Another Busy Week

 The Brightly top is done!

The picture does not do the cheerful colors justice. 

The binding and back are ready to be made.

I took a little side trip this past week for some retail therapy. I have a batik layer cake that I want to use to make another Brightly quilt, I found the perfect background fabric at one shop. Sorry no picture.

At another shop, I purchased five yards of a great teal fabric that I have already made into a back for the 12 patch quilt top. Sorry no picture.

I do have a picture of an Angela Walters quilting panel I purchased.

One of the shops I went to takes consignment items and this set was one. I've been thinking about purchasing one of Angela's panels for a while, this was a much more economical option. If it works out I may purchase the panel that goes with her ruler tutorials.

At the third shop I purchased a few panels that were in the clearance section.

These will be fun to put together and quilt.

Since I didn't get to quilt the 12 patch I decided to give quilting something small on the long arm another chance.

Still not a fan but they turned out a little bit better.

Ready for binding.

And here's the runner I showed last week...still not finished.

Stephanie made the star blocks, and I used them to make the runner. For the most part I do like the quilting.

I made great progress on the A-Mazing quilt top.

I'm halfway done.

What's next on the long arm?

OMG that is an empty machine and a clean room! The lights and rear handles I ordered will be delivered and installed Wednesday. Since I'm also getting a lesson on pantographs I'm not loading anything new. Well...maybe a practice quilt sandwich Tuesday evening.

Working in My Favor

 I think being a little scatter brained is working in my favor. I'm getting a little bit done on a lot of projects and not getting bored with them.

I finished the hand sewing on Elvira's binding.

I quilted and machine sewed the binding on the Ark panel.

The back was way too long, when I trimmed the quilt I used the extra backing as the binding. The back was pieced, the pieces added a nice touch to the binding.

I sewed the 12 patch blocks into a quilt top.

I really like how this turned out. Stephanie called it the disappearing 12 patch, I kinda like that name.

As I mentioned last week I finished sewing all the Brightly blocks.

All laid out on the design bed. I currently have four rows sewn together.

I also got the first two A-Mazing blocks sewn together.

Sewing them is as much of a maze as the quilt design is. ;o) Guess I should have cleaned up the strings before taking the pictures.

If I don't have a specific top to quilt, I use a random number generator to determine which to quilt next.

 This little table runner won. This is the smallest top I've quilted on the frame. I'm not a fan. I think I'll stick to quilting small items like table runners and wall hangings on the Juki. I loaded this one because I wanted to use my rulers. Using them was iffy, I even tried FMQ instead of the rulers and that was iffier. So I've ordered a ruler foot for the Juki...that should be an interesting adventure.

I've finished quilting the runner and have it ready for binding. I'll show the finished runner next week.

Using the random number generator again...

Disappearing 12 patch won! I made a flannel back for it but unfortunately it is not big enough for the top. I don't know what Plan B is yet. 

Hmmmm...

 Note to self: Never, ever again, use Cuddle on a large quilt.

I used a wide back cuddle since I had a large quilt... 68 x 84 inches. Everyone said to keep the back loose. Unfortunately I had one side too loose.

This is the top left still on the frame. Once I noticed it I started making corrections on that side and didn't have any more puckers.

After I finished quilting:

Same section. Doesn't look as bad.

 Same section from the top. Can't see it at all.

Am I going to fix it? No. Will I use Cuddle again? Maybe. But definitely not on a large quilt. Partly due to the weight. This sucker is HEAVY! I'm waiting for a cooler day so I can trim the quilt in my garage with the vacuum cleaner close by. I have a molted black that I will use for binding.

I finished all the Brightly blocks. I also sewed all the 12 patch rows together and have the top over half sewn together. I'll show updated pictures next week.

If you are ever in the Klamath Falls Oregon area you have to take a little side trip to Merrill Oregon and go the Tater Patch Quilt Shop.

OMG! I drooled! I could move into this store. It had all of my favorite types of fabrics. A ton of eye candy quilts displayed on the walls, and the nicest sales people! The Sew Works, which sales Bernina and HandiQuilter machines, is in the same building. I used a lot of self control in The Tater Patch, I bought clearance fabric for the back of Brightly. I didn't use self control in The Sewing Works. I ordered the rear handles for the Moxie and a light bar to go above the whole frame. Hopefully that will resolve my lighting issues. I can't wait for both to come in.

