On Trend Quilt Along – 2 - Completed

This was another one of those things I did and when completed, you realise you’ve done yourself a huge favour for you’ve learnt so much.

I am still no pro in free motion on the longarm but with every quilt I do I gain confidence and some things just gets a little easier.

I remember my first pebbling on the longarm and how bad it looked but now, after doing this a couple of times; these do not look that bad anymore.

Another motif that I just couldn’t get right, was the ribbon candy and on this quilt I could actually see how much I’ve improved with this design.

So yes, I might just do more free motion quilt-alongs and I find using different tutors equally exciting.  One may not get an idea from one quilter but then another teacher shows it in a slightly different way and suddenly it just clicks and off you go.

I still have to find a teacher that would make a echoed star sink into my brain for there is simply no way I could get this right by just making dots with my pen.  Heck I got things that looked like tentacles from some stiff dead creature, so I omitted many an echoed star on this dear quilt.

This quilt will also be put up in my longarm room as a sample and a way for me to keep seeing where I came from and how I progress.

Labyrinth Walk – 1

In August 2017 Daughter-in-law very politely hinted for a Labyrinth Walk quilt by posting this request on my Facebook wall.

I’ve seen these in different colours several times but it looked daunting.  I however still went ahead and ordered the pattern, with it not being available as a PDF download, I thought it would never get to darkest Africa with the criminal elements in our postal service but it did.  It was somewhat of a disappointment in that it was a black and white pattern which seems like it is simply printed whenever needed to sell.  I can therefore not understand it not being made available as a PDF.

Looked at the pattern for days on end, trying to make a colour picture in my head but I am obviously not that creative.

Finally got hold of fabric but these were left unattended for several more months while I got to play with my newly acquired longarm.

While waiting for online classes on FM quilting to be done on the longarm I got bored and remembered about the “ready to go” quilt pattern and fabric and started cutting.  The pattern, I must give due credit, was typed in an extremely user friendly manner and pretty soon I had almost all my strips needed cut. I went with green for finding two (dark and light) colours of large quantities in our little city was somewhat of a mission.  So it was never about the colour I prefer but about the colour that would be available.

Well one strip or piece at a time and my first block is starting to take on shape.

Repairs to my machine

About a week ago our local Bernina, Q’nique agents in South Africa, replaced a component on my frame.  I had trouble with my take up rail (Momentum frame) getting stuck midway in quilting.  After that I finished the Angela Walters free motion quilt along and the rail worked like a dream, so I do believe that problem has been resolved.

Then while doing the challenge I hit a ruler which not only broke a part of my needle threader but also set the timing/memory of my machine off.

Yesterday our Bernina dealer was back, replaced the component for the timing, gave me a new threader and even another extra spare part (also in the threading path) that I can keep.  After sales service means a lot to me and I really cannot complain about what I am getting.  I also got to check out the inside of my machine while work was being done and I was rather surprised to see how very basic the inner works are.

Now I can play to my hearts’ delight again.

Quilter’s Moonshine – an interesting read

Due to the fact that Best Press is not available in the city where I live unless I wait for a vendor to visit our city and I can buy from them, I started using Quilter’s Moonshine a while back.  Many recipes on You Tube but I merely take a quarter cup of cheap (so everyone said) Vodka and mix it with 2 cups of water in a spray bottle. Looking like a cheapskate in the bottle store, checking every price on every bottle it turned out Celtic Bay was the cheapest and that’s what I’ve been using.

Now the catch here is that Vodka is made from potatoes which are a natural starch, so therefore the recipes and use.

Well, this morning I read a Facebook post which put somewhat of a damper on my pressing spirits.  This was it….

Now off I went to the kitchen to check the ingredients of my Vodka, needless to say, being bottled in South Africa, not even a hint of which poisons might be in there.  So for all I know I could have been pressing my quilts with grapes/wheat/rice or whatever for the last couple of months!

I tried to google Vodka made from potatoes and found very few and none produced in South Africa but I’m sure you will find it somewhere but I can also guess it will be at a cost.  So I guess I’ll just have to up my quantity of Best Press purchased from the vendor next time they visit our city but part of the reason for using cheap Vodka was that it then was cheaper than Best Press.

At least I will look better in a bottle store, checking for ingredients and not price.

Free motion quilt along hosted by Angela Walters – 10 – Completed

Okay, I guess it is time for confession…… I simply could not wait for Angela’s next video to appear as I have two other quilt tops on the guest bedroom bed with batting and backing, ready to go on the longarm and another quilt it the making in the sewing room, so I just had to move on with finishing up this free motion quilt along challenge.

I played with two border motifs, using the paper clip in my coloured borders and interlocking squares in my white borders.

