Stop, Drop and Roll Quilt Along, part 8.3

Welcome to week 8 of the Stop, Drop and Roll Quilt Along! I am hosting this for the Old Red Barn Co. Flickr group.

Week 1: We made our blocks.
Week 2: We assembled our quilt tops.
Week 3: We basted our quilts.
Week 4: We practiced some straight line quilting patterns.

Week 5: We practiced some C curve quilting patterns.

Week 6: We practiced some loopy quilting patterns.

Week 7: We practiced some S curve quilting patterns.

This week, all of the free-motion quilting patterns are based on a swirl.

The machine:
I used my Janome 6600 for this video. I used the darning foot on the machine and I dropped my feed dogs.

The thread:
For the top thread, I used Tutti from WonderFil, color TU31 Evergreen.
For the bobbin thread, I used DecoBob. by WonderFil, color DB501 Evergreen.

The video:
Today's free-motion quilting pattern is a spiral feather design.

Grab some scrap fabric sandwiches and practice this design:



The finished pattern:

The hints:

• When I retrace, I don't try to retrace my lines exactly. I like the whimsical look of crossed lines.
• When I need to stop the machine, I stop in a corner or where two patterns overlap. If I stop in the middle of a design, the stop/start will leave a visible jog.
• Even though my first machine quilting teacher told me to "quilt fast and don't stop," I quilt rather slowly. I set my machine to the speed I want to quilt, and then put my pedal to the floor. This helps keep my stitches a consistent length.
• I stop frequently while quilting. This keeps me from getting a sore neck, allows me to reposition my hands, and gives me time to figure out where to place the next design.
  

Check back tomorrow for the final swirl design!

Stop, Drop and Roll Quilt Along, part 8.2

Welcome to week 8 of the Stop, Drop and Roll Quilt Along! I am hosting this for the Old Red Barn Co. Flickr group.

Week 1: We made our blocks.
Week 2: We assembled our quilt tops.
Week 3: We basted our quilts.
Week 4: We practiced some straight line quilting patterns.

Week 5: We practiced some C curve quilting patterns.

Week 6: We practiced some loopy quilting patterns.

Week 7: We practiced some S curve quilting patterns.

This week, all of the free-motion quilting patterns are based on a swirl.

The machine:
I used my Janome 6600 for this video. I used the darning foot on the machine and I dropped my feed dogs.

The thread:
For the top thread, I used Tutti from WonderFil, color TU31 Evergreen.
For the bobbin thread, I used DecoBob. by WonderFil, color DB501 Evergreen.

The video:
Today's free-motion quilting pattern is a border spiral design.

Grab some scrap fabric sandwiches and practice this design:



The finished pattern:

The hints:

• When I retrace, I don't try to retrace my lines exactly. I like the whimsical look of crossed lines.
• When I need to stop the machine, I stop in a corner or where two patterns overlap. If I stop in the middle of a design, the stop/start will leave a visible jog.
• Even though my first machine quilting teacher told me to "quilt fast and don't stop," I quilt rather slowly. I set my machine to the speed I want to quilt, and then put my pedal to the floor. This helps keep my stitches a consistent length.
• I stop frequently while quilting. This keeps me from getting a sore neck, allows me to reposition my hands, and gives me time to figure out where to place the next design.
  

Check back tomorrow for another swirl design!

Stop, Drop and Roll Quilt Along, part 8.1

Welcome to week 8 of the Stop, Drop and Roll Quilt Along! I am hosting this for the Old Red Barn Co. Flickr group.

Week 1: We made our blocks.
Week 2: We assembled our quilt tops.
Week 3: We basted our quilts.
Week 4: We practiced some straight line quilting patterns.

Week 5: We practiced some C curve quilting patterns.

Week 6: We practiced some loopy quilting patterns.

Week 7: We practiced some S curve quilting patterns.

This week, all of the free-motion quilting patterns are based on a swirl.

The machine:
I used my Janome 6600 for this video. I used the darning foot on the machine and I dropped my feed dogs.

The thread:
For the top thread, I used Tutti from WonderFil, color TU31 Evergreen.
For the bobbin thread, I used DecoBob. by WonderFil, color DB501 Evergreen.

The video:
Today's free-motion quilting pattern is an overall spiral design.

Grab some scrap fabric sandwiches and practice this design:



The finished pattern:

The hints:

• When I retrace, I don't try to retrace my lines exactly. I like the whimsical look of crossed lines.
• When I need to stop the machine, I stop in a corner or where two patterns overlap. If I stop in the middle of a design, the stop/start will leave a visible jog.
• Even though my first machine quilting teacher told me to "quilt fast and don't stop," I quilt rather slowly. I set my machine to the speed I want to quilt, and then put my pedal to the floor. This helps keep my stitches a consistent length.
• I stop frequently while quilting. This keeps me from getting a sore neck, allows me to reposition my hands, and gives me time to figure out where to place the next design.
  

