Well life continues to throw “surprises” at you.   “What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.”

I just recently had outpatient surgery so I’m restricted with my mobility for the next couple of days.  Before I went into surgery, I prepared a “sew-care” package.  My Sew-Care package contains some hand sewing that I am working on.  

During covid I started working on a design I found in American Patchwork and Quilting Magazine, Issue 164. The pattern is called Lunch Circle.  

The quilt in the magazine has about 6 rounds.  I’ve decided to go for 10 rounds.  Instead of making this a table mat, I’m going to turn it into a centerpiece for a quilt.  I’m almost there I’ve got 8 rounds done.  

I also included a little thread/needed holder.  I found a handmade thread/needle holder at an antique mall and decided to reverse engineer it to make one for my self (I hate I didn’t take pictures of it before I took it apart).  I made a paper pattern for it.

Here’s a photo of the external of the holder.  It resembles a cloth-version of a lipstick holder.  I get farther along, I’ll post photos of the internals when I get farther along with it.

Well off to my recovery sewing!

Happy Sewing ……….

T-shirt quilt for a friend…

So a dear friend of mine was telling me how she had all of the shirts from her sorority.  It’s been over 30 years since she pledged.  So I decided to make her a T-shirt quilt with some of them.  

Well I started on this last year, and “life” got in the way.  But I finally got it done!  Tomorrow it gets shipped out tot he east coast.  

I found a African wax print that went perfect with the pink and green colors.  The blocks on either end of the center t-shirt were made with the logo from several polo shirts: 

I decided I needed to put some type of label on it.  At first I thought I’d embroider a label on my embroidery machine.  But that was going to take to long.  So I decided to print one on my computer.  I purchased some photo fabric from a local store.  

I used Microsoft Word to generate the label and printed it on my printer.  I even soaked it in water to ensure that it was permanent.  And it was!!!!  I left a 1/2” border around it, which I tucked under and hand stitched in place

I’m hoping she likes it.  

Happy Sewing !!!!

 

Coming Back To Reality….

Well it has been quite some time since my last post.  Over a year!!! 

In that timeframe,  I’ve recovered from my surgery and spent over 6 months with my dad as he recovered from a brain injury (I am so blessed that he survived, the recovery has been rough, but he is still here). I’ve also returned to work post Covid pandemic, plus other events.

During this past year hiatus, I have unwittingly re-evaluated what is important to me in life (a discussion to be left for later).  

During this time frame I’ve become a quilting fanatic, beyond what I already was.  I have all of these amazing quilt tops that I have yet to quilt.  I’ve been focusing on getting these completed. 

My husband has decided I need a Longarm machine (Hey who am I to turn home down!)  In the main time I still have to figure out how to get these quilt tops done.  So this blog will be my way to document that journey. 

To start here is a quick photo gallery of some of the quilts I need to do…..

Quilt for my Dad! From American Patchwork and Quilt Magazine, 6/2009.

My drafted version of pattern for in German Patchwork magazine

Happy Sewing !!!

In that time 

Surgery recovery can be dangerous to your pocket-book!

 So I had my a2 weeks ago.  I'm glad to say that I know longer have the intense pain in my leg; however, I'm still having severe nerve pain periodically, and have a tendency to loose my balance.  The doctor the next couple of weeks will be up and down; I'll have good days and bad days.  Currently when I move I have to move "like a log"; i.e. no Bending, Lifting (anything over 5 lbs), or Twisting!  I've had moments when the pain hits, that I just want to cry, but everything will heal in God's time; not mine!

So as I continue to be incapacitated.  I've been continuing to become acquainted with my sewing/quilting software.

I'm continuing to advance my skills with EQ8 (Electric Quilt 8).  My latest thing has been designing hexagon blocks and quilts.  I discovered a "log cabin hexagon" block which I fell in love with, and a pineapple hex:

Hexagon squares

One of the quilt layouts I've done is using the Log Cabin Hex: 

I haven't decided if I'll leave it shaped as is, or make the sides more straight.

Since I did so many quilts during the Covid break (over 20 quilt tops), my husband told me I should invest in a Long Arm.  I'm not quite ready to take the plunge yet; as I am still investigating the different manufacturers and features.