For the triangles surrounding the squares in the quilt, I did dot to dot ruler work (where I broke a part of my machine) in opposite triangles and clams, on a small scale, in the other two opposite triangles.

We are finally using fibre for internet (necessary for our problems with lightning) and I just love the speed my You Tube videos load now.  Unfortunately if Telkom has problems, it really doesn’t seem to matter which internet/fibre provider you use, you are stuck and that is what happened to us yesterday.  So much for technology!  Fortunately I didn't need internet to complete this.

On Trend Quilt Along – 1

While making mistake after mistake on my All Stacked Up quilt, I discover the cutest quilter on You Tube by the name of Lauren Jackson who teaches FM quilting on a longarm online.  Now I have a teacher available at my beck and call.  Her website can be found over HERE.

I signed up for the On Trend Quilt Along but I still needed to make my quilt top as ordering panels from her would take forever and a day to get to darkest Africa and I am just a little too impatient for that.  So using fabric from my stash (one almost as old as I am) I decided to piece a top according to her instructions.

I had a piece of multi-coloured fabric for ages now and just never found a place where I could use it, so I decided to use this as a guide to the colours of the rest of the quilt.

Now I would have never thought of combining a colour such as olive green with teal but if the fabric designer found it to work, who am to say it won't?  Pulled out fabric from my stash to go with the border and pretty soon I had all the pieces needed to assemble my top.

I don’t think the quilt top was meant to be a show stopper but it is a reasonable size with practical spaces to try different motifs on, even borders of different widths.

With this done I printed my worksheets and had to do the drawing class so I got out all my fun drawing equipment to play and practise.  The lovely thing is that while doing this I can watch the video in which Lauren explains how a motif is shaped or built up, I can pause, stop and replay the video at any given time according to my needs.

I however still wish to finish the Angela Walters quilt along before starting with this one.

Breaking parts on my machine

I’ve been quilting along ever so smoothly trying different techniques, motifs and especially ruler work, when my foot hit the ruler and I was left with this little shiny thingy on my quilt top.

I just could not figure out where it came from or what broke, so when hubby came home after work, he stood behind the machine and saw that it was part of my thread guide on my needle bar.  Now the leftover bit still clings to the needle bar and I can still quilt but obviously I have to look at it for any possible movement every time I complete a motif or area which already happened.

Being after office hours I sent an e-mail to our local dealer and I so pray that they will have a replacement part for me in South Africa.  I am not sure I can endure waiting for the part to be imported which will take way too long.

So today I will be frequently checking my e-mail for any response.

Another good delivery day

I had no less than two deliveries at the office today, from 2 different suppliers.  One is my zippers for the longarm cloth leaders and I am rather nervous about fitting these, so I guess for a couple of days I will simply read the instructions and look at the pictures before going over to the final step.

Then I also wanted channel locks for the longarm but to make paying for the overnight courier worth my while I added two more templates to the mix.  Geez, I will have to start quilting and use these now!

Free motion quilt along hosted by Angela Walters – 9

I am quite convinced that I bought my VERY LAST book on free motion quilting unless someone magnificent comes up with a bright new technique.  If I don’t have/see enough possibilities in the books I now own, I will never find anything.  This was my last delivery.

So chuffed when Angela’s latest video with the LAST TWO blocks came out today and I could finish these.

Now I just have to wait for the border and background filler video.

Free motion quilt along hosted by Angela Walters – 8

Up before 5 am to do these two blocks and one can clearly see that my coordination is not where it should be at that time of the morning.  I tried Clamshells and I don’t think it was that bad except for when I tried to echo.  That turned out a mean mess but I am not unpicking.  This quilt will serve as a point from where I grew and I’d like to look back on it some day and have a good giggle.

Stacked squares went so much easier but then it was about half an hour and another cup of coffee later and Shorty (the ruler Angela used) was one of those I recently purchased.  Whoever came up with ruler quilting is a genius.  This makes life so much easier.

I am finally up to date with this quilt along challenge but I have two more finished tops that I'd love to  put on the frame but I think I should just hang in there for a while and get this challenge finished. (not sure if I would though).

Free motion quilt along hosted by Angela Walters – 7

And then we got to the swirl meander.  Now for everyone that might look at the left side of this block and think, “ah she’s good”, nope, this must be one of the earliest designs I tried for FM quilting even on my sit down machine, so I think I got the hang of it.  On the right hand side however I tried the elongated swirl…… I think I failed miserably.  All I seemed to achieve was somewhat of a bigger and kinda mismatched swirl.  I believe the idea here is, try it all and stick to what you can manage, so here goes my take on the Swirl Meander.

