One Piece at a Time

Basting Miss Noel

After seeing the videos I shared with you yesterday I promptly went out and bought some boards just like Sharon suggested. I gave this method a try myself and I am very happy with the results. I didn’t even need to take Advil after I was done like I normally do after basting. Now, if I could only quilt like her…sigh

I found this thread at my local Michaels

Here is the stitch

Here is my set up

I started off using milliner needles but they were way too hard to thread so I switched to this one...I have no idea what it is but I think it's a crewel needle

Here is Miss Noel all ready for quilting

If I could pick a Quilting Super Power..

It would be that all my quilts would be basted in an instant just by blinking my eyes. Until now I have pretty much hated basting my quilts because I did it on the floor with safety pins. THEN I saw these videos and now my attitude is completely changed…COMPLETELY!

Check them out for yourself!

 

 

The WINNER is...

Kathy, who wrote

"I would invent a way to get perfect stitches during FMQ instead of short jerky ones that break the needles (besides investing in a long-arm machine). I know practice makes perfect... Maybe something like a projector that would shine the image of where I need to go on the fabric instead of tediusly marking it would be nice. Thanks for the giveaway."

It sure was fun reading all of these, thanks for playing!

Design Wall Monday

Happy Monday Everyone! I’m hoping and praying that no one had any serious trouble with hurricane Irene over the weekend.

 Here’s a shot of my design wall this morning. I’m calling this one Miss Noel. I’m having a blast quilting it and I have some really good info to share with you about that this week.

Head on over to Judy's blog to see what everyone is up to.

I will be back later (i.e. after coffee and exercise) to pick the appliqué tool winner.

Friday GIVE-AWAY

Happy Friday everyone!

After writting about sharp points yesterday I figured I had better find a tool like the one I use for you guys. I found one very similar at P3 Designs, which by the way is an awesome website!  Best part is, I have one to give-away.

 

To enter just leave a comment telling us which quilting super power you would invent if you were able to invent just one.

The Tool

Ooops!

I just realized that the picture of the tool is not there. When I get the other coputer started I will post that picture.

Sharp Points !

So, you might have noticed that the points are a tad sharp on my poinsettias in my latest quilt. Here’s my little trick to do this.

Applique up to the point and take a small stitch at the point.

Park your needle and pinch the point with your thumb.

I use this tool (but you can also use a toothpick or a cuticle stick for this)

to push the excess fabric in WHILE I hold it with my thumb.

Continue sewing down the other side.

The Reversible Petal…a little time saver

Here is another little design trick I used in my latest quilt that saved me a little time and a template as well. The petals in the flowers are the same shape. Well, actually, the center flower is larger than the two side flowers but the petals are all the same in each. The shape is slightly asymmetric.

So I used my template to make my petals.

But the petal can either go this way

Or this way

That way I can get slightly different looking petals out of the same template. If you look at the quilt, all the darker petals are oriented one way and the lighter petals go the other way.

 

My Design Process…it all begins with a Doodle

I thought you guys might like a small glimpse into my design process. Pretty much every quilt I design has most of these elements in it.

First I start with a doodle in my sketchbook. I see from this picture that I also wrote down the fabric line I was thinking of using.

After the doodle I need to make certain decisions such as what size? What setting? Will there be other blocks? Then I start working on a preliminary drawing. If the design has symmetry in it I usually only draw one part of it. I copy the other parts later when the design is more final.

After I look at the drawing for a while I make some notes

When I mostly happy with it I draw the other parts…in this case I folded the paper in half and copied the other side.

This is one of my most important steps. I pin the final drawing to a wall I see all the time. As I go about my work I will look at it and notice if there is anything that is bugging me or that I want to see that isn’t there. Sometimes these drawings can be up for a while and sometimes it’s only up for a day or two. It’s all very intuitive at this point. At this stage I also start thinking about color placement a bit as well.