October OMG is Finished: Deco Custom Quilting (Substantially) Finished, Off the Frame

I've finished my OMG (One Monthly Goal) for October, three and a half weeks early!  I am as shocked as YOU are!  My entire 102" x 102" Deco bed quilt (pattern by Lo & Behold Stitchery, available on Etsy here) is now completely stitched in the ditch and all of the digital designs have been quilted as well.  (This post contains affiliate links).  I took one last photo in the Garish Yellow Quilt Studio as I was taking my quilt off the frame:

My 102 x 102 Deco Bed Quilt is Off the Frame!

Now that Deco is off the frame, I can start packing up all of my long arm quilting tools and supplies and Bernie and I can disassemble the frame and pack everything up for our upcoming move back to North Carolina.  However, although I completed what I set out to do on this quilt for this month, the quilt is not yet 100% quilted.  According to the batting manufacturer, I have more than enough quilting to hold the quilt together, but it's uneven quilting in that the digital quilting areas are quilted more densely, with lines of stitching much closer together, than the pieced blocks that are only stitched along seam lines between contrasting fabric patches.  It has always been my intention to complete this quilt with additional quilting in the pieced blocks.  However, it's "quilted enough" for me to feel comfortable taking it off the frame, folding it up, and packing it in a box for our move.

All SID (Stitch In the Ditch) + Digital Quilting Completed

My original plan was to reload this quilt on my long arm machine at the other end of the move to quilt the pieced blocks with decorative ruler work and free motion quilting, but then I got to thinking about how I've always wanted to play around with combining machine quilting and hand quilting on the same project, in different thread weights.  

Happiness is a Missing Wall Between the Sewing Room and the Long Arm Quilting Studio

You guys, I am SO EXCITED by this dreary photo that my son snapped for me at 2 AM:

The Wall is Gone!  This Is My New Studio in North Carolina!!

That is where there used to be a wall dividing a basement "guest bedroom" from a small "exercise room."  My builders started the renovation this week and they have ripped out the flooring and removed the offending wall.  I know it doesn't look like much at this point, but the photo was taken from the former exercise room where my sewing machine and serger cabinets will be set up, looking through the new opening to the former bedroom where my long arm machine will be set up with my thread racks and ruler racks on the walls, and that black door leads to a nice, big closet that will store all of my batting.  

If that doesn't motivate me to get cracking and get packing, nothing will!  That's all you get from me today because I'm headed out to get more boxes and packing supplies!

I'm linking up with nothing and nobody because this the shortest blog post ever.  

Sarah's Scrappy Double 4-Patch Quilt + Plotting and Scheming My Next Stonefields Blocks

Happy Monday Tuesday morning, Friends!  Well, I’m delighted to report that I’ve finished all the stitch-in-the-ditch quilting on my Deco quilt, but alas — it doesn’t look any different than the last time I showed it to you.  Because, you know, invisible thread…

So I thought I’d show you this lovely double 4-patch quilt that I quilted for Sarah over a year ago, with a Baptist Fan quilting design that you CAN see.

Sarah's Double 4-Patch Quilt with Baptist Fan E2E 

I love Sarah’s carefully planned scrappy palette of fabrics, with such wonderful value contrast that makes the red and blue chain seem to shimmer.  And she had the sweetest fussy cut vintage fabrics like this little one with the children waving flags:

Baptist Fab Quilting Detail

Meanwhile, as we say in the South, I’ve been “FIXING” to start my next Stonefields Quilt blocks.  

Stonefields Blocks 14 & 15: Bordered 3/8" Hexagons

Hello, hello, HELLO, my Lovelies!  Look what I made yesterday and today, instead of packing or working on quilting my Deco quilt!  Behold, the Adorable and Delicious Little Bordered 3/8" Hexagon Blocks for my Stonefields sampler quilt project!  I had so much fun making these blocks!  (This post contains affiliate links).

6" Finished Stonefields Blocks 14 & 15: Bordered 3/8 in. Hexagons

The directions in the Stonefields Quilt pattern by Susan Smith are sparse, which is fine by me as I have difficulty following instructions anyway.  The pattern designer assumes everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, is stitched by hand.  That's fine if Methuselah is making this quilt, but those of us whose life expectancy is less than 900 years need to make peace with compromises from time to time.  I enjoy hand stitching but I am really, REALLY slow at it, so I'm mixing in machine work where it makes sense to me to do so.

