half, quarter and split half square triangles

I spent a lovely Friday sewing triangles. I've decided that many of my quilting samples should be a consistent size. So I'm going to spend some time working on samples for classes that are 2 by 3 feet... 24 inches wide and 36 inches long. This is a challenge. I usually just wing it, see whatever size the quilt ends up.

This is a sample for my half square triangle quarter square triangle and split half triangle squares. I just learned the term split-half triangle while doing some Pinterest searching the other day. I never knew what to call those squares made of two quarter triangles and one half triangle. Now I know. Split half triangle square perfect name.

Custom Quilting - February Special

I'm offering a special price for custom quilting for the month of February.


Book your quilt in during February and get 20% off the price of medium density quilting. Price for this is regularly 3¢ per square inch.  Now only 2.4¢ per square inch. 


A quilt that is 60" x 90" would be 5400 square inches.  At 3¢ per square inch the total would be $162.  At 2.4¢ per square inch the new total would be $130.


Give me a call at 403-819-8126 to book your quilt in for quilting.

Allison

2500 feathers

treated myself to Adam Chenevert's 2500 feathers dvd. I've had lots of fun drawing.  

Welcome to 2015

We always start the new year with "where has the time gone"!    Let's not worry about where it's gone...let's just get on with our plans for this year.

During the summer of 2014 I started working part time at WonderFil Specialty Threads.  I was hired to write a monthly newsletter to our retail customers, to our homebased customers and to teachers who use the WonderFil threads.  I have also started writing a weekly/monthly newsletter to our Threaducation Centre supporters.  I have also started writing the CalgaryThreadGirls blog which is our way of keeping everyone up to date on events at the Centre.  AND....I am excited to say that I am looking after the Handi Quilter Training and Rental Studio!  I get to teach and encourage and support long arm quilters.

So, my plans for the coming year?  

to dream about quilting, to think about quilting, to talk about quilting, 

to write about quilting!....and to QUILT!!!!!

As this is my personal quilting blog and the blog I use to promote my longarm quilting business I may post about events at the WonderFil Threaducation Centre and the Handi Quilter Studio on occasion. I expect I'll make a brief comment and attach a link to the Calgary Thread Girls blog.  

I will try to post pictures at least monthly of the quilting projects I have done as well as ideas that I have found interesting and informative.

I'm still available to do custom quilting for you.  Just give me a call.

I am going to re-cap my quilt challenges from last year.  I had a challenge to finish a number of quilts that have been sitting around for quite a while.  My goal was to get them to the next stage.....completed quilt tops, quilted and bound and unfinished quilt tops to the completed stage.

My giant broken star in blues and yellows....Always reminded me of fields of grains and a bright summer sky.  I pulled it out half way through the summer and noticed a diamond that is in the wrong place.  It got folded back up and put away.  I thought I had enough fabric for the backing, but am short.  :(

Arabesque
July 2014, the border is on.  The backing is prepared...just need to load and quilt.   This one is done and on my bed!!!!!   I quilted the dark and light blocks with alternating free hand designs.  I'm very pleased with this quilt.  I will even go so far to say its my favourite.

  

 Asian Stack and Whack.  This I've pulled out a couple of times.  I was trying to decide on whether or not to make more blocks for a bigger quilt, but have decided to add a yellow and blue zinger and a nice wide border of the print fabric.

Aussie Stack n' slash...it's quilted.  I just have to trim and bind.  I'll post more about this quilt with pictures soon. (Completed) We have done much snuggling under this puppy!

 Batik Blazing Star....some strips cut....that's all.   :(   Think I may make this my new year's priority project. The last time I worked on this I was trying to decide on the background.  I don't have enough of any of the fabrics, so it will have to be pieced.  Not gonna shop for anything for this quilt till I get to the backing.   And that's a promise!

  

AHG Mystery.  I've already completed one of these.  But as with many mysteries, fabric choices are always a challenge.  I want to use the big blue circles for lots of quilting. Hanging my head in shame.....not much more done that what's shown here.  

 Blue and White Dresden Plate.   I see a trend developing.  I see another year of challenges coming on!

 Foothills Sampler. The backing is ready to go.  All I have to do is load it and get it done! I will need to look for a fabric for the binding as I made this quilt so long ago and don't have any fabric left.

 2 Quilts to be given away  (Completed)  These were both completed this year and gifted. 

 Gordian Knot.  not done....no more to say.

Double 9 patch (Update....gave the top away to a friend who will finish it for her daughter!)  Can I count that in the completed column?

 Hand Dyed Lone Star not done

 Hand Dyed Pinks  not done

Western Retreat Mystery (completed in May 2014 and put on display at Heritage Park Festival of Quilts.) completed Woot Woot.  Done and is used every day snuggling on the couch.  I was trying my hand at ruler work and am not sure if I like it or not.  I found it very slow and quite a challenge.  May have to try more ruler work.

  

  

 Xs and Os - paper pieced scraps (gave away...see I do check things off one way or another)

This is not the end.  I did get a lot of other projects done.  Some I started from scratch and completed and some I just started.  I think I'll wait a while to start my 2015 list.

Have a great start to your 2015.

Who'd a thunk?....how to get an accurate seam allowance

Spent a lazy afternoon on Sunday.  After a dynamic and rocking service at church in the morning, hubby and I treated ourselves to a lovely pedicure!  He still won't choose any colour and the girls at the nail salon tease him more and more!  We then went home and just vegged in front of the TV.  I had the first season of Hawaii Five-0 on the TV and since I have watched most of the episodes, was not quite paying attention.  My lap top in my lap kept the other part of my brain working.

