Celtic Knot 2015

I know this is a little late, but I finally got the pictures from my phone onto my laptop, making it easier to do this.

This is my Celtic Knot made for my dear friends the Carpenters (Scott and Michelle).

I started it in December 2014 and finally finished it 2 weeks after their wedding in June 2015.  It was supposed to be a wall hanging.  Yeah it was almost queen size when done...

The quilt was made with 13 - 17" squares and 2" sashing.

I started off by cutting the 13 squares to 19".  Using Philomena Durcan's book on Celtic knots and a water soluble pen I traced the knots onto the fabric.  Then I made the bias tape.  Yards and yards and yards of bias tape.
***Tip to keep it under control I wrapped the bias tape around an empty soda bottle like thread around a spool***

The quilt made for Scott's son

Using fabric left over from the quilt I made when Scott's son was born I colored the inside of the knots. Okay I cut the fabric into the shapes and sewed it down.
Starting on the inside of the outlines I sewed the bias tape down.

Once it was all sewn on the inside edge, it was time to sew the outside edge down.
Most took about 16 hours to sew.


After they were all finished I cut them down to 15 1/2" and made the sashing strips.  I felt they needed more so I took Michelle's favorite colors and did a simple 4-patch for the posts (corners of the sashing).

For the backing I wanted it to be both Scott and Michelle.  Scott's family is Irish and Michelle's German, so I took the colors of the flags and did strips down the back.

After basting it was time to start the quilting.  Using my handy dandy water soluble pen again I marked a ribbon type design in the sashing.   
I grabbed the most awesome straight line marking tool (masking tape) and marked off a grid around each block to quilt.  I outlined each knot on both the inside and outside with quilting.  Yes it was a lot of quilting, but I was not done yet.
For the blank edge blocks I designed my own knots to quilt.  Yes it took hours, days, months and years (not really years) to finish the quilt with all that quilting, but I think it was worth it.
But more importantly the Carpenters think it was worth it.
Sorry the only picture I have of their quilt's label has my cousin's label in it too.

Oorah Stars

What do you make for a single man that is traditional and former Marine??? You make what I call "OOrah Stars" it's a combination of a traditional star and Irish chain in royal blue, gold, scarlet and white.

The original design from Quick Quilts from the Heart
 by Liz Porter and Marianne Fons

I switched to blue stars, scarlet Irish chain and the background was split between gold and white.

Then I cut, and cut and cut...

Strips were sewn together first, because they required, yes more cutting...

I placed all my cut pieces in quart sized
baggies and labeled them.

Next came sewing, and sewing, and sewing...

The blue triangles get sewn to the yellow or white triangles. You HAVE to line them up perfectly or your points will not line up. I did it all in strip piecing, so it was just lllooonnnggg strips of each piece sewn together, After I finished one set, I would iron and cut and sew some more. As the days progressed the strips got shorter and shorter.

I finally had my blocks all done. I laid everything out and sewed them into rows and then the quilt top.

It needed more so I did what everyone does and I added borders.








A thin red one and a thick blue one. 

Basting was awful!!! I didn't have help and it all shifted. I didn't find out until I was almost done with the quilting. I cried, I cut off extra backing and sewed it where it was needed. I finished quilting in straight lines through the Irish chain blocks and 1/4" inside each star (watching Eureka on Netflix helped with the quilting) and did the binding. The pattern called for 2" strips for the binding, so not big enough! I suggest 2 1/2" - 3" strips.

The quilt turned out nice, Nice enough to get 2nd place in the county fair for bed-sized, machine pieced, hand quilted. Now lets hope that former Marine loves it.

