Days 13, 14 and 15 and it is finally done!

The quilt is finished.  It took me three sessions to hand stitch the back of the edging.  I tried to do as tiny stitches as possible.

Not sure what my next project will be but for sure I am out of the funk!    

Days 11 and 12 working on the quilt. Why the heck can't I machine stitch in a straight line?????

Yesterday I worked on the quilt.  I had to do the quilting stitching over the centre motif square.  I had tried it last time and failed miserably and had to undo it.  Yesterday, I tacked a centre line as a guide but I still got it wrong and had to undo it.  Third attempt was successful......thank goodness!

I realised that the centre motif wasn't totally symmetric after I got the quilting stitching right but it was way past the stage of re-doing.  Besides, my MIL had made the motif and I wanted to incorporate it into the quilt as she was the new grandbaby's great Grandma. So, it is sentimental.

I am really happy with how the quilting looks on the back.  I did get a little pucker in it but it isn't really noticeable so not redoing it.

Last night I sat and tried to attach the edging by tacking it.  It didn't look like it was going to work so I undid it and decided to sleep on it.  I thought I might try using the edging differently.  I had previously cut it out, joined it and ironed it in half to use double.  When I tacked it on it didn't look like it would cover the backing fabric which was slightly short on one edge. (see previous posts about this).  I thought maybe I would use it singly which would make the edging wider.

Today I went up to my sewing/knitting room with this plan in mind.  I stitched all around the edge of the quilt as per the instructions.  (I had previously missed doing this).  Then I trimmed it again then played around with the edging.  I thought it may be more difficult to do it singly so I reverted back to the original plan and tacked the edging on using it doubled.  When I checked it was going to cover the backing fabric OK so then I machine stitched it in place.

So tonight I will remove the tacking stitches then turn the edge and tack it down ready to hand stitch it down.

Finally, I can see an end in sight.  I thought this would be an easy and quick project but not so.  I will be so much better prepared if I make another one though.

Addendum:

Tacked the edging in place ready to sew.  After seeing the photo I made a mental note to pull the edging over the stitches showing on the back when I stitch it.  Did it tonight while watching TV in semi darkness! That is my excuse anyway.  It just goes to prove though the old adage that the camera never lies!

Somehow during the hospital visits and bad weather I got some more work done on the baby quilt (Day 10)

This past week has been very busy and stressful.  The weather has been nasty.  Overall, this winter has been very cold but we hadn't had much snow and ice.  That changed this past week and we have had snow, ice and freezing rain. I don't like driving in it.  We saw a lot of people in ditches and wrecks.  Thankfully, we got all our hospital visits in safely and we don't have to go anywhere for a few days, at least. We have been having freezing rain all morning so probably we couldn't walk outside anyway.

On one of the days we were home this past week I got some work done on the quilt.  I did the quilting stitching.  I am really happy how it turned out.  I did make a couple of mistakes when quilting through the centre motif.  I didn't have a seam to follow so my stitching went a bit wonky!

I unpicked it and will redo it when I get back upstairs to sew. I will tack a line as a guide and stitch either side of it.  The back also looks great.  I really like how doing the quilting stitching makes the front and back look.

Next will be the edging.  Still pondering on that because the backing fabric wasn't quite as big as the top.  I cut the edging quite wide so I am not sure whether to overlap the edging more than normal so it covers the smaller back also or trim the top to match the back.  

I will wait on making a decision, I am sure the best way will reveal itself as I work on it.

New look on the blog

We have been so busy the past week with traveling back and forth to the hospital 150 miles away. We are home today, waiting for a package to arrive from England so I thought I would chill out as little and try a new look on my blog.  Back to the hospital again tomorrow though.

Going to go and sew a little now.

Tried the walking foot

I set aside some time to try the walking foot today.  I wanted to try it on some scrap rather then jump right in on the quilt.  I joined together some strips I found in my MIL's stash and along with some scrap fabric and batting I made the proverbial quilt sandwich.

It wasn't perfect by any means but it wasn't difficult to do.  I used contrasting thread so I could see it better.  The back puckered a little  in a couple of places but on the actual quilt I will be colour matching the thread for the back so any similar puckering shouldn't be noticeable.  Not sure what colour thread to use on the front yet.  I am juggling between white or red.  The front didn't pucker at all so it is just a matter of choice.  Think I am erring on the side of red though as there will be stitching on the border and I just think red on red on the border would look better.

It will be a week or so now before I can get back to it so who knows what my thought processes will be then!

The walking foot in place and it worked very well.  Very happy with my ebay purchase.

Days 8 and 9 working on the quilt

Yesterday, Sunday, I hand stitched the centre quilt motif to the centre square.

Today I made my quilt sandwich and pinned it together ready to start on the quilting.  Finally, it feels like a quilt and not a table cloth.  I also cut out the edging strips.