Here's what I learned yesterday afternoon from Pinterest.

How to sew with an accurate 1/4" seam allowance.  

OK, I've been sewing with a 1/4" seam allowance forever!  I know how to do it right!  I know how to trick my machine and use my favourite, regular sewing machine foot instead of a patchwork foot to sew 1/4" seams.....don't I?

I started looking into this because I am writing the draft for my January WonderFil Newsletter and our focus thread this month is DecoBob.  DecoBob is an 80wt thread that is "perfect for piecing". And apparently you will get a much more accurate 1/4" seam allowance.  Well, before I started spouting, I thought I'd do a little research to add to what I already know about machines and 1/4" seam allowances.

Sewing machines use little metal teeth (feed dogs) to feed the fabric from the front of the machine to the back. As the fabric is fed through, the needle will go up and down through the fabric and make a stitch with thread.  If the feed dogs don't move the fabric, the needle will stitch in one place.

Instead of just one feed dog, there are often 3-7 sets of little metal teeth that work to feed the fabric. Some of these teeth are placed close together and on some machines, further apart.

  

Many 1/4" or patchwork feet are narrower than a normal or standard sewing foot to allow you to feed the fabric against the edge of the foot and get your 1/4" seam allowance.  

   

If the foot you use is narrow as you go over the feed dogs, the fabric won't be fed evenly and some sewers complain of the fabric pulling to one side as they sew.  Can you see that the foot and fabric are not covering the feed dogs completely?  I find that when I sew with a 1/4" foot, my fabric tends to drift to the left and I am always pulling my fabric to the right against the edge of the foot.  I solved this problem by using my open toe or satin stitch sewing foot and moving my needle to a position on the right, closer to the edge of the foot.

   

Many computerized machines will have a needle centre position.  When the machine is turned on, the needle will set itself to be in a centre position.  Use the features on your machine to move the needle closer  to the right edge of the foot.  My centre needle position is at 3.5mm.  The full width of the stitches are 7mm.

I did some testing.  I cut a number of strips of fabric 2" wide.  I sewed 3 strips together with a needle postion of 6mm (what I have always used for my 1/4" seam allowance).  I lined my fabric against the edge of my foot. I pressed these seams very gently to make sure I didn't stretch anything. You will have to look closely, but you can definitely see that the sample sewn with a 6mm needle position does not quite measure 5" (I moved the ruler over 1/2" for more visibility).  The centre strip is just shy of the 1" mark.     

The sample sewn with the 6.5mm needle position, measures much closer to that desired 5" amount. The centre strip is a much more accurate 1".  
   

So, its only a few threads you say.  But imagine a few threads at every seam and suddenly a 6" block with 6 pieces of fabric doesn't measure the desired 6"!  So, going forward, I'm going to sew with a 6.5mm needle position on my machine.

Now the next challenge is sewing a straight line.  One of the Pinterest posts suggested masking tape and another one suggested Post-It Notes.  I think I may prefer the masking tape as a physical guide because it will stay in place longer than the Post-It Notes.  Below are some of the great ideas I found this weekend that set me on the right track.

seam allowance tricks

more seam allowance tricks

even more seam allowance tricks

I challenge everyone to CHECK YOUR 1/4" SEAM ALLOWANCE!

KISS Quilting

Many, many years ago I participated in a block swap at a quilting retreat at Sylvan Lake. We each made 12 identical blocks and swapped.  What we ended up with were 12 blocks in different colours.  I dutifully sewed them together and put the top away for later quilting.  I am not sure how old the top is, but I would guess at least 5 years old, probably much more!

The blocks were to be 9 1/2" finished.  Some weren't....so I simply added a black border around each block and trimmed to make them all 12 1/2" finished.  Not sure why the extra 1/2" on the block size, but there you have it.

I found some black batik with little dots of colour that was a perfect match to use for the backing and binding.   I machine stitched the binding to the back side of the quilt and folded the binding to the front and machine stitched it in place.

I loaded that puppy on the Handi Quilter Avante (Aster) and stitched away.  I remembered to start the timer and look at that!   It only took me 22 minutes and 26 seconds of actual stitching time to get that puppy done.   It was a total of almost 1 hour to load, thread and advance the quilt on the frame and stitch.

I did stitch with a slightly larger design than I usually do, but I wanted to show a group of ladies how quickly they could get their own quilts quilted.  I used WonderFil's Silco cotton thread in the needle and DecoBob in the bobbin.

We had a group of Friday sew day ladies in 2 weeks ago.  It was their first time at the centre and wanted a tour.  We showed them around the studio and explained the training and rental program for the Handi Quilter Avantes and Sweet Sixteens. I was getting ready to load and quilt this and told the ladies that I would do this quilt and then in the afternoon load some fabric for them to play.

I used a very large all over double loop and leaf design.  At first I thought this would not be enough coverage and I still think I may do the next one with the designs a bit closer....but, 22 minutes of stitching.  I've really got to get going and finish some of the tops I have left lying around!  Maybe I'll have some Christmas gifts finished in time this year.

We do have some charity quilts that need to be quilted if anyone wants to come to the studio and practice.

today's quilting.

Here is a quilt I quilted for my great  nephew.   My mum pieced it and I offered to quilt it for her.  Didn't have a super lot of time and after quilting D'dot's so quickly I decided to give this one  a simple loop.  After the first row I realized that the single loop wouldn't be enough, so looped again.  Not bad NODDY.

I used WonderFil Silco in the needle and DecoBob in the bobbin.

That's a very good start to a Monday morning.  Can I hope it's the start of a productive week?