For instance, why would I hand piece this square in a square block background when it is so easy to foundation paper piece this block and I can print my foundation paper patterns right from my EQ8 software to whatever size I need them to be?

Foundation Paper Pieced Background

I rough cut all my patches before FPP stitching and lay them out next to my machine.  Those fabrics in the lower left corner of the above photo are the ones I've selected for the hexie rosette that will be appliquéd to the center of this block later.

 6" Finished Block Background Ready for Hexie Rosette

And now, for the rascally little EPP hexies!  This was my first ever experience making EPP hexies.  Five years ago, I sewed an EPP monogram letter C block for a baby quilt (read about that here) and in August of 2016 I made unsuccessful experiments combining both FPP (foundation paper piecing) and EPP (English paper piecing) methods to piece a tricky block from the Farmer's Wife Sampler book (read about that here).  

Well, I've got more experience and better skills now than I had back then, and this time around I'm a lot happier with my results.  

Thread Basted 3/8 in. Hexies

Notes to Self (and to Other Interested Parties):

• I'm using commercially made hexagon templates with 3/8" sides.  They came in an optional kit that I purchased with my pattern.
• After reading a blog post from the Brimfield Awakening EPP gurus where they experimented with different stitching methods and threads, I decided to thread baste my hexies using 50/3 cotton Guttermann thread and a size 10 milliners needle, but switched to 100 wt polyester Microquilter thread with a size 11 milliners needle to whipstitch the edges of my hexies together.  Microquilter from my long arm quilting thread stash was the closest thing I had to the 100 wt poly Invisafil thread that Brimfield Awakenings recommended.

Whipstitching With 100 wt Microquilter + Size 11 Milliners Needle

Even in the ultra-fine, thinnest weight available, so skinny that you can't see the stitches as you're making them, 100 wt polyester still has the strength of 50 wt or even 40 wt cotton thread.  I wish I'd known this for my previous EPP attempts!  The thread really does make a huge difference.

Whipstitched Seam in 100 wt Microquilter Thread

See?

Zoomed WAY In to See the Stitches

And here that seam is from the right side, again, this is a zoomed-in photo which is why the fabric weave looks like a waffle.

Same Seam, Right Side

I needed just one Wonder Clip to hold things securely positioned while I was hand stitching.  I made my first hexie rosette by attaching all six outer ones to the center first, then stitching the outer hexies together one short seam at a time.  On this second rosette I tried attaching each outer hexie completely, in an "L" seam, and preferred doing it that way.

Wonder Clip Love

Here's my completed hexie rosette.  I really have absolutely no idea how long it took me to make this little cutie because I was zoned out in my Happy Place, giggling and smiling like a fool and paying no attention to the sun's travels across the sky...

HEE HEE HEE HEE HEE!!!  😍

And then all of a sudden it was four o'clock in the afternoon and I was wondering where on Earth did my day go, and what about all of those other things on my To Do list!!  Having reprogrammed and saved my own personal preferred invisible appliqué stitch on my Bernina B990 sewing machine (read about that here), I decided that I'd spent enough hand stitching hours on each of these tiny hexie rosettes and gave myself permission to appliqué them to their respective block backgrounds by machine.

Invisible Machine Applique on My Bernina B990

More Notes to Self:

• I gave each hexie rosette a good starching and pressing before and after removing the template papers.  Then I used tiny dots of Roxanne's Glue Baste It to secure them in position on my block backgrounds.  The starch and the extremely narrow width of my appliqué stitch precluded the need for any stabilizer during machine stitching
• I used invisible monofilament thread in a size 60/8 Microtex needle, with Microquilter in my bobbin
• I used my open toe presser foot #20D and turned on the B990's laser feature, which shines a dot of red light precisely in the location of the next needle penetration.  That made it really easy to ensure that every stitch landed exactly where I needed it as I navigated around the perimeter of the rosettes
• I did not use my machine's auto securing or auto trim features.  Instead I held onto my thread tails at the beginning, ended stitching at the exact point where I'd begun, threaded the tails into a hand needle and pulled them to the back of the work to tie off

Tra-la-la-la-laaaaaaa!  