The walking foot I ordered arrived today. First though, I have to try it. I will make a 'sandwich' from leftover fabric and batting give it a go.

This coming week we will be away for three days.  My husband is having to resume plasmatheresis treatments which entails three separate days in the hospital which is 150 miles away.  Three very long days which takes a lot out of us both.

It is likely, I won't do any more than try the walking foot this week.  When the treatments are over I will have time to do it without having to rush. I have got this far and don't want to ruin it.

Day 7 working on the baby quilt.

Yesterday, Friday, I cut out the border for the quilt.  I changed my mind on how I was going to do it.  I went with all red for the main border and will make the trim edge with the blue.

I used the rotary cutter and it cut through 8 layers no problem.  I folded the fabric so it would all fit on the cutting board and I could do the cuts without having to stop and move the fabric or the cutting edge.  I am so impressed with the cutter and how straight and accurate it cuts.

(I have sometimes wandered on my cuts though when drawing it along the ruler but as I cover the piece of fabric I want to use, if the cuts go awry then it is on the waste fabric and I just re-cut against the ruler).

I attached the border to the quilt top then ironed it all. That iron hadn't better be thinking I'm it's new best friend though 'cos when this quilt is finished it's going right back into the cupboard where I found it!

Then I hit a snag.  The fabric I wanted to use for the backing isn't big enough.

I found some fabric that I do have enough of but I am not totally convinced I like it.  I really wanted the other fabric which is the brown I used for some of the squares.  So I am toying with putting a border on it to make it fit.  Not sure if that is quilting etiquette though and I don't want the Quilt Police on my back!

So still thinking on that one.  Another option is to combine it with another fabric and make 4 large squares and stitch them together. Maybe, even buy some different fabric.

I have always wanted to make a quilt, just a plain old patchwork one like they did way back when. This is my attempt at that with the idea of using what I already had.

I imagine, back then, they made quilts into patchwork to use up any scraps of fabric they had left from other projects because they didn't have a lot to spend.

Modern quilting has become so detailed and competitive and to be honest, it would cost quite a lot to make one buying everything you need from scratch, so I am trying to be like the pioneers and make do with what I have, so would prefer not to have to buy more fabric.

On the other hand, I am really happy with how it has turned out so far and want it to look really nice when it is finished.

Decisions, decisions, decisions................

Meanwhile, last night I sat and un-picked the centre motif on the mis-cut white backing square so tonight I will sew it onto the quilt top centre square.  Just have to make sure I centre it correctly!

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Hadn't closed this post as I wanted to add a photo of the quilt top with border. Then I looked again at the backing I really want to use.  It is just a tad smaller than the top. Two options here I think.

1. Trim the top.  Don't really want to do that though.

2. Go with it as it is and make the edging wider so it covers the edges of the backing.  It says to cut the backing a little bigger than the top in-case it puckers up a bit with the quilting so I am hoping I don't lose too much of it.

Think I'll try option 2 and hope it works...............If it loses too much I can just trim it all.

I have a roll of edging but it is like a burnt orange colour which would so go with the backing but not with the quilt top so will stay with the blue I had originally planned on.  I checked it and have enough to make the edging strips wider.

Who knew there were so many 'walking feet'?

So I spent the entire afternoon yesterday researching and looking at 'walking feet' and how to do the quilting.  Who knew there were so many different kinds for so many different sewing machines?

I couldn't find one to fit the Brother XL703, the 50+ year old machine so I searched for one for my Singer 9805.

I found which one I needed for my model then searched for where to buy one. Found a couple of different sellers on ebay had them so this morning I ordered one.

Before making the decision to buy it I wanted to see if there was an alternate way to do quilting. Apparently, if you are super good, you can quilt using an open toe darning foot.  I actually have a closed toe darning foot for the XL703 (which seemingly could work also) but the bottom teeth won't drop on the machine. They should, but they don't.  The knob on the front that is supposed to take them down so you can darn doesn't work.  I have tried to get it to function but I can't and it isn't worth the time, effort and cost to take it to get repaired.  Buying a new machine would be more cost effective (but I've yet to convince my husband of that. grrr)!

So, a walking foot for the Singer was really the only sensible option as all the quilting sites say, that using this foot, is the best way for beginners to go.  I could have bought an open toe foot for the Singer which was cheaper than the walking foot but from what I read only experienced quilters can make it work.  I can darn on the Singer it seems because it has a cover that go over the teeth so you can move the fabric around.  As I have never tried to darn on it trying to quilt would be be a little above my pay grade.

This is the walking foot that fits my Singer 9805 that I have ordered

I am not planning on taking up quilting full time or becoming an expert quilter.  I will make the queen sized quilt I talked of in a previous post using the ready quilted squares I have and after that just baby quilts if any more new babies come along.

I have knitting projects I want to do, a baby jacket to make for the grand baby due in May and a sweater for myself.  To date, the only thing I have knitted myself is a hat since I re-embarked on the knitting machine train mid 2011.

The interesting thing of the day is that my husband knew I would need this foot to do the quilting.  I guess he used to pay attention when his Mum used to sew.  He knew it went up and down.  I didn't!

So that leads me to wonder where the heck is the one she had??????  I have searched and searched and not been able to find it!

And the faux pas for day 6 working on the quilt was............

I managed to grab an hour or so yesterday to work on the quilt.  It was time to sew all the strips together but first I had to insert the centre large square.  It needed to be cut to size and I calculated what size it needed to be so that the surrounding squares would all line up.

I got the correct size but I didn't cut it out correctly so the motive was not in the centre of the square. AARRGGHH!!!!!

This is where panic set in.  How can I fix it?  Well I couldn't fix the square so I had to replace it.  I really like the centre piece because it ties in the border colours I have chosen (plain red and plain blue) so I wanted to incorporate it somehow. The solution, it turned out, isn't that difficult.  I cut a plain white square and I will unpick the motif from the square I cut incorrectly and sew it onto the new white square.

I sewed all the strips together and ironed it and I am happy with how it turned out. Almost all the seam joins line up.  My ironing all the seams the same way didn't quite work out I discovered when I sewed it all together.  Also, a couple of the seams have a twist but overall I am happy, it looks great on the right side.

Next I have to cut out the borders.

Also, I have been researching the actual quilt sewing process once the three layers are in place and ready to be quilted.

I do not have a 'walking foot' for any of my machines.  I couldn't find one specifically for the Brother old machine I am using so I will check if there is one available for the Singer.  I was surprised I didn't find one in my MIL's stuff but I didn't so I have to keep on researching until I can find one I can buy that will work on one of my machines.

Not sure if I'll get any time today on it but it's still afternoon so I might be able to grab an hour somewhere.  Have to find a 'walking foot' first or a way to sew it without one.

Days 4 and 5 of working on the baby quilt

Saturday I sat and hand sewed the centre large square.  The quilted piece had been pinned to the white backing when I found it so all I had to do was to sew it in place.  Little tiny stitches were required.

I started on it and thought that it would be much easier to sew if it were in an embroidery ring.

Yep, back to the workshop I went because I know I had seen some of those in my Mum in law's stuff.

I found them along with a lot of embroidery stencils.  I also found some quilting stencils for when you stitch the three layers together.  I need to google how to use them sometime.  For this quilt I am doing straight lines as stated in the Fiskar intructions I am following.

Quilt making for beginners

I also found a 24" x 6" quilting grid ruler which will be a big help cutting out the border and many packs of cardboard shapes cut out with instructions.  They are different designs for quilt squares using various shapes.  They must be what my MIL used to make all those different quilt square treasures I found which I posted about.

Sunday was a total chill day for me.  Don't get many of those so it was nice.  First of all I worked on this blog, updating the pages which are photos only. Then I watched the hype of the Superbowl and then I watched the game.  I really enjoyed it all.  I did get off my butt to make meals and such so I wasn't totally lazy.

Yesterday, I had to move some stuff around.  I had been keeping all my quilting stuff in one tote but with the new found items I needed another container.  So now all my fabric is in one tote and all the books, magazines, stencils, patterns etc. are in another.

Then I sat down and sewed.  I finally plucked up the courage to start sewing things together.  I sewed together the squares into strips.  Leastwise, I did the bottom two rows and the top two and the two half rows that go either side of the centre square.

I used a fabric guide on my sewing which helped a lot.  I also realised how much better it was to sew using the squares that I had cut out using the rotary cutter.  So nice and straight and hardly any fraying.  (The next quilt will be easier because of the cutter......woah! did I just say 'next one'?  Only the other day I was saying 'never again'.  I do have all those beautiful quilt squares my MIL made so I suppose there will be at least one more.  Of course, if any more babies come along, I might have to make another.  Then who knows, I might be hooked........)

The next tricky bit will be getting the centre square sized correctly.  Then, when that is done, sewing it all together and getting the squares lined up.

Will have today to think about it as we are going out shopping today before the possible snow tomorrow.

Some things I missed blogging about before or didn't post pictures of.....cos I thought I didn't take any....duh!

Here are some pictures of things I did blog about and thought I didn't have pictures of and some things I made that I didn't blog about in the first place.

Have spent the morning updating the 'photo only' pages on the blog and found these I had missed one way or the other.

Key fob for a very dear friend

Christmas bags for grandkids who live a long way away so when we order online and have them sent direct they have something to put them in

Belt for my stepson, blogged about it but forgot I had taken these photos.