Next up:

I didn't make this quilt. It was originally too wide for the backing. After talking to the person who did make it, I trimmed about 1.5 inches off all sides. Hopefully that will be enough. I don't like quilting it sideways, but the back is pieced, and I want to keep the seams horizontal. 

Still a Little Scatterbrained

 But I'm seeing progress in everything so don't feel bad about it at all.

I finished quilting Elvira.

This is the best picture I could get of the quilting. As you can see, the gold thread really blended in with the fabrics. The "beads" were done with a circle ruler.

I backed the quilt with flannel. It been too hot to hand sew the binding, but I'll get it done soon.

I am loving the Brightly pattern! I have about 5 more chain blocks to sew together.

The A-Mazing quilt is truly a maze. It is made up of 12 different blocks. I spent one night last week laying each block out. 

Putting these blocks together will take some time.

I changed up the layout of the 12 patch blocks.

I think I have three more rows to put together.

And I'm getting ready to load Kira.

Another large quilt. It is the first time I've used cuddle/minky as a back...I'm a little nervous about that. 

Need to Focus

 You know how they say you can't make progress on a project if you don't work on it? Well, I kinda feel that way when just a little time is spent on too many projects. Confused? Let me explain.

I've spent a couple of hours quilting Elvira.

I'm about half done. I made the mistake of using a gold thread that really blends in with the fabrics, unfortunately I'm quilting ribbons and seeing and trying to follow the previous quilting line is really difficult. So far, I'm happy with the quilting.

I spent a couple of hours sewing strip sets then sub cutting them into 2 patches.

I spent a couple of hours sorting through the tote box of flannel that I showed last week. I even found another tote box. Most of these are leftovers from prior quilt backs. I think I can sew the pieces and parts together to make more quilt backs.

I spent a couple of hours sewing and pressing 2 patch blocks for the Brightly chain blocks. I also cut the binding for Elvira.

Earlier in June I was playing with these 12 patch blocks trying to figure out a possible pattern. They are my July UFO Challenge project. Since these are truly a UFO I'm going to work on it this month.

If I had focused on one project this past week, I might have been able to actually finish something. Oh well.

Have a safe and fun 4th tomorrow.

Couldn't Take the Mess

 

I have been in clean-up / organization mode this past week. I have gone thought every closet, dresser, fabric tower and a few bins trying to get some type of order out of the mess in each area...pretty much a hopeless task. ;o)

I moved everything that was one yard or greater into the long arm room closet, sorted by size. I went through the dresser that has all my reproduction fabrics and sorted them by size and color. I went through all the fabric towers, pulled anything greater than a yard, then sorted by color.

I cleared off all the flat surfaces in the sewing room putting everything where it belonged...this of course will not last long.

I found one tote box about half full of scraps and went through it, sorted, and cut to my scrap system sizes. 

Next up...

This bin of flannel scraps.

Whenever I do this, I swear I'm never going to buy fabric again...famous last words. I also went to an estate sale.

I couldn't resist the pinks or the 30's reproduction fabrics.

I have a large number of possible projects in bags, no pattern, no idea what to do with them, and not sure anymore if I want to do anything with them. Like this pretty set.

The year on the selvage is 2000. I still like the fabric, but I know I will never make anything with it. I have at least six other sets like this. Some with lots of yardage. I think I'm going to try to sell them. We'll see how that works out.

I also finished the 17 Brightly star blocks.

I swear I didn't fussy cut that center square.

Eliva is loaded and I started some of the ruler work.

To make it easier to quilt, and with fewer passes, I loaded it horizontal. It was a pretty tight squeeze. To baste the edges, I have to take off the ruler table with each pass. 

 

Slow, but I think it will be worth it.

Progress and Quilting Status

 

I am making progress on my Brightly quilt.

The star block are about half done. I'm still really liking this quilt. This picture doesn't do the colors justice.

I loaded and quilted this scrap quilt last week.

This quilt top was donated to Quilts for Kids. After a few repairs, I quilted it with loops and added the binding.

Since getting my Moxie last May I have quilted 36 (!!) quilts, 33 of those quilts have been donation quilts, I made 7 of the donation quilts. Until I looked at my spreadsheet I didn't realize I have only quilted two quilts for me on the Moxie. Wow. That number needs to change. So next up is a me quilt.

Eliva, made in 2021. I even know how I'm going to quilt it. As you can see it is almost as wide as my frame, so the quilting should be an adventure.