Tips for Beginner's: Part 1 the machine

Recently I was asked to give advise to a friend on what to look for in a sewing machine for someone looking to dabble in quilting.  Instead of just doing a quick response on Facebook I decided I would post a blog on it.
It was perfect timing since I am helping a friend make a quilt at her house with her brand new sewing machine.
My friend Meredith (who I'm helping with the quilt) has a mommy that is quite special... Since Meredith is known for her baking, her mom got her a computerized sewing machine........... Monday morning Meredith took her machine out of the box for the first time in 10 months. She figured out how to plug it in on her own and that was it. I sat down and explained all the parts, showed her how to make a bobbin and thread the machine. Then it was time to start working on the quilt. 
There is no foot that was 1/4" foot so I began looking for the 1/4" mark on the plate. Finally found it. It was even smaller than 1/4"! I lined the fabric up to the mark and the mark disappeared. Out came the scotch tape and sharpie. Line extend! 
Next was the sewing. The needle is automatically in the far right position, I'm not used to that so it took me a while to get used to it but I did, I don't like it though. Next problem I have with her new fancy machine is the automatic stop in the down position, I turned that feature off because the bobbin kept catching (we were naughty and using stock thread).
With everything so fancy you would assume that the machine would run smoothly, it doesn't. I don't know why but it doesn't seem to sew a straight line very well. It is almost like the needle jumps and curves if that makes since. Well here it kinda goes like this ________-----_____----___ I had had 6 cups of coffee that morning so I know it wasn't me.




Now things I like about the machine...
There is a table that attaches to the machine that would come in handy doing quilting and clothes making. There is also a switch to adjust the stitch speed. Great for newbies and pros.




Ok now please ignore how dirty my machine looks. It is 13 years old and well loved... My machine has a 1/4" wide foot so I don't need the 1/4" line on the plate, but you will notice that my plate measurement lines extend in front of the foot so they can be read before the material goes under. I have the tape on there for lining up the points on triangles.
My needle position is right there in front of you so you never forget what position it is in when you begin your sewing...
Ok there are my "reviews" of new vs old machines.
When it comes to buying a "new" machine keep the location of the measurement lines in your first thoughts. Next if you are only quilting, you don't need 360 different stitches you just need a straight stitch. Also check to see how easy it will be to get replacement bobbins, I have 4 threaded at all times with different colors, when I'm working on a project I also have 4 of that color pre-made so I don't have to stop and rethread the needle. New and old machines alike will skip stitches and stuff, just adjust your top tension until you have it right. Now for the biggest tip I have ever received... Years ago I bought my first sewing machine it was a lovely Brother machine that did everything I needed and best of all it cost me $89.00! About a year later in the middle of sewing 5 Halloween costumes it died. I took it to my local sewing machine repair shop. That afternoon they called me in. To repair it would cost $99 as a plastic internal piece that commonly brakes on those machines, broke. The repairman told me that those machines were crud, They are all plastic which is great for lugging it around, but those inexpensive machines are not meant to last invest in a good heavy metal machine. I cried and looked at new machines, I found my lovely Riccar on sale for $300, but it was the display model and they gave it to me for $250. Like I said earlier this was 13 years ago. I take it all apart yearly to clean and oil it. It may be ugly and only have 15 stitches (4 are the parts to a button hole) but it has made about 40 quilts and helped win lots of blue ribbons...

Part 2 tools of the trade, coming soon...

Let's Go Wild!

It's very nerve racking when you get hired to make a quilt.  It's one thing when it is a stranger hiring you, but when it's a friend of 20 years, EEK!!!  That's what happened to me in October of 2013.  My friend Jeff really liked my work and decided he NEEDED one of them.  As a male he didn't want anything girly and he is a huge Kentucky Wildcats fan so I wanted to do a blue and white quilt for him.

Finding quilt ideas is sometimes fun, other times I hate it.  His quilt took forever to figure out.  Do I want to do a chain quilt for basketball? Or a star quilt for winning?  What about a classic blue and white 9 patch?  Oh I know!  I'll do a basketball court!!!  Okay not a real basketball court, but kinda close...

On Pintrest I found a quilt that if you squint you can see basketball courts.  I clicked on the link and it's only pictures of said quilt... So there I was with my handy graph paper, my dandy pencil and my wonderful box of 64 crayons drawing lines and coloring them in until I came up with my design.  I snapped a quick picture and sent off to Jeff in Oklahoma (did I mention this quilt was being made for a good friend that moved from Nevada to Oklahoma 15 years ago?) he loved it.

