Thoughts on Productivity

In my last post, I lamented that I haven't been very productive recently and that I haven't had time to sew at home because life has been filled with lots of other things that had to be addressed before I could sit and sew just for the sake of sewing. 

But...I did sew while I was in VA and that was wonderful. Truth be told though, I was working on projects that I kind of "had" to do. The Fall Foliage quilt below is a pattern by Krista Moser and since I will be facilitating a workshop she is teaching at Chestnut Ridge Sewing next week, I figured I had better get my quilt top done so I can help as needed and know what I'm talking about. LOL  I am very happy with the result!

This next quilt is a Bargello that I made using two identical 2.5" strip sets. The packages were a Fossil Fern - Bright from Benartex.

This is the second quilt I've made like this, but this time I was writing my steps as I was making it. I showed some people my first quilt and they asked me to create a class for it. Of course I said yes, but with the qualification that I had no idea when that would happen.

Since I was "exploring" when making the first quilt, I took my time while making the second quilt and jotted down notes about seam allowance, pressing, cutting, etc. It added time to the process, but that's ok. I need to do that when I'm making a quilt for a class - especially when I'm winging it. LOL  Here is a picture of the top half of the first quilt. Jack and I were playing with border ideas and snapped this picture. I do not have a picture of the completed quilt or top, but will try to get one soon. These strip sets were batiks, but I don't the information handy to share right now.

This quilt does not need a border and I won't be putting one on the second quilt. It is already a pretty good size at approx. 65" x 84". But, Jack liked the idea of making the first quilt a bit larger, so we decided to add two borders - one small framing border, and then a larger outer border. I am happy with both quilts - with and without a border.

So...back to my comment about productivity. I have come to realize that sometimes making a quilt with a deadline or because I "have" to is not fun. It changes my mood and I often feel stressed or anxious when I'm doing it. That is NOT what I want my quilting to be! 

Jump ahead to an email I received this morning from Erica of Kitchen Table Quilting in which she discussed how to be more productive. Of course my interest was piqued, so I clicked on the link and was happy to read that she was saying that it really isn't all about making MORE quilts, or keeping up with Sally who makes six quilts a week. She gives us permission to sew with fabrics we love, take a break when we don't feel like quilting, and to sew in a way that we can embrace the process. You can read the article HERE. 

Sew...give yourself some love and don't make excuses when you need a break.  💗

Friday Finishes

I finally have some Friday Finishes that I can share with you. YEAH!!

I've been binding - for myself and customers. Here's a pile of five of the quilts that I still have here at the house that I've bound the last couple of days. I still some more customer quilts to do and I hope to finish them all up today and tomorrow because I want to get some piecing done.

I love this quilt and it is so simple! It's a disappearing nine patch set on point. I used Little Black Dress charms packs, a single light fabric and a single black fabric. The black fabric is repeated in the binding. 

Simple, yet elegant and because of that, I'm call this Dressed to the Nines.  :-)  I'll be teaching this quilt at one of the local quilt shops soon. Yippee!!

I have finally bound my two versions of I Used To Be a Layer Cake. I love how these turned out. I'll also be teaching these at a local shop soon.

   

Last night I was wondering how I get so behind on my binding (which I love to do) and then I realized that I've had machine issues, been subbing a lot, and have had lots of evening meetings. That was a quick reminder that it sure doesn't take long before things begin to pile up in the "to do" bin.  

Today I'm linking up to Sarah's Confessions of a Fabric Addict for "Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?". 

If you have time, take a gander at some wonderful creations by lots of quilters. I promise that you'll be inspired and in awe.  :-)

Design Wall Monday

Here's what's on the wall today. Another version of the I Used To Be A Layer Cake quilt. This time, I'm using a layer cake from the Wishes fabric line by Sweetwater for Moda

What you see is only a portion of Version 3 (see pattern cover below for a picture of the complete quilt). I have the strips set up in the order that they will be sewn for all the sections to the left of the first accent strip.

Here's what it looks like after sewing some of those bottom strips together. That big open section is there because of the seam allowance. Isn't it crazy when you actually see how much smaller a project is when you account for the seam allowance?  I'm using a chocolate brown fabric for the accent strip, even though it looks like it's black in the photo. My plan is to use that for the binding as well.

This version is a bit "softer" than my last version. (Version 1)

Check out what other quilters have on their design walls today!

Go to Judy L's Patchwork Times and be prepared to be awed and inspired. 

Tip Tuesday! A Cut Above (and a completed quilt top)

Welcome to

"Tip Tuesday!"

I love learning new things and then sharing that knowledge with my quilting friends. So, every Tuesday I'll provide some tips, hints, tricks, tutorials, shortcuts, etc. that I've learned over the years and share them here on the blog. 

"Tip Tuesday" will be a collection of information about a wide variety of subjects garnered from a large variety of sources.  I am not an expert by any means and do not take credit for being the great wizard behind all of these hints and tips. I will gladly give due credit whenever possible.

These tips will be archived and accessible to you just by clicking on the "Tip Tuesday" tab above. 

Read, enjoy, and be inspired! 

Tip Tuesday! - Cutting Accuracy Ideas

While I was working on this quilt the last few days... 
YEAH! The top is DONE!)