So, what do y'all think?  Is this sacrilege?  Hand sewn EPP hexagon rosettes machine appliqué to the block!  I should note that it IS possible to sew EPP with the sewing machine; I hunted down and watched several different methods of doing so on YouTube.  I decided that either the results shown in the tutorials didn't meet my personal standards, or that the machine  methods looked too fiddly to bother with.  Not that I wouldn't try them ever, on some other project, perhaps one where I was working with larger patches.  

Machine appliqueing the rosettes to my backgrounds made sense because I am really, REALLY pleased with how closely my new machine applique stitch resembles my hand stitching, doing this step by machine prevented any fraying of my already-to-exact-size background block due to scrunching and handling the block during hand applique stitching, and I felt I had invested my hand stitching time into the aspect of the block where I got the biggest payoff for those efforts.

How Do I Love My Sewing Machine?  Let Me Count the Ways...

Side note about how that laser feature works on the B990, because the marketing materials do a terrible job of explaining why anyone would want this for reasons other than machine embroidery.  I stopped my machine with the needle in the down position for the photo above, which is why you don't see any red dot of light on the work.  When the laser light is turned on, each time the machine's needle goes to the UP position, it shines that red dot of light onto the next place where the needle is going to go DOWN, and that helps ensure that the needle is landing in the background fabric for the straight stitches and biting just barely into a thread or two of the appliqué fabric at each swing "bite" zigzag stitch.  You can also tell as you're approaching an inside or outside corner exactly when to pivot your work.  No more guessing and getting that "almost right!"  

Backing Trimmed Away

Not sure whether it was all the starch I used to ensure my hexie rosettes held their shape after template removal, but it felt like there was a lot of bulk at the center of these finished blocks so I trimmed the background fabric away behind each rosette.  Remember that these are 3/8" hexies with 1/4" seam allowances so each one is already two to three layers thick.  Not sure whether this is a "done thing" with English Paper Piecing but it's "done NOW!"

Here are all of my completed Stonefields blocks on my design wall together:

Stonefields Completed Blocks 1-15

Two things: the blocks I finished today may look "out of place" with the others from a value perspective, but I'm not worried.  They will be fine once they are joined by other blocks that have more "stage presence."  Second, most of those appliqué blocks still have oversized backgrounds.  Part of me thinks I ought to wait to trim them down until I'm ready to assemble the blocks into a finished quilt.  Sometimes I think maybe I should wash the blocks to remove the starch and basting glue, and then trim them down.  And then another part of me thinks I ought to trim them down RIGHT NOW because it's harder to get a sense of how the whole quilt is taking shape when some of my blocks are 6 1/2" and other blocks have excess fabric around the edges.  Anyone have any advice?  When I take all of the blocks off my design wall for my upcoming move, I'll be storing them neatly in a project box and I don't think they are going to ravel and fray no matter what I do.  Also, it would be stressful and unpleasant to have to trim down ALL the appliqué blocks near the end of the project.

Alright, enough about this for today. Gosh, I don't even know what day it is.  Wednesday?  Thursday?  I need to get back to the stitch in the ditch quilting on my Deco quilt again tomorrow for sure!

I'm linking up today's post with the following linky parties:

• MONDAY

  Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts  

  Monday Musings at Songbird Designs  

  TUESDAY

  To-Do Tuesday at Quilt Schmilt  

  WEDNESDAY

  Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter

  THURSDAY

  Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation  

  FRIDAY

  Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

  Off the Wall Friday at Nina Marie Sayre

  Beauty Pageant at From Bolt to Beauty

   TGIFF Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday, rotates, schedule found here: TGIF Friday

  SUNDAY

  Frédérique at Quilting Patchwork Appliqué

  Slow Stitching Sunday at Kathy's Quilts

  Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

Staircase Railing Makeover in the New House Because Rebecca Is Picky And Bernie Loves Her

I know most of you only come here for the quilting, so here's a snapshot of where I am with custom quilting my Deco bed quilt as of today:

The End is In Sight for Deco Stitch In the Ditch Quilting!