So I've been looking at alternatives to sending my quilts out (The cost would come to over $4K if I sent all of them out).  I just realized I can do the quilting on my machine using my embroidery machine.  I'm trying to decide if I want to invest about $300 in a quilting addition to my current embroidery software, possibly Floriani Designer Quilt II or Perfect Embroidery Pro's My Quilt Planning.

I've been thinking now might be the time to get comfortable with free motion quilting; but large quilts are hard to manage on a domestic machine.  

I sat in on a virtual seminar yesterday with Pins and Needles, Cleveland Ohio, and DIME is offering "Weightless Quilter Frame", that is supposed to help with quilting of large quilts.

Photo from Sewing Machines Plus

This costs $299 on sale.  I was reading thru some blogs/forums, I found this in the Missouri Quilt Forum: 

Image from Missouri Quilt Forum (Alternate Setup)

Pet Grooming Arm and Harness (from Missouri Quilt forum)

Jumbo Clamp (image from Missouri Quilt forum)

This setup is a log cheaper (only $80 total) and is portable.  I can take it down when I want to use my sewing table for garment sewing.  I have a koala Treasure Chest cabinet wtih add-on shelving that is waist high and is solid and sturdy; so I won't have any problem clipping these onto my table.

Since I've had the back injury, I've been looking for ways to minimize possible injury to my back.  Since I'm working with large quilts, and want to make use of what I have for the most part, I just discovered using "pool foam noodles" to create my quilt sandwiches.  I found out about this at: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzx4dQqfkO4

I just bought some of the jumbo pool noodles and they are expected to arrive end of July; hopefully I'll be recovered enough by then that I can try everything out.

Happy Sewing Everyone!

Mapping EQ8 Block to Accuquilt Qube:

If you’ve read my blog then you know I had a fall on ice back in March, 2021.  Well I wound up  having surgery for a herniated disk.  So again, no sewing at all for me for a while.

When covid began, I decided to focus on learning to use my EQ8 software and Accuquilt.  For this post that I have decided to step thru a block and map it to Accuquilt (that’s one of things I’ve learned to focus on).

Everyone asks about the “Storm at Sea” done in Accuquilt qube (Note: Accuquilt has a BOB (block on board) for the Storm a Sea also).

The “Storm at Sea” can be found in EQ8 (standard and part of the Block-Base).  I used the BaseBlock pattern (2187).  This block size is 8”.  But if you map the block in one size it is very easy to create it in another size using the qubes.

So, let’s begin, the block looks as follows: 

1.      This is an 8” block.  Let us break this down to 2” units.  I’ve done this for you already by drawing a 2” grid.

1.      If you look you will see this has a set of grids that are repeated 4 times to create the actual block

.N  Now let us go to the EQ8 Rotary cutting instructions for the block. NOTE: I’ve added the cutting lines to separate the quadrants of the block).

1.  Looking at the quadraLooking at the quadrant, we will need shapes A, B, C, D, E, F, G.

1.      Now let’s look at the rotary cutting directions for each of these blocks: 

Shape A is a 1” half square triangle (cut 1 7/8” sides); Qube shape #5

Shape B and shape C are mirrors of each other, and are equivalent to Qube shape 14.  Shape G is a triangle in the middle of a square.  Combined this square with shape B and shape C you have the “triangle in square” shape in the qube set; Qube shapes 14 and 13

Shape D is a 2” half square triangle (cut 1 7/8’ sides); Qube shape 3

Shape E is a finished 1” square (cut 1 ½” square); Qube shape 2.

The corner squares are a combination of shape A & F, and the corner block is a square in a square. And is made of Qube shapes 5 and 6.

In summary the shapes needed from a single qube set are: 2, 3, 5, 6, 13, and 14; which requires you to have the "mix n match" set along wi hthe accompanied "angle" set. 

Also with the rotary output you have a listing of how many of each size to cut in each shape and color.  For example shape 5 (equivalent to shape A) will be 16 cuts in purple and 8 in white.  Since B and C are mirrors of each other, you would cut 8 of shape 14 in one direction and 8 of shape 8 in the other direction.  With different qube sizes you can make different block sizes, just be sure to use the shape numbers specifie above:  

4” qube set => 8” square

6” qube set => 12” square

8” qube set => 16” square

10” qube set => 20” square

12” qube set => 24” squae

NOTE: If you use one of the larger sizes then you could easily replace the corner square with a more elaborate block. 

