KatyQuilts

I finished my blocks yesterday.

Not my best work but nearing completion. I am looking for quilting ideas for it. I hope to get the blocks together after work today. And I need to decide on a border.

However, I have a new distraction that looks like a whole lot of fun! My friend dropped this off yesterday for me to quilt.

It is a big maze quilt and just gorgeous. I have lots of time to get this done but I can’t wait to start it!

I blocked the Dream quilt yesterday.

The ruffled edges are better but I am still not happy with the binding. I am thinking about cutting it off and adding a facing. Have to think about that.

Linking up with Kelly for Needle and Thread Thursday.

I got my three blocks done yesterday for a total of 6.

And I remembered why I don’t like following patterns, I get bored! Seriously, I had to force myself to finish these three. I like the quilt, I don’t love it. I am looking forward to quilting it. Three more blocks…

Daughter #3 picked up some fun vintage fabrics for me at an estate sale last week.

Aren’t they fun? She also picked up this small vintage quilt for the princely sum of $3.00! What a deal! I love the Baptist fan quilting.

Linking up with Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts for Let’s Bee Sewcial.

So I thought I could clean the pantry, do laundry, and make 9 quilt blocks.

Didn’t happen. I realized I hadn’t cut enough pieces on Sunday so that set me back as well as my cleaning. I got three done.

I hope to get three more done today before work.

Saturday I went to a local antique fest and found these bits of vintage fabric for a dollar!

I think I will use these in my SQT challenge for July.

Someone asked about using my thread cone holder with my Featherweight. I hope these pictures will help!

Have a great Tuesday! I am linking up with Connie at Free Motion by the River for Linky Tuesday.

I felt in need of some mindless sewing this weekend. So I did something I never do, I started making a quilt from a book. Like actually reading and following the pattern. I’m kind of a math nerd and I enjoy figuring out patterns and how to make stuff from just a picture so this is definitely out of my norm.

It required trimming, which I do not like. However, it was kind of nice to just follow the instructions and not have to think. Here is the block I am making.

It is huge at 24″. This quilt is from this book:

The pattern is:

And I am making this variation:

I’ve had a layer cake of 30’s style prints from Connecting Threads sitting around for ages and they are perfect for this quilt.

I have to clean out our pantry today which is a huge job, but then I hope to get the blocks for this done. It should be doable since there are only 9 blocks in the quilt and I have most of the parts together.

Linking. Up with Judy at Patchwork Times for DWMonday and Stitch by Stitch for Anything Goes Monday.

A while back, a quilter in Instagram posted a ling arm quilting tip about using skateboard tape as a gripper for her long arm templates and rulers. It was before the flood and I cannot remember now who suggested this. I have tried a number of things to help with rulers slipping and thought I would try this as well. I am SO glad I did! This is what it looks like:

This stuff is like a heavy sandpaper on one side and self adhesive on the back. I bought it on Amazon. It was around $8 for a 9″ x 34″ piece. It can but cut with scissors.

I cut small bits and put them on the back of a longer ruler like this:

What a difference this makes! I have seen sandpaper ruler grips marketed for quilters before but nothing that worked this well. I have a Fine Line Continuous Curve ruler I bought a while back and never had much success with it. It came with a strip of Velcro hook tape on the back to keep it from moving. This was thick and for me, only caused the ruler to rock. I took off the Velcro and added bits of the Mob Grip and now it works perfectly! I have enough that I will probably never need to order any more. Hope this is helpful for you!

Linking up with Kelly at My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday.

I have been practicing quilting with my microhandles this week. It takes a long time to quilt a quilt this heavily but I think it will be worth it! I hate practicing on something that will just be thrown out and I already had this top loaded before we left town. So I went right to the quilt!

I am using a ruler to divide the space and then choosing a different filler for each section.

In one area, I wanted to include text. So I printed the text onto tracing paper and pinned it to the quilt.

I stitched through the paper around each letter and then tore the paper away.

This should not have been my first stitching with the micro handles! Did I tell you how impatient I am?!? Next I filled in the background. Not real happy with how this turned out.

This quilt is for me so practice, not perfection, is the name of the game here. I hope to finish this week. A few thunderstorms and the day job have hindered my progress!

I have been sharing some in process shots this week on Instagram. You can follow me there. Just look for “katyquilts”.

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday , Sew Fresh Quilts for Let’s Bee Sewcial, and Gemma at Pretty Bobbins for IQuilt.

We visited three quilt shops on our trip and they did not disappoint! The first was Quilter’s Haven in Overland Park, Kansas. That is where my hubby surprised me with these:

These are micro handles for my HQ Avante and are used for doing very tiny background fills and fine work. I have been playing with them and will share more in a few days. I also picked up this Metropolitan Fair Fabric to use with my churn dash blocks.

We also visited Hunter Heirloom Quilting in Warrensburg, Missouri. They are Innova dealers and had an impressive selection of Superior Threads, pantos, batting etc. They had a great selection of fabric as well and their prices were very reasonable. I bought these towels to embroider for a gift.

And this quilt kit.

These are Kauffman muslins and they look just like suede