I had to be very careful with the cutting because there was very little waste. This is the most that was left over from any of the strip sets, and it measures a little less than 1/2". 

Most of the strip sets had about 1/8" of waste and that was kind of scary. I was so worried that I would make a mistake and cut the wrong size of strip and not be able to complete the quilt.

This got me thinking about some of the "tricks" I've used over the years to help with my cutting accuracy. Here are some of the tried and true methods I've used and encouraged others to do the same.

Glow-Line Tape is great for marking the lines on a ruler that I need to find each time I to cut. This tape is transparent so they can be seen through and it is reusable.

Cutting Edge Vinyl Strips have a couple of ways they can be used. Like the Glow-Line Tape, these strips can be put on the top of the ruler to mark the line that needs to be used for cutting. These strips can also be attached to the underside of the ruler thus creating a raised edge so fabric can butt up next to it and not slip.

If you don't want to buy anything special, there are items that you probably already have in your house that can be used to increase cutting accuracy.

Post It Notes can be stuck to the ruler marking the correct measurement on which to align the fabric. (I just realized that my picture is upside down. Sorry!) 

And finally, a Dry Erase Marker is wonderful for use in the sewing room. They come in a variety of colors and that can be helpful on the various rulers you may have. (Don't forget to wipe off the marker!)

Can you see the arrows that I've marked on the ruler showing the 1 1/4" line? That helps align the edge of the fabric to the correct measurement. I don't know about you, but I've been known to turn the ruler around and cut a wrong size strip. That would have created a very bad situation this past weekend.

I often used a dry erase marker when I'm trimming my half square triangles. See the stitching line in the picture below? I will align a ruler with a diagonal line drawn on it to to the stitching line and trim the the triangle.

The drawn line is on top of the stitching line. I know it's hard to see.

Now I just trim off the excess and I have the correct half square triangles.

If you take the time to cut correctly, you'll have a much easier time with the piecing. If that means you have to come up with some tool or technique, by all means do it!

Design Wall Monday

This is what's up on the wall this morning and I know that it may be a bit bright or bold for some of you, but I love it! 

This past weekend was our annual guild retreat and I had been hem and hawing around trying to figure out what I wanted to work on while I was there. I have lots of projects that I should be finishing up and I could have taken at least one of them, but something was holding me back from making a decision.

Well, the decision was made for me when on Thursday I went to the new quilt shop in Sandusky, M & E Quilt Shoppe. I know the two owners (they are former students) and we've been talking about me teaching some classes there. (YEAH!!) Anyway, while I was there, we picked out a couple of patterns and fabrics for me to make samples. Before I even walked in the door, they knew they wanted me to make something using the From Outside In line. I was excited that they picked that line. It is awesome!! But then we had to choose a pattern...

I've had the I Used To Be a Layer Cake pattern (by Nancy Altsman for Black Cat Creations) for a little while, but haven't made it yet and the shop has the pattern so I figured, why not? What is so cool about this pattern is that you can make a small Bargello quilt using a layer cake or a jelly roll and the pattern includes the instructions for three different versions. AWESOME!! If you want a larger quilt, simply make more small quilts and put them together. The pattern explains how to do that. 

Since the pattern calls for either a layer cake or jelly roll, I decided I wanted to try it using both methods so I am prepared to help students using both methods. (OK, I really just couldn't decide which version to make so I'm making two of them.) We picked out a jelly roll of the From Outside In and a layer cake from Wishes, by Sweetwater.

Knowing that it might be a bit challenging to organize at the retreat, I did some preliminary work at home. I decided to use the jelly roll first and pulled it apart and organized the strips in a pleasing order.

And then I cut the strips into 10" segments (I'm going to advise students to cut them a little longer if their strips allow for that because after trimming, you only have about 1/8" to spare and that is living life a little too dangerously for me). 

Next I sewed the 10" segments together to get four of these lovely strip sets. (While doing this, I changed the order of a few of the fabrics.) I made one of these strips at home and sewed the other three at the retreat. 

Once the strips are made, you sewn the two ends together to create a tube. (For those of you that have made a Bargello quilt, I know this is old news for you, bu this is my first one and I found the process intriguing.) Following the chart provided in the pattern, I then cut the tubes into varying widths and then started the process of creating the columns of the quilt. It took a bit to get myself acclimated to doing this, but once I did, it was ok. 

I decided that it probably wasn't a wise choice to take this project to the retreat because it really helps to have a design wall or to be able to lay everything out to avoid mixing up the strips, etc. Lesson learned! But, having said that, this experience allowed me to make notes on how to help students keep themselves organized and avoid a few of the issues I encountered.

So, here's what I had sewn at some point on Saturday.

I hope to be able to get some sewing time in later today and get this top finished soon because I'm looking forward to making version three using the Wishes layer cake! I'm using a dark chocolate brown for the accent strips.

This isn't on my wall, but this is the quilt that my brother Jerry quilted while he was at the retreat. I love this!! The picture does not do this justice and he still has to tie his thread tails and bind, but it is awesome in person. He also sewed together a couple of practice quilts so he can work on his machine quilting technique. He was VERY productive!

What's on your design wall? Why not share it with us at Judy L's Patchwork Times?