Luckily since I had drawn out the pattern on graph paper it was so easy to figure out the material needed and the best part was I could use fat quarters!!!  When there are 16 different blues and whites that all need to compliment each other for a quilt fat quarters are a blessing!  I picked out 9 whites/light blues and 7 dark blues and cut and piled them all. I ended up with lots of extra parts because I wanted it all random... So each "FQ" was cut into 22- 2.5"*2.5"; 9-2"*4.5"; 10-2.5"*6" (the top row in the picture can be cut into 2-2.5*2.5 and either 2--2.5*6 or 2-2*4.5 or one each of the 6 and 4.5).


Since I wanted that part to be 100% random I put ALL 2"*4.5" pieces into a paper bag.  I sewed a light 2.5*2.5 to a dark 2.5*2.5 (you need 2 of those color combos for a block).  Then came the fun part  reach into the bag and pull out a 2*4.5 (no putting it back or accidentally dropping it) and sew it between your light/dark combos.  When you have finished this step you will have lots of 4.5"*6" sets.

To the top of each set sew a 2.5*6 of the same fabric as the 2.5*2.5.  Do the same to bottom. You'll end up with how ever many you need of the 8.5"*6 finished block.  Since I was making a throw I used 63 blocks (7 columns and 9 rows).

Now put ALL the blocks back in the bag and pull out 2 at a time.  Match up a light top with a dark top and sew together.  Continue doing that until you have 9 rows of 7.  Sew the rows together.  I added a thin 1.5" border to the quilt just because in the hand quilting it makes it more stable and the seams less likely to unravel.  Once you are done with the top go ahead and baste and quilt.  For the quilting I did straight lines in each block from corner to corner.  I of course added a nameplate on the back and called it good.  The Henry family loved it and used it during the final four this year.

My cat loves laying on my unfinished quilts...

I used left over scraps for the binding.

Mitered corners are the best.

My Beer Goggles

A while back I began this post about a quilt I was making.  Apparently all I did was title it... Well I have some free time and it is way to hot to quilt right now so I will finish this post...

Back in September of 2013 I was hired to make a quilt for a lady who was about to become an aunt for the first time. It was really exciting for her.  Again she had the material she wanted used and knew the pattern... Unfortunately I was not willing to spend the $100+ on the machine the pattern "required".  For days I worked out the pattern on paper and it just didn't seem right.  Then one night out having a drink I looked at my cup and realized that was it!!! The beer cup was the perfect size for the tumbler block she wanted used. With that figured out next step was finding more fabric she would like.  I looked through my stash and found some from a Celtic quilt I made years ago.  She liked it!

My scraps in the beer cup

Then it was time to get started.  I measured the top, bottom and height of the cup then marked it onto the fabric I was using.  

I did mine about 1/8" off...

From having done sooooo many Lone Star quilts over the years I knew that when I sewed everything the edges would have to be off center a little to get them line up perfectly...

The overlapping allows for perfect lines.

Next came sewing all 132 blocks together alternating them upside down and right side up...

The customer didn't want any of the same colors to be touching each other.  Let me tell you that was the hardest part!!! It took me hours to get them so there was only one spot where they did line up.

Can you find the spot that the fabric touches itself?

 I threw on some borders and did the binding in scraps from all the fabrics used in the quilt! I think that is some of the neatest binding you can do.

She wanted a soft green flannel for the back so I did the first border and "G" (for baby G) in the flannel.

 When she told me she wanted the green flannel for the backing I was petrified.  I had never hand quilted flannel before and thought of all the piling and thickness I would have to deal with.  Luckily baby flannel is much easier to deal with than clothing flannel.

Aunt Hope will always be holding baby G

No quilt is complete without an inscription...

 I wanted the quilting to be extra special and just for "G" so I traced the auntie's hand and quilted it all over the quilt.

Lessons I learned while making this quilt were: Plan way ahead when you don't want the fabrics to touch.  Flannel isn't too hard to work with for backings. And finally sometimes inspiration for baby quilts come in the least baby of places ;)

Broken Star: The Final Steps...

I know again it's been a long time... But I have just been so busy with quilts!
Let's get back to the beautiful Broken Star.

After the piecing is complete and you have used your favorite technique for the basting is the quilting... I chose to match all the quilting thread with the fabric.
Using the matching thread I handquilted across the center of each diamond. Yes I quilted across each of the 1,568 diamonds... You can mark the diamond pieces if you wish, but it is just straight lines across a small area so it isn't necessary.

