Quilter's Favorites

Geta from Geta's Quilting Studio is hosting a lovely link up in the quilting community to help us share our favorite quilting tips.  So, without further adieu, here are some of mine!

List a few of your favorite quilting notions. 

 - I don't feel like I use that many notions when I'm sewing.  Pins?  No. Fancy rulers?  No. No.  I do pin baste my quilts together and I love using the Kwik Klip to save my fingers some stress.  

image from JoAnn fabrics

Any advice for a successful color scheme of a quilt ?

 - I'm still branching out into creating my own color schemes.  I used to exclusively use Moda Precuts because they are a fast and easy way to get a variety of fabrics that coordinate beautifully.  Now after making many quilts with the precuts, I've started experimenting with my own color palettes.  Sometimes it works, sometimes I don't love the results, but now I know for next time!  
   Pinterest is great for color inspiration too.  Lots of quilters I follow have a color palette board that I pin my favorites here.  Design Seeds is a great website that uses a photo to create a color palette for you.  I could spend all day on their site!  

Image from Design Seeds

Some thoughts about thread and needles, batting, fabrics ?  

 - I usually use Gutterman 100% cotton thread for all aspects of my projects. I also usually use Warm and White quilt batting.
   Never underestimate the importance of a fresh, sharp needle!  I gave myself quite the headache on my Weekender Bag and all I really needed to do was change my needle...  

Tips for easy piecing

 - I rarely pin things together when I'm piecing, so it's very important to me that all of my pieces are cut the proper size.  Measure twice, cut once!  Depending on what I'm working on, I may press seams towards the dark side so they nestle together well and I don't have to pin things together, or I press seams open to reduce bulk if I have a lot of seams coming together at one point.

If you enjoy other quilt techniques than patchwork, could you share some tips with us ? 

 - When making my Weekender Bag, I tried quilt as you go, and definitely think I'll be making more projects this way!  It was fast, fun, and a great way to use small scraps.  

Do you have free tutorials on your blog? Share the link.

 - I have a tutorial for a flat iron cover here.

The sewing machine - share a few things you love at your sewing machine; what makes it special? What features do you think are the most important to a sewing machine used for quilting? 

 - I use a Bernina 440 with the BSR (Bernina Stitch Regulator) for free motion quilting.  I love it!  My stitch length is very consistent when FMQ and it makes my work look a lot better.  That's Carlton.  He's a lot bigger now and probably wouldn't fit...

Work in Progress Wednesday

I've been plugging away at making what feels like a zillion hour glass blocks using my vintage sheets stash.  I finished all of the cool hourglass blocks yesterday and now I need to sew them into 9 patch units.  This is going to be a great version of Elizabeth's Planetarium quilt!  Here's my first post on this quilt.  

Playing around with vintage sheets

When I first started sewing again a few years ago, I had a very small fabric budget and was scared to actually cut into expensive fabric store fabric.  What if I messed it up??  The first blog I started reading back in the day was Oh,Fransson! and Elizabeth had a great quilt using vintage sheets.  I started finding them at thrift shops and even participated in a couple rounds of vintage sheet swaps on Flickr.  I didn't get around to using a lot of them before I moved, so I gave some away and kept my favorites.

Fast forward a year or two and I was cleaning out my sewing area.  I found my favorite vintage sheet bundle and the Planetarium quilt from The Practical Guide to Patchwork was the perfect use for these great pieces!  I am very impatient and couldn't make 160 hourglass blocks before putting together one whole block.  So here's what I've come up with.  The original quilt used solids to frame the blocks, but I'm on a fabric diet and decided to use my stash.  I love Lizzy House jewels!  Only 15 more blocks to go... :)

May Blocks for Munki in the Middle Bee

I'm doing a small bee swap featuring Heather Ross fabrics, including Munki Munki prints from her pajama and clothing line.  I didn't really have any HR prior to this, so I've been collecting bits and pieces here and there when the price seems right.

Here's what I came up with for my May swap partner.  She wanted a churn dash with the HR in the center.

This block has a pink VW van piece in the center, a V&Co Simply Color teal ikat print for the churn dash, and the background is a white and black polka dot print. 

