Machine Quilting Doodles

I had a busy weekend and last few days so didn't get a chance to update my blog until now. The group of hunters that always come from Cincinnati were here for the opening of pheasant season from Friday through Tuesday. They don't stay at our house but we did go out to eat with them all the nights they were here except the last night and that night they cooked for the whole gang at our house. I had to get the tables set up but they did all the cooking of the steak dinner and all the clean up too. They do that every year and is always a treat!

Our local guild had one of our members that does a lot of machine quilting give a workshop on machine quilting Saturday. It was a fun day and I learned a few things too. The swatches are what I did in class and after I got home when ever I have had a few minutes. I really like to doodle quality of doing this.

I just got two new machine quilting books this week from Amazon.com and tried some of the techniques and quilting patterns from them on my swatches too. I just purchased Machine Quilting Solutions by Christine Maraccini and Mastering the Art of McTavishing by Karen McTavish and are both good books. The McTavishing one has a DVD included and that is nice as I can watch Karen actually quilt her designs instead of just reading about them. It is very helpful for me as I can see exactly what she is doing and how she stitches.

My most recent quilting goal is to get comfortable with machine quilting and improve my skills as well. I love the look of machine quilting that is well done and I just don't have those skills yet but I am determined!

I did try different threads on Saturday so marked the type of thread near each type. As you can see I need lots of practice.

John is back to harvesting corn but I have not been needed the last few days to run the grain cart since we have an extra guy helping now. John is so pleased with the bu/acre he is getting this year. Much better than any recent years harvest. It is good that there are more bu. to sell but it also means more bu. to store. We will be having to haul more into the local elevator this year as our bins won't hold it all and I am guessing everyone else will be too. This means long lines and long waits for the trucks to unload and that is never fun.

We did get a hard freeze several days in a row so all the flowers are gone now as are the tomato plants, etc. I always hate to have the flowers die for the year as the colorful flowers are always so pretty.

Need to get back to practicing.......

Lynn

Value Study

Weather Report - today it is NOT raining and the sun is peeking out!!! Now for the fields to dry out so we can get back to combining the corn. We missed the snow that came down west of us thank goodness, but did get over 2" of rain so the soil is supersaturated now. Our daughter reported it was a real mess on their county roads with the 3" of snow on top of very wet, rain soaked roads.

I have been steadily working on the first of my tessellated leaf quilts. Have all the (3/4" finished) blocks stitched for the first one and have them pinned to my flannel board. (Paper does not stick to flannel- ha, ha!) Anyway - what a disappointment. The values are too close on some of the fabrics and the design disappears. I thought I had a good value distribution but guess it was just color. I neglected to check it out with the green and red plastic value finders I have before I started stitching. Took a black and white photo this morning and you can really see what I mean by a mushy mess!

Since these are PP blocks I am not ripping them all out to get it right, but will go ahead and stitch them together like I planned. My new plan is this....the second quilt will be the better one and this will be a good example of what Not to do. Works for me if I can get the next one to turn out good. Was thinking of names and thought maybe the bad example should be called "Autumn Leaves - After a Rainstorm in the Gutter" and the good one "Autumn Leaves - Before the Fall". Another idea for a combined name might be "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly!"

This next black and white photo is of the second quilt strips pinned to the flannel board. I have used the green and red value plastic things plus taken black and white photos on my digital camera to make sure each set of 2 fabrics contrast with each other. The camera thing works better than the green and red value plastic. What do you think of this arrangement? Let me know if you see a problem somewhere - please.

Had a nice time yesterday after lunch with two quilty friends. I had John cut some smaller OSD boards and round the corners for me and we made pressing boards like Sharon Schamber shows in her free video. The boards are 16' x 20" and a nice size to sit beside the sewing machine and also if you have to take a board to a workshop sometime. I figured up the cost and the materials for each only came to $4 or a little more. Pretty cheap for a nice pressing board.

You know I told you I was cleaning house for some company this weekend in a post or two before this. Anyway, yesterday morning I was running my vacuum and it started making the most horrible noise. Shut it off and unplugged it and took the hose off. What a disaster - half of the blades just inside were completely gone and the other half were damaged. Know I didn't pick up something that broke them - just old age I think. I was thinking I only had the machine for 12 years or so but when I found the information about this Kirby in my files we have had it for 20 years. Wow that is a long time.

I decided I didn't want to get another Kirby brand of vac. even though they are really good because they are so awfully expensive - over $1300 now. John I made a trip to Grand Island last evening (1 1/2 hrs. away) to get a new vac. so I could finish getting everything cleaned up before the weekend. I had looked on line and found some reviews and so took the recommendation and got a Sears Kenmore. Sure hope it works good but probably won't last 20 years like the last vac. I had. Here is the new machine ready to go to work. I wonder...do you suppose I could get an add-on for this machine that would include a person to run it besides me?

John thought it was interesting that I am willing to pay top dollar for a sewing machine but not a vacuum. I said I sure know where my priorities are and they don't include cleaning!

Lynn

A Clean House

A friend sent me this in an email and I got a good chuckle out of it so am sharing it with you. It could also say "A Clean House Is A Sign of a Broken Sewing Machine" or the traditional saying "A Clean House is A Sign of A Waisted Life." In my case today it should say "A Clean House Is A Sign Of Company Coming."

Today I am cleaning house not because my computer or sewing machine are broken, but because we are having company this weekend. John and I are not super neat but not slobs either. Things do get to be a mess once in a while and I have to stop and tidy up occasionally. The house looks good now except I do need to vacuum the floors and dust the furniture yet, but I got all the laundry caught up and all the bits and pieces put in their proper places today.