For the background areas I searched and searched until I found the perfect quilting design.

I marked all the background pieces before the quilting began, but it rubbed off on some of the blocks. Easy enough to remark with a chalk pencil though.

 The quilt ended up being king size and I have a queen sized bed, but it still worked for the pictures...

Of course you can't do all that work and not enter the quilt in the county fair... 

It did get 1st place, best of the bed size quilts went to a lady who hand pieced a similar quilt in blues...

Broken Star Part 1

Yes I have a quilting bucket list. The #1 quilt on that bucket list is a Broken Star. I have the Lone Star down pat so I knew I would be able to make a Broken Star.

Back in March I was hired to make a quilt for a really nice lady named Hope. She had the material, but not the time or ideas. She showed me the material, told me she wanted king or queen size and I spent a week looking at patterns and narrowed it down to 3. Two were applique and the third was a Broken Star. She decided on the Broken Star.

My Broken Star mach up to show her.

For the next 5 days I spent all my free time at the library, fabric store and online searching for a Broken Star pattern. I found pictures, but no pattern. A book at the library had a pattern for the Lone Star with measurements for all sizes crib-king. The crib size said the star was finished to 51". Perfect! A Broken Star (BS) is basicily a Lone Star surrounded by 3 more Lone Stars broken up (get it's broken). Looking at it I realized that the Broken Star is twice as big as a Lone Star so the finished size of the stars would 102" just about the size of a king quilt. Add a border and it's perfect!

So let's get started...

This BS is 32 pieced diamonds made of 7 pieced strips. Each strip is made up of 7-2" fabric strips sewn together and cut  at 45* angle.

Cut the following to make the 3 sets for the 32 diamonds:

The 13 fabrics I'm using lined up.

Fabric 1 - 3

Fabric 2 - 6

Fabric 3 - 9

Fabric 4 - 12

Fabric 5 - 15

Fabric 6 - 18

Fabric 7 - 21

Fabric 8 - 18

Fabric 9 - 15

Fabric 10 - 12

Fabric 11 - 9

Fabric 12 - 6

Fabric 13 - 3

Sew them into strip sets as fallows:

Fabrics: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7

Fabrics: 2-3-4-5-6-7-8

Fabrics: 3-4-5-6-7-8-9

Fabrics: 4-5-6-7-8-9-10

Fabrics: 5-6-7-8-9-10-11

Fabrics: 6-7-8-9-10-11-12

Fabrics: 7-8-9-10-11-12-13

***drop each of the fabrics down by 1 1/2" as you sew to get the least amount of waste***

Iron Iron Iron

When I learned to make the Lone Star it was suggested that ironing happen with some liquid starch mixed with water to help keep the biased edges from warping. 

Once the strip sets have been ironed you can begin to cut at the 45*... It's hard, but easier than expected. Lay the fabric on your cutting surface.

Line your ruler's 45* line up with one of the seams and make your first cut to even the top of the strips. The next cut will be made in the same manner but the 2" line will be at the top of the fabric. Cut as many of these types of strips as you can from each set.

Remember that the sets are cut at angles so the seams wont meet up at the edges they need to be a 1/4" off so that when sewn the seams lineup. Pin the sets together so that fabric 1 is to fabric 2 and so on.

I put my pin cup behind my machine to put the pins in quickly. Worked like a charm. 

After sewing all the sets together you will have 32 diamonds.

Measure the upper outside edge to figure the size of the background squares. (The book directions said 18", but mine were closer to 15 1/2") you will need 20 squares in that size and 2-25" squares. Cut the 25" squares from each corner to the opposite corner to make a total of 8 triangles.

The book I found at the library said to sew the upper right square to the diamond then sew each of the diamond square combos together. ***Do this for only 8 of the diamonds.***

After you have sewn the 8 diamonds and backgrounds together to make the center star sew the rest of the 24 diamonds together in groups of 3. I then sewed them to the background squares and the loose edges together. The middle two empty spaces on each side get one of the triangles the rest get the squares... To end up like this...

Broken Star quilt top un-quilted

Layer, baste, quilt...

Next up will be my quilting...