Side note: I will NOT MISS those garish yellow walls in my Florida long arm studio!!  At first I was living with them so as not to offend my father-in-law, but then once my long arm was set up in there the repainting took a back seat to other priorities.  It is really difficult to get accurate quilt photos with such a vivid wall color as light reflects off the walls and casts yellow onto everything.  Every photo taken in this space has needed to be color corrected with editing software.  Here's what that photo looked like before editing:

Same Photo Before Editing to Correct Color

See what I mean?  And that is with white fluorescent lighting!  My next studio is going to have nice NEUTRAL wall paint.

Okay, back to the quilt: I've done the interior ditch quilting in the top row of purple and blue log cabin blocks but tomorrow I'll need to back up a row and quilt the ditches around each of those green 1" square patches in the row above them.  Do you see that canvas leader edge at the bottom of the photo?  That is the very bottom edge of my quilt top pinned to that leader.  When I get to the bottom I will still have to go back and do additional "To Be Determined" detail quilting in the pieced blocks, but at least I will be done with the tedious slog of ditch quilting.

Should've Gone To Bed: When 20 Minutes of Careless Stitching Yields an Hour and a Half of Ripping

Greetings, Friends!  Today's tale of woe has a happy ending and is chock full of Monday Morning Quarterbacking and useful tips for Future Rebecca.  Let's start with the Happy Ending, shall we?  I finished stitching this row of alternate blocks in my Deco quilt today, so I'm nearly 2/3 finished (with the stitch in the ditch and major digital designs in this 102" x 102" bed quilt that I am custom quilting).  Tomorrow I'll pop off the computer robotics belts from my machine, snap on my ruler base, and work on the stitch in the ditch quilting around the pale purply-pink squares and the green squares in the adjacent blocks.  Doesn't that Teal So Fine thread look pretty against the dark Kona Indigo background fabric?  That is the kind of quilting that says "Notice ME!  And pay no attention to the wobbly imperfections of the stitching in the ditching!"

This Is the Row of Decorative Computerized Quilting I Completed Today

Here's what I was looking at late last Thursday afternoon, when I was tired and wanted to stop quilting for the day but pushed myself to finish out the row:

I Quilted the Wrong Design!  😱

September Goals: Stonefields, FrankenWhiggish, Inherited UFO + BIG News for Rebecca

Happy Labor Day in the United States and Happy September, everyone!  I have a lot going on right now and my Big News (which I shall reveal towards the END of today's post) is going to dictate which projects and tasks take priority this month.

Stonefields Quilt

First, let's talk about my Stonefields quilt, because I am delighted with this project so far.  These blocks have been such a treat to work on!  All 13 of the blocks from Month One are now completed and on the design wall.  All blocks will finish at 6", but the applique backgrounds were cut oversized and will need to be trimmed down.  Because I use starch and glue in my applique preparation methods, I am thinking I might wash my applique blocks before trimming them down to size.  The serged edges will prevent them from fraying whether I hand wash them in a little dish pan or -- gasp! -- put them in a lingerie bag and run them through the washing machine on the Hand Wash Delicates cycle.  Honestly, that is probably exactly what I will do, because I know the washing machine will get all the glue and starch out very efficiently and I am more curious about what will happen in the washing machine than I am worried about what will happen in the washing machine.  

Stonefields Blocks 1-13 Completed, Appliqué Blocks Need Trimming to Size

My Sawtooth Star blocks were foundation paper pieced on the sewing machine, most of my applique blocks were stitched by hand, but the final Posy Pot block is a mixture of some shapes stitched by hand and other shapes stitched with my Bernina B990 sewing machine:

Stonefields Block 13 "Posy Pot"

I am absolutely delighted with my customized invisible machine appliqué stitch and how closely I got it to resemble the look of my own personal hand stitching.  

