Tips and Men, Part 5

The Saga Continues...

Tips and Men, Part V

The top is complete!

I like the wide borders along the sides.

After laying the top down across our king-sized bed, I realize

that this "queen" is almost a true king!

Next Step:

Cut and Sew the Back (dark blue)

then...comes the FUN part!

Free Motion Quilting!

Thanks to all the practice from SewCalGal's 2012 FMQ Challenge, I'm ready for this.

Batting has been purchased.

80/20 Fairfield.

The template has been drawn and approved.

Tension has been adjusted. 

(30w Sulky Blendable in top, 50w Guetterman in bobbin, 90/14 needle, tension setting "1".)

Next Question....how many of these do I put in the wide side borders?  

These are 12" square and the border is 14" square, so there's 'wiggle room'.

I need to measure the quilt top now that it's ready...I forgot to do that, silly me :-)

Your advice, please:  Would you put them close together or spread apart?

I'm also going to make sure that I put the heart down about 1/2" so that the tops aren't touching the sides of the diamond.

More pics coming soon...the weekend's almost here!!

In case you missed it...

Part 1 of Tips and Men

As you remember if you've been following this "Tips and Men" series of posts, my cousin Bill lives and works in a man camp in the North Dakota oil fields - he's out there "Rock'n the Bakken".  Well, I found a fellow quilter who packed up her household and followed her husband there with her kids, dogs and quilting fabric!  What a great attitude she has; just like a true quilter!  This is such an interesting blog, I hope you'll check it out:  

LifeinWilliston.com

Best Wishes,

@

Tips and Men, free motion quilting sample

My practice sandwich!  I like the variegated Sulky Blendables thread in "Americana".  I had to play with the tension aLOT, and brought it down to 1.0 before it looked better.  What do you advise?

Previous Tips and Men posts.

Tips and Men, Part 4

Tips and Men, Part the IVth

The challenge:  a quilt top that needs to be larger

Logical choice:  add border(s)

1.  What color?

2.  How big?

I came up with a red, white and blue 3" narrow inner border and a very large 14" Kona Paper Bag solid (thanks to your tip!) outer border.  

We can't have all that plain fabric and I've spent the past 24 months practicing free motion quilting with my home sewing machine, sew....

I created two templates for free motion quilting!

I wanted the look of a star, but also a heart to let the recipient know they are special to me :-)

Next step:

Used a piece of left-over 14" border and create a practice quilt sandwich.  Go to quilt shop and purchase variegated red, white and blue Sulky Blendables 30w cotton top-stitching thread to amp up 

the patriot theme.

The idea for the heart in the center came from Leah Day's FMQ Project

From:  rayandjeanne.blogspot.com 

(I'll share my own practice piece with you hopefully tomorrow!)

Then...

How many template stars (which are 12x12) to go into the large side borders???

The recipient's birthday is during the seventh month of the year and the twenty-ninth day, so...

three on each side and one square in the middle?

Perhaps an applique of the template smack dab in the middle of the rail fence quilt top?

I'm liking the process of creating my own quilt with your valuable feedback.

I took the quilt top into my local fabric store and the sales clerk gave me the idea to free motion quilt template stars/hearts throughout the entire top instead of just in the borders.

Any thoughts you may have to share with me?

http://lifeinwilliston.com/

All the Best,

@

P.S.  Sneak Preview:  This Saturday, I'm starting a two-block Block of the Month at my local quilt shop and will be creating my first on point block quilt.  I like that center 'star' and the angle blocks in the bright colors.  What do you think of it?

The blocks are created with the "Lazy Angle" ruler.

"Lazy Angle Ruler"

I've never used this ruler before...have you?

quick Valentine's Day table topper

Guild was this weekend and we got together to do our favorite thing...quilt!
If you haven't joined a guild in your area, I encourage you to do so.  Ask for guild information at your local quilt shop or attend events like the National Quilting Day Association on and ask those lovely guys and gals.

Quick Applique Table Topper

Layout for the project was batting on bottom, two pieces of material right side together, on top of the batting.

The morning project was an applique Valentine's Day table topper created with a paper template.  We pinned the template down on top of the layered batting and RST fabrics, then sewed 1/4" seam all around, leaving a 4" opening along one side.

Then we removed the pins and gored the four corners and graded the excess batting along the 1/4" seam.

We turned the table topper right sides out, rolled and smoothed out all edges with our fingers, then went to the ironing board to press.

 Once the fabric was turned right sides out, we sewed the 4" opening shut with needle and thread.

We then cut out the oval in the center of the paper template and placed the entire template down on top of the finished table topper and pinned the center into place.  This will help you place your traced appliques.

  

The wonder product!  Sew Perfect Steam-A-Seam 2 Double-Stick Fusible Web

No Sewing Required Applique Sheets

 Sticky on both sides!

 Cut templates after you have ironed one side down.  This helps to stabilize the material and the edges won't fray.  It was easy to cut!

We used the template to mark the center spot.

After setting the appliques in place and taking off the paper backs (which was easy to remove with this product!), we pinned down the appliques, then ironed the them in place.

Then it was time to embellish with stitches of our choice - blanket stitch, feather stitch, satin stitch and zig zag stitches were popular.

A gal with a Pfaff ambition 2.0 was able to utilize a special stitch for a heart stitched border - very cute!

One guild member chose to create her table topper from flannels in beautifully dramatic colors.

 This table topper could be used for any holiday and would be great for machine embroidery personalization!
We sure had fun - what are you making for the month of February or for Valentine's Day?  I'd love to hear from you!

All the Best,

@

PS  "Tips and Men" post followers:  The 'paper bag' fabric has been ordered and borders are being added to the finished rail fence quilt top.  More coming soon!