom Quilts
Busy Hands Quilts

Happy Quilting!

Gail

Quilt 12 of Grandma’s Fabrics

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I’ve been busy this week and haven’t gotten a lot of sewing done.

Quilt #12 is in progress, I have one 9 patch block done … only 112 more to finish putting together.  Then I can arrange it with alternating background blocks and start sewing the rows together.  On Mondays, I sew with a bunch of ladies: sew … I’m hoping to get quite a few of the 9 patch blocks done today!

The 9 patch block is using 2″ squares and is 5″ square.  Once it’s sewing into the quilt it will be 4 ½” … I’m not sure how big the finished quilt will be, but these blocks are so darn cute … I’m thinking that this may be my favourite of all the quilts so far … but I think I’ve also said that of the others as well!

To see what others in the quilty world are working on wander over to these blogs:

Patchwork Times
Love, Laugh, Quilt
Quilting is More Fun than Housework

Happy Quilting!

Gail

 

Status of Quilts from Grandma’s Fabrics

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Quilts # 1-10 are all completed.  #11 is sandwiched and ready to quilt.  #12 will use 2″ squares and be basically the same pattern as #11, only with smaller squares and lots more blocks.

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This is #10, washed and dried.  I absolutely love the “wrinkly” look that you get when you don’t wash the batting and backing. To me, it looks more cozy and vintage. And, since I am using Grandma’s fabrics – the fabric is vintage, so it’s very appropriate.

 

Linking to:
Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Crazy Mom Quilts
Busy Hands Quilts

Happy Quilting

Gail

Different sizes

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I don’t have a picture of what’s on my design wall because there is nothing on it.  I will start something new later today.

However, here is a picture of 3 quilts, using Grandma’s fabrics. I used different sized squares.  The quilt on the left used 2″ squares, the middle used 2 ½” squares and the squares on the right were 3 ½”.  The picture is not that great, but you can see how the size really affects the look of the quilt.

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To see what others are working on wander over to these blogs:

Happy Quilting everyone!

Gail

Grandma’s Fabrics … # 10 is done!

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Last night, I finished the binding on Quilt # 10!  I’m so excited to have gotten this far!

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I’m getting low on Grandma’s fabrics, but my goal is to make 13 quilts and think I should be able to do it without adding any of my own fabric (except for background, binding and backing).

“Why 13 quilts?” you ask.  I have 11 first cousins on my dad’s side of the family. Add in my sister and myself and that brings us to 13.   We draw names for Christmas and I’ll make sure it’s “rigged” so that we get each cousin and their spouse’s name over the next several years.  In the meantime, I’ll be showing some of them at the guild meetings and in my trunk shows.

Last Friday, I posted about how the fabric label on Quilt #6 ran and I did emergency surgery and cut the offending label out. You can read about it here.

Restorative Surgery happened on Sunday and to see how it was fixed go here.

To see what other’s have finished on Friday, visit these blogs:

Disaster is Fixed!

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In my last post, I talked about how a label ran and I ended up cutting it out.  You can see pictures of it here.   We used scissors to cut, so the edges are a little jagged and not straight. img_0072

I really didn’t want to do a set-in seam with top, batting and back, so I decided to make a straight edge.  All stitching was taken out about 3/4″ from the edge.  I then whip-stitched the batting triangle to the original batting. Next, a background (white) triangle and a backing triangle were sewn onto the quilt.  Elmer’s glue was used to sandwich the triangle to prevent future shifting.  The triangle was squared to match the quilt … and I was smiling!

 

The first steps were done! (I find that sometimes they are the hardest steps to take!)

A new label was made, glued and ironed into place, then sewn down. I then quilted it from the top. (Sorry, I didn’t get a picture of me quilting it.)

 

Finally, the binding was attached.  I attempted to do it the way a blog reader suggested, but on the third try, I decided to unstitch more of the binding, joining it in my usual manner.  By this time, I was really smiling because it was almost done. img_1431

Grandma’s Fabric: Quilt 6 is now fixed and completed.  I will post a picture of the completed quilt once it’s washed and hanging in the sunshine!

To see what others are working on wander over to these blogs:

Hope your quilting avoids disaster!

Gail

A disastrous bleed

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I always wash my quilts after they are quilted, label is on and the binding is finished.  I was a little suspect of my green label because it bleed a little when I used glue to secure it in place.  Thinking that a “color catcher” would be enough, I put Grandma’s Fabric quilt #6 in the wash.  Whoa!  I pulled it out right away.  Took it to the kitchen sink and tried Sunlight bar soap, vinegar … nothing was working and you could literally watch the colour seeping further and further.  I did the only thing I could think of: I grabbed a pair of scissors and and cut the label out.

Labels 7-12 were already done – they instantly went into the garbage, along with the offending green fabric.

So now I have some mending to do.  The plan is to cut the corner in a triangle shape, unstitch a good inch or so, add backing, batting and the white top.  Then, add a new label, quilt it and try to figure out how to join the binding on the corner  …  I do not want to take miles of binding so that I can have mitred binding.   Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to do it?

