Big Finish: Big T!

I have a finished quilt to show you today! And not only the finished quilt, but how I finished it.

Last time I wrote about it, I was working on the quilting. And even though it was straight line quilting, I was having a hard time having it come out right. My walking foot doesn't allow for the quilting guide (What's with that!?) and the spacing was a little too wide to eyeball it.

But I found a way, and after months of being neglected, I pulled out the quilt and starting working on it again, this time with the quilting guide:

Much easier! And how did I manage that when the machine wasn't designed for it? Well, I adapted the old adage "Duct tape fixes everything" and attached it to my walking foot with masking tape:

Not the prettiest fix, and not the most secure attachment, but it worked. I just made sure to remove it any time I was not going to be quilting for a while so that the residue didn't have a chance to stick.

After a few sessions over maybe two weeks, I had all the quilting done. It was a happy day!

Then it was time for binding. Usually I make my own, and I make a continue loop of bias binding from a square of fabric. (Sorry, I can't describe how it's done. Even now, I have to carefully follow the instructions to get it right each time!) But, I just recently saw a new idea that I wanted to try out. It uses straight-grain binding instead of bias binding, which at one point I probably wouldn't have accepted. But I've become more relaxed about it. (Bias binding is good for curves--which rectangle quilts don't have--and is supposed to be longer lasting. But I'm just not convinced I need to make my quilts to last 100 years (or whatever).) Ok, in any case, here is a link to the tutorial, and the result is a binding with a faux piping that is really sharp.

First, you cut stripes of fabric, one a little wider than the other. (See the tutorial for details.) Attach all the pieces with angled seams. (This is important for bias binding because it puts the seam on grain. But here it is used for the other important reason of reducing bulk as all the seam allowances don't end up in the same place when you sew it down.)

Angled seams on the binding strips. The black seam has
been trimmed to 1/4". You press them open.

Side note: you can see that I chose to use the dark fabric from the outer border (details here) and a fabric I earlier rejected for the setting blocks (details here). What I found too old-fashioned and wall-paper like for setting blocks works just great for a small piping detail.

Once you have the strips sewn together you have miles and miles of binding:

328" to be exact. That's over 27 feet, or
almost enough for a first down (since
every measurement apparently needs
to be compared to football fields.)

Or, rather, you have two halves of a binding, since you still have to sew them together...along the long side. Once sewn together, you fold it in half and apply it like regular binding to the back side of the quilt. Since one strip was wider than the other, when you fold it, you get a little bit of the contrast fabric showing to the front:

When you fold the binding to the front, you get a faux piping or flange separating the binding from the quilt borders:

On the left is the front side of the quilt with the flange
showing and on the right side is the back of the quilt.

You sew the piping down by machine using a matching thread to the piping so you barely see it. (You're supposed to "stitch in the ditch" of the seam between the binding and flange, but it's hard to do with the seam allowance all on one side.) In the picture above, you might be able to make out the stitching on the wrong side running along side the binding, but with a bobbin thread that matches the backing, it's blends in pretty well.

Of course, it's a little tricky (for me anyway) to keep everything lined up perfectly all the time, and I had a couple spots like this on the back:

Not what I like to see, but it happens.

Oh yes, and I actually remembered to make and apply a label before the binding so that two sides would be sewn and I would only have to hand sew the remaining two.

I was worried the machine stitching of the binding would look bad on the label, but it ran close enough to the binding that you barely notice it. I think you'll see this binding on a lot of my quilts from now on!

Ok, I haven't shown you any of the quilting yet. It was hard to photograph, but you get some idea from this picture:

I did straight lines across the top third or quarter. Then I went up the middle from the bottom and then turned 90 degrees when I got to the previous stitching. I kept doing that so it made a sort of T in the middle with echo quilting.

Here it is on a bed:

And here is the complete quilt:

Final size = 73" x 86"

I finally discovered a place I could hang a quilt in my house and it worked so well. I am overjoyed about it. I had realized at some point that it would be easy to hang a quilt from binder clips if they had screws to hang from. But I didn't have a big enough clear space on any wall to do it. Then I remember that my side porch has a lot of nails running along the top trim--probably the remainder of the previous owner's holiday decorations--and I hung the binder clips from them. It was perfect!

And here is the back:

You may remember it was sewn with pieces I had purchased, which obviously weren't big enough to do the entire backing, and some remnant fat quarters that weren't used on the front. A little eclectic, but I love the two main fabrics so it's all ok with me. :)

The only bad part about all of this is that I couldn't give it to the recipient personally. I sent the package with my sister to our family camp and she had the pleasure of presenting it. His mom kindly sent me a picture and I think he looks pretty happy with it, don't you?

I can't believe it's done! I really liked designing and working on this quilt. I believe I started it in 2011 so a long journey, but that is normal for my quilts. (I think this may actually be one of my quicker ones, not counting the one I put together this past spring.) Working in browns was a new thing for me as it's not a colour I'm overly fond of. But I think I found some nice ones and I like the overall look of this quilt very much.

Happy Birthday to Me!

My sister visited last weekend and brought a couple of gifts with her. First was a mug she found with a knit design on it:

I love it! And it is the perfect size for a nice cup of hot chocolate.

Her husband found something else they thought I would like:

It's an anthology of quilts made in or associated with the State of Indiana. According to the introduction, lots of states have started these projects to record and preserve their quilting history. It's an interesting read with lots of pictures and descriptions of quilts and a few historical pictures and biographies thrown in.

Imagine my delight when I turned to page 21 and saw this:

It looks just like the Big T quilt I am doing!!

The one in the book, however, has a far more interesting border. Take a moment to read it. In its bold capital letters, I just imagine the maker to have the attitude of "There! I made one. Don't expect another!"

Today I will arrive in Squam. What a nice coincidence that it starts on my birthday. I'll be out of touch, so I'll talk to you again on the other side!

I've Been Quilting!

In early April, I signed up for a group in Ravelry for those of us with numerous unfinished quilting projects we want to get done. The point of the group is to challenge ourselves to work on UFOs, encourage each other along, and cheer when things get done. The deadline for this particular sessions is the end of June. They do this every quarter and some people are signed up every time with 20, 50, 100 or more unfinished projects!! The minimum is five and I signed up with that many because I wanted to make a point of finishing the tshirt quilt and my Big T quilt. (The other ones I listed were my Kaffe Fassett quilt, the Hawaiian Star and the Kentucky Top. I don't think much will get done on those before June, but who can tell?)

I had the Big T quilt layered and pinned for quilting (blogged here), but then I rolled it up and put it in the closet when I had to clean up all my quilting stuff. I was flirting with different ideas for how to quilt it, but I've settled back on my original idea. Straight lines that will make a T shape when I'm done.

So one day recently when I was stuck on further progress on my tshirt quilt, I changed to my walking foot, threaded the right colour of thread, and started in. I sewed five lines the first evening. I was going to do all the quilting completely ignoring the blocks (that is, not taking the block pattern into consideration when deciding where to quilt), but with straight lines on straight blocks, that's almost impossible. (Or at least it is for someone like me obsessed with patterns.)

The lines ended up being 1-1/8" apart and this dissects each part of the block nicely. In the plain alternating squares, I used pins to mark my path. Eyeballing it just doesn't work!

The red and pink pin mark the line I want to sew and give
me something to aim for with the needle.

Then Friday evening I picked it up and did five more lines. One of the times that I was using the ruler to place more pins, I noticed that I could line up the ruler with the previous stitch line, and run the foot along it while holding the ruler in place with my left hand:

It's a lot faster than pinning and easier. But I do have to watch that I don't let the ruler slide.

It's very exciting to be on the final stage (Well, ok, there's binding too.) and I really hope to be finished by June. If I can get this and the tshirt quilt done, I will receive two fat quarters from four of the other participants. Packages in the mail are always fun!!

Big T Quilt: Borders and Basting

Over the last few weeks I have been working on my Big T quilt. I designed a double border and discovered that I had enough of the first border fabric (same as the setting blocks), but nothing that would work for the outside border. Off to the quilt shop!

I went looking for something in dark brown, but found something even darker. It looks crazy dark in the picture to the left, but I think in the close up below you can see that it is not straight black and works well with all the browns in the main quilt.

I applied the first borders maybe a week ago when I had a short block of time, and got to the final border today. Once I had those done, I hung the top on the wall and stood back to admire study it, and to celebrate that it was done...yay! That final border is awfully dark, but I then I decided it just makes it look more modern.

Once the top was done, I didn't want to stop there. Success wants more success.

I had been thinking about how to do the back. I found a few pieces that I liked, but none of it was enough to do the whole back. So it would be pieced.

I laid out some of the fabrics on my design wall (on a regular day that would be called my living room floor) and came up with something I think I will like:

It's far too wide in this picture, but it would be easier to cut after the layering. All along, I loved the cityscape fabric on the right and the forest fabric on the left but didn't think they worked very well together. But the longer they sat on my floor design wall, the more I liked the combination. I added some more orangey-brown fabrics on the side and bottom to finish out the size and called it good. (Some were used on the top; some were purchased for this quilt but not actually used on the top.)

I thought I would be done then. I mean sewing on borders and then piecing together a back was quite enough for one day.

But apparently not. I had already purchased a batting and that meant I was ready to layer and pin baste. Which is what I did. (Any doubting Thomases can come put their fingers on my sore and safety-pin dented fingertips!)

But that really is where I stopped. I thought I knew how I was going to quilt it, but now I'm considering a different version. The original idea had all straight lines and right angles. Now I'm considering the same concept but with curved lines. I think the first idea is too │  │     │  │     │  │ (imagine my hands in a karate-chop position, simultaneously slicing the air in front of me three times from top to bottom in parallel); you know, too straight, too lined up, too square. This was a good place to stop and think about it. Plus ND had just won their game in overtime so it was a good time to stop and celebrate.

I did do about an hour's worth of knitting on the Snowflake Sweater this morning. I'm very close to finishing the body and then will have to do the sleeves. I'm sure all the sewing today was in no way avoidance of having to do the work of figuring out how to do the sleeves. I'm making up a new method...I'm sure that will be no problem whatsoever.

See? No reason to think I was avoiding that task at all.

When the Computer's Taken Away....

...the sewing machine comes out to play?

Well, that's how it's been around here, anyway. Isaac's here and without a computer so he uses mine a lot. I don't like to claim it back from him because he's been working hard all day...alone most of the time...and should get some time for entertainment and connecting with the outside world.

So I find other things to do...eventually. (That is to say, after I realize (again) I can't go on Ravelry, can't check Facebook, can't listen to a podcast, can't watch a movie...)

Knitting is something I usually do while doing something else (see list above!), so I turned to the sewing machine. My poor Big T quilt has been neglected since May. I had the pieces for the final six blocks cut out, and I had made all the individual flying geese pieces.

One day last week, I paired up the flying geese to make squares, and tonight I put together all the parts of the "nine patch" and finished the final squares!!! Woo hoo!! (Whoa, did you see that coming? I didn't; but suddenly I was there.)

I ran much more of an assembly line than I usually do. (I don't usually quilt for efficiency. I think my output makes the point well enough!) After all the parts of the nine patch were ready, I laid out all the blocks on top of each other to be sewn factory style:

Here are the latest (and last) blocks:

I especially like that I made such a point of matching up the direction of stripes on the two striped fabrics:

The bottom stripes don't actually line up with each other, but at least they're all headed in the same direction.

I had to kind of push myself to finish sewing them tonight (fighting some general weariness), but I had a goal within grasp and went for it. Once the sewing (and pressing) was done, however, I had no problem coming up with the energy to play with the layout of the blocks.

First I tried sorting them in general dark/medium/light categories:

And then since there were the fewest of the dark, I put them in the center:

I didn't plan it, but I had matched pairs of all the dark fabrics. (I didn't pay any attention to the light fabric in the layout. It is purely background.) So for each block, there is a mate in the mirror image position. I think it gives it a pretty balanced look, but I'll live with it for a while and see if anything jumps out at me after a while.

(And please, if you see something wrong, an incorrect block, or a better layout, let me know! I won't be putting this together for a few weeks at least. Please save me from myself if you have a chance!)

Then it occurred to me that the lack of contrast of the white sheet really sucked, so I tucked under some alternating block candidates:

First we have a leaf pattern.

I think it's far too light, and even though they are maple leaves,

I think they're far too flowery for a "guy" quilt.

Second is a classical design (for lack of a better word).

I think it is also too light and way too old fashioned. Not old-fashioned-now-it's-cool.

Just out of date. It reminds me of wall paper too. (Why did I buy this?)

Third is a more contemporary brown X pattern:

I think it gives good contrast, has good interest and is plenty masculine and contemporary. What more could I ask.

I bought some of this in my first brown fabric buying spree for this quilt, but did not have enough to do all the alternating squares. And since the T blocks were so scrappy, at some point I decided I wanted consistent plain blocks to go with them. I liked this fabric enough that I spent quite a bit of time tracking it down online and finally found a seller with two yards left. I bought them, and should be all set!

Up next? Squaring off and trimming the T blocks, cutting out the alternating blocks and putting the thing together!! I know, Quilt Purists, I shouldn't have to trim my blocks but alas! I do. In fact, it's a good thing the Quilt Police are not real because I would have been hanged without a trial for what I was doing with some of the final blocks. Stretching, skimming and torturing some of those pieces into place. (Let's be glad, again, that  you never see the seams once the quilt is together!!) All that is to say it has been proven that I can not sew a diagonal seam without marking. At least, not a straight one. (Although I still think it was less time to futz with the blocks than it would have been to mark all those lines!)

I didn't cut off many points in my squares so the Ts are good and strong. I do, however, have a few floating points. But I noticed they aren't really a problem on a background of all the same fabric. Goody for me!

The Sewing Machine's been a-Humming

I've been bit with a sewing/quilting bug and its effects have had some results!

First is a little pretty gift that I can't show you yet:

But doesn't it look sweet? I got so excited when I found this pink and brown elephant fabric; almost made me wish I had a nursery to decorate! I'll show you more of this package after it's been gifted.

Second, I worked on the final "T" squares of my Big T quilt. I did a lot of assembly line sewing to make up the parts of the squares.

Now I just have to assemble the nine patches to finish the last six blocks. That will give me 20 of them. I have the fabric for the setting blocks so once I get these last blocks done, the rest should go pretty quickly.

And last, I've been doing a lot of work on my Crossed Canoes quilt. Final thing tonight was making my own continuous bias binding:

Miles and miles and miles of it. (At least that's what it felt like.)

I finished the quilting yesterday and was super excited. It came out pretty much like I wanted. You have to wait to get a closer look because it's resting on the spare bed right now...

More Ts, Please

I started on two more T blocks a few weeks ago using the jungle leaf fabric I bought in Missouri. I had to put them away during Fair week and for my sister's visit, but I pulled them out this morning and had them done in no time.

I think the fabric is not ideal for this block, but oh well; I like it and certainly am not replacing it with something else.

When I had those two blocks on the "design wall" (otherwise known as a curtain) I could see that I only had six more to do to get the 20 I need.

I had a few fabrics already cut and decided it was time to get it all done--make my final choices and be done with it. This meant I also had to decide which fabric to use for the alternating blocks. After looking at everything I had bought for this quilt and measuring what I had, I thought I was going to have to buy a whole new fabric. The fabric I had planned on using now looks too girly. I no longer liked it for this quilt.

But then I found a fabric I really liked but only had one yard of. I need three. It occurred to me that I could possibly buy more. A longer-than-I-wished search on the internet found me one supplier that stilled carried it. (It was copyrighted 2008.) I went ahead and ordered the two yards while I could get it. (The price was too high for me to get the additional "one just-in-case yard" that I wanted.) Things are coming together in any case, and this quilt is starting to feel more settled. Very good.

Once I had my plans in place, I started cutting and cutting and cutting...

and making little piles of pieces for blocks.

One of the first things to do for this block is mark a bunch of squares with diagonal stitching lines. I got a new tool in Missouri for just this job:

Instead of marking a line corner to corner and then trying to sew a 1/4" on each side of it, you line up the ruler and draw on the actual sewing lines. It wasn't the exact tool I was looking for--I think the Fons and Porters one is a better design but it's very hard to find, and the one time it did see it I couldn't pay the price they wanted for it. This one was cheap and works almost as well.

After all the cutting was done, I sewed all the half square triangles. (That's what I was marking above.) Then I was done with sewing for a while. It didn't help that the next step was to mark the diagonal on 16x6 2-inch squares. What is 16x6? 96? Oh my goodness, I can't bear the thought of it!! It will be a bit of a chore to do all six blocks at once, but each step I finish, I'll never have to do again on this quilt. That is very appealing to me right now. I'm sure sometime I'll have the fortitude to face marking lines on 96 squares.

Once those are done and my fabric arrives, I'll be getting a 9.5" square ruler to size all the T blocks and cut out the alternate blocks. Then pull out the design wall (aka a flannel sheet hung over the curtain) and start playing with arrangements. Sounds like fun, don't it?

Quilting: What's Your Season?

I think for most people the season for quilting is winter. I seem to run on a different clock: summer is the time for me. (Ok, we're not really full into summer yet, but the woodstove has been retired for the season and that's close enough for me.)

In any case, I have been doing more quilting lately than I usually do. A week or two ago I made some more Big T blocks:

Last time I wrote about them, I had only five blocks and in two sessions, I managed to double that! I do two at a time now which makes things a little more efficient without being too overwhelming for me to keep track of.

I'm still enjoying picking out which fabrics to put together. So far I haven't repeated any combinations but I definitely have favourites. The blocks are still pinned to my window blind and I like being able to see them all the time!

Today I pulled the Kaffe Fasset quilt again. You may recall that I had run out of red thread. I bought a spool when I was at the store for something else but had to guess at the colour because I was unprepared. I bought the wrong colour. I managed to exchange it a week later. After all that, I thought I had better at least make some progress!

The three pieces of the quilt are all at different stages. The furthest along has all the circles done, all the red squares done and the yellow squares started. The next one has all the circles done. And the final one doesn't even have the circles done (that's where I ran out of red thread).

I decided that I needed some "no brain" quilting, so I picked up the third one and threaded the machine with my new red thread to finish sewing the circles. I was surprised that I couldn't find a red bobbin to match. How could I have run out of thread on the bobbin and spool at the same time? Even though the question occurred to me, I didn't stop to consider it any further and just started sewing.

The back of a block I did today,
with the proper blue thread.

After I finished the first section, I realized that the reason I didn't have a red bobbin was because the bobbin thread was not supposed to match; it was supposed to be blue. ::sigh::

So I did a little ripping out. When I wanted "no brain" quilting, this wasn't really what I had in mind.

After ripping, I did get that section finished and now all three pieces have at least the circles sewn.

While I had the red threaded in the machine, I figured I would continue with it. I sewed two red blocks with free motion quilting before running out of time and desire.

Thankfully, my machine has been behaving while I've been doing free motion quilting. I think the sharp needle, slowing down and cleaning out the lint formula is working.

Besides the changing of the season, I may have also been inspired to quilt by "feng shui"ing my living room. My sewing table is now in front of a window and has more convenient access to the ironing board.

The whole room feels more open the way it is arranged. I hope it leads to lots of sewing!