Saturday, January 23, 2010

My blooming garden.


This is the front of a queen size quilt that I made for my bed. I used the blooming nine patch pattern to give a feel of a garden. The fabric is flannel.


This is the back.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

No more monkeys jumping on my quilt.


A baby quilt I made out of receiving blankets.



The back side of the quilt.



A closer look at the stitching that is used to finish off the binding.

Disappearing Nine Patch


My daughter was in need for another blanket. I surprised her by using her school's "tartan" colors. I decided on the disappearing nine patch since it is the closest to a tartan pattern that was easy for me to quilt at the time. I machine straight stitched down the middle of the thin strips. The diversity of patterns for the disappearing nine patch was fun to play with.


This is the back side of the quilt. I had extra material from the front that I used to make the back more interesting.

Tee Shirt quilt


This is my first quilt after an extremely long hiatus. The use of my daughter's tee shirts that she collected over the years and the simple log cabin pattern creates a different look from the typical tee shirt quilts. The back is a soft, flower print flannel.

Additional thoughts

Discoveries:

For transferring designs onto quilts: use Gladwrap Press and Seal.
It will stick to whatever you want to trace and then stick to the quilt.
After you're through quilting just peel it back off the quilt.

Lap size quilt sizes for adults: 56x70, 60x 75, or something in that area of measurement.

Machine quilting tips:
Use your fingers and hands to guild the quilt not your arms to move the quilt under the needle.
A single-hole throat plate may help in stitches at curves.
A presser foot with shank angled to the side and open in the front for greater visibility.
Needles:#70 Universal to start learning on, then switch to #70 sharp and then #60 sharp for tiny, precise holes. If using #60 sharp use thread that is #60 cotton two-ply silky cotton embroidery thread for top and bobbin. But if you use heavier thread then a larger needle is needed, like a #70 sharp or jeans/denim needle. No polyester thread for machine quilting.