Stuck!

Getting "stuck" on a project is one of those "givens."  You know, like getting a pimple on the end of your nose right before a big date; or the car having a flat tire when you're in a hurry; or any other inconvenient thing that can go wrong when it is most inconvenient.

I've been feeling stuck for the last few days.
One project (absolutely adorable applique baby quilt) has screwy instructions.  Oy vey...they make my head hurt.

So, thought I, I'll put it aside for now and work on project number two, a paper piecing star.  But  because I have not worked on this project in a while, I forgot how to do it..... SILENT SCREAM!!!


What do you do when you're STUCK?

A few suggestions:
1.  Take the project to your next guild meeting.
2.  Facetime or Skype a quilting friend.
3.  Pack it all up and head to the quilt store.
4.  A lot of quilt stores (like Piecemakers and The Orange Quilt Bee) have "open sew" classes where you take your project in and get help from either an instructor or one of the other quilters.


DO NOT, I SAY, DO NOT put it away (at least for any length of time.)  If you put it away it will be even more difficult to pick it back up again.  Ask any quilting person you know about their UFOs (Unfinished Objects.)  Chances are there's at least one project in the bunch that is a STUCK project.

I'm taking my projects to Piecemakers this Sunday (from 11:30 am to 4:40 pm) and I will get UN-STUCK! 
Perhaps I will see you there??

It's Saturday! Let's Sew!

It's fairly early on a Saturday morning...I'm trying to entertain myself quietly ... the "oldest Babe" is still sleeping.

After a GREAT WIN on the football field last night, my grandson came home with me for a sleep over so we could finish his sewing project today...I'm anxious to get started.

I haven't heard from "my ladies" this week...Kathy is frolicking around Hawaii and Dez is .... Dez, what are you doing this week????  So, I'll post something useful...  I read this on Pinterest just this morning.

Tip One:  Check your seam allowance.
Tip Two:  Learn the correct way to press.
Tip Three: Use a Design Wall.
Read the entire article HERE.

Note on Design Walls.  I have one....it is simply a piece of batting thumb-tacked to a wall.  I use it a lot.  I also use my "design floor."   (Just a note, I don't have babies, husbands or pets tracking through my apartment, so the floor works pretty well.)  You need to see the bigger picture.
(Examples of my Design Wall and Design Floor HERE.)


New gadget.... Reading the above article I saw this truly nifty-looking tool.

I think this will be really helpful!  I just ordered one from Amazon.
It was cheap, cheap, cheap.

I think I hear rustling from the other room....oh boy....

My 15 Minutes of Fame

I have mentioned in previous posts that I have not been quilting very long and I really think I have so far to go to make a REALLY NICE quilt.  But, I uploaded a couple pictures of recent baby quilts I've done to "24 blocks.com" and they posted them as one of their " focus quilt for the day!!!"

What a surprise!

Lots of "likes" and shares!  It's kinda going right to my head!

Instant Gratification

For those of us who sew it is often the process of cutting a piece of fabric and then sitting down at the sewing machine and actually stitching those pieces back together that gives us a sense of satisfaction, joy and peace.

It's exciting to see something wonderful take shape.

It's calming
It's theraputic
It keeps us from strangling someone



I love making quilts, but they take so L-O-N-G to complete.
Sometimes I just want to sew.  I don't want to think about quarter inch seams or the "big picture" of what a quilt will look like when it is complete.  I just want to sew something, and finish it FAST!

Enter fast, easy, fun stuff to sew....

Pillow Cases

I was never going to be one of  "those people" who keeps their vitamins and supplements on their counter top.... too cluttered and tacky (I thought.)  Problem is, if I don't SEE them I won't TAKE them.  What to do? What to do?   The Answer.... Cloth Baskets   fast and easy.

Sewing machine covers

Easy-Peasy

You could go two ways with this one

Fancier

Easy-Peasy OR Fancier

 

Cloth Napkins

 I've often wondered about cloth napkins...is it better to use them and save the paper...or, use paper napkins and save water???  You decide.  I use cloth napkins, I just like them.