Keeping Up With the Gretchens: Hand Stitching vs Bernina B990 Invisible Machine Appliqué Experiment for Stonefields Blocks

Good morning and Happy Sunday, everyone!  After my reckless but ultimately successful experiment on my Deco quilt last week (read about it in this post, which I edited and updated after coming back to the quilt and realizing that all was well after all), I decided to conduct another Mad Scientist Experiment on my Stonefields quilt project.  You may have heard of Keeping Up With the Joneses or Keeping Up With the Kardashians, but I'm all about trying to keep up with my blogging friend Gretchen who is cruising through her Stonefields quilt and leaving me behind in the dust!  Just kidding; I am delighted that Gretchen, Chris, and Hanne were all successfully cajoled into starting or resuming their Stonefields quilts (pattern by Susan Smith available here) as a very informal quilt along with me.  I know it's not a race, but I must be the slowest stitcher ever to have threaded a needle and it can be discouraging to put in so many hours and see so little progress -- especially since there are so many challenging and intense quilts that I want to make (I am thinking of YOU, Star Upon Stars, Down the Rabbit Hole, Simple Folk, and Happy Days!).  Behold my design wall with Blocks 1-12 completed.  Block 13 is another appliqué block that is prepped and ready for hand stitching in the coming days.  (This post contains affiliate links).

Completed Month One Blocks for Stonefields Quilt, One More to Go

Earlier in the week, out of mild curiosity, I timed how long it took me to stitch the 3 1/2" diameter cheddar print circle in one of my Pomegranate blocks.  Wanna take a guess?  

Hand Stitching a Pomegranate Block for Stonefields

It took one hour and seven minutes for me to stitch down that circle.  That was uninterrupted continuous stitching, not including threading the needle, trimming away the backing fabric, and not including stitching the light blue orange peel shape that I've started on in the photo.  No wonder I'm not able to keep up!  I am the snail of stitching!  

Reckless Quilting: What If I Rip My Custom Quilt Off the Frame, Dump It On the Pool Table, and Try to Put It Back On Later?

Reckless driving is driving with a "willful or wanton disregard for the safety of people or property," as defined by Florida Statute 316.192. Examples include high-speed driving, swerving, unsafe lane changes, and fleeing a law enforcement officer.  Reckless QUILTING is deciding on a whim to conduct an experiment on a quilt that you've been working on (and striving for perfection on) for nearly four years.  Friends, I admit it: I am a Reckless Quilter, guilty as charged.

When one of my longtime clients reached out to me recently to ask whether I could possibly quilt this 40" x 42" baby quilt in time for her granddaughter's birthday, I had already loaded my Deco quilt for custom quilting but I was procrastinating getting started.  I actually agreed to do this baby quilt for Carrie in order to "light a fire under my behind" and force myself to get my Deco quilt either finished, or lightly quilted from top to bottom with enough stabilization and basting to secure all three layers so I could safely zip it off my frame (my Bernina long arm frame has zippered leaders for just this purpose) and zip on another set of leaders for the baby quilt.  

Carrie's 40 x 42 Strawberries Baby Quilt

But alas -- the time came when I needed to get the baby quilt on the frame and, since I had indulged myself by doing some decorative quilting as I went along instead of sticking to boring stitch in the ditch as planned, my Deco quilt only had quilting securing the three layers for the top third of the quilt, with the quilt top, batting and backing loose for the bottom two thirds of the quilt.  What would happen if I took the quilt off the frame just the way it was, I wondered?  Would I be able to get it loaded again afterwards and complete the custom quilting without any issues?  I consulted the Internet, and the Internet had no answers for me.

HYPOTHESIS: 

If a custom quilt in progress is attached to a long arm quilting frame with zipper leaders, and if it is possible to remove and reattach a basted quilt using these zipper leaders, then I should be able to remove and reattach a partially quilted, UNbasted quilt with the zipper leaders.

So I unzipped all three leaders, carried the monster quilt-in-progress over to the pool table in the room next to my studio, and dumped it there for about four or five hours while I loaded and quilted the little baby quilt with an edge-to-edge design.

Yes, I Ripped My Deco Quilt Off the Frame and Dumped It On the Pool Table

Stonefields Applique Prepped, Blocks 5-13 + Applipops vs Perfect Circle Templates

Good morning, my lovelies!  I have been having so much fun prepping my Stonefields Month One appliqué blocks this week!  You know, digging through scrap bins and working with scissors and something suspiciously similar to Elmer's School Glue to put these little blocks together makes me feel like I've been transported across space and time back to kindergarten arts and crafts.  It's magical and so cathartic.  If you are someone who admires appliqué from a distance but thinks "I'd never have the patience," I urge you to give it a try sometime.  It is so much like those school projects from decades ago where we dug through old catalogs and wallpaper sample books and construction paper scraps from other projects, cutting things out with our safety scissors (we were fussy cutting!) and trying to eat the paste when the teacher wasn't looking.  I know of no other pastime that can make me forget my arthritis and my wrinkles, dissolve all the cares of the world, and make me feel like a 5-year-old again.

