on a quilted journey
I finally finished piecing the Bobbin quilt from 12 Pack Quilts. It is on the machine and I must say it is turning out beautifully. I just love it. I will tell you all the details when the quilt is finished. For now enjoy the quilting.
Happy quilting this weekend.
Patti
I free motion quilted this piece of ice dyed fabric for a friend. It is a piece I won during a drawing when I attended MQX Quilt Festival– Midwest in Springfield, Illinois last year.
Because of the organic nature of the ice dyed fabric I didn’t want to quilt the piece too formally. I love the free-flowing quilting. Here is the quilting from the back.
The backing was an old linen cloth that has a design on for embroidery. My friend plans on having friends and family that come over to her house to sign and date the back. What a great idea.
If you would like to try your hand at ice dying this is the book that came with the piece of fabric. I haven’t tried it yet but hope to in the near future.
If you would like me to quilt for you contact me at baretreequilting@gmail.com. Hope you’re getting time this weekend to do some quilting.
Patti
I have been working on my Bobbins quilt for a while now. I don’t know if it’s because it’s summer or the amount of actually sewing involved in this case. I have been sewing squares onto two corners or a 3 1/2 inch square
At first I was going to mark each square with a line down the middle. 
But when I realized I would have to mark 576 squares I changed my mind pretty quickly.
So I used some masking tape to mark a line even with the needle of my machine and then sewed each square by starting at one point while making sure the point on the other side of the square stayed along the masking tape.
It certainly went much faster.
While I sewed I was able to look at my row by row quilt.
The rows were made by my good friends Louise Haddon, Dorothy Livernash, Nancy Thone and Carolyn Sanger. I then but the rows together by adding the solid color, black shadows and backround. I quilted the quilt after taking a class on Craftsy called Wild Quilting by Christina Cameli. If you have never taken a class at Craftsy you don’t know what your missing. I have taken several and I can tell you they are informational, inspirational and professionally done. Hop over there and check them out.
I did enter a quilt in Quilt Expo which is held in Madison, Wisconsin on September 7-9, 2017. If you have never been to that show try to get there. It is an excellent show. I should know by the end of the month if my quilt has been accepted. Keep your fingers crossed for me. I’ll let you know.
Happy Quilting everyone!
Patti
So while I am on vacation I am doing some hand sewing. I thought you might like to see how I make the circles with the help of Circleeze. This is a handy tool that helps make perfect circles for applique. You start with a square of fabric, the size circle template you need, and the base plate.
Next you center the circle template on the square piece of fabric, bring up the corners and twist.
You then insert the pinched fabric into the base pulling it tight from the back so the fabric wraps around the circle template perfectly.
You remove the fabric from the base, remove the circle template, and trim to about an 1/8th of an inch. You can spray starch the fabric before you remove it. I didn’t have any starch so this one is unstarched.
I then fold under a small portion so I can place the piece where I want it on the applique, turning the rest under after I have pinned in place.
You will still need to tuck and maneuver a little while you sew it down and then ta dah you have a perfect circle. Or maybe just near perfect circle.
What am I working on you ask? Grace and Glory by Mary Sorenson 2002. I have been working on it a long time. I am bound and determined to get it done this year. Here is one of the blocks in progress.
Today I find out if I can get my Designer 1 sewing machine fixed. Keep your fingers crossed.
Hope you enjoyed this tutorial on Circleeze.
Patti
The deck is ready for 4th of July celebrations. Hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday.
So while I was up north this weekend I was able to take pictures of my first quilt from the 12-Pack Quilts book by Me and My Sister. This one is called Heart’s Desire and I made it with Brighten Up fabric line from Me and My Sister for Moda.
The quilt from the book is really just the hearts in the middle but I wanted to (1) make the quilt bigger and (2) use up the half square triangles that were left over when I made the heart blocks. So I added the thin border of smaller half square triangles that came from the top of the hearts
and the top and bottom borders of the half square triangles that come from the bottom of the hearts
I even used the selvages so that I could piece the borders.
Here is the back of the quilt that shows the ruler work quilting that I did on this baby.
And I also used up left over fabric on the back.
It was a fun quilt to make and quilt.
Hope you had a great Memorial Weekend and had a chance to remember those who gave some and those who gave all so that we can live our lives free to do what we choose. I, of course, choose quilting.
Patti
I started cutting out my fabric for my next quilt from the 12-Pack Quilts called Bobbins. This will be the third quilt I will be making from this book so I thought I would explain how this all came about. In November of last year my mother passed away. She owned a house in Iron Mountain, Michigan that I now own. It is a small house and I come from a big family so shortly after my parents bought the home they added a garage with a loft that has 3 queen size and 3 twin size beds. So I have all theses beds to make quilts for. Luckily my co-workers gave me a gift card after my mother passed away to spend on myself as a comfort and Patched Works in Elm Grove was starting a once a month Moda University club. So I used the money to join the club and this year they are covering all twelve quilts from the book. I don’t need all twelve but I do hope to finish six by the end of the year.
For this quilt I am using another Moda Fabric line called Treehouse Club.
Aren’t they lovely. This will be the back round fabric.
I love the way the little dots in the back round fabric mimic the little dots in the Moda fabric.
Oh by the way. In addition to the six quilts I’d like to make for the beds, I need to fit in a baby quilt. I will be a grandmother for the seventh time in December. This is going to be a good year!
Patti
