It was a Bad Hair Saturday.
But it was a good quilting day!
Mona and I pushed it to the max as we quilted SIX projects – SIX! And by the time she left, I had pulled out a seventh – something that had been hanging around since 2004.
We were on a roll, and there was no time like the present to do it, and no reason to stop this quilting train.
A Trio of Table Runners!
Mona pieced this when she was just starting out – before we had even moved to the cabin in Virginia. She pieced the hearts from scraps I had given her along with some she had picked up herself – Oh, there is NOTHING as fun as watching a new quilter pick out fat quarters, like a kid in a candy store!
Winter was ROUGH that year, and piecing beautiful valentine hearts was just the thing to brighten a dreary day. The border treatment is her own, including the slanted corners –no fear this woman!
But instead of just loading three table toppers with three separate backings, I showed her how to do it all as one --
Valentine runner done – on to Christmas!
We joined her pink backing for the valentine runner to the red backing that was big enough for the next two runners – Christmas and Patriotic.
When the valentine runner was quilted…we advanced that on the take up roller until we were at the red backing….
We ran a new straight line of basting across the batting through the red backing to give us a straight line to line up the Christmas runner and pinned the Christmas runner in place.
The batting scrap was just the right size to do these two runners…
Quilting holly on this one!
And on to the red, white and blue!
Bu this time, we had used up the larger batting scrap for the valentine and Christmas runner and pulled out another scrap just the right size for the patriotic one, made from left over units from Mona’s Carolina Crossroads quilt from my book Scraps & Shirttails.
Unfurling after quilting – look at that texture!
Quilting on the heart runner.
Whoowhooo!
Now the fun begins - The binding!
It was fun to hear Mona say things like “Wow, I really wasn’t so great on this a couple of years ago….” and I replied “But yes, look how far you’ve come! You’ve got to start somewhere, and you learn with every new project!”
In the machine now…
This is my “Women of Grace and Charm” Quilt by Barb Adams & Alma Allen. Top started when the book came out in 2003, completed likely in 2004 for a shop sample.
Around the time I got it back from the shop, I was on to other things and didn’t know how I wanted to quilt it, or if I wanted to. It has sat on a shelf for a goodly long time and after Mona left, I decided to just whip up a back, quilt it up with a wool batting and use it on the guest bed at the cabin – it will look PERFECT there and give me something ELSE to bind over Thanksgiving week as I sit with family and enjoy our time together.
I must confess though – I’m having some trouble with the quilting machine, I think we wore it out! My nice round feather design now has herky-jerky square rounds and I adjusted the cables last night with good results, but it is acting up again this morning and I am down to that last border – it just started on this last row of quilting. IN THE BORDER.
And I am so not picking this out…because I just don’t care about it that much to unstitch a whole row of really good thread tension on a twill weave border fabric. GAH!
Dad comes tomorrow – and we head up to Virginia straight away for our Thanksgiving week ahead!
Entries are still coming in on our String Frenzy, Quiltmaker and Signature Thread Gift-Away. Did you enter to win ON THAT POST?
Quiltville Quote of the Day!
I’ll show you the REST of it tomorrow!
Have a wonderful Sunday, everyone!
22 comments:
Happy to know you have found the name of the Quilt Designers. Have fun Binding. I'll say it again and again. It's my favorite part! Mona has come so far. Glad you got your girlfriend time in!! It is needed, and theres nothing better. Except maybe Chocolate.
Have a great Thanksgiving & wonderful week with your Dad & family!
Love the table runners. You make it look so easy! GAH indeed.
I just took a binding class with Linda Thielfoldt... Leared some new techniques that I will surely use, and it's all machine sewn.
I always love seeing the texture when a quilt comes off the machine. And I hate it when the machine has been performing perfectly then all of a sudden acts up for no good reason I can see. Darn things can be so finicky sometimes!
Bonnie, I think of you as the scrap quilt queen and the infrequent glimpses into quilts you've made that aren't scrappy always take me by surprise. That sampler will look great on a bed. I hope you'll share pictures! Enjoy your Thanksgiving.
That is exactly what I need to do....just sit with my fabric stash....(and stack of quilt tops in need of quilting) and 'veg' out !!!!
Go! Quilt warriors, go!! You and Mona did a fabulous job of keeping busy while the guys were working at the Quiltville Post Office. Sorry to hear that your longarm is giving you trouble and I hope it is resolved soon!
I'm sure you've probably did this but check your wheels for loose thread. I am guilty of letting that happen.
My longarm did the same thing to me on a quilt I planned to gift that evening (machine binding). Perfect tension, perfect stitches, I was in the zone, then the last few inches before rolling to the last row, loops and knots began. I begged, cajoled, adjusted and cussed, all to no avail. The quilt was gifted unfinished and returned home with me to remove the mess and fix. Oh, well. Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em. LOL!
Reading these comments about having trouble with the long arms makes me happy that I quilt by check book most of the time. The rest of the time I quilt simply on my home machine. I hope the best of holidays for you, your family and your dad. He'll really enjoy seeing your new plan in person.
Recently quilted up a "comfort" quilt for someone undergoing chemo. One little section had uneven thread tension on the back that I didn't notice until getting ready to bind it. I discovered a new way to add labels! Ta-da...no funky stitches on the back. Label covered it perfectly. (she isn't a quilter so won't even wonder why the label is in a strange place. LOL)
Been there, done that!! Or random appliqueing of blocks on the back to hide what the longarm did!! Haven't done that in years...it was a friend's longarm with IQ as we churned out 12 quilts to gift and it only happened on one quilt so I think there was sometime about the fabrics the longarm didn't like.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. I'm going to sit in the fabric stash this week while hubby is away. i'll be clearing up by Friday for the mystery to begin. Thank you for all you do for us.
i'll second that emotion...i too would love to just play in my stash and let household stuff, appointments, exercise all go by the wayside...but....
The texture on Mona's red, white and blue table runner is wonderful! Do you know the name of the panto?
Love seeing Mona's progress and the quilt you are quilting. I'm taking a break from quilting for some few days to finish some American Girl doll clothes for a gift.
Have a great Thanksgiving and enjoy the time with your dad.
Would love to know what long arm machine you use Bonnie. Or what others are happy with, thinking of buying one.
Wow! You two were on a roll! Well done, girls! Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Bonnie,
I am a sales rep for APQS, and have a Millie. Have you cleaned your rails on your table and carriage with batting scraps and rubbing alcohol? Also clean the inside “U” of your wheels, using a q-tip and rubbing alcohol. You get build up on thes and it can cause the machine to move jerky.
Hope this helps,
Sharon Dimberg
Enjoy your well deserved break with your family at the cabin. Sounds like a wonderful way to spend this Thanksgiving holiday.
I’ve just joined from Perth Australia. Good Fortune will be my first Mystery Quilt with this group and I looking forward to going on this journey with everyone. Have a feb family filled Thanksgiving
Post a Comment
If you are commenting as "anonymous" please leave your name at the end of your comment.
Did you know that ad space on this blog provides for all of the free patterns and free mysteries and challenges at no cost to you? Without ads, this blog would not be possible.
Thank you for understanding the many hours that go into this blog 6 days a week, 52 weeks a year. :)