Here are my Stonefields Blocks 5-13, prepped and ready for stitching:

Stonefields Blocks 5-13, Prepped and Ready to Stitch

When I say that my blocks are "prepped and ready for stitching," I mean that I've made heat resistant plastic templates for all of the applique shapes, selected the fabrics, traced the shapes onto the wrong side of my fabric scraps with a pencil, cut the shapes out with an eyeballed scant 1/4" turning allowance, and preturned those seam allowance/turning allowances by wetting them with starch and pressing them back over the edges of the heat resistant templates.  Then I used the pattern sheets and a light box to position the applique shapes on my background fabric and basted them in place temporarily using tiny dots of Roxanne's Glue Baste-It (this post contains affiliate links).  I put those drops of glue about an eighth to a sixteenth inside the edge of the patch so I won't be hand stitching through the glue.  By the way, this preparatory process is exactly the same regardless of whether I was planning to stitch the shapes down by hand or with my sewing machine using an invisible appliqué stitch.  If sewing by machine I would just need to slip scraps of tearaway embroidery stabilizer beneath each block before stitching to prevent puckering.  I'm not going to promise that there won't be any machine stitched applique on this quilt, but for now I'm going to stitch my applique by hand using my favorite YLI 100 wt Silk thread and my Bohin size 12 Applique Needles.  I love how these thin needles and thread create truly invisible stitches that just sink into my fabric and disappear.

A Spoonful of Sugar, A Capful of Starch + Quilting That Is More Fun Than Stitch In the Ditch

Well, my plan was to complete all of the SID (Stitch In the Ditch) quilting throughout the entirety of my 102" x 102" Deco quilt before starting to quilt the fancy designs.  Instead, I got this wild Mary Poppins idea in my head about how a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down and it probably wouldn't hurt to quilt just a few fancy designs on my quilt before I advanced to SID the next row, just to see what they will look like...

Finally Some Quilting I Can See!

In hindsight, the designs I stitched in the light blue squares are more densely quilted than I had intended.  I knew this 10% into stitching the first one, and I could have stopped the machine right then, picked out those stitches, and chosen a less dense, faster stitching design.  But I didn't want to spend 30 minutes picking out those stitches.  Now I'll have to quilt the rest of the behemoth of a quilt more densely to balance it out, which will take an extra hundred hours or so...  😳. I have a very peculiar and inefficient laziness whereby avoiding work creates much more work.  Anyway, it's gratifying to see some quilting texture on this quilt.   As this is a bed quilt and I want it to finish softer than cardboard, I"m using 50 wt matte polyester So Fine thread in my needle paired with MagnaGlide 60 wt thread in my bobbin.  This is going to take forever...  Wicked thought: What if I just CUT THE QUILT OFF at the bottom of this row, and instead of a bed quilt it can be a TABLE RUNNER?!  

Here's how those designs look in the setting triangles across the top of the quilt stitched in contrasting Teal thread against the solid Indigo background fabric:

Setting Triangles Quilted in So Fine Thread, Color Teal Against Indigo Fabric

All day today and yesterday, in between forced frisbee outings with His Little Highness the Dog, I was working on my Deco quilt.  But wait -- there's more!  A few days ago, I started prepping appliqué for my Stonefields quilt!

Grunt Work: SID Quilting on Deco + Appliqué Prep for Stonefields

Welcome to today's boring blog post.  I'm bored already and I am the one writing it -- not a good sign, but let's begin.

😂.  Clearly I was not in a good mood when I started writing this blog post yesterday!  Good thing I left it in Draft mode or I might have driven all of you away for good!  The blog post begun with a bad attitude yesterday and revised with a better attitude today is about not-so-glamorous prep work at the front end of a project that lays the foundation for smooth sailing and a successful finish.  It's like stretching in the morning or flossing your teeth before you go to bed -- you can skip this stuff if you want to, but you'll probably pay for it later if you do!  I'll be talking about the foundational stitch-in-the-ditch quilting on my Deco quilt as well as getting my appliqué templates ready for my next Stonefields quilt blocks.  

