2013 FAL - Q2 Begins

It is time to link up your lists for the second quarter of the 2013 Finish-A-Long. If you are new to the FAL, welcome and the rules are here. If you have questions, just send me an email or comment on this post and I will try to answer them.

Just a reminder, the FAL is to provide motivation for you to finish your Un-Finished Object, so the project needs to be started to be a UFO that qualifies for the FAL. And to qualify at the end of the quarter as a finish, it needs to be finished and out of the sewing room.

My list of UFOs to finish for Q2 is:

1. Pickle Dish Quilt - this is to be a wedding present for the oldest and the wedding is at the end of June. As of this photo, I had 37 of 200 of the single dish units done. I have done a few more but there is a lot to do, although I am highly motivated to get this one done this quarter.



2. Grannie square quilt - the blocks are from the Modern Stitching Bee and are ready to be basted, quilted and bound.



3. Emerald Irish Chain: The quilting has started, but I have about a quarter of the quilt to quilt and then it needs bindins.



4. Low Volume Quilt with circles on it. It needs the circles to be finished, then appliquéd on, then basting, quilting and binding.



5. Octagonal Orb quilt for Siblings Together, with blocks from the Always Bee Learning bee. I have received 4 blocks in the mail and there are more on the way. This one is due in July, so again there is considerable motivation to finish it. The pattern for these blocks is by Elizabeth Hartman and the tutorial is here.

That is all I am putting on my list because I think I will mostly be pickle dishing and octagonal orbing - those quilts have deadlines. But it would be great to finish all 5 in Q2. I am so looking forward to seeing all of your lists too.

Remember, you can also post pictures of your progress, and your finishes throughout the quarter on the FAL flickr group which is here, but your pre-quarter list must also be linked to this post to qualify for the Q2 prizes. Later this week I will tell you all about the wonderful sponsors and great prizes lined up for Q2.

Over the next few days I will be reviewing the finishes, and then I will announce the winners of the prizes from our lovely Q1 sponsors, so stay tuned.

The Q2 pre-quarter link will be open until midnight MST April 15, 2013. Don't forget to link your list.

Best,

Leanne

Ta Da! - Triangles, a mini quilt; and last day to link your Q1 FAL finishes

Triangles, she is a mini quilt about 22" x 16" after I washed her.



Folks suggested that the binding have a bit of the orange linen from the back, and my son suggested it go around the corner. I followed both suggestions, I think it works prefectly.



The quilting was done with a variegated Valdani thread - white, cream, goldish. And I stitched the lines close together with uneven spacing and slightly wobbly. I have to say that this quilting looks like far more work than it was. Washing added just the right amount of texture.



The back is Essex Linen in orange.



The front is creamy white Essex Linen and various quilting cottons.



I just love this little quilt, I need to make it a label and hanging corners, pack it with some goodies and send it off to my secret partner in the swap. I might need to make another for me, but I am thinking of making one that is similar but bigger, maybe lap sized.



Remember the original picture that got so much flickr attention. The quilt has lost some of the luminous quality of this photo. Also, I still wonder if I should have put in the work to piece that second from the left bottom triangle out of line like it is in this first photo. But overall, I love how this idea has played out in the finished quilt.

Remember to link up your Q1 FAL finishes here by 11:59 pm MST tonight, April 7. After that the link closes and I will be working on checking the finishes and drawing the winners - can you believe it - we have 326 links already, I think that the FAL is working.

Oh, and it is time to start getting your Q2 lists finalized as the link to post them will open on April 8, and you will have a week to get your list up.

Thank you again to our wonderful tutorial authors - each of the tutorials was awesome I thought. I hope you have enjoyed them too. I will post a list of the tutorials and links to them on the 2013 FAL page so you will be able to easily find them again, just give me a day or so to do that. Feel free to share anything you make using the tutorials in the FAL flickr group here.

Best,

Leanne

Thoughts From A Longarmer - a 2013 FAL tutorial

Thearica, who blogs at Pig Tales and Quilts, is an experienced long arm quilter and today she will share ideas and thoughts on long arm quilting. Many of you know that I came home from QuiltCon dreaming of owning a long arm quilting machine and these insights only make me want one more, I am sure you will enjoy them as much as me - read on.


