Wednesday, April 28, 2021

More or Less Quilt

Way back, a long, long time ago, when the world was normal and all...I taught classes in person at UNM Continuing Education.  One of my favorite courses to teach, save free-motion, was Quick Quilts. Hopefully, I'll be able to get it scheduled again. In the mean time, I've quilted up this pastel sweetie on my new-to-me Innova. That was before I started snowballing into a mess of "newbie" foolishness. (Really, really, don't put the needle in backwards. And don't try to bend the thread guides, which it turns out are made of plastic. SNAP! And if you take off the tension knob, don't drop it into your bottomless bin of UFOs. And if you don't have an anti-backlash spring in the bobbin, that's an issue. And if your needle is going into the side of the hole instead of the middle, your head isn't on straight. Whether you consider the head to mean yours or your machine's---in my case, both apply.) Thankfully, I have a dealer close by, and a 24-7 technical help phone number. But isn't she a beauty?


I did a radiating floral meander as an overall design using Aurifil. I love the textured softness it creates.


I titled this one More or Less, since it uses Plus and Minus blocks. It's composed from strip sets, so it comes together quickly. You can pick up the More or Less Quilt Pattern here.


I picked up the fabrics at an Albuquerque Modern Quilt Guild destash sale. (The annual fundraiser garage sale that you swear you're going to utilize to free up sewing room space, and then you accumulate MORE stuff instead. Or is that just me?)


I planned to bind this one by machine. That was the case until I stitched the binding to the front first, rather than the back. Since  I didn't want a line of stitching next to the binding on the front of the quilt, I ended up hand stitching it onto the front. Do you guys stitch from this direction? Most tutorials I see show the reverse orientation, but having the binding nearest to me and the bulk of the quilt extending away feels more natural to me.


I used original, large-scale Lizzy House Pearl Bracelets in Peach for the binding and backing. There are some advantages to aging. For one, my fabrics have become collector's items. 😉


Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Project Linus: April 2021

I'm fully vaccinated now, and beyond grateful to be out among people again. The local chapter of Project Linus meets up monthly on a Saturday, outside a multigenerational center that is not yet allowing entry, to share their makes and pass along materials. While I'd been going to a small sewing group for Project Linus, I hadn't been to one of these meet-ups yet. Before the pandemic, Saturdays were overstocked with soccer games. Currently, I have no such scheduling conflicts. I knew I found my people when I rolled up and saw an accumulation of ladies schlepping large-scale bags, and trucks with the hatch down and rolls of batting on the tailgate. Anyhow, if you are not yet able to share in socializing and sunshine, I though you might enjoy the creativity of these altruistic women.