June 2012 Free Motion Quilting Challenge

Once again I am sliding in on deadline day for Sew Cal Gal's Free Motion Quilting Challenge! I always work well under a deadline but this month I was hampered with a freak accident that left my index finger badly injured. It's now greatly improved so I was able to spend several hours in my studio this morning to create this small (9" square) piece. While on injured reserve I did spend an evening visiting 88 of the blogs listed as participating in this month's challenge. Thank you all for sharing!

The quilt artist for this month is Cindy Needham. She's another of the talented quilters and teachers who have been generously sharing during this challenge. She emphasized three techniques. her" basic three".  They are repetitive lines, circles and feathers. She suggested we do a swirl design and then fill all the spaces with quilting.

Although I did make a copy of her swirl and even sketched in possible designs, when I got into the studio I simple grabbed a washout pen and began to draw freeform. At my machine I simply let the design flow.

Cindy shared how she begins and ends her quilting lines using a Clover Soft Touch Thread Pic and curved tipped scissors. As much of a tool freak as I am I don't have the Thread Pic. I have used a modified version of her technique using my scissors only.

The biggest help for my quilting is on each side of the free motion foot: rubber shelf liner. Ann Petersen uses this in the Craftsy.com courses I'm taking. It was my breakthrough! I must have a dozen different gloves,  helps, etc. but this is what has finally given me the right touch for FMQ.

When I finished my sample I liked it better than I thought I would. It looks a lot better at arm's length. What I didn't like was the messy border. I did a quick fusible border. So I could fuse easily I did a line of stitching about 1/8" away from my stitch border.

I'm learning a lot from this challenge. Do give it a try!

May 2012 Free Motion Quilting Challenge

The May 2012 Free Motion Quilting Challenge from SewCalGal featured Leah Day. She taught two Foundational Patterns.

For those who are not familiar with Leah, she began a project to quilt a design a day for a year. Yes! There are now over 365 designs that she has done. She has become a professional quilter. Pretty great for a young mom! While I've visited her site on a couple of occasions I've never really dug into all she has done. Now, I want to take time to do a deep dive. I highly recommend you do the same. I've added her to my favorite sites.

This table topper began as a project for the Craftsy.com class Quilting Quickly. I think I signed up for this soon after Craftsy started a year ago. The first project is a charm pack quilt. I bought a batik charm pack, put the squares together and put it aside, like so many things I have done. A recent clean-up-the-studio project (tax season is over!) reminded me of it and I put it into a UFO box.

I've been working on other Craftsy class projects but as I headed into this three day holiday weekend I reminded myself I had to get busy to do the May challenge. I decided I would use the charm UFO to learn  the technique.

Since this also  is a Craftsy project, I've written more extensively about it on the project page -- http://www.craftsy.com/project/view/Charm-Pack-Quilt/43633?fresh=true --but the summary is as follows:

Do I like this technique? No
Will I use it again? Probably not, at least not in this large scale.
Did I learn? YES!
Is my UFO finished? YES!

Here's my practice piece, enhanced to show the quilting stitches used with this technique.

I'm glad that I am participating in this challenge. I have learned a lot and very much appreciate learning from the teachers and all who are sharing their projects.

Stupendous Stitching Class Project

Stupendous Stitching Number 1 - 9 1/4" x 12"

Batik covered with couched fibers, machine and hand embroidery

Some time ago I learned about Craftsy.com and began to take quilting courses, specifically the machine quilting courses. Of course, the good folks who run this website are excellent marketers and before long I began to add new courses.

• TIP: Sign up for Craftsy.com, get their newsletter and follow them on Facebook. Classes regularly go on sale for half price and occasionally less. Their fabric deals are great and those deals will often have discounts after they are first offered.

During one promotion I signed up for the Stitch & Slash course taught by Carol Ann Waugh. There were a number of references to her Stupendous Stitching course so I added that as well. I must confess that I'm one who rarely uses the decorative stitches on my machines. And I'm not all that enthusiastic about hand embroidery. Of course, those are key elements to the course!