Hello, my name is Thearica Burroughs and I hang out over at Pig Tales and Quilts.  I want to thank Leanne for sharing her blog with me today!

I am a 33 year veteran hand quilter who, because of carpal tunnel, had to turn to machine quilting in 2001.  It was very daunting at first because no matter how I tried, I could not quilt to "suit myself".  I finally let the machine just sit.  My husband finally asked me if I was going to quilt on it or just look at it.  That is when I knew I had better do something with this $10,000.00 piece of machinery since he had purchased it for me.

I went online and searched for any longarm quilting classes I could find nearby.  I was lucky enough to find one in West Virginia, fairly close to where I lived.  I signed up, paid my fees and got excited about the possibility that I would learn to use the machine.  Nichole Webb was the instructor and she was fantastic!  I learned so much in that first class that I hosted her in my home 3 months later.  I also took classes from 3 more very talented instructors, including Sherry Rogers Harrison, Sue Patten and Karen McTavish.  If it were not for these 4 instructors, I would have eventually sold the machine. 

I am here to tell you that if you are a beginner longarm quilter, take classes.  If there are no classes near you, then go to some of the bigger quilt shows where you will find these instructors and others just like them.  The knowledge they have to share is far worth many times over what they charge for their classes.  I am confident that you will walk away with a whole new arsenal of knowledge to use in your own studios.  I also want to say, don't be scared to spend a little extra money on books that these instructors publish.  A lot of them will come with a DVD and you will reap so much from these learning tools as well.

One of my favorite books is "Quilting Makes The Quilt" by Lee Cleland.  I have used this book more in my quilting than any of the others in my library.   I also love Patsy Thompson's DVD's.  These are a must for every longarmer's library.  They are full of fun quilting designs that your customers will come to love and expect on their quilts.

I quilted feathers in the following quilt using Patsy's hyper quilting style.  The customer entered the quilt in a show and we won 2 ribbons!  It is one of my favorite quilts and was really fun to quilt!

My motto is" You HAVE to HAVE your tools"! I want to discuss how I approach my own quilting.   Applique quilts... I like to quilt within the applique to "fine tune" or "finish" a design...such as veins in leaves, designs in butterfly wings, and quilt in the open space around the applique to "enhance" the design...such as butterflies flying, bugs sitting on top of a flower petal, snowflakes falling...the ideas are endless.  The following photos show where I have added details such as the quilted flower up under the embroidered bumble bee so it appears he is sitting on the petals.  Just let your imagination take over when you are quilting applique quilts.  Let the child inside you take over.    

  Pieced quilts....these require more decision making than any quilt will.  The choices are endless and you could quilt the same quilt 6 times and never quilt it exactly the same with the designs available today.  From filling HST's with feathers,  to doing Continuous Curve or Terry Twist in squares and Line Dancing in triangles, the designs are endless!  Leaf wreaths and feathers wreaths are magnificent in solid large squares!  A curling vine with tendrils and leaves makes for a beautiful border.  Just make sure that the quilting inside the quilt and in the border compliment each other.

This Christmas quilt was done for a customer and I quilted snowflakes all over the background.  I used Signature 100% cotton thread in Mustard color and when I finished quilting the quilt, it looked like a metallic Christmas card.  Always remember that your thread color plays almost as much a part of your "finished" look as your quilting design.  Mustard thread is wonderful on Christmas quilts and red/white/blue patriotic quilts.  I remember when my friend Regina Carter suggested I use mustard on this Christmas quilt, ...I wasn't so sure... until I took the quilt off the frame.  I am now hooked... line and sinker on mustard.  I turn to it more in my quilting than any other color thread.

Try to keep your design choices to 2-3 to a quilt.  When you try to incorporate too many designs within one quilt, it starts to lose its wow factor.   This is one of the quilts I remember enjoying from the first stitch to the last.  I quilted a pretty little flower in the half circles and filled in the background with a trailing vine with tendrils.  This is low end custom but gave this vintage quilt just what it needed to bring it alive.  The customer's grandmother had pieced this top many years before and now she  is able to enjoy it finished.

  Marking tools are endless but my favorites are the Clover White  Pencil that is easily removed with a spritz of water...and the Clover Fine Tip Water-Soluble Pen.  I find that the Maurvy Water Soluble Markers bleed to the back too often or re-appear after misting with water.  The ink gets trapped in the batting and eventually shows back up on the top.  I despise troublesome tools and I have never had any trouble with the Clover products. 

I made this quilt for my daughter's 30th birthday and drew the tiger's face on with my Clover pencil.  Once it was quilted, I just spritzed water right over my quilting and any marks showing were gone like a puff of wind.  They come in white, pink and blue for any color fabric you may need them for.  

There are tons of rulers available.  My favorite is the Accu-Glide by Donita Reeves.  I use it for going around applique, quilting continuous curve, terry twist and line dancing.  I also use it when doing background fills.  I find that it steadies my hand for a more finished look to my quilting.  You will need a stitch in the ditch ruler and my favorite is the Dainty Ditcher by Sherry Rogers-Harrison.  Circle rulers are a must for quilting wreaths.  It is good to have a nested set so that you have several sizes at your disposal.   This is the backing of one of the largest quilts I quilted using rulers.  You can see just how much work went in to this quilt and how the quilting design just rocks this back!  Do not be afraid of rulers.  I would urge you to invest in an Extended Base if you plan to do a lot of ruler work.  It will save your sanity!

Another quilt with lots of ruler work...

  Do not get caught up in the concept that all quilts look great with feathers and all old favorites look good with the Baptist Fan design.  Quilt the designs that are not usually seen on your customer quilts and your quilting will stand out from the rest.

As much as we all would love to load a quilt and begin quilting immediately in order to get the most use of our time, it is not the way to get the best use of your time.  When you are willing to sacrifice a little of your hourly earned wage for your customer, they will be awed with your quilting and become a "return" customer for sure.  Remember, a rushed job looks like a rush job!

I will hang a top that has come in to the studio and study it for at least 3 days while I quilt on another quilt.  I will photograph it and upload it on my computer.  You have no idea how this will actually allow you to see the quilt top differently.  2nd and 3rd design opportunities will jump out at you. If you approach the quilt in a "treasure hunt" way, you will see the "hidden" potential.   I love to quilt someones top using a "hidden" design feature that you normally do not see when you first look at the quilt.  That is when you will see your customers eyes pop open, the smile come to their lips, and you know you have done your job well!

Another quilting design opportunity may lie within the fabrics that the top is made from.   Look at the fabrics... Do they speak to you?  Are there designs in the fabrics that you can bring out in your quilting?  The possibilities are endless if you know what to look for.  This is where you will train your mind to look for what you normally would not see.
This is one such quilt where I played off of the pine cone designs in the fabrics.  I pulled that out to the border for a WOW! factor! You can see the judges thought it was a perfect idea!  

  This quilt was quilted using designs inspired by the name of the pattern and for the name of the cabin that this customer's daughter owned in the mountains, which was going to be home to this quilt.  The name of the pattern was Shadow Of The Bear and the daughter's cabin was called "Bear Cabin", hence you will see bears and bear claws quilted within this quilt.

Last but not least, is the drawing pad.  I have been told by a good friend, a fellow longarm quilter, that it takes 100 hours for you to train your brain in quilting a design.  Repetitive drawing and/or quilting of any one design will eventually allow you to quilt this design without the aid of drawing.  I drew on my quilts a lot when I first began but now I find I need only to draw registration places and I can quilt free as a bird.  It just takes time!  Be willing to give yourself the time to train.  These hours don't come from just drawing on a pad but also standing at the machine.  The more you practice, the better you become at what you do.  Isn't that true of anything? 

My advice is to load a play quilt, or ask your friends if they have some quilts they would be willing to let you practice on.  Load it and be ready to quilt.  Study the quilt for several minutes and decide on a design you would like to quilt in one of the blocks. Now, go sit down for 2 hours.  Yes, 2 hours... get out your pad and draw the design you want to quilt.  Draw it over and over again.  Draw it until you think your hand is going to fall off.  Draw it until you have it drawn like you want it.  It might take 2 pages of paper, it might take 20, but draw it until you are comfortable with how it looks.  Then trace over that drawing.  Trace it again and again.  Just zone out.. possibly have some soft instrumental music playing low in the background.  When the 2 hours are up, go to the machine and quilt it right then.  You will surprise yourself.  Practice, practice, practice.  I cannot emphasize how much this will benefit you.

To become the best quilter you can be, you must be willing to study, study, and study harder!  Don't ever settle for where you are at this moment in time.  Always want more from yourself and you will shine above the rest!  By taking the time to study and taking the time to practice, you will find yourself becoming more confident than you ever thought possible.  But it won't come free.  You will have to dedicate hours to yourself to make it possible.  

And always remember "Rome wasn't built in a day!"

Helpful links for todays longarmers:   http://www.longarmuniversity.com  http://www.longarmsupplies.net http://columbiariverquilting.com    I hope what I have shared with you, has helped in some small way.  I also offer classes in my studio and welcome you to contact me for more information.

Thanks again Leanne, for allowing me the opportunity to share what little knowledge I have on longarm quilting.  It has been fun!


Thank you Thearica!

Don't forget to link up your Q1 finishes - the Q1 post-quarter link is open and it will close at midnight MST, April 7, 2013. And if you still have some UFOs I hope you will join us for Q2 of the FAL, Q2 FAL lists can be posted starting on April 8.

Hand Quilting with Jo - a 2013 FAL tutorial

Jo, who blogs at myBearpaw, is a long time hand quilter who does the most beautiful work. Today she is here to tell us how. I know you will love this tutorial, I sure do, and I plan to give hand quilting another try using all these tips - read on.

Hello, my name is Jo Avery and you will usually find me over at myBearpaw blog.

But today I am going to share my 20 odd years worth of hand quilting experience with all you FALers. Now don't worry, that doesn't mean I am some sort of ninja quilter with all sorts of moves that you can't possibly emulate - hand quilting is one of the easiest things in the world, after all it's just a running stitch!

But I have learnt quite a few shortcuts and tricks over the years and have also learnt from my mistakes, so I hope you will find something useful in this tutorial.

 

For most of my hand quilting 'career' I used a traditional cotton quilting thread, preferably Gutermann's in an off-white shade like the reel above. I was taught to run my thread through beeswax before I started sewing to give the thread extra strength, stop it from twisting and enable it to lay flat on the quilt. I still am not totally sure how much difference it makes, but it is a part of the ritual of hand quilting for me, so if I use a cotton quilting thread then I always do it.

However a few years back I started quilting using perle cotton number 8. I instantly felt I had found the quilting thread I had been looking for all my life! It adds an extra texture to your patchwork with it's beautiful sheen and colours, and more importantly it is thick enough for you to actual notice it! Why put hours into hand quilting just to see a slight indentation? That's a bit harsh but hopefully you know what I mean.

So now I use perle cotton all the time, and usually I include as many colours as I can in each project.

But before we move on to perle cotton I want to show you how I would tackle using regular quilting cotton.

I am about to quilt this small EPP lap quilt which is one of the things I had hoped to finish as part of this quarter's FAL (and as I type this I still have a week to go!).
There are 2 things I would like you to notice about the photo above. One is the tacking stitches and the other is the thimble.

When I hand quilt I always baste my quilt with tacking stitches rather than safety pins. This is very much a personal preference, but I am probably going to be spending weeks or months working on a hand quilted quilt and I feel that tacking gives more stability to the quilt and is also easier to work with by hand than pins. I like to tack my quilts on my big dining room table on top of an oilcloth tablecloth. You do not need to tape the back of a tacked quilt to a surface. I haven't worked out exactly why, but trust me, I am as sure that you really don't as I am sure that you really do need to if you are safety pinning.

