tiffany

 

Here’s the new project - Confetti Stars by Wendy Sheppard with Joanna Figueroa’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s fabric range.

There are several different colourways for this pattern but this one grabbed my attention. Wendy’s pattern calls for fat quarters but I’ve only got a layer cake which I’m determined to make work.

I’m aiming for a square quilt with at least 16  twelve inch blocks. There might be some scrappier versions and maybe the leftover fabric pieces can be used in a border. We’ll have to wait and see.

Joanne at Canuck Quilter has a timely blog post on the Basics of Stitch and Flip. I think I need a finer pencil to mark the diagonals which would help.

progress

 

Still quilting Ambleside and not long to go before the top is finished and the binding can be stitched on. We have a long weekend for Easter and hopefully there’s time to sit and sew down the binding. 

Another project is in its infancy. Thought you might like a sneaky peek.

The pirate quilt will get some attention next weekend - maybe. Maybe not. I’m having too much fun with these pretty fabrics.

Happy stitching!

rsc2024 march

 

Purple is the colour for RSC 2024 March. That darkest purple is looking darker on screen than in real life.

Joining soscrappy’s Rainbow Scrap Challenge for 2024.

RSC 2024 red

RSC 2024 green

space

 

Some say it’s the last frontier but when it comes to quilting on a domestic machine, throat space is everything.

This machine was marketed as a quilter’s special. It’s special alright. That’s a 6 inch throat space right there.  It means that you can quilt about a quarter to a third of a small quilt before it’s impossible to push anymore quilt through that gap. 

I shouldn’t complain as it was a gift from a non-sewing, non-quilting friend and I was most grateful to receive it.  It does sew well, has a speed regulator and a nice big extension table. The walking foot is a bit wonky and no amount of persuasion can make it sit fully straight on. No matter.

The sewing machine with the large throat space is set up for free motion & ruler quilting so the plan is to quilt as much as I can and stitch the longer middle section when Ambleside is finished. 

Thankfully I have no deadlines on any of these projects. Just pootling along working a little of this and a little of that.

answers

So the last post raised a few questions about basting with Elmer’s School glue.

Unlike spray basting glue from a can, you don’t cover the entire fabric. There are plenty of You Tube videos you can watch to see how it’s done. You only use a very thin bead of glue which is applied in a linear or zigzag motion to the quilt batting a section at a time.

Top Tip: No Blobs!

I made a few small blobs on the Ambleside quilt. I put a nice, new sharp quilting needle in the machine and it is sewing through everything. The thread has broken three times on  blobs so I was really careful not to make blobs on Jellyroll Roger.

No broken needles yet. 

What I like best about this method is that there’s no dreadful smell of the spray glue which gets on everything no matter how careful you are.

Q: Does the glue make the quilt stiff?

No. Both quilts are soft and pliable. Remember you are not using a lot of glue  - just enough to hold the layers together.

I’ve glue-basted on a cotton/bamboo batting and a wool/polyester batting. Both have worked just fine. The quilts fold up and I can leave them till I’m ready to work on them. 

Some folks use pool noodles with this method. My table isn’t big enough but with the pirate quilt I did use my clamps to stop everything slipping around. Made it easier to smooth out the fabric.

Probably best to trial this method on a small project, maybe a table runner to see if suits you. Since Ambleside is a quilt for me, I was prepared to give it a go and suffer the consequences.

So far, it’s quilting up nicely.  In the meantime, I’m prepping the walking foot machine to quilt the pirate quilt.