I think you can tell I'm now enthusiastic about both. For this first piece I kept close to the teacher's instructions. That's what I tell students when I teach so I try to follow my own advice! I did choose to design horizontally rather than vertically.

I am really pleased with the final result! I learned a lot and will definitely include these techniques in future projects.

April 2012 Free Motion Quilting Challenge

With the 2011 individual tax season brought to a close at midnight April 17 I finally have a chance to relax and focus on some creative projects before gearing up in July for the 2012 tax season! Tax is a year round process with peaks of intense work during fall and winter. The guest for the April session of the Free Motion Quilting Challenge is Don Linn and it focuses on a technique for copying quilting designs on fabric using tulle. He has published a book, Sophisticated Stitches, containing 66 designs. The designs aren't where I want my free motion quilting to go at the present time but it was worth every penny for his practice suggestions. Many designs require precise backtracking over the preceding line. He says anyone can learn to do that in about an hour of practice and gives some tips on how to accomplish this. My first practice piece shows a lot of wobbles but as I practiced I became much more comfortable and experimented with speed and direction.

Following this practice I went ahead and used Don Linn's technique for copying a design on tulle. I used a dark tulle and copied the design with the suggested silver Sharpie. Since I like the Clover white marking pen that erases with heat or water I decided to see if it would mark through the tulle. It did! This is a marvelous technique and I plan to use it whenever I need to transfer a design. My practice design, taken from Sophisticated Stitches, isn't perfect but I can see definite improvement.

In addition to the Free Motion Quilting Challenge I am also taking FMQ classes at Craftsy.com. I highly recommend their classes and will be blogging about some of my projects as time goes on. Happy quilting!

March Free Motion Quilting Challenge

I'm sliding in against the deadline again. With tax season going hot and heavy I haven't had as much chance to practice the excellent lesson by Ann Fahl as I would like. This was done this morning to add several of the designs she included. I must say this looks a lot better in the photo and from a distance as it does close up.

My biggest FMQ project this month as been working on the Craftsy classes also am taking. I'm feeling better with what I have been doing. I have to remind myself this is a learning process. I don't have to be perfect, just on a path to improving!

February Free Motion Challenge

I'm sliding in under the deadline again. This time though I've spent most of the month thinking about free motion quilting and how to do feathers, among other designs. I won't show my work in progress items but this one, done a few days ago, actually looks pretty good in the photo!

Several years ago I bought a Juki for free motion quilting. I haven't done much free motion on it, but I have done a lot of piecing. It's a wonderful machine!

The challenge got me excited but I wanted more so I have signed up for two free motion quilting classes at Craftsy. This has been a wonderful experience! I highly recommend you check out their courses. Some are free and the others go on half price sale every so often.

My success with feathers so far has been the result of one tip: there are NO STRAIGHT LINES in feathers! After making the circle I was coming down straight. Disaster. Remembering there are no straight lines has helped me immensely. If you're having problems, remember that.

The other tip comes from Ann Petersen, the teacher in one of the Craftsy courses. She recommends using that nubby shelf paper (the kind I'll give out in my fusible classes) instead of gloves. It was like a light going on! I detest gloves because I'm always having to put them on and off. I've gone from hating to enjoying the process! She also advocates spray basting which has become my favorite method, even with large quilts.

As a teacher I tell my students to try the teacher's method first then explore other methods. As a student, I like to try many methods until I find that one that fits me. Rarely does one method meet every need.

Happy Quilting!

Getting Restarted

Goodness! Has it really been this long since I posted to my blog? Wow! Seduced by Facebook and the short status updates and ease of posting from my iPhone and iPad.

Now I'm brought back to blogging by the 2012 Free-Motion Quilting Challenge by SewCalGal. One I refigure out how to post links, correct photo sizes, etc. I'll be able to do things a lot better than this. So apologies in advance if you have come here from the challenge to view my January entry. I'm sliding in right before the January 31 deadline!

