Christmas Lattice Quilt. Part 6.

All was going swimmingly with my Christmas Quilt. I managed to make the quilt sandwich without too much trauma. I had originally thought I would try to do this part on the floor in the sitting room but at the last minute I decided against it. This was partly because I couldn’t face crawling about the floor (won’t someone think of the knees!) but also because I found it difficult to estimate how long it would take and envisioned everyone wanted to get back and forth to the kitchen making it twice as stressful.

I used the kitchen table instead and this was the best option. Not only was I up off the floor but the weight of the quilt hanging off the table pulled out any wrinkles. I started with the centre of the quilt in the centre of the table and the rest hanging over each side.

I pinned a handwidth apart all over the quilt. Again starting from the centre and radiating outwards. Once all the fabric on the table was pinned I pulled the quilt until an unpinned bit was on the table and continued that way. I found that as long as I checked for wrinkles and folds each time I moved it and it was fine. It’s probably not as taut as quilts that are taped to large tables but it’s the best I can do with what I have.

I was pleased with the result.

I then went on to quilt in the ditch; horizontally and vertically through the charm square triangles then diagonally along the sashing. I haven’t got a photo of this but it is basic stitch in the ditch so we can use our imagination.

I then moved on to the free motion quilting and all went very wrong. My poor sewing machine wasn’t happy.  Thread snapped. Stitches were ugly. Needles broke. The machine clunked. I persisted for a few days and during that time I took the machine apart twice (to fix the clunking) re-threaded more times than I care to remember and got more and more frustrated. Each time it went horribly wrong I did all of the above then went back to ordinary mode with an ordinary foot and all was well. I read blogs on FMQ. Watched excellent classes on Craftsy by the inspirational Leah Day. Nothing made any difference.

So I went to Tullys in Sunderland and test drove a new machine. I could FMQ fairly easily. I now have a new machine. It’s a Bernina 350 Special Edition. The Ricky Tims one.

It is beautiful. My trusty old Janome is still in use and wonderful for most stitches but I think I was asking too much with the FMQ. She just wasn’t happy with it. ­­­And now I can be 100% certain any issues I have with FMQ will be down to me and not the machine.

I haven’t done any more with my Christmas Quilt as I want to use Bernina on less complex projects than FMQ until I’m more familiar with it so have moved onto one of my other projects; perfecting zipped fabric bags.

Christmas Lattice Quilt. Part 5.

I feel I am progressing quite well. I sewed all the squares into 13 rows of 12. Then I sewed each row together to form the quilt top. Here is this step in process. The bottom two rows haven’t been sewn together but the top section has.

 

Here are all the rows sewn together. I also sewed a border of the same red fabric I used for the lattices.

 

This photograph gives a closer view of part of the quilt.

 

My next step is to sew a second border to the quilt. I have chosen a quite muted golden fabric which I bought to make applique stars. I did only have one fat quarter though so have sent for three more. I like it as it isn’t too jazzy but picks out the golds in the quilt top. I’ll take a photo of that once the borders are on.

Christmas Lattice Quilt. Part 4.

Now all the blocks are made up (with varying degrees of success….though I’ll cross that bridge when I’m sewing them up). Today I put them in the order I want to sew them together. This is how I started:

 

It took a while as I was doing other things at the same time. Also as I kept changing the blocks about to get a patteren I liked. It is 12 rows by 13:

 

I then gathered up the blocks row keeping the far left hand side block on the top and labelling them A, B C etc.

 

I have some left over so I’m going to do a matching cushion. Or a placemat. Or something with them.

Christmas Lattice Quilt. Part 3

I’ve remembered to record the time I spend on this quilt and so far it has been nearly 6 hours. I’m three quarters of the way through making the lattice blocks. I do this by sewing 2 triangles to a red strip.