Coasters.  Frosty drink glasses 

sweat on a warm day.

I found all these DIY ideas on Pinterest.  There are many more.
Enjoy!

Sewists Come in All Shapes and Sizes

I've been bragging about "my ladies" but I want to also give a shout out to my grandson!
He is 8 years old and asked if I would teach him to sew.... we started last weekend.

Learning about the sewing machine and practicing on paper sewing sheets.

We are making pajama bottoms from L.A. Dodgers fabric
We made a paper pattern from newspaper

He is learning to cut.

And pin and mark

And sew

Unfortunately, "life happened" and 3-year-old baby brother (aka "the Littlest Babe") showed up for the afternoon so we put it all away.

We will pick it up next weekend....

.... in the meantime

Eating snacks between swim sessions.

let's go swimming!

Checking In With My "Newbies"

Been "helping" a couple of ladies get started with their quilting.  I feel so important!

I thought I'd check in with them and see how they are progressing.

Kathy's update from FB.

Well, all I can say is you are not alone, Welcome to the "sisterhood!"  We have all cut wrong again and again and again...

Save those wrong-cut squares because you will be able to use them somewhere, trust me.
Recently I cut 10" squares when they should have been 12".... I cut 12 of them!   I considered using the 10" and having a smaller baby quilt, but decided against that.   So, I went back to the store (praying they'd still have some of the same print) and bought more fabric and cut them correctly.

Now, I'm onto a new baby quilt and those 10" inch squares are perfect.  So, don't beat yourself up.

Dez:  She has all her "strips sewn together" and cut into squares.
Next step is sewing the on-point rows together.


Sometimes when life "happens" and my quilt project goes dormant, it is hard to pick it back up.
I can usually break through that by doing "SOMETHING"... "ANYTHING" having to do with quilt making.

I'll go look at interesting quilts on Pinterest, or dust my sewing room (so much dustier here in Southern Calif than in Portland.)  Anything to get me thinking about quilts.   And, if I'm still feeling apathetic I make a deal with myself.  "Sew for only 15 minutes...then you can stop."  But. usually I sew for "a while."

Just remember this sage advice:

  Lipstick?  Powder?  Husband?  Well, OK.... maybe not....

First Project - Step 3 - Sewing

FINALLY!  We can sit down and actually press the pedal to the metal!

There is one big difference between clothes sewing and quilt sewing...the seam allowance.  Quilt seams are 1/4 inch.  Using a quarter inch foot will help with this. If you don't have a quarter inch foot it's not the end of the world.

What ever method you use for measuring a quarter inch seam, test it.  Sew a seam on a test strip and measure it.  Even the special foot isn't always accurate. Here is a very good post on testing the accuracy of your quarter inch seam and/or foot.

Laying out the pieces.

Design Floor

Design Wall

I will lay out my quilt pieces on my design wall (or my design floor or my design bed....where ever).  Then I sew them in order. 

Hey, you'll rack up steps on your ped-o-meter walking back and forth to the sewing machine.  (Every cloud has a silver lining.)

Design Floor

Design Floor

This layout is "on point."  Not as hard as it looks.

I like "on point" because it makes almost any quilt more interesting.

Design Wall

Design Wall

This is the circle quilt I made my daughter.  It is the hardest quilt I've done to date.  And, it took the most time.

The planning and the lay out took days!










Enough about lay out. 

Here is a good video on planning and sewing your quilt pieces together.  The video is 30 minutes, you just need to watch the first 10 minutes.  The rest of the video is about actually quilting the "quilt sandwich" together (top, batting and backing make a quilt sandwich.) You're not ready for that yet.    She does a pretty good job explaining sewing the seams; pressing the seams, etc.

A word about pressing your seams.  I press the seam on the back, on the seam line, first.  Then I press the seams open on the back side.  Then I press the seam on the front side.  PRESS not IRON.  Don't move your iron back and forth...it will stretch your fabric and your block may get kind of "wonky." 

To Steam or Not To Steam.  Using steam when pressing is a hot topic.  I have people on both sides of this question in my quilting circle.  Sometimes I steam and sometimes I don't.  I don't steam Half Square Triangles.  (More about Half Square Triangles later.)