Free Motion Quilting Challenge

Not only am I sliding in under the January deadline for SewCalGal's Free Motion Challenge I'm trying to learn Blogger for the iPad! So here goes.

Machine is the Juki I bought several years ago specifically for FMQ. I'm using a Supreme Slider. Top thread is one of my favorites, King Tut. Bottom is Aurifil.

The Quilter's Market

Here's a Smilebox that offers a tour of The Quilter's Market in Tucson, Arizona, where I teach some of the quilting classes. This includes my Floral Fantasy quilt that I will be teaching in July.

Let me know if you're interested in taking the class!

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Christmas Quilt BOM Photos

Jo Cady-Bull has asked if I will continue to post close-ups of the Christmas Quilt BOM blocks that she has done.

I've finished all to date (nothing like being sick enough not to go to work but feeling OK enough to do some photo editing!) and you can find them here and in the links:

http://picasaweb.google.com/shimmers411/ChristmasQuiltSamplesInstructor#

Blockbusters Month Four

 

This was a good block to get me back into quilting after being on vacation and focusing on making Nik's baptism outfit.

For first time no consistency with the sun fabric. Instead continuity with the other gold, fuscia and purple. Since this is a scrappy block I feel that as long as I keep some fabrics consistent everything will work together.

When I get the block design and fabrics, I use Electric Quilt to reproduce the block and add fabrics. I'm hoping to get my Electric Quilt 7 Upgrade by the time I need to do the July block. Some folks have already gotten their full versions. Can't wait for the upgrades to be available! I began using EQ with version 4.

Time to work on editing more photos now. And maybe getting to my quilting projects this weekend.

Vacation Memories

Wow! What a wonderful vacation! So many memories!

I spent about a week packing. A little every night as anticipation built. In previous trips I've done the fastest route from Tucson to Deming, New Mexico on I-10 then the Hatch shortcut to I-25 and straight to the Denver area.

This time I needed to stop in Mesa where my stepmother had some of my late father's family mementos for me. I left Tucson about 6:30 am and enjoyed a beautiful spring drive via the Pioneer Parkway. The beauty of the desert and saguaro cactus in bloom were in sharp contrast to the prison facilities in Florence.

Only a quick stop in Mesa then I headed up I-17 toward Flagstaff. I considered a detour to photograph the red rocks of Sedona but my goal was to try to reach Pagosa Springs for an overnight stop.

As usual when we travel Sargeant TopGun looks around for a time initially then he retreats to his dog bed "donut". We stopped at one of the few rest areas still open in Arizona (economic shutdown and one I disagree with) and then a few miles up the road came upon the remains of a brushfire. The median was charred and the south interstate was closed. Traffic on that side was backed up for at least five miles.

In contrast we had an easy trip to the Flagstaff area. I was on I-40 for just a few miles and saw a sin "road closed ahead". I wondered if that was because high wind was predicted for the weekend.

It didn't take long to realize the warnings were correct. From outside Flag until almost Durango I drove in the worst wind I have ever experienced. It should have been bright sun. Instead, no shadows whatsoever. The world was taupe. I could see nothing of this beautiful Four Corners area. Indeed, the Four Corners monument was closed!

There were times that visibility was less than 20 feet! Fortunately I know how to drive in wind, as did the few vehicles ahead and behind me. We kept about 150 yards separation and had no problems. On the interstates drivers aren't as aware. There have been mass pileups and people killed. I learned later that I-40 was closed for hours on both Saturday and Sunday.

When I reached Durango I said "enough!" Motels have discovered that it's good business to welcome travelers with pets...for an additional charge. I happily paid $10 for Sargeant. Dinner was take-out BBQ, some of the best I've ever had. They even put together a package of "ends" for Sargeant.

