KatyQuilts

Armed Forces Day

Posted on May 21, 2016 by katyquilts

Thankful.

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Leader/Ender Update

Posted on May 21, 2016 by katyquilts

I haven’t shared the progress on my leader/ender blocks in a while. This shows four blocks put together.

Each rectangle was cut 2 inches by 3 1/2 inches. I sew twosies as leaders/enders and when this little pan looks full, I stop and make a 12 inch block.

It doesn’t take long to make one or two blocks and is a good thing to do when I have a few minutes to fill. I think I will stop at 64 blocks for a quilt 96 by 96. Maybe. I might change my mind. At this point, I have 41 blocks made. Here is what they look like all together.

I have really enjoyed making these and consider this project my first real success at using leaders/enders to create a whole new quilt.

Linking up with A Quilting Chick, Quilting is More Fun Than Housework

Posted in Leader/Ender, Scraps | 17 Comments

A Tiny Finish

Posted on May 20, 2016 by katyquilts

Remember my Mick Jagger free motion quilted practice piece?

The plan was to cut it up to make small zipper bags, but haven’t been able to locate my box of zippers. It is somewhere in the black hole of a walk in closet containing games, leftover kid stuff, miscellaneous household stuff etc. I found a small zipper in one of my sewing cupboards this week and decided to make one.

This one finishes at about 6 inches on a side. The zipper has metal teeth so you really have to take care with sewing near the ends. Here is the other side.

I have made a number of these bags in the past. It is a good way to use the free motion practice pieces that accumulate. I like making this pyramid shape rather than a flat pouch, I just think they are more fun that way. I made the next one about ten years ago.

I use this one to store my double pointed knitting needles.

I always liked this next one.

I use it to store scissors when I travel.

I used a piece of leftover zipper as a loop for this wristlet that I use for my camera.

The fabric is a scrap of my hand dye.

Maybe I should clean that closet out and find the rest of my zippers!

Have a great day!

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Crazy Mom Quilts, Quilt Matters

Posted in Crafty Things, Free Motion Quilting, Uncategorized | 13 Comments

Moving Slowly Forward

Posted on May 19, 2016 by katyquilts

Tuesday was not a good day here. I woke up with a stomach bug and accomplished exactly nothing all day. Therefore, there was nothing to post yesterday. Thankfully, I am feeling better and have made some progress today. This quilt is in the frame and half quilted.

I decided to use my Baptist a Fan pattern boards. I am using Pellon 80/20 batting, MagnaGlide Classics bobbins, and Superior Mono-Poly on top. I hope to finish the quilting today.

I worked a bit on my basket block for the Gwennie Inspired Medallion QAL while watching some TV with the mister last night.

These circles are far from round! LOL! Have a great day!

Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation

Posted in Uncategorized | 10 Comments

This and That Tuesday

Posted on May 17, 2016 by katyquilts

I disciplined myself to work on this UFO yesterday.

It took a good chunk of the day, but I got the top done.

I tried to finish cutting out the rest of the pieces for my log cabin blocks, but I ran out of the white fabric I was using. So this is stopped until I can get back to Ikea.

I got most of my laundry done. This is only notable because it was the first time this year that I could hang it outside!

Our lilacs are blooming and smell glorious. I’m glad the snow on Sunday didn’t kill them!

I hope you have a wonderful day!

Posted in Uncategorized | 9 Comments

Design Wall Monday

Posted on May 16, 2016 by katyquilts

Hello friends! I hope you all had a great weekend. We did, in spite of that snow yesterday! I finally spent some time in the sewing room and instead of working on projects already started, I began cutting for something new. No discipline, I tell ya!

I’ve been wanting to make a quilt with 60 degree diamonds for a while and since my Civil War scrap tub was sitting out, I started cutting. I am using these dies.

The block above uses 4 of the smaller diamonds. I will eventually cut alternate diamonds out with the larger die. I focused yesterday on cutting the sets of smaller diamonds.

I don’t really know where I am going with this, as usual. I really should be working on these:

Or these:

Or this:

I did make more progress on my Gwennie inspired Medallion for the QAL. I’ll share more of that when I get a bit further along.

Just for fun, here is one of my grand dogs enjoying the quilts I made for her.

Have a good one!

Linking up with Em’s Scrap Bag, Love Laugh Quilt, Cooking Up Quilts, Patchwork Times

Posted in Accuquilt Studio Cutter, Civil War Repro Quilts, Scraps, Uncategorized | 10 Comments

Slow Stitching Sunday

Posted on May 15, 2016 by katyquilts

I am making progress on my Gwennie Inspired Medallion QAL center.