The other important thing in this photo is the thimble. You really need to wear a thimble on your middle right finger (presuming you are right handed). If you don't you will get a hole in the side of that finger and it will be very sore and you will have to stop sewing.

When I teach my students to hand quilt they find the thimble very uncomfortable at first. I tell them to persevere, but if they or you are really struggling then I would suggest buying a more fitted textile thimble with metal mesh in the relevant place, like this one by Clover.

Some quilter's also like to wear a thimble on the middle or forefinger of their left hand. Over the years I have tried this, and I have tried leather thimbles and little metal disks that you stick to your finger tip, but have now given up as I feel those fingers need to be free to 'feel'. So nowadays I just accept that those 2 fingers are going to get pricked. Try and keep them out of the way of the needle as much as possible, and alternate between the one 'taking charge' of the needle as it appears through the back of your quilt.

So let's get on with some quilting!

The important thing about quilting as opposed to other hand sewing is that we do not want to see any knots on the back. So we need to learn how to 'bury' our starting and finishing knots in the layers of our quilt sandwich.

First of all cut yourself a length of thread ( I use a length of no more than 30"). Run it through your beeswax a couple of times, if you are using it. Knot one end and then insert your needle about an inch and a half from where you would like to start stitching (through the centre of your layers, you mustn't be able to see the thread from the back).

You can just about see the tiny knot sitting on top of the quilt in the photo above. Now grasping the thread close to the quilt give it a firm tug and the knot should disappear into the quilt (making a satisfying popping sound). Don't pull it any more, you want it to sit just below the surface so that you can sew over it and secure it.

Start quilting towards the knot. I like to leave the tail sitting on top so I know it hasn't disappeared completely and then a tuck it in by placing my needle just under the top layer and catching it.
I should also add that these photos don't show me quilting very naturally as nobody was in the house to help me take the photos when I did this tutorial so they all show me one handed (apart from the beeswax one which I did on the following day).

Now we are off and quilting. It is important to build up a nice 'rocking' rhythm as you sew. This is hard to show in static photos but you want to be going in and out, up and down, gathering 4 or 5 stitches on the needle before you pull it through. If you are right handed you always sew from right to left, the opposite of hand writing. When using quilter's cotton move the position of your needle along the cotton occasionally as you work to stop the cotton wearing away at one point.

A few other points, always start quilting from the centre of your quilt out. I have not done this above, because I want to use perles for most of the quilt and just wanted to do a tiny bit using cottons to show you. This border bit was the only place I thought it would work design wise so I started there. This is very naughty of me (please don't tell the Quilt Police!), but as this is such a small quilt I think I will get away with it.

The other thing is that I do not use a hoop. I know that this is usually advised but I don't like it (I find it too constricting and get annoyed by having to keep moving it around the quilt just as I get going) and haven't felt that my quilting has suffered without it. I would suggest trying it for your self if you fancy it as I know a lot of quilters swear by it.

Let's have a look at the back. Apologies for the very bright scarlet apparition above! I am using a red flannel and it has really caught the light. You can just see the indentation of the stitches.
I was taught that you should aim for the stitches on the back of your quilt to look the same as the stitches on the front. This is very hard to do. I wouldn't worry too much about that. It will look lovely either way.

I am happy sewing a straight line by eye as long as I have a parellel line as a guide, but for those of you who would find this a struggle then you can mark lines on your quilt top. Above I am using a Hera marker by Clover. This basically just gives you a crease that you can follow (see below) without worrying about getting rid of the line later. You can also use masking tape to mark straight lines.

I have always been very suspicious of quilt makers as they don't always come out as easily as promised on the pack. However Katy from The Littlest Thistle blog recently put me on to this amazing pen. It is a Frixion pen by Pilot. It works just like a fine liner but once you have finished with the line you simply iron it and it completely disappears! Like magic! It is my new best friend which I use for embroidery, applique and quilting. You can get them from any good stationers or supermarkets.

We are now coming to the end of our thread and we need to learn the finishing knot. Stop when you have a couple of inches of thread left and make a 'big gap' stitch, the size of a stitch and it's space between. Try to bring your needle up at an angle from the back so that you don't end up with a long, unsightly stitch on the back.