Early Sunday morning we headed out to Denver. I've ridden the route on my motorcycle and thoroughly enjoyed the wonderful scenery and mountain passes. Still beautiful but not nearly as fun in my little Hyundai with strong winds. My Accent is a wonderful car and it's gotten me back and forth between Arizona and Colorado several times but it is definitely NOT a mountain car!

When I arrived at my son's house early afternoon I said "no more mountain driving for a day or two!"

Then the fun really started ... family time! We had some dinners out and cook-outs in the back yard. Went shopping for clothes for Lukas. Tried on Nik's baptism outfit to make sure it fit ... it did!

Tina and I both came down with colds. I spent the better part of one day doing nothing but sleeping and swallowing cold medicines. Fortunately that was the worst day for me. For the first time I was able to celebrate Tina's birthday with her. My son and I went together and gifted her with a Canon SX210IS camera. I think she was most excited by the Eye-Fi card that will allow her to automatically upload photos to her Shutterfly account.

I took lots of photos as usual ... almost 600. They've been culled down into two Smileboxes. One is exclusively baptism photos and videos. The other, with this post, are from other activities.

Geoff, Lukas and I went to downtown Denver for the Memorial Day parade. We ate at a wonderful restaurant, Sam's 3, with some of the biggest food platters I've ever seen. There was an arts festival going on so we looked but didn't buy anything. Downtown Denver really is vibrant!

Several days later we all returned downtown for a visit to the Denver Aquarium. This is one of Lukas' favorite spots. Afterwards we took a ride on a trolley and enjoyed the sights of the Platte River.

The weather was beautful the entire time I was there!

Although this was my longest visit, it was time to leave all too soon. I'd allowed myself two days for the trip back to Tucson, if needed. As I usually do I made it in one day ... about 14 hours on the road. The drive was completely unremarkable and unmemorable.

Now enjoy the Smilebox I made:

Customize your own slideshow design

Nik's Baptism!

What a wonderful vacation with my family! This is the longest time we've spent together for years and it was truly a marvelous experience. I'll post another message on some of the things we did. For this message, I'm posting the Smilebox I did on my grandson Nikolaus' baptism.

There are three videos at the end of this Smilebox. The last one is the complete baptism ceremony and it is about 7 minutes long. This one will likely be of interest only to family members or historians!

I have to wonder ... will this blog exist 100 years from today? Will my great...great grandchildren think "how primitive?" What would it be like if I had records like this from my "greats"?

Free digital slideshow created with Smilebox

Nik's Baptism Outfit

 

Finished! Or almost. It depends if Tina and Geoff want to add a bow tie.

Since I haven't done much garment sewing recently this was a bit of a challenge. I did give my serger a bit of a workout and used two sewing machines ... my Juki and my BabyLock. The Juki is definitely my favorite now for any kind of straight stitch sewing!

In addition to finishing the outfit, most of this weekend has been spent cleaning and organizing. The hall bathroom got steam cleaned (love my little steamer!) and I'm slowly working through my bedroom (not with the steamer!) My desk is cleaned of the piles and there are a couple of bags going into the garbage. Time to declutter!

Sargeant and I did take a break last night to go to an outdoor concert at Udall Park. Tonight it's the Pops Concert at Reid Park. I've discovered that Jimmy John's lettuce wrapped "subs" are out of this world. Tonight I might even surprise Sargeant with his own roast beef sub. It's always fun to order one "Hold everything including the bun".

Now it's time to take my first load of laundry out and put another one in. Then watching the Amgen Tour of California bicycle race. What fun!

Mother's Day

 

I spent a wonderful Mother's Day sewing the baptism outfit for my grandson, Nik. I made an outfit similar to this for Lukas almost five years ago. Lukas was younger at his baptism so his outfit is too small for Nik to wear. Just as well, now each of my grandson's will have his own baptism outfit!

This week I need to do the buttonholes for the back closure and the snap tape closure for the pants. Then all gets connected and packed for the baptism. What fun! What a great Mother's Day!