Also, these documents will come in handy when determining if a design can be mapped to Qube shapes:

Product Catalog => Download a Catalog (accuquilt.com)

Cutting Equivalent Chart =>GO_Cutting_Equivalents_Chart-QQJ31.pdf (accuquilt.com)

Happy Sewing Everyone!!!!

Survival Update

I hope all has been going well with everyone out there.  

My sewing got interrupted because of COVID.  I came down with it the last part of January!  I was blessed to have a mild case.  I call myself being cautious and evidently it creeped in on me.  To be honest the fear of what could happen probably freaked me out worst than having it.  

The only symptom I had was "pink-eye".  No cough, no congestion, nothing else.  Evidently a small percentage of those with covid develop pink eye.  But I thank God I had very mild symptoms.

Needless to say I just completed my vaccine shot on last week.  So I am fully vaccinated!  YIPPEE!!!!

Once I got thru COVID, I started back to walking everyday for 2 hours.  Well, I live in Colorado, and we had a major snow storm in March.  As I was walking a couple days later, I stepped on black ice and fell. 

 First the doctor thought I had just a severe hip sprain, but turns out I actually slipped a disk!!!

What's that saying if it weren't for bad luck, I'd have NO LUCK AT ALL.  At least that's how it feels right now.  So I have very limited mobility for the last month and am working mainly from my bed, since even a couple of steps causes extreme pain in my leg (Can you say sciatica?).  I'm under a doctor's care and hoping to make a recovery soon.

These event's had me thinking of two things my dad always says:

1. Getting old is not for Whimps!
2. If you fall don't try to break the fall, you'll cause more harm to yourself trying to stop the fall!  It's best to just fall.

It's amazing that when you are young you think your parents are talking crazy, or that what they say doesn't apply to you.  Then one day you discover that your are getting old, and there is so much wisdom in the things they say.

So in the meantime, I can't sew 😢.  So I've been thinking and reading about sewing.  I've been reading some articles on fit and quilting techniques.  I've also been doing some quilt designs in EQ8 for future use.  I've been trying some contemporary quilt designs: 

Interlocked V's

Crossing Ribbons

I saw this design in a German American Patchwork and Quilting Magazine, and was immediately drawn to it: 

I was working on this before I injured myself.  Here is my diagram of the block:

Block Diagram (24" square)

My Test Block

Once I am mobile, this will be the first project I complete!

In the meantime, everyone stay safe and get vaccinated!

Happy Sewing.......

Continuing my 2020 survival sewing . . . A Quilt Along (QAL)

I've been continuing to do my survival sewing. I was hoping my survival sewing would end with 2020; but looks like this will continue into 2021. So I'm calling this my 2020/21 Survival Sewing. I'm hoping to get back into garment sewing; but that may be a while. My company is officially switching us to a remote working environment. This is going to go on at least thru the first quarter of 2021. So I'll continue to sew to keep my sanity! 

I've been quarantingint to the max!  I've also continued to work on my quilt tops. The latest was a quilt along sponsored by Janome, Maywood fabrics, and "Love of Quilting" magazine.

Quilt photo from Quilting Daily

The quilt is a 6 part series.  The entire quilt instructions can be found at Warmth of our Stars.

It is available in its entirety till Jan  7th (along with videos).  After that it can be found monthly thru 2021 in "Love of Sewing" magazine.

Of course, being that I get impatient when it comes to finishing quilts.  I've downloaded the instructions, and completed my quilt top last week (just need to add border).

Center Star with Flying Geese

It's starting to come together

The total top, completed just need to add border.

This is the first time I've made a pieced a quilt using flannel.  I did a rag quilt a couple of years ago, which is totally different from from doing piecing with flannel.  I'm not sure if I'm a big fan of using flannel for piecing; but may give it another try later.

Some of the take aways I got from this: 

1. Pre-wash the flannel.  I wasn't sure of how much shrinkage would occur, so I prewashed it.  I'm glad I did.
2. Press your seams open.  Using flannel the fabric is bulkier, so pressing the seam allowances to one side creates too much bulk.
3. Definitely PRESS AS YOU GO!!!  Makes like so much easier.

On to the next quilt top.....

Happy Sewing Everyone!