To see what other’s have finished on Friday, visit these blogs: Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Crazy Mom Quilts

Edit: I was just reading an email from The Quilt Show and it contained a link to Colorways by Vici Welsh … she has tested a few detergents and has found that Dawn Ultra Pure is one of the best to prevent colour running … a little late for me, but something to remember if I suspect a fabric will run.

Hope your quilting does not involve as much re-doing!

Gail

More accomplished at the day retreat

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I did get a lot more finished at the day retreat last week!  These 2 quilts are almost the same, but with different quilting.  I did “C’s” on one, which makes it look like I quilted circles.  On the other, I quilted flowers.  It’s a simple pattern that starts with a circle and you try to add 5 petals on the flower.  I don’t have any rules and if 3 petals are all that fit, that’s just fine.  It was hard to get a picture of the border, but the flowers, joined by a vine, float along the border.

Wander over to Patchwork Times and Love, Laugh, Quilt to see what others are working on.

Happy Quilting,

Gail

Grandma’s Fabric: Another one completed!

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For 3 days this week, I’ve been sewing with friends at what we call a day retreat.  We go for the day, come home and sleep in our own beds. Last night we all went out for dinner.  It is a lot of fun!

We are all getting a lot done!  I’ll try to take some pictures of what other’s are working on … there is a lot of creativity happening … some of the projects are for future gifts – so I won’t take pictures of them!

I have managed to get a lot of quilting done.  The quilt I showed in the last post, using 3 ½” squares is completed.  It’s way too stormy out to take my usual picture of quilts hanging on the clothesline.

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To see what other’s have finished on Friday, visit these blogs: Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Crazy Mom Quilts

I’m off for another day of sewing.  Hopefully the storm isn’t too bad and that we have power to sew all day!

Happy Quilting,

Gail

Quilting another …

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Quilting #4 of quilts made from Grandma’s fabrics.

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Here is a rough drawing of the quilting pattern.  A tear drop, then echo the tear drop, small flower petals, then echo the flower petals.  It’s pretty easy to do as an all-over quilting pattern.

 

 

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And now a picture of the quilting in progress …

 

 

 

 

Wander over to Patchwork Times and Love, Laugh, Quilt to see what others are working on.

Happy Quilting,

Gail

Grandma’s Fabric: Two more started!

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I have some 4 patches left over from previous quilts using the 2 ½” squares – so I’ve started working on another quilt to use them up.  This one will end up a little bigger.  However, I do need to make some more 4 patches.  I haven’t decided if it will be on-point or straight.  I’ll wait until I have all the blocks made before I decide.

There are no pictures of the 2nd one I’ve started … it’s mostly in my mind and will involve 2 ½” strips of grandma’s fabric sewn with white fabric … only grandma’s fabric is cut into strips and I need to cut more white strips.   I am thoroughly enjoying working with her fabric.  My grandma was a pretty special lady!

Wander over to Patchwork Times and Love, Laugh, Quilt to see what others are working on.

A note on the nursing reunion:  It was great fun to see the gals that attended!  A few I hadn’t seen for 40 years!  And it was neat to connect with everyone.  Kudos go to the Katy, the main organizer!

Happy Quilting!

Gail

Zipper Bags are done!

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I managed to finish the zipper bags … just in time as I was busy today helping a friend set up a booth for a show.  Check out The Steam Trunk Craftworks to see what I played with!  She does mail order as well as several shows.  I absolutely LOVE the hand painted buttons!

Here are my zipper bags and they are already wrapped and ready to head over to Victoria. They finished up at about 9″x 8″.    It was a lot of fun to quilt organic straight lines on the fabric.  I love doing “organic” … it doesn’t always need to be perfectly straight!  Just my style!

They were a lot of fun … no pattern … would you like to do a sew-along to make these sweet bags?  If so, leave me a comment.

To see what other’s have finished on Friday, visit these blogs: Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Crazy Mom Quilts

Happy Quilting!

Gail

Nursing Reunion and zipper bags

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This weekend, I’m going to a nursing reunion!  Hard to believe that it’s been 40 years since we graduated from St. Joes!  It will be fantastic to see everyone that attends!

The gal organizing the reunion contacted me and asked if I had anything small in my quilty box to use as prizes for a game.  I replied, “sure, I have some zipper bags.”  Well, I went to my quilty box, which did not have any zipper bags in it.  So, that means that I need to make some.  They don’t take long and are fun to make.

I pulled out my small tote of fat quarters and chose a couple of prints … I’ll make the one on the right first.

Linking this post to Freemotion by the River

Happy Quilting!

Gail

Some progress

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My design wall is a flannel backed tablecloth on my bed.  It’s not ideal, but it works and it’s portable.

I attempted to “web” this and ended up with a confusing mess.  I should know better than to “web” an on-point quilt.   Just have 4 middle rows to piece and add in.  Then hopefully I can get the borders on.  I’m hoping this will happen today at Monday quilting!

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Wander over to Patchwork Times and Love, Laugh, Quilt to see what others are working on.

Happy Quilting Everyone!

Gail