Unconventional Sewing

 

Although I began as a garment sewer, I've evolved into a quilter. I'm far more familiar with rulers and rotary cutters than scissors. As a computer geek I'm always looking for ways to use my computer to make my processes easier. Maybe not always easier but certainly more fun for me!

When I started to lay out the pattern pieces for my grandson's baptism outfit I quickly remembered how much I dislike fluttery pattern pieces and cutting with scissors. I decided it would be easier to make copies of the pattern pieces onto freezer sheets, apply them to the fabric with a quick swipe with a hot iron, and then cut out the pieces. My tools are here: my freezer paper pattern, ruler, pattern weights (an essential tool for sewing!) and rotary cutter. I was able to cut out everything except the pants legs this way. I still used the rotary cutter and ruler with these, along with judicious placement of the pattern weights.

If you're making baby clothes, doll clothes, stuffed animals or other items with small pattern pieces, consider this method. You may find it a new useful technique!

Evening Walkabout

The cactus are in bloom so when Sargeant gave me his "walk?" look I grabbed a camera and took phtoos while we enjoyed the day sliding into dusk.

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BlockBusters Month Three

 

This is the block done for my birthday. Quite a bithday it was! It started out early. Actually, it started like a normal work day ... alarm going off at 5:00 am. Time to relax them Sargeant and I left home about 6:15 am to go to the Cop Walk at Brandi Fenton Park. This is the second year we've attended. For $15 we get breakfast, a mile walk, police K-9 demonstrations and feeling good supporting this good cause.

Dropped Sargeant at home; one tuckered pup! Then headed to Quilters Market for BlockBusters. I'd been to Girls Night Out not many hours before and had put aside a number of items so I could claim my birthday surprise ... a discount equal to half my age. It's gettin up there!

Next I headed to the sewing supply store to get the notions needed to make my grandson Nik's baptism outfit. Then to Kampai, my favorite sushi restaurant for some favorite foods to go. Home in time for the Kentucky Derby...only I took a nap! DVR'd the race but haven't watched it yet for I received the kind of phone call no one wants: my grandson Nik had been rushed by paramedics to the children's hospital.

There was nothing I could do but pray and ask my friends to pray. "Thy will be done" was my silent prayer. I had to do something so I began to work on the block. After a while I stopped. I couldn't sew a straight line!

Tonight I finished the block. Nik is home from the hospital, safe and sound, with a good prognosis. I ripped out some seams and finished the block tonight. So many memories in this one block!

Spring at Old Tucson

Today was a wonderful day for the company I work for to have our end of season company picnic. This year we took over Old Tucson, one of the top five "must see" Tucson tourist attractions. I've been going there since I was in high school. I have great memories of sharing the fun with my son. Sadly, the Old Tucson I knew burned in an arson fire (no one ever arrested). It's been reconstructed but so many of the old movie props are lost forever.

It was especially fun today as the park is large enough it wasn't crowded. A great opportunity to photograph the sights without having people blocking the views. There are a few people here and there, mostly the sights of Old Tucson.

Enjoy the Smilebox!

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Velcro Puppy

 

My sleep schedule has been all messed up this past week. Overtime and I've been coming home, falling asleep watching TV and then waling in the middle of the night. So I've been working on my quilt for a couple hours. That pattern continued Saturday only I didn't go back to sleep. I stayed awake until I finished the binding. All done!

After realizing I wasn't going to come back to bed, Sargeant came out and snuggled net to me. He doesn't mind being covered by whatever quilt I'm working on. Of course, as soon as I took this photo he went from deep sleep to looking at me. Food? Need me? Getting up? None of those? Then back to sleep.

As I type this he's snuggled next to me. A big sigh announced he was going to another level of sleep. In a few minutes I'll be ready to head to bed. He'll follow, of course. That's what a velcro dog does ... stick to you like velcro! I wouldn't have it any other way.