 

 

I checked Jenny Doan’s video again and she says she sewed them up 12 by 13 so I’ll see if that works for me. I did spoil one square though so I’m one down at this point. If I’m some short I’m thinking about putting in red squares maybe with an appliqued star.

 

Christmas Lattice Quilt: Part 2

I'm starting my Christmas Lattice Quilt in the hope it will be complete by Christmas 2015! The design I'm using is straight from Jenny Doan at the Missouri Star Quilt Co. and here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QNUkLoGQY8.

I'm taking it direct from the video with no messing about as it's a lovely, simple design that I should be able to make up quickly.

 

An additional extra to this quilt project will be I am going to attempt to record how many hours it takes me. I want to start to get an idea of the time they take. Hopefully I will remember to do this!

My first step was to rewatch Jenny's video and make a note of the steps/instructions.

 

I am using the charm packs in the Christmas Lattice Quilt: Part 1 post below. I think they are glorious. I also purchased some lovely red fabric from High Street Quilting  which I have pre-washed and ironed (I didn't wash the charm squares so we'll see how that goes).
 

I transcribed the instructions from the video and will use these as the step by step for each post.

So the first step is to cut all the charm squares on the diagonal so I have triangles. Then cut the red fabric into 1 and a half inch by 8 inch strips.

The next step is to sew 2 triangles to each side of a strip.

It was a bit tricksy as Jenny advises pressing the strip and the triangle so the have a fold at the halfway mark then using that to match them up when sewing. Watch her video as she explains it much better than me. This is repeated till all the blocks are made.

Craft: Quilting: Bird Quilt. Part 7

The Bird Quilt is complete. Here is a photo of it:

I'm quite pleased though there are a couple of issues. I'm not going to say what they are, or even think about them though as Comparison is the Thief of Joy. It's the best Bird Quilt I have even made!

I decided to bind it with the same fabric as the back.

And I added a label when I was finished.

I will be changing how I do the labels though. I looked at a few places to check how it was done (freezer paper template) but even with the lace around it looks a bit dull. So I am going to try a more patchworky way. Maybe add a few strips or some hexagons. I have to add a label the the charm suare quilt I made so will see what I can come up with.

Just as a note about hand quilting though; I didn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped (I usually enjoy hand sewing very much) but maybe it was the size of the project. I wanted to record the needles I used, after much swapping about and trying different ones, were Sharps size 10. They were the best length for me (I hated those tiny little between types) and were just the right amount of bendy to manipulate in the fabric.

Craft: Quilting: Bird Quilt. Part 6.

I'm still hand quilting my Bird Quilt. It takes some time as I am not great at hand quilting so am learning as I go. Also I would imagine even if you are an expert it's still quite a slow job. I am not finding it tedious though so all is good.

I wanted to mention the technique I am using. I read lots about hand quilting and looked up videos on the interwebs so knew the most popular method seems to be the 'rocking' motion way of doing things. Sewing in vertical line from north to south, thimble holding the end of the needle and fingers of the other hand underneath the quilt. I have tried and just can't get the hang of this way. I tried with a hoop and without. Different thimbles, different needles. It was not pretty.

After much experimenting I have found I am quite satisfied quilting with an ordinary needle, a longish one, as if I hold the end I can get lots of stitches in one go. Those tiny little needles recommended for quilting don't suit me at all. I don't use a hoop. Instead I rock the fabric rather than the needle, though actually I turn both. So I rock the needle back and forth and manipulate the fabric. I find I get my stitches as neat as I can that way. Finally the saga of thimbles. Who knew they were so problematic. In an ideal world I wouldn't use one at all. It's much easier without, but the tip of my middle finger was looking, and feeling, sore. It's no fun when the end of the needle goes through flesh. I have found I'm best using a Roxette thimble. I still haven't found a way to stop the needle going too far through the quilt before bringing in back up again other than hitting my nail. Yes my nail is looking a bit sad but my stitches are small!.

Here are photos of 2 of the panels I've completed: