2010年10月27日 星期三

Pinwheel quilt finished

Ta-da. Here is my baby quilt which took me 10 months to complete.
My dad was holding it for me this morning. I love this picture. Can you see the pinwheels turning? Sit further back in your chair and I'm sure you will.

Here is the back--shells and stars.

I thought there should be a sky, some sunshine and cloud above the pinwheels, so I appliqued some on. I liked it how the quilting made the sky looked filled with cloud.



About the width of borders, I sat brooding about it for an afternoon, net-surfing for ideas. Finally I decided to cut the bias strip 2.5" wide, which allowed me just enough leeway for the stich in the ditch finish. The finished width on the front is 1/4".

I also spent some time doing the square root calculating to determine how much fabric was required for making the strip. It turned out that a mere 24" square of fabric produced the length I needed (about 234"). I'd have to write a formula for this on excel at my leisure. Arithmetic made me dizzy.


See those little clips? They were so handy during binding process. No pins, no fazing pinpricks! When I came to the corners, I used double-sided tape to secure the mitre. They made my life easier.

By the way, I followed the tube method to cut binding strips. Check out the super clear video tutorial from the link. It was fun and saved me the hazard of joining all those ends. But you want to be extra careful when cutting the tube not to catch the fabric under the layer you're cutting. 

That's what I have to share. I find it helpful setting deadlines for my quilts, otherwise I have no idea when it can be done. I'm off to start piecing another quilt which is due the end of November.

2010年10月24日 星期日

I am Free Motion Quilting!!

I can't believe finally I get to use the darning foot I purchased more than 1 year ago. I've been studying about FMQ and practiced doing it for some time.

I finished piecing and basting my quilt, and the quilting is in full swing. When I was basting, at first I put the quilt on a mattress but found it didn't work as it got wrinkled. Then it dawned on me why other quilters laid their quilts on the kitchen floor when basting: because other areas are carpeted. From this I learned that only flat and solid floor worked. Hours of basting almost finished me and I decided to use an adhesive spray for my subsequent quilts.

My sewing table was quite small. But I made the most out of it by adding a few things to reduce the dragging force of gravity.


 Books! Literature books came in handy at this time. They were just the right width. Don't I love literature! Thanks, Charlette Bronte and all! 

I also used my ironing board, which is the same height as my table, for suppor on the left side. With them, I was all set.


About the quilting pattern, I wanted to try circles to create the turning effect of pinwheels. But the result was funny so I switched to meandering right away.

Meandering proved to be much better and I stuck to it. I'm almost half way through. Free motion quilting was a lot quicker than I had thought. I could literally "quilt in a day", if I wasn't disturbed.
Off to continue quilting right now. It's my first time free motion quilting a big quilt. Hopefully it turns out alright.

2010年10月23日 星期六

Giveaway News from other sites

Micki on Irish Muses is holding a Accuquilt Go giveaway.
She's so generous that each person can have 4 entries at most.
Go and check this out.


Bear Bits is also giving away a very cute bear:
http://bearbits.blogspot.com/2010/10/my-fall-giveaway.html#comment-form

How cool is that!