Quilting Begins on My Deco Quilt

I Loathe the Drudgery of Stitching In the Ditch Quilting!

Stitching in the ditch -- quilting along patchwork seamlines -- is utter and abysmal drudgery.  If you do it really well, you can't see the quilting at all and sometimes that results in quilting over a line you already stitched because you couldn't see it.  But if you wobble or some speck of thread or bit of gook on your carriage wheels creates a hiccup in your straight line of quilting, it will stick out at you like Pinnochio's nose or a lump on the noggin of the Wylie Coyote.  And right now I DO have something somewhere that is giving me grief.  I wish I'd done a thorough cleaning of my carriage wheels before I loaded this quilt because it's really hard to get to all of them with a quilt on the frame.  It could also be that one of the machine's cables is catching on something at the back of the frame and needs adjusting, but I can't see what's going on back there when I'm quilting manually from the front of the frame and Bernie has been too busy lately to help me troubleshoot.  

Here's a block in the top row before the ditch quilting:

Not Quilted Yet

Below, I have outlined all of the green squares with stitching in the ditch.  Do you see those couple of wobble bumps?  Those are happening when I feel my machine catching on something ever so slightly.  I am stitching very slowly and using a straight edge quilting ruler as a guide, but then suddenly the machine gets knocked away from my ruler edge by some microscopic obstruction and Bad Words come out of my mouth.  For now I am just ignoring it and soldiering on.  Every imperfection is glaring when the quilt is on the frame under the bright lights and I am hyperfocused on every stitch.  Much of what looks like a catastrophe in the moment ends up not being a big deal in the end, and anything that is STILL a catastrophe at the end can be ripped out and restitched if it still drives me crazy.

I'm using Aurifil monofilament thread in color Smoke (this post contains affiliate links) with Fil-Tec MagnaGlide Classic 60 wt navy bobbin thread, in case anyone is interested.  If you can't find MagnaGlide Classic, it doesn't come in the color you need, or your machine can't accept prewound bobbins, Superior's 60 wt Bottom Line or Microquilter would be good alternatives.  You can even wind monofilament on your bobbin but beware -- it's prone to stretching so slow your bobbin winding speed way down, only wind your bobbin half full, and recognize that with invisible thread top and bottom it will be much more difficult to monitor your tension throughout the quilting process.  Those are the reasons I prefer not to use monofilament thread in my bobbin even though it works beautifully in my Berninas.  Oh, and I'm also using Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 Black batting. I know that if/when I wash this quilt, the needle holes will close up and my imperfections will be less visible.  You don't see the monofilament thread against my green fabric, but you do see tiny specks of black batting in the needle holes if you put your nose right up to the quilt and you have your strongest reading glasses on your face.  Ask me how I know this.  👀

SID Finished (Sloppily) Around Green Squares

I deliberately did not SID the seams between navy patches within those blocks because I want to deemphasize those seams and do some other quilting in those areas to make the background recede and the green squares pop forward.  These are vague plans half formed in my mind; I won't decide for sure until after I see how my digital designs look stitched out.

My big, boring accomplishment for this week is that I have done this SID quilting to all of the green and navy blocks across the top row of the quilt.  I think I am going to rip off my ruler base tomorrow and start stitching the digital designs in the setting triangles between these blocks, because I am hoping that will cheer me up and distract me from my wobbly SID quilting.  Imaginary Judge's comments: "Straight lines should be straight."  Duh.  My dog thinks it looks awesome, so there!  ;-)

Stonefields Sawtooth Stars, Blocks 1-4, + Flying Geese Ruler Roundup

I present to you Sawtooth Stars, Blocks 1-4 of my NewFO project "Stonefields" by Susan Smith.  Ta da!  These blocks will finish at 6" square.

Stonefields Sawtooth Star Blocks 1-4, 6 inch finished

It took me the better part of two days to piece these four blocks because I decided to foundation paper piece them.  In hindsight, I'm not sure that was the best use of time.  I mean, the pattern instructions told me to piece these blocks by hand, and that probably would have been faster than the way I machine pieced them when all was said and done!

