Back Again

Over the summer, I have been practicing a new-to-me quilting pattern on my domestic machine: a giant spiral made with a walking foot.  We've discovered that I got a little ahead of Sis in terms of creating tops that need to be tied, and I've also made a couple that aren't particularly conducive to tying, so it was time to learn another way to finish some quilts.  I've experimented with several techniques in the machine quilting realm to get here, and am working on keeping it neat and even.  This is my latest attempt - you can definitely see some bumps and wiggles in the lines, but overall I'm getting better - I'm awarding this one an A-!

I've learned that the center is best done by tracing the pattern onto the fabric - my first attempts involved a paper template that I sewed through and then tore off similar to paper piecing.  The problem was that the paper and the fabric moved under the presser foot different, and there was a lot of shifting that resulted in really wobbly quilting.

I've also learned how important it is to really smooth the fabric well before creating the sandwich, to try to prevent the top from slowly shifting in a circle the father out I go.  And there is an optimal speed that produces the least puckering - about 1/2 - 3/4 of the max that my machine will go.

Is there anything quite as satisfying as that moment when you trim it up for binding?  I've loved everything about working on this and it's sibling - the fabrics, the colors, the pattern, the learning on the quilting, and I'm happy with the finished product.  Oh!  And the whole thing used up some stash.  Can't wait to see this one bound and in the ready to deliver to Project Linus pile!

A Diversion

I'm back again after a long break - kids' activities and multiple jobs and marching band season have kept me beyond busy in recent months, but I'm always hoping to get a chance to sew for a bit.  Things are a little quieter at the moment, so maybe I'll have some progress to share.

The funny thing is, I had started a post about getting diverted from working on the woven batiks and pulling out these fabrics:

and now, I'm ready to put the binding on the quilt!

Woven Batiks - preparation steps

I realized that I was out of things I could easily sit down and do for 15 minutes, so it was time for a rather unglamorous day of planning and preparation.

First, I used Excel to chart out how these strips will be used, and determined that I'll need 44 more blocks.  I decided that the purple/red/orange ones will go in one direction and the green/blue in the opposite.  

Then, I ironed.  There were a little over 200 blocks to be done.  Blech.  I'm so grateful that Mom does a lot of the ironing when we get together for sewing days!  But I'm pretty happy with how these are looking and I think my vision for what they are becoming is going to work well.

I found a dark green and a blue batik in my stash, and cut a strip of each.  Also cut the rest of the white I will need.  And, during ironing, I discovered that the orange with dots only has 21 blocks, not 24.  Since one of the colors only needs 22, and I had a couple 2.5" squares of it left, I'll piece them together to get one more block out of it.  That goes along with the sense that everything about these two quilts will be focused on using up things I had.

I just love the sight of my project all neatly cut and folded in a little basket, waiting for next time I sew!

If I get back in the sewing room again today (as soon as I post this, I have to work on adding some of the kids' activities to the calendar), I will poke through the next project I want to do, and see how ready it is or can be for 15-minute chunks.

15 Minutes (or more)

Last time I sat down to work on the batiks, I think I worked for closer to 45 minutes!  The blue strips are done, and the pink/orange ones are the last set to go.  I did as many as I could before running out of white.  I have plenty more white fabric, but wasn't really counting as I cut it so had wanted to err on the side of not creating too many strips when I was cutting previously.

15 Minutes - Set 7 done

Finished up the red set tonight.  Next up is this orange with a whole lot of colors - it makes me think of sour gummy worms!

I'm realizing how much faster this would have gone if I hadn't cut the batiks into pieces before I started, but at this point I just want to see them become something.  I may try this pattern again at some point, and actually strip piece it.  If I do, I'd probably also make the accent strips wider and the white or background narrower, but I was working with what was already cut!

15 Minutes - Batiks set 6 finished

 Today I finished up sewing the purple strips, and started on set 7, which is the pinky-red with green/orange/yellow swirls.  Didn't get too far on them, but at least the project is moving along!

15 Minutes - Counting the Batiks

Today, I tested how many of the batiks I could do in 15 minutes.  With everything cut and the machine ready to go (I recently had to do a detour to alter a pair of Boy Scout pants, which was way harder than it should have been and changed all of the settings), it looks like I can do about 30 seams or 15 blocks in 15 minutes.  In the process, I realized that what I was thinking was 12 sets of 20 batik pieces is really 10 sets of 24 pieces.  I think.  I feel like I've counted these so many times, I've completely lost track!  I'm giving up on doing calculations for now - I'm going to get all these sewn up, then lay them out to see what it makes and if I need more pieces to get two decent size quilts, I'll find something to add.  This set includes a mix of pieces that have several colors (you can see the red/pink/green one and the orange with blue/purple/green) as well as singular colors like the purple.  I can probably find an orange that would be easy to add, or maybe that pinky-red.