My attempt at the feather meander may look horrible to the viewer but I am quite convinced if I used matching thread, none of my imperfections would have shown up this much, so I am satisfied and after all it is my opinion that should count now, isn’t it?

Free motion quilt along hosted by Angela Walters – 6

Whenever hubby goes on a business trip out of town and I don’t have to cook, I guess it feels like school holiday when I was a child.  It just seems not having to cook allows for so much time to do something else and I do make the most of this.  I started cutting and piecing fabric for a new project – yip another free motion quilt along and with this one, I am taking my time into piecing and stitching these to perfection.  These are some of my perfectly square 6½” rail fence squares.

And then it began to rain.  Now we do NEED rain badly and I don’t mind but along with it comes thunder and the dreaded lightning.  With our history of attracting lightning I did not take any chances…. Unplugged everything electronical or linked to the internet.  Fortunately my new project just need cutting for now.  So at least something else to do.

When the rain stopped I could do the next video in the challenge and I think I can safely say “I will not be doing many serpentine lines on my quilting.  This is just not for me but I don’t think my blocks came out that badly although I didn’t seem to get the hang of changing direction. .. Que Sera Sera!

Free motion quilt along hosted by Angela Walters – 5

We had the electrician back, this time with dear husband rather frustrated by now, telling him exactly what he should replace, irrespective of the cost, but something should be done somewhere and by golly, he could help us the same day and replaced the trip switch.  Now I refuse to get excited too soon but life has been good…. No electricity failures up to now and I’ve been piecing, ironing, watching cricket on TV, quilting, cooking and playing games on the computer with no problems and this is my attempt at dot to dot quilting (with a little filler to make it seem less “empty” and some areas left unquilted to make it seem less busy).

A new book also arrived at the office, so while hubby is out on a business trip I’ll have some eye candy to stare at when in bed tonight.  This is the Longarm Quilting Workbook by Teresa Silva.  So much to look forward to….. Maybe I should just go to bed at 4pm???

Free motion quilt along hosted by Angela Walters – 4

Ah I love this even with the electricity issues.  In order for me to be able to quilt these two blocks hubby had to switch off one plug switch on the mains board.  Turned out to be that of the main bedroom where parrot takes her afternoon nap with the TV playing, so she can’t hear us move.  So we’ve been dead quiet for if that lady wakes up, all hell breaks loose and there is no chance of quilting.  I however got the Leafy Meander done.

Free motion quilt along hosted by Angela Walters – 3

I had to postpone this project for a while, whilst getting my On Ringo Lake quilt top done but it was put back on the frame amidst major electricity frustrations.  Ever since our house was struck by lightning on 9 January and then again on 14 February we’ve been struggling with the electricity in this house.  Yes, we had an electrician out but he says it could be any one of the numerous electrical appliances causing the problem and it is up to us to find out which one.  We are floored… just when we think we’ve found the culprit with the electricity behaving for a while, darkness would step in the moment we get too comfortable.  We are at our wits end, not knowing what to unplug, discard or change anymore. No fun when quilting if this constantly happens.

I however got to do the two blocks from Week 3 done using rulers to make the arcs. 

All stacked up – 6

No, no, no….. Seriously???  I joined batting for my quilt (with it being Easter weekend no quilt shop would be open) so I made what I had work and then pieced a backing for my quilt and as I took it off the design wall yet again, to mark the side I’d like to load on the frame, by golly I saw another mistake and it even showed up on the photo I posted in my previous post.  Shikes!

And for a close-up, here it is.

So a little more unpicking for me.  I am becoming a pro.

All stacked up – 5

The kids came to fetch the little ones on Saturday as they had an adventure day planned, so I could get quilting again but heck how many times can one person make the exact same mistake?  Me obviously several times!

As I was stitching the blocks into rows I noticed this:

The purple and white triangle should have been switched.  No less than 3 blocks, one already set in a row, had to be unpicked and turned within its square.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, even more mishaps appeared, right in front of my eyes.  How I ever missed these when piecing or even putting the blocks up on the design wall, heaven only knows.

I then decided enough is enough and called it a night at 19:50 but in my own defence I’ve been on the internet while trying to piece and got distracted by so many other things seen and heard on You Tube.  I should not do this but my ADD does not allow me to concentrate on one thing for too long.

Got up at 03:40 this morning and decided it will get done and before the rest of South Africa was even aware of daylight, I had the completed top up back on the design wall.  Now should anyone spot yet another mistake, I really don’t need to know about it.

I just love the feeling when I get a top done, to be able to clean my sewing table, oil my machine, replace the needle, knowing I’m ready for the next new project.

Now to get batting and backing and finally finish this one off.