Elephant print blocks

The quilter brought this quilt yesterday afternoon and required no intense quilting as it was for a youngster to be used as somewhat of a picnic blanket or to simply sit outside on the grass.

Initially, we discussed doing a simple all-over pattern but the prints and quilt was so pleasing that I got somewhat distracted and decided to do a little more.

We are having some rain which is wonderful but not the best light to take photos at, however, the end result is rather pretty.

Elephant baby quilt

My daughter asked me to make a baby quilt for her pregnant sister-in-law and the theme for the baby’s room is elephants.  I searched the internet and found a pattern as a PDF download on Etsy.  The pattern is called Esmeralda and Edison elephant baby.  I just had too little time to read through all the instructions and simply enlarged the picture to the size I wanted it and then cut my applique shapes from that.

I know I’ve said many a time how much I dislike satin stitching but after having decided on a blanket stitch to outline these shapes, I’ve realised that I dislike applique quilts.  Gosh, it takes forever and is so painstakingly slow.

Now I had 15 little hearts to outline but figured if I did one a day, it will be fine.  Baby won’t be born in 15 days, so all is good.  I’ve also watched the Russian tennis tournament for the first time this year.  I restrain from watching too many tournaments as then I simply never will find time to quilt but this year I excused myself in that I never got to watch Wimbledon due to Covid, so not that bad.

The little hearts did not take as long as I anticipated but it is not nearly as neat as I know it should be.

Then it was time to put this one on the back burner as a customer quilt arrived and needed my attention.

Between this customer quilt and the next, I went for my first visit at the dentist who started top left replacing all the old amalgam fillings with brand new white ones.  It took a full hour and 20 minutes and my jaw was so sore from having my mouth open all the time but other than that no other aches or pains.  I think it looks great even though no-one will ever see it.

Then I had some time to start joining the block to surround the centre panel.

Got the second customer quilt done and then it was back to the dentist for long appointment number 2.Only one tooth built up as there was very little of the original tooth left, so another appointment next week.

Finally got backing for this quilt and got it loaded.  We went to a restaurant for supper on Friday with all the kids and grandbabies and Saturday, with no customer quilts needing me, I had time to load this one and finish it.  I did the binding while pretending to be just as interested in hubby’s golf on TV as he was.

Squares for granny

After my first (long) dentist visit on Tuesday, I received this quilt made from large colourful squares to fit the bed of a grandmother moving to an old age facility.  The quilter wondered whether the colours weren’t too bright for an elderly person but I feel just because we get old, does not mean everything around us should be dull.  A little colour goes a long way to lift ones’ spirit.

She too requested an edge to edge design combining flowers with hearts. Parrot woke up way too early after her afternoon nap and with hubby out of town on a business trip; I couldn’t do much more than entertain the parrot until bedtime.  For those who do not know, our parrot has never been closed in a cage, if she’s awake she’s with one of us at all times.

I only got a little quilting done on Wednesday but at least made a start.  Thursday afternoon I had the youngest grandchild as their playschool was closed due to parents testing positive for Covid but I continued quilting while she took a nap and could finish up after they left.

A quick finish

The customer brought the quilt to me yesterday afternoon, requesting a large scale edge to edge design.  I got to load it later and started the quilting before going to bed.

Up early this morning I managed to finish the rest but she also asked me to stitch the binding to the front.  Luckily she decided to do the back of the binding by hand, by herself.  Phew, grateful for this.

The quilt was made from all Kaffe Fassett fabric and the free motion went really fast.  She was in the vicinity when I phoned and already fetched her quilt.

Now waiting to go to the dentist and then get another quilt later this evening.

Quilt made from shirts

I had an active week, can’t really remember what happened on Monday but I did some shopping and made supper, Tuesday got my hair trimmed and had supper with 2 other quilters whom I haven’t seen in ages…. Major chatting and catching up done.

Wednesday time for the dentist appointment, after being messed around by the previous dentist (before the tennis) I decided to find another dentist.  At least two more visits next week and then we’ll discuss any further plans of action.

I ordered new stencils and a lovely quilt book which arrived via courier on Wednesday, so plenty of dreaming about future quilts.

Received a quilt made from shirts of a dad who passed away end March for the kids to keep as a memory.  This one posed a huge problem, the used shirt fabric had plenty of stretch in it while the denim sashing did not move a single bit.  Having done most of the sashing to stabilise the quilt, I got stuck with puffing shirt squares that I really didn’t know what to do with.

In the end, I quilted with one hand while trying to push and shove the fabric puffs to be the least visible but unknown to me, the same thing happened on the back sheeting.  I ended up with a couple of unexpected pleats but the quilter luckily understood as she experienced the same stretching while piecing the top.

Quilting was interrupted when our youngest granddaughter had her first birthday party at our house and at this stage, she really could not quite understand what the hype was all about.  She, however, did enjoy all the friends and watching them do everything, she soon will be able to do by herself.

Finished up the last bit of quilting this morning and even already oiled and cleaned my machine for a quilt booking tomorrow.

Water life

This was the third quilt done for this week and equally as much fun as the previous quilt.

In the plain blocks, I decided to apply my newly learnt technique from the online course by Quiltastix and use my stencil and pounce pad to mark the grid.  This works extremely well and takes up far less time than marking lines with a pen or chalk.

For the picture blocks, I decided to outline only and then do loops to represent bubbles in the water.

The border and sashing was trusted with an old favourite the paper clip.

Women’s final was amazing and now I am looking forward to tomorrow’s men’s final.