I printed my paper piecing foundation patterns on newsprint for a 6" finished sawtooth star block from EQ8 software, then used the software to print rough templates for cutting onto card stock (not pictured and definitely a waste of time because it was just triangles and squares, DUH!).  

Oversize Precut Patches, Foundation Patterns + Supplies, Ready to FPP

Deco is Loaded + Stonefields Prep: Overcasting Appliqué Background Blocks

Greetings, my lovelies!   This will be just a quick update to share what I accomplished in the last few days before I head to New Jersey for my mom’s burial service.  No, I don’t have any hand stitching prepped for my trip, but I did get a little prep work done so I’ll have things ready to stitch when I get home.

My Deco quilt is loaded on my long arm machine and my ruler base is on the machine, woot woot!  When I get back to Florida I’ll be ready to start stabilizing this custom quilt project by stitching in the ditch between blocks with my favorite Aurifil Smoke monofilament thread.  This is a big bed quilt, 102” x 102”, and I’m in no rush whatsoever.  Expect to see dribbles of progress over the next few months on this one.

102 x 102 Deco Quilt Loaded on my Bernina Q24 Long Arm Machine

Second accomplishment, I have made some progress on the prep work for my new sampler project, the Stonefields Quilt by Susan Smith!  The pattern instructions told me to cut out forty 6 1/2” background blocks for appliqué.  I ultimately decided to tear my fabric instead of ripping it per the instructions in Jeanne Sullivan’s book, and I tore my squares at a generous 7 1/2” square so I’d be able to trim them with the serger knife when overcasting the raw edges and still have excess to trim after stitching the appliqué.  I think that was a good amount of trimming insurance as the blocks are about 7 1/4” now after the serger knife trimmed the whiskers away.

40 Appliqué Background Blocks for Stonefields Prepped

Did I really need to overcast the edges on these little blocks?  Debatable.  There is definitely a potential for fraying of the raw block edges on larger, more complex blocks that will be handled a lot during hand stitching (like my 19” FrankenWhiggish blocks, still awaiting the final stuffed berries).  These Stonefields blocks are small and relatively simple, so they might have been fine without overcasting.  

Legacy of Love: Mom's Life, in Stitches

Friends, I have been procrastinating writing this blog post, just as I have been postponing calling the probate attorney and the banks and the insurance companies and everyone else you're supposed to notify when someone dies and you've been assigned these responsibilities in their will.  Honestly, I just want to call my mom and complain about how everything sucks right now, but she won't answer.  Her phone is right in front of me in a ziplock bag on my desk, along with her Apple watch, her drivers license, her passport, and her car keys.  All of this is very weird and feels very, very WRONG.

Me and Mom, Naples Zoo, December 28, 2024

My mom, according to the funeral home lady, is "in the lovely blue urn you selected," which makes it sound like she's Barbara Eden in "I Dream of Jeannie" and she will pop out wearing harem pants and granting wishes.  Which is exactly what I would tell my mother if I could call her right now, because that would make her laugh.  My brain understands that my mom is gone and that death came as a blessing to end to her suffering.  However, my heart wants to believe that, if I call her tomorrow, she will answer her phone.  

Last Selfie With Mom, June 4, 2025

This was my last selfie with Mom when I got to Austin late in the afternoon of June 4th.  She had been in bed for three days straight before that, but insisted on getting dressed and moving to the recliner in the living room because I was coming.  I had no idea she only had three days left, two days really because she was unresponsive for most of the day Saturday before she passed.  Her decline over that 72 hour period was just unbelievably fast, even catching the hospice team by surprise -- they did not have the morphine available in the house yet because they had "staged" her as not being close enough to needing it.  Anyway, I don't want to dwell on those few days because that's not how my mom would want to be remembered.  I did write her obituary and it's online here, but there were a few more things I wanted to share here:

The Kangaroo Costume Mom Made for My Son Lars in 2018

That's a kangaroo costume my mom sewed for my son Lars, for one of his high school theatre class projects.  She also sewed some costumes for a middle school production of Legally Blonde that my son Anders was in, dozens of figure skating costumes for my sister Susan...  I wish I had photos of more of mom's projects to share with you.