My stems are all appliquéd down. I will appliqué the basket today and hope to finish prepping the other bits to add to the stems. This is the plan I’m going with:

In other news, yesterday I got some new shoes.

These were not cheap, but I’ve been trying to up my walking and good shoes are important. Hubby and I tried out our new shoes last night. They felt great! I reached a milestone with my Fit Bit yesterday, I’ve walked 500 miles since I got it at Christmas! Go me!

Off to church, some family time, and then my slow stitching! Have a great day!

Linking up with Kathy’s Quilts

Posted in Gwennie inspired Medallion QAL, Uncategorized | 12 Comments

Saturday ~ Gwennie Inspired Medallion QAL

Posted on May 14, 2016 by katyquilts

Have you started on your basket for our little QAL? I hope so! I confess, I didn’t work on it much this week. With graduation, moving my daughter, and work, not a lot got done. But I have been thinking about it! I love basket quilts, but since I try to avoid the A word (applique), I felt a little stumped. I didn’t want an empty basket for the middle of my medallion. Then I decided to put a print there. I made this block:

Hmmm….doesn’t look very Gwen. At all.

Okay, I might get brave. I grabbed some freezer paper and cut a basket-ish shape.

Then I dumped out my little box of leftover A shapes from previous attempts.

No need to reinvent the wheel, right? Time to play a bit.

I’ll need to prepare some more shapes. I chose that print for the basket because I thought it was reminiscent of a woven basket.

Tulip shapes are too small!

Better. Still not sure about this. Anyway, I thought I would show you how I made my stems. I remembered from one of Gwen’s books that she doesn’t necessarily cut her stems on the true bias and it works. So I cut some angled 1 inch pieces.

I folded one side a little over halfway up and pressed.

Then I folded the other side down and pressed. Then I gave it a shot of this and re-pressed from the top side, curving the piece as I went.

Not a bad curve!

I’m hoping to finish prepping this for some slow stitching tomorrow. This QAL is pushing me in ways I had not planned!

Happy Saturday!

Posted in Gwennie inspired Medallion QAL, Uncategorized | 6 Comments

Finish It Up Friday ~ The Minky Quilt

Posted on May 13, 2016 by katyquilts

Okay, I am not sure this is technically Minky fabric, but Minky Type quilt doesn’t have much of a ring to it :). This quilt is for my nephew and his bride to be. The wedding is in July. You may remember this Tina Given FQ bundle given to me by Daughter #1 for Christmas. She also gave me a Tina Given layer cake for my birthday.

I found the minky like fabric when I was out in Arizona and as soon as I saw it, I knew it would be the perfect backing for these fabrics. It took me a while to come up with a plan.

And I had to recut fabrics for the sashing when I decided this just wasn’t right. But I finally got the top together and this week I got it quilted.

I used a low loft poly batting by Pellon as the backing made this quilt pretty darn heavy to begin with. I had read that the backing really needed to be loaded with the least stretchy direction between the rollers. I didn’t have enough fabric to load it this way so I broke the rules. Nothing new there! LOL! I did make sure to load it loosely and I did not tighten the rollers anywhere near as much as I normally do. I used Glide thread in the top and Magna Glide pre-wound bobbins. I only had one thread break on the entire top and no tension issues whatsoever. I used my current favorite panto, Any Which Way. The quilting was trouble free and made me wonder why I put it off so long!

Here is a look before washing.

I had a tough time getting good finished photos, this quilt s very heavy and I didn’t think the pant hangers are normally use would be adequate. So here it is on my deck.

A close up after washing:

The backing:

This next one is the best for showing true color.

I threw it on my guest bed for a few shots as well.

Love the soft light coming in this window.

While the quilting was trouble free, piecing the backing and the binding were not. I hat shredded thread and skipped stitches everywhere.

This took way longer than it should have due to all the fixing and rethreading. I used my Bernina 1030 last time I used minky and ended up having to have my machine retimed! My Singer 301 didn’t like it much better. It feels wonderful and was a breeze to quilt, but I’m over it. Love the way this quilt turned out, but I won’t use minky again.

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Sew Can She, Quokka Quilts

Posted in Bed Quilts, Finishes, HQ Avante, Longarm Quilting | 14 Comments

Throwback Thursday ~ MySpace

Posted on May 12, 2016 by katyquilts

Remember way back, before Face Book became huge, there was a social media site called MySpace? That’s how long ago I made this quilt! I know because that is what I called it back in 2007.

I remember that I used a huge wedge ruler to make the fan sections.

I quilted it with a walking foot on my domestic machine.
I had a terrible time trying to get a decent picture of it!

My how time flies! I wonder what the next big thing will be!