Butterflies

I had so much fun quilting this, actually, the truth is I always have fun when quilting but maybe because spring is in the air and these colours just added to our days being bright and beautiful. I also love quilting for this customer, she simply allows me, without any instructions, time constraint or pre-set rules to do my thing as long as she has a pleasing outcome in the end.  It allows my creative juices to flow not constantly having to wonder if what I do is what the quilter wanted.

I did audition the motifs I wanted on my computer but once loaded on the frame; I needed to check if what I wanted would work on a larger scale, so out came the plastic sheet and a whiteboard marker.

Having decided to use hooks in the design of the 9-patch block, I wanted to repeat the hooks somewhere else, so a new (to me) border motif had to be tried out.  I think I like this.

I only decided on the border design after the quilt was loaded on the frame and thus did not measure the side borders.  So after doing the top and bottom border and the body of the quilt, I had to take it off, measure the spaces and turn the quilt to be put back on the frame.  A good thing though, for one I don’t charge the quilter for my incompetence or indecisiveness and I took it off just as the men’s semi-final started, so watched TV while marking the other borders and then it was game on, tennis only with a little soft rain falling.

For the butterfly blocks, I simply echoed around the picture and just gave the sashing S-shaped curves.

In the 9 patch blocks, I used the continuous line design with the hooks.

I was really sad when this was all over and I had to stop working on it.

An all horse panel

Next up was a horse panel or actually printed horses on fabric and I had no other choice than to do an all-over design as one would never finish if you’d have to outline every horse.  I loved the border, which is also the backing fabric, as I used the printed lines to guide me for a border motif.

Drag along blanket for a toddler

I got this little colourful quilt yesterday late afternoon and with the tennis not being as good as that of last week and hubby having to work late, I started with the quilting as the quilter just requested an all over flower motif and was able to finish up the last bit this morning.

Designs with lines, a Quiltastix online course

For those interested Claire does not expect of you to make a sampler like I did, in fact, she suggests you use cheap fabric and a contrasting thread for practice.  By the way, these courses are not just for long arm machines but for domestic machines as well. You can find the courses over HERE.

Now, little old me, knew if I used cheap fabric, I will most probably produce a cheap result, therefore, I decided to use proper quilting cotton and I stuck to the contrasting thread to be able to see my mistakes immediately.

The other nice thing about these online courses is that you own them for life.  As I decided on which motif to stitch where, I could go back to the course material, check out how it should be done before practising on a whiteboard and only then did the motif on the fabric sampler.

Friday was somewhat of a tug of war.  I had the quilt loaded, wanted to watch tennis and we almost had proper rain but along with it came thunder, so machine had to be off.  When the thunder subsided the tennis was just too good to leave, so I had to make a plan and bring the laptop to the frame room – not that I really have space for it but I reckoned while quilting I might at least listen when things become intense and I wanted to look.

Started cooking Sunday lunch just after 4 am on Saturday while having the laundry going, knowing all that needed to be done was up to date and I had the rest of the day to myself.  Laptop acted up after an update, so as much as I enjoyed my time behind the frame I took several and frequent breaks to catch up on the tennis but got the quilt done before bedtime.

Baked my Apple Tarte Tatin early this morning to serve with fresh cream for dessert, ironed yesterday’s laundry and stitched the binding to the front of the sampler.  Before lunch, I then just had to toss the salad together.

After everyone left, I took a rather late afternoon nap and then finished up the last of the binding by hand.  Popped the sampler in the washing machine to get rid of all the pounce pad chalk lines and get it to dry.

Claire’s online courses

Now what made me think that I will be ONLY watching tennis for 2 weeks straight?  I had to visit the dentist on Monday, turns out a new crown is needed but for that, I bought 2 weeks’ time until Roland Garros is over.  Teeth can wait for tennis.

Then just as I got home I saw Claire from Quiltastix launch her online courses.  No way I can skip these, so being home earlier on Tuesday I tried to sign up for the free course.  What a mission.  Already having a WordPress account, when I tried to follow the course it registered me as a customer and not as a subscriber and I couldn’t see a thing.  Luckily after many WhatsApp messages between Claire and myself, she got me sorted but then it was already so late in the afternoon, I couldn’t finish the free course.

Needless to say, one thing leads to another and done with the free course I enrolled for the Designs with lines course too.  This is a beginner’s course and even though I’m not that much of a beginner anymore, there would be no harm in seeing someone else’s take on something you regularly do.  One can only become more skilled.

I then had to sew me up a sampler to not only practise what I’ve seen but to also keep it as a reminder for those days that you simply seem to run out of ideas.

As if Claire’s course was not tempting enough I saw another free video by Jo’s Country Junction on beginning to use EQ8.  I’ve had this software for ages but never allow myself the time (or have the patience) to sit and work out how things should be done.  Planning to take a look at this video the moment I get a space.

My daughter also requested a baby quilt for her pregnant sister-in-law and not having done applique in ages, I screwed it up majorly.  Luckily nothing has been sewn down yet but still, can one really forget how to do basic applique?

So watching Jo’s video did not help much as I often tend to want to design custom quilts and not be able to determine the quilt size beforehand.  Back to graph paper, I went and soon had a plan that would almost accommodate all the motifs in Claire’s course including blocks, sashing and borders.

All in all, Thursday was a wonderful day.  Did well at the office in the morning, watched amazing tennis, while making supper, listening to thunder in the distance, sadly it only stayed distant, read about the slow but steady downfall of the ANC as one corrupt member after the other is being exposed and finished my motif sampler for this course.

Claire in her examples used 2 samplers, one only for sashing and borders and the other for blocks but I thought to combine it all.  Now I didn’t have quite enough sashing and borders for all the motifs, she showed but I will simply omit those that I’m truly comfortable with and try those I haven’t used too much in the past.  I think I have a nice weekend project.