We have 5 guys from the Cincinnati, Ohio area come to hunt on opening pheasant hunting season each year. They stay at a nearby motel but John and a few other locals show them around, etc. On Sunday each year they cook for all of the guys and their families and I have volunteered our house for the last 3 years. They buy the steaks and all the other food and do all the cooking and cleaning up. They don't let me do a thing in my own kitchen except to tell them where things are located. I love it!

Back to the last of the cleaning for today.....

Lynn

Tools for Constructing Miniature Quilts

Today I decided to show you the tools I use to successfully make foundation pieced or paper pieced miniature quilts. I have been piecing miniature quilts since the mid 80s and have picked up a few tricks and tips along the way that I will pass on to you.

One of the newer gadgets I use is the Add-An-Eighth ruler. This photo of the side view shows that it has an extra piece of plastic along one edge that is thicker than the ruler. This raised plastic is 1/8" wide. I use it to trim down the fabrics prior to sewing to make it easier to place the next fabric and keep my seam allowance 1/8" wide. This ruler is invaluable to me and if I broke it or lost it I would have to get another one immediately. This company also makes Add-A-Quarter rulers to use with larger blocks where you want to have 1/4" seams.

This next item is something I made to use with the above ruler. It is a piece of card stock that I have folded one edge up about 1/2". The turned up edge is just a handle to hold onto and to allow me to move the card into place. This card is about 4" x 6" and the flat edge is placed on the seam to be stitched and then the paper should be folded over the card. The Add-An-Eighth ruler is snugged up against the card and the excess fabric is trimmed off leaving a perfect 1/8" seam allowance

Also needed for cutting is a rotary cutter and mat. At one time I thought I should get the really tiny 18 mm cutter to use with my miniatures. Good idea but it won't touch the mat when used with the Add-An-Eighth ruler so it just sits in my drawer.

I purchase kids glue sticks and keep them in my refrigerator until I need them then put them back when I am not working or if they get a little sticky and then I exchange them for a cold one. You can extend the life of the glue sticks this way and don't have to toss the ones that get too sticky. I glue the first fabric down to the paper with the glue stick and glue after each seam I stitch. The just stitched fabric is folded out, seam creased then I use a tiny bit of glue to help it stay in place. This keeps the fabric from rolling back and getting tucks, plus makes piecing the really tiny miniatures so much easier. I sometimes even use a tiny bit of this glue to hold the fabric in place before it is stitched in the seam, especially if I just can't hold the pieces together and get it under the presser foot without slipping. I have used a number of brands and they all work fine. The funny thing about the glue sticks is that on the front they say "permanent" but in reading the directions on the package or on the side of the glue sticks they always say "washes out with water" so I don't worry about the glue being a problem.

Using something pointy like a seam ripper or stiletto works to hold the tiny pieces as you machine stitch them. Sometimes our fingers are just too big for those little pieces of fabric.

After each seam is stitched it needs to be creased as if pressed. I don't use an iron as the paper can curl and then it is a bigger problem to stitch the next seam. I use different things to accomplish this creasing. I mostly use what is called a "wooden iron" which is a piece of wood with an angled end on it. I have also used a Hera marker, plastic pot scrubber, plastic credit card and even my thumb nail. You just want to remember to crease the fabric not just to pat it as it won't stay for you without a good crease.

My new Bernina 730 has some feet that would work for sewing miniatures but I still choose to use the #20 foot from my old machine as it will fit the 730. This is a machine embroidery foot has an opening that is only 5 mm. I found after getting the new machine that the corresponding foot for the new machine had way too big an opening for my tiny miniatures. Some blocks I have pieced in the past are only 1/2" to 1" square and the new wider foot just didn't hold everything down. I like the fact that this foot is open in the front and I can see exactly where I am stitching and can keep my line of stitching right on the line of my paper piecing pattern.

I select and use either #60 or #70 sharp needles and a fine two ply thread to machine stitch my paper pieced miniatures. I prefer using DMC cotton embroidery thread most of the time. If you think about how short the seams are on a 1" block you can imagine that you need to set the stitch length to take a much, much shorter stitch than you would when stitching large blocks as some seams may only be 1/4' long. With the shorter stitch you need less bulk with thread so that is why I choose 2 ply thread.

The last tool that I use no matter what I am sewing is my little curved bladed scissors. They are about 3 1/2" long and are made by Havel's and I like the fact that I can reach behind the needle and foot on something I have just stitched and clip the threads, plus these scissors come in handy for clipping threads on larger blocks too. When stitching small PP blocks I clip all loose threads as soon as I am done stitching them otherwise I can have a tangled mess on the back of the block real quickly. If you look back to the blog where I showed how to rip a fabric off of a miniature block when it is stitched incorrectly I am using these scissors too as they have very narrow, sharp points.

I can't think of anything more that I use for paper piecing miniatures right now. I pretty much follow the same technique for paper piecing that they show on the tutorial on the Add-A-Quarter website with a few exceptions. I don't press with an iron and I glue the just stitched fabric down after each new seam is stitched on the blocks. The explanation of joining the blocks is good on this tutorial too. I do trim my tiny block seams down to 1/8" after stitching them at 1/4", but make sure everything is OK before I cut them down. I press the seams between the blocks open after stitching them together too - it's all about reducing bulk in the miniature. Too bad there aren't some quick fixes to reduce the bulk on my body now!!!

Happy Stitching,

Lynn