Check back tomorrow for another swirl design!

Guess who I met?

LEAH DAY!!!

Oh yes I did!

I was working at the Handi Quilter booth at the AQS show in Knoxville and Leah came by to try out the Handi Quilter Sweet Sixteen. She was probably at the show to see her quilt which won "best machine quilting." Yes, her quilt was that awesome.

What could be better than that? She mentioned me on her blog.

Stop, Drop and Roll Quilt Along, part 7.4

Welcome to week 7 of the Stop, Drop and Roll Quilt Along! I am hosting this for the Old Red Barn Co. Flickr group.

Week 1: We made our blocks.
Week 2: We assembled our quilt tops.
Week 3: We basted our quilts.
Week 4: We practiced some straight line quilting patterns.

Week 5: We practiced some C curve quilting patterns .

Week 6: We practiced some loopy quilting patterns.

This week, all of the free-motion quilting patterns are based on an S-curve.

The machine:
I used my Janome 6600 for this video. I used the darning foot on the machine and I dropped my feed dogs.

The thread:
For the top thread, I used Tutti from WonderFil, color TU20 Storm.
For the bobbin thread, I used DecoBob. by WonderFil, color DB302 Royal Blue.

After filming, I realized that the darker blue thread did not show well on the black fabric. Sorry!

The video:
Today's free-motion quilting pattern is called Elements. I used this design on my son's friends' graduation quilts. Those boys loved to have bonfires (with parental supervision, of course) and the design reminds me of flames.

Grab some scrap fabric sandwiches and practice this design:



The finished pattern:

The hints:

• When I need to stop the machine, I stop in a corner or where two patterns overlap. If I stop in the middle of a design, the stop/start will leave a visible jog.
• Even though my first machine quilting teacher told me to "quilt fast and don't stop," I quilt rather slowly. I set my machine to the speed I want to quilt, and then put my pedal to the floor. This helps keep my stitches a consistent length.
• I stop frequently while quilting. This keeps me from getting a sore neck, allows me to reposition my hands, and gives me time to figure out where to place the next design.
  

Next week: swirl designs!

Stop, Drop and Roll Quilt Along, part 7.3

Welcome to week 7 of the Stop, Drop and Roll Quilt Along! I am hosting this for the Old Red Barn Co. Flickr group.

Week 1: We made our blocks.
Week 2: We assembled our quilt tops.
Week 3: We basted our quilts.
Week 4: We practiced some straight line quilting patterns.

Week 5: We practiced some C curve quilting patterns .

Week 6: We practiced some loopy quilting patterns.

This week, all of the free-motion quilting patterns are based on an S-curve.

The machine:
I used my Janome 6600 for this video. I used the darning foot on the machine and I dropped my feed dogs.

The thread:
For the top thread, I used Tutti from WonderFil, color TU20 Storm.
For the bobbin thread, I used DecoBob. by WonderFil, color DB302 Royal Blue.

After filming, I realized that the darker blue thread did not show well on the black fabric. Sorry!

The video:
Today's free-motion quilting pattern is leaves.

Grab some scrap fabric sandwiches and practice this design:



The finished pattern:

The hints:

• When I need to stop the machine, I stop in a corner or where two patterns overlap. If I stop in the middle of a design, the stop/start will leave a visible jog.
• Even though my first machine quilting teacher told me to "quilt fast and don't stop," I quilt rather slowly. I set my machine to the speed I want to quilt, and then put my pedal to the floor. This helps keep my stitches a consistent length.
• I stop frequently while quilting. This keeps me from getting a sore neck, allows me to reposition my hands, and gives me time to figure out where to place the next design.

Stop back tomorrow for another S-curve design!

Stop, Drop and Roll Quilt Along, part 7.2

Welcome to week 7 of the Stop, Drop and Roll Quilt Along! I am hosting this for the Old Red Barn Co. Flickr group.

Week 1: We made our blocks.
Week 2: We assembled our quilt tops.
Week 3: We basted our quilts.
Week 4: We practiced some straight line quilting patterns.

Week 5: We practiced some C curve quilting patterns .

Week 6: We practiced some loopy quilting patterns.

This week, all of the free-motion quilting patterns are based on an S-curve.

The machine:
I used my Janome 6600 for this video. I used the darning foot on the machine and I dropped my feed dogs.