I may make up a copy of the second block for myself to keep :)  Both the telephones and the number print are from the same Munki Munki nightgown dress that I bought on eBay just to cut up.  I felt the Michael Miller blue and teal polka dot was a great accent for the churn dash!

I'm in another bee that has 2 people on the schedule to receive blocks for May, so I'd better get busy on the others!

Unsewing

Sometimes when I'm at work I have free time throughout the day where I've decided to be productive with hand work, like making a zillion hexies.  Today I decided to finally "unsew" all these extra pieces from various projects so they can go back in the scrap bins to be reused.  Most of these are from strip piecing my Irish chain quilts or the DS Quilts no HST zig zag quilt.  These precious lovelies may turn into a pillow, or maybe I'll get crazy and just start sewing and whacking things into submission a la Jacquie Gering!  

Follow me on Bloglovin!

I'd never really used Google Reader that much before, but since it's going away I've been seeing a bunch of posts about alternatives.  I decided to check into these, and decided that Bloglovin is definitely a great way to see what's the latest on your favorite blogs.  My reader list always has about 200 unread posts, but I will work my way through them, trust me!  

I've registered my blog on Bloglovin, so feel free to follow me and be updated on my newest posts!  

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Amy Butler Weekender Bag Finished!!

A little over a month ago I decided to tackle the mother of all sewing projects (so I've heard anyways): the Amy Butler weekender bag.  I loved Elizabeth Hartman's patchwork version, so I decided to use leftover Tula Pink Birds and the Bees and an Anna Maria Horner Field Study print that played nicely with them to quilt as you go the outside panels.  I'm quite fond of how it turned out and actually want to make another!  

Here are some tips and suggestions I learned along the way.  I made a Pinterest board to collect my ideas before I started.  

1. Quilt as you go.  Inspired by Elizabeth's.  To make it easier on yourself, don't feel like you have to patchwork the areas that will be covered by pockets - no one will see them!  

2.  Piping.  Use Steam a Seam iron on fusible tape to eliminate extra sewing.  Here's a Noodlehead tutorial.  Also, to eliminate a little bulk at the spot where the piping meets, fold back the piping fabric, trim the piping ends to fit exactly against one another, then replace the fabric covering the raw edges of the piping while tucking the raw edge of the fabric in.  Kind of like binding a quilt, but with piping inside.  I added piping to the edges of the side pockets.

3.  Handles.  Make them longer!  I added ~8" total to the straps so they are comfortable to hang from my shoulder.  I also reinforced the handles by stitching them extra well to the side panels.  

4.  Zipper.  I wanted a zipper that opened either direction, like on a suitcase or a purse.  I couldn't find one longer than 22" at JoAnn or online, so a brilliant friend of mine suggested I look backpacks, etc. at Goodwill.  My zipper is from a Dell laptop case!  Make sure to find one that doesn't have the brand on it :)  I spent $5 on the laptop case, and it had tons of zippers and other hardware I can use for future projects.  

5.  Zippered pocket.  I made one for the lining of the outside pocket.  Tutorial here.

6.  Interior pockets added.  I cut an extra exterior pocket piece from the lining, using the top edge of the pocket on a fold, so it was twice the size.  I top stitched along the folded edge, then lined it up with one of the large lining pieces along the bottom and basted in place.  I measured halfway across the pocket, marked on the top and bottom, and sewed through the pocket and lining layers to create 2 interior pockets.  

7.  Bag feet.  I bought 2 packages and used 6 feet on the bottom of my bag.  Make sure you use Fray Check before you stick the brads in to keep them from unraveling in the future. 

8.  Needles.  Use a sharps needle for construction!!!!!!!!  My top thread was breaking like crazy and I got so mad I put the bag away for 2 or 3 weeks.  My sewing machine lady recommended a sharps needle and I was finished with construction in an hour.  

9.  Clover clips.  Wow, why haven't I used these before??

10.  False bottom.  I haven't made one yet, and don't really think mine needs one because the Peltex etc I used in the bottom is pretty stiff.  

11.  I may go back and add magnetic snaps to the outside pockets because they kind of stick out.  I'll see how I feel about this when deciding if this will cause more damage since I'm finished making it now.  

Hopefully this inspires you to make your own!  It's totally worth it :D

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