Now tie a knot to sit approximately a stitch length from the end of thread that's coming out of the quilt. This is a bit fiddly at first but gets much easier with practice.

Now place your needle into the middle of your 'big gap' stitch and bring it out a good distance away in the direction that you will continue stitching (with a new thread).

 As with our starting knot we now need to give a little tug on the thread to pull it in to the quilt layers (listen out for that little pop).

The idea is that your next thread will now stitch over the tail of thread inside the layers securing it there and stopping the knot popping back up. But in reality that doesn't always happen and often this is the bit of thread that will start to unravel with use.

So there are a few things you can do. You can tie a double knot (one on top of the other) this is fiddly but possible. Or you can use my cheat method below. This is very much an 'illegal' quilt method (again don't tell the Quilt Police) but it does achieve the 2 important points of securing the thread and not showing a knot. You will need to find the right place on your quilt to do this though.

You are looking to stop near a seam with light coloured fabric (assuming you are using light coloured thread). Take you needle through the layers so that it comes out in a seam as above.

Make a tiny stitch either side of your thread and loop your thread around your needle as if making a French knot. Pull thread through and then place your needle at the base of this knot and send it through the layers to a distant point as below.

Pull hard, cut thread, and hopefully you won't be able to see a thing as the tiny knot is buried in the seam, as below.

Right, now we are going to play with some perle cotton 8's.

As I said, normally I would use every colour I could get my hands on (I am very much a 'more is more' sort of person!), but as this is such a dark, primary coloured top I am going to use just white.

Cut the same length of thread but DON'T use beeswax!

You can use exactly the same starting knot as before but you will find it harder to get the knot down into your quilt layers. If you are really struggling then work your needle into the hole (in the fabric where your knot wants to go) and make the hole a bit bigger, then just give it a very firm tug. The advantage is that the perle knot will really stay put, being bigger and less slippery. This means that your finishing knot should be more than secure enough and you won't have to resort to cheating or fiddly double knots.

The perle doesn't slip through the fabric quite as nicely as the cotton. Above I have tried to show how you should use you thimble to give it a good push.

I like to make my quilting stitches larger when I am using perles but keep the gaps between them small, in the way that Sashiko is worked. This is so I can see as much as possible of the lovely perle cotton.

My students always ask how to work from the middle of a large quilt where you can't get hold of an edge. Above I have tried to show you how I am grasping the quilt from underneath and making a sort of 'oven glove' from it. If you have tacked your quilt securely to begin with then don't be afraid to writhe it around to get a good grip on it.

I like to use the pattern of the quilt top to inspire the design of the quilting as much as possible. Though sometimes it can work well to mark out a very different design on top of your patchwork. Here I am stitching round the stars. When you finish quilting round a motif but still have thread to use you can 'send' your thread through the layers of the quilt and start sewing again at a new spot (to avoid too many fiddly knots).

Above I am sending the needle through to the diamond I am going to outline next.

Just a few words on needles. Quilting needles are traditionally short and quite stubby. This is because with heavy use an ordinary Sharps or Betweens needle will bend like a banana. However I find a longer, finer needle easier to quilt with so I just replace my Sharps when it bends (after all they only cost pennies). I would use a 7 or 8 sized eye for quilting cotton and a 4 for perle cotton. The perle thread is rounded and full and doesn't like being squashed into an embroidery shaped eye, so I use a Sharps number 4 and my favourite brand is Millward who do a nice thin needle (some of the other brands like Pony produce a really thick heavy needle to go with the bigger eye which isn't very good for quilting).

Well who would have thought I had that much to say about a few running stitches!
Congratulations to any of you who read all of this and I hope you found it helpful. Please fell free to ask me any questions in the comments, as, despite the length of this post, I'm sure I've missed something out!


Thank you Jo!

Don't forget to link up your Q1 finishes - the Q1 post-quarter link is open and it will close at midnight MST, April 7, 2013. And if you still have some UFOs I hope you will join us for Q2 of the FAL, Q2 FAL lists can be posted starting on April 8.