The thread:
For the top thread, I used Tutti from WonderFil, color TU20 Storm.
For the bobbin thread, I used DecoBob. by WonderFil, color DB302 Royal Blue.

After filming, I realized that the darker blue thread did not show well on the black fabric. Sorry!

The video:
Today's free-motion quilting pattern is a fancy fern.

Grab some scrap fabric sandwiches and practice this design:



The finished pattern:

The hints:

• When I need to stop the machine, I stop in a corner or where two patterns overlap. If I stop in the middle of a design, the stop/start will leave a visible jog.
• Even though my first machine quilting teacher told me to "quilt fast and don't stop," I quilt rather slowly. I set my machine to the speed I want to quilt, and then put my pedal to the floor. This helps keep my stitches a consistent length.
• I stop frequently while quilting. This keeps me from getting a sore neck, allows me to reposition my hands, and gives me time to figure out where to place the next design.

Stop back tomorrow for another S-curve design!

Papillon, part 5

The current issue of Fabric Trends has the pattern for Papillon, a quilt designed by my good friends at the The Quilt Basket. I quilted their sample and thought I would show you how.

Last week, I showed how I quilted the background of the butterflies. This week, I will show how I quilted the white border triangles.

I pulled out my Quilter's Preview Paper to see what design might look nice.

Maybe a swirl?

Yes!

Let's quilt:

Sources from the video:

• I quilt on a HQ 24 Fusion
• I used Tutti thread TU 37 (shell) and a size 16 needle for the swirls
• The kit for this quilt is available from the Quilt Basket
  

Next week, I will show how to quilt the brown sashing. Be sure to come back and check it out!

Sunday Stash Report -- another wedding quilt finished!!!

My Sunday Stash Report:

fabric purchased this week: 0
fabric purchased this year: 36 yards
fabric used this week: 9.5 yards
fabric used this year: 198.75 yards

Stash reduced by: 162.73 yards

I finally finished a quilt this week. It was finished 40 hours before the wedding!!! That must be some kind of a record.

Head on over to Judy's blog to see how everyone else is doing.

Please check out my free-motion quilting videos.

In Solidarity

A dear friend of mine is having some health problems and has been placed on an extremely restricted diet. The hope is that this can reverse the problem and avoid a lifetime of medications.

Since I am (mostly) a vegetarian, I offered to show my friend how tasty vegetarian fare could be. I decided to cook some vegetarian meals that they could replicate and thought you might like to read about them, too.

Lo Mein for two

Start with some noodles:

I cooked up one bundle and set them aside.

Now chop the veggies:



Saute the garlic and ginger in a little oil:



Add the carrots, celery and onions (sorry for the steam in the photo):



Add the mushrooms, broccoli and snow peas:

Add a few tablespoons of water and cook until veggies are somewhat tender. Add in the noodles and some sauce* (and some sesame oil if you have it):



Let cook for a few minutes until the sauce thickens.

Serve:



Enjoy!

*sauce: I mix one cup of veggie broth with 2-3T of soy sauce, 1 T of rice wine vinegar (optional), and 1 T of cornstarch. I only use maybe 1/4 cup of this sauce for this amount of lo mein.

Stop, Drop and Roll, part 7.1

Welcome to week 7 of the Stop, Drop and Roll Quilt Along! I am hosting this for the Old Red Barn Co. Flickr group.

Week 1: We made our blocks.
Week 2: We assembled our quilt tops.
Week 3: We basted our quilts.
Week 4: We practiced some straight line quilting patterns.

Week 5: We practiced some C curve quilting patterns .

Week 6: We practiced some loopy quilting patterns.

This week, all of the free-motion quilting patterns are based on an S-curve.

The machine:
I used my Janome 6600 for this video. I used the darning foot on the machine and I dropped my feed dogs.

The thread:
For the top thread, I used Tutti from WonderFil, color TU20 Storm.
For the bobbin thread, I used DecoBob. by WonderFil, color DB302 Royal Blue.

After filming, I realized that the darker blue thread did not show well on the black fabric. Sorry!

The video:
Today's free-motion quilting pattern is a simple repeating S-curve.

Grab some scrap fabric sandwiches and practice this design:



The finished pattern:

The hints:

• When I need to stop the machine, I stop in a corner or where two patterns overlap. If I stop in the middle of a design, the stop/start will leave a visible jog.
• Even though my first machine quilting teacher told me to "quilt fast and don't stop," I quilt rather slowly. I set my machine to the speed I want to quilt, and then put my pedal to the floor. This helps keep my stitches a consistent length.
• I stop frequently while quilting. This keeps me from getting a sore neck, allows me to reposition my hands, and gives me time to figure out where to place the next design.

Stop back tomorrow for another S-curve design!