Wild Thing

(affiliate links to my designs)

I think this cheater panel has been waiting since November of 2020. I'm not sure I even liked it after I had it printed by Spoonflower Thankfully, it grew on me while I was quilting it. I kind of like my latest quilt now. Especially the quilt back.

I hadn't touched my longarm in at least four years, and possibly longer. So I took it in last fall to be serviced, just to make sure everything was working properly. I then worked up a practice quilt because I know I'm super rusty on free-motion quilting.

I had every intention of finishing this practice quilt by Christmas last year. The actual quilting took only two days once I loaded the quilt onto the longarm. It took me nearly two weeks to get around to the binding. Binding took not quite two hours. I've been playing chicken a lot lately with crochet thread and sewing thread. I did it again with the binding... I won, but boy, was that ever a close call!

It's not perfect. There are plenty of mistakes. Lots of time went into watching and re-watching Handi Quilter tutorials. I had to relearn everything. Literally everything. How to thread the machine. How to adjust the tension. How to work the touch screen. How to drive smoothly...

I didn't have to relearn how to pick out and redo stitches. I didn't have to relearn how to bury my thread ends. I didn't have to relearn how to bind.

When I first finished the quilting, I thought I'd have to do another practice quilt before I begin quilting the baby quilt for my friend's first granddaughter. By the time I finished the binding, I couldn't wait to get the pink floral quilt that has been waiting since December loaded onto the longarm. Who knows??? Perhaps I'll have it finished this weekend! Naaaaa... We're expecting snow tomorrow. If I can snap snowflake photos, I think I'll be tied up editing snowflake photos!!! I can't resist!!!

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Practice Better Make Perfect

(affiliate links to my designs)

For about six weeks now, my goal each and every day has been to get the above baby loaded onto the longarm so I can practice and get the below baby finished and sent to the now three-month-old baby.

There have been moments, perhaps hours or even days, when I thought perhaps I should just quilt the pink baby quilt on the domestic sewing machine.

Ringo the Longarm was serviced back in about September because I hadn't touched it in several years. I remember having trouble with skipped stitches when moving backwards. I remember thinking it was a timing issue. I was ready to use the longarm again, so I took it in for routine maintenance and the skipped stitches problem. It's been more than 90 days, which is all the service warranty covers. So I'm sort of stuck with what I've got for now.

I finally got the practice quilt loaded onto the longarm this week, and I'm SO rusty! I'm having to relearn everything. So thankful for YouTube help videos, which I didn't have access to back when I bought the machine. It came with a DVD. Now all the DVD tutorials are online. And I've been making good use of them.

I'm still skipping lots of stitches, so I probably still have a timing issue. But I'm relearning everything about upper and lower tension, and these are important lessons. I may have to quilt the pink quilt on the domestic machine, and I may have to make lots of practice quilts before I get the longarm running properly. But eventually, I'm going to get Lizard going on art therapy again, and that's pretty darned exciting.

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Wordless Wednesday

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Twin Two Through

I made quick work of my Snowville charm pack, a yard of fabric for the backing, and a bunch of snowflake scraps from my stash. I used my longarm to draw snowmen all over the sandwiched layers to match last week's first twin quilt. This baby was finished in three days, and both quilts are now in the mail to my mother-in-law for her neighbor's preemie twins.

I initially had thought I could do disappearing four-patch or nine-patch cuts on this quilt, but on the diagonal, so it would sort of be in harmony with the first twin quilt. But this fabric line isn't as charm-friendly, in my opinion. Many of the prints are better suited to a layer cake; some of the charms don't have much of a design on them because the polar bears and penguins are too far apart. So I decided to use the charms intact to preserve theme elements that did exist.

If I'd had both the Snow What Fun and Snowville charm packs on hand when I began the first twin quilt, I would have purposely switched a couple of charms so both quilts would have one block from the other twin's quilt. After I finished piecing this latest creation, I realized I could have cut another couple of frosty mug charms from my stash to match what I did to fill in a couple of holes on the first quilt (and to replace the two charms that don't have polar bears or penguins). I was kicking myself in the behind for not thinking of that before I finished piecing.

