Friday Night Sew-In Results for RocknQuilts/Eleanor Burns QAYG Tech. post 4

Friday Night Sew-In Results
April 15, 2011
Find all the participants here.

This afternoon and evening, I worked more on my DD's graduation quilt using Eleanor Burns' techniques for Quilt As You Go.

This is my fourth post.

Here are other posts on this technique:

Part 3: http://rocknquilts.blogspot.com/2011/04/eleanor-burns-machine-quilted-finish_07.html

   Part 2:  http://rocknquilts.blogspot.com/2011/04/eleanor-burns-machine-quilted-finish_06.html

Part 1:  http://rocknquilts.blogspot.com/2011/04/eleanor-burns-machine-quilted-finish.html

I left off last time by putting rows one and two together with sashing...now on to adding row three...

This is the wrong way around...the long piece of sashing running horizontally must be the other way!

After turning it around, I pinned the ends of both of the vertical sashings so I would know where to pin the two pieces together so that they would match up...

turn the third piece over, match vertical sashings with pre-pinned markings and pin all along the horizontal sashing, matching the vertical sashings first, then carefully pinning the length of the entire piece.

Here I am at my Baby Lock Quest Plus...

the extra batting is laying to the left

you should always avoid sewing through two layers of batting

my quilting teacher Verna advises, because it might break a needle

(please let me know if you've used a heavier needle with successful double-batting 

or what you've experienced when using double battings)

Checking to see if it matched up:

After sewing the fourth and final row of batting to the quilt, turn over and begin trimming - 

carefully avoiding the quilt top underneath.  A good 8" pair of scissors that are nice and sharp are in order.

It's 'fun' to see what I have thus far...

those separate pieces of binding are going to be attached now...

using a product from www.heatpressbattingtogether.com

(the alternative method is to sew them together - please see post 3 for details)

Post 3:  http://rocknquilts.blogspot.com/2011/04/eleanor-burns-machine-quilted-finish_07.html

Use a synthetic setting on your iron, cotton setting is too hot:

After trimming the back so that your batting lays side by side nice and flat, cut a piece of "heatpressbattingtogether", laying the rough side down and smooth your iron across it gently:

Here's how it looks after it's all in place across the batting:

Now it's time for the first of two borders....sew all the strips right sides together to form one very long length from which to cut your four pieces of border, two sides (measured from the center) and a top and bottom strip (measured from the center of the four rows across).

Checking the center length of the quilt top, I measure 61" - this will be the length for my side borders.

Here's my fabric choice for the larger 6" outside border:

That's as far as I got...

because we had to dig out - yes, on April 15th - from a snow storm!

Rather amazing, isn't it for this time of year?

I'm so glad we're not flooding here.

I feel badly for those in the Fargo, Jamestown, Devil's Lake, I-29 areas...they're really getting hit by flooding and after the heavy, wet snow that fell, it's going to get even worse.  Prayers are being sent up for them!

I hope you had a successful Friday Night Sew-In!

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Have you seen this amazing resource before?  

LINK to National and International Quilting Teachers

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Please pop back to RocknQuilts the 2nd of May when I feature our very first GUEST BLOGGER,
Linda, from www.b-bumble.com , who has graciously donated three of her personally designed quilts for our GIVE AWAY, to be held Monday, May 16th, 2011.  

Please check out Linda's website to see what kinds of quilt patterns she offers!

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New recipes on our sister blog at 
http://www.rocknrecipes-rocknquilts.blogspot.com !

A finished purse, a shopping trip and a thank you!

Oh, my!  I did it...I bought a NEW machine - I'm in LOVE with a Baby Lock Quest Plus :-)

Here's my new 'baby':

This mid-arm quilting machine is heavy-duty and has PDQ!

Precision Dual Feed Quilting

with a 23x19 inch extension table

and - awesome for quilting - it has a front-loading bobbin with independent bobbin winder motor

so you can sew and thread bobbin at the same time

 the LCD lights that light up under the arm

and....

I also got a Next Generation Quilt Frame

to use this mid-arm on

it has a laser quilters' stylus

telescoping handles

ability to quilt on either side of the frame 

sit-down quilting

can set up the frame at 5' or 10'

this will do a 108x108 King sized quilt

Quilt Frame INFO

I can't WAIT to get it all set up in my basement sewing area!

I'll post again when it's ready to go...

....in the meantime...

I was able to finish (with help from a sweet friend) my "Bismarck Joy" purse 

from the Feb. Joan Friedrich class!