Here is a link to more videos if you are still a bit squeamish about actually sewing.
But, sooner or later ya gotta do it!

Nite, Y'all.

PS  Just read this GREAT Pinterest post on First Quilts

First Project - Step 2 - Cutting Your Fabric

Dez's Table Runner

I mentioned in a previous post that I traveled to Las Vegas a few weeks ago to teach my niece how to quilt.  We started with a simple 9 patch, which we turned into a disappearing 9 patch.  She made a table runner for her Very Long dinning room table.

Well before this table runner was finished, and before I left Vegas, off to the quilt store we went to purchase fabric for her next project.  That's how I knew she had quilting in her blood!  (Can you believe there are only 2 quilt shops in ALL of Las Vegas!?  We went to Quiltique in Henderson.  It is a fabulous store!)

Fabric for new project.

Now it is some weeks down the road.  Her table runner is finished, the Super Bowl is over and she is anxious to start cutting her fabric for her new project.

 

McCalls Quilting Magazine September/October 2014

As mentioned in the previous post, first square up your fabric.  I tend to square it up as I go; right before I cut that piece.
As I cut, I label the pieces.

Kathy's blocks, all tidy and labeled.

Everyone has their own method for labeling blocks.  If I have a lot of different size blocks, I will add the dimensions and the number of cut pieces to the label.

Did you know cookie sheets are $1 at Dollar Tree?  They make great trays for your cut pieces.

Here is a Pinterest video about cutting.  She shows you how to square up the fabric and then how to use your ruler and rotary cutter to cut.  She does a great job, it is excellent.

And, I cannot stress this enough!!!  Check those measurements closely. Say them out loud!
Measure twice, cut once!
I have a whole stack of 10" squares that should have been 12".  You guessed it, I had to go buy more fabric.  

Shuffling off to the sewing machine, nite.

First Project - Step 1 - Square Up The Fabric

My beautiful niece, Desiree
Her very first block

We have our space, we've assembled our tools, we know about fabric.  What's next...
Choosing a project and choosing fabric.

Start with something easy.  I recently traveled to Las Vegas to teach my niece how to quilt.  We started with a simple 9 patch and turned it into a "disappearing 9 patch" table runner.  A disappearing 9 patch would be very "fat quarter friendly."

A fat quarter is a "square" of fabric rather than a 1/4 yard cut.
A typical quarter yard is 1/4th of a yard, or 9" long and as wide as the fabric; a quarter yard of a quilting cotton usually measures 9" x 44".
A fat quarter is a one-fourth yard cut of fabric that measures 18" x 22" instead of the typical 9" x 44" quarter-yard cut.

The reason I mention fat quarters is because most quilt shops have pre-cut fat quarters scattered around their shops.  They are sometimes bundled with coordinating fabrics.  If I'm not shopping for any particular fabric, I may purchase a fat quarter or two for my "stash" I simply MUST HAVE. I don't have to bother the sales person to cut the fabric and because they are usually under $3 per fat quarter, I don't feel like I've spent any "real" money.  WARNING; collecting fat quarters can be habit forming.

Squaring up your fabric:  When you purchase a piece of fabric, you watch the sales lady cut it off the bolt, it looks perfectly fine.  It isn't.  It is not "square" regardless of how straight everything looks.  Take the first fat quarter (or piece of fabric.) We need to "square it up."
Here is a link to step-by-step instructions for squaring up fabric.   I looked for a video on You Tube, but didn't find one I thought would be helpful to a newbie.  This one was pretty good. But, she doesn't show you how to cut it. If the step-by-steps instructions don't do it for you, send me a message...we can skype.  I'll show you.

In this You Tube video she says something about "washing & ironing" the fabric.  To Wash or Not to Wash your quilt fabric, that is the question.  Some people do and some people don't.  I don't. Why? Because I'm lazy and don't want to bother.  I am not convinced it matters to the finished project.  You should ask your other quilting buddies for their opinion, then make your own decision.

Okey, Dokey... next post...cutting!