But then I realized both quilts have blocks made from snowflake fabrics from my stash, and both quilts are bound with the snowflake binding leftovers from previous snowflake-themed quilts I've finished in the past. A couple of the snowflake fabrics in each quilt even match. So, mission accomplished!

This twin quilt journey began while we were visting my mother-in-law in September. She took us to a quilting shop in her town, and I purchased the Snow What Fun charm pack to show her how fun disappearing four- and nine-patch designs can be. She's still somewhat intimidated by the entire quilting process beyond rag quilts. Her birthday is in a couple of weeks, so I'm including a present for her in the twin quilt package because I'm still hoping to get her addicted to quilting.

Sometimes it takes just the right fabrics to make you anxious to begin a new project. I found this charm pack and bought two yards of the coordinating fabric, then cut 42 charm squares from the solid. Lizard says his mom's favorite color is teal. Hopefully, this is just what my cowboy-lovin' mom-in-law needs to brave drowning in the love of quilting!

Linking up with Alycia Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

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Lessons

My mother-in-law had to buy a new sewing machine last year during the height of the pandemic. Like me, before I had to buy a new domestic, she'd been using a 30-year-old machine, but only for mending and denim rag quilts. Like me the first time I get any new sewing or quilting machine, she was hesitant to test-drive her new Brother. Both of us longed to be able to spend time together, and not just to visit after such a long absence. She was hoping I could help her become more acquainted with her new machine, which is a pretty decent upgrade from my now three- or four-year-old Brother.

We recently spent a week together doing almost nothing but staying home (although Lizard and I did walk and ride in the neighborhood every day) and enjoying the peace and quiet that sometimes seems fleeting at my house now that I'm working from home. It was my first non-medical time off in nearly two years (except for a similar visit back in May that turned out to be funeral planning and attending, rather than any kind of relaxation). I had no idea how much I needed a break from work and medical appointments. Now I'm excited for the next time I get to take some time off and do nothing. Who knew there is life outside of being a weekend warrior after a tough family diagnosis?!?

First up was showing Lizard's mom how to thread the machine and wind bobbins. I've been telling her for a year now I would teach her to quilt. A walking foot came with her machine! I have not purchased one for mine yet. But I bought a longarm right around the same time as Lizard's Parkinson's diagnosis, hoping quilting might be good therapy for him, as well as a super enjoyable pastime for me. So I can't give walking foot lessons yet. I do still FMQ on my Brother once in a while, but I'm trying to do most of my quilting on the longarm these days so I can gain proficiency.

My mother-in-law convinced us to visit a quilt shop in her home town, and boy, was that dangerous! But not because of any germs! It had been so long since I'd been able to see so much fabric in one place. My budget was in peril for at least half an hour! I ended up buying two charm packs so I could show my mother-in-law disappearing four-patch and disappearing nine-patch piecing as a beginner project.

Now I'm going to have to keep an eye out for a good charm pack (or layer cake...) sale with fabric she might enjoy. I think she'll eventually try the method with denim because she seemed fascinated by all the many options. I think she will have a lot of fun if I can find just the right cotton prints.

Initially, I thought this Snow What Fun charm pack might become the back for a WIP at my house. Once I started playing with blocks, my mother-in-law decided they would become the perfect baby quilt for her neighbor's newborn premie twins. Initially, my mother-in-law thought perhaps she might be able to make a pair of quilts for the babies once I finished piecing these blocks. But then she decided she'd rather have me finish two giftable baby quilts for her while she learns the basics on her machine. Now I just have to figure out what to make for the other twin.

I had to add some of my own blue snowflake stash at home to make the different-sized blocks fit together and to make the quilt top big enough. I ordered a yard of the cute dark blue penguin and polar bear print for the back, and it finally arrived yesterday. So I hope to have this half of the twin project finished next week!

Linking up with Alycia Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

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