I did a rolled hem around the edges of the inside pockets at home on my serger:

After making sure it was completely sewn up, I cut the length evenly to 19 1/4" x 12"

I attached a fab button I found at JoAnn's Fabrics

Back at the store, my friend Cindy helped me construct the purse:

Here's another pic of my new baby!

Here's Cindy sweetly helping me pin my project together...

She even gave me stabilizer to use inside the bag to give it body...

I folded this smaller piece over three times and placed it along the edges of the bottom of the bag...

I created what Cindy calls a "pretend binding" around the top edge of the bag once it was sewn together and turned right-side-out:

Here I am attaching the straps to the bag...

I hand-stitched the zippered bag into the bag...

Ta-dah!  All done :-)  Ah, that's a great feeling...

to complete a project!

Speaking of great feelings, my DS Rodger just adores his USAF fleece blanket/pillow 

from CeLynn's Stitched Sunflower Emporium

Your stitching is beautiful and your service was excellent - so quick!

Thank you, CeLynn!!

Please visit CeLynn's store at

http://stores.ebay.com/Celynns-Stitched-Sunflower-Emporium

Great prices, wonderful service, beautiful work!

All tucked in for bed...

nitey-nite!

The most beautiful, organized, thrifty and inexpensive sewing room on the planet - I just LOVE this and know you will, too:

http://sewmanyways.blogspot.com/2011/04/sewingcraft-room-ideas-and-updates.html

Design Wall Monday

I have several quilt tops in the works from the Harriet & Carrie Hargrave Quilter's Academy Series...
the series runs like a college course, from freshman year through Master's.  This is project 1 from freshman year:

Project 2 "Woodland Winter":

Project 3 "Carrie's Cowboy Corral":

Project 4 "Harriet's Triple Rail Fence":

There are a total of eleven projects in the Freshman Year Vol. 1 of the "Quilter's Academy" series.  First, you  practice piecing eleven quilt tops, then putting the borders on  your eleven tops, then quilting all eleven projects and finally binding them all.  By the time you do all these things in this type of succession, your eleventh piece, which is the "final", is going to be very nice!  I'm happy to have experts to learn from.  I encourage you to try it, too.

My Civil War Chronicles BOM Quilt Jan.-March is ready for...

the eight April blocks to be made:

and my Eleanor Burns' Quilt As You Go from the www.bismarcksewingandquilting.com quilting class is nearing completion:

 (Sorry, this should be dated 4/6/2011)

I began quilting in September 2010 and am very happy I started!  If you're 'riding the fence' wondering if you should or if you can, trust me, you can with the right people to get you going.  Take a quilting class at your local quilt shop - call them up and ask them when the next class begins.  You do not need a fancy, expensive sewing machine.  I sewed on my 1990 Singer for twenty years before investing in a $350 Janome Jem Gold 3 - no computer, no problems.  It doesn't have to be expensive.  There are sales flyers and promotions.  I researched and studied at the library (free) and before I made a purchase, I made careful consideration by reading Harriet & Carrie Hargrave's "setting up your sewing room" lesson in their "Quilter's Academy" Vol. 1 Freshman Year.  It's available right here:  http://www.harriethargrave.com/Books-c13/

Best wishes to you and your beginning!

Some people say that quilting is cheaper than therapy bills -

I agree! :-)  Not to mention, tons more fun

and you will meet the greatest people!

Don't wait any longer

is my advice :-)

Civil War Chronicles April BOM - sorry I'm a week late!

The April BOM for Civil War Chronicles 

includes many HST

Having heard about but never experimented myself

with HST paper or the Triangulations CD rom,

I decided they were good investments,

so this month, I plan to post about them here.

My apologies for being one week late.  I've been

making up for lost time with my daughter's 

graduation quilt.  I seem to have 'lost' a follower

and I hope that wasn't the reason :-(

Fabric 1 is black with ivory swirls and flowers

Fabric 2 is lavendar with purple vines and flowers

and Fabric 3 is purple, lilac, gold and black

(this one is my favorite this time - 

which one is yours?)

Here's the 2" finished Triangle Paper to try

I couldn't believe my luck when we came home from Cracker Barrel where we'd been for a Saturday lunch with family!  The postman had come and left me a wonderful surprise :-)

Isn't this a "cheery" cherry bag and wallet?!

It brightened my day :-)

I purchased this great bag & wallet for under $25.00 USD on etsy.com from "fabriq"

http://www.etsy.com/shop/fabriq

Here's another cute version for only $14.50!

Thank you for following my blog.

Please let me know via e-mail at rocknquilts@live.com

if you have any questions.  I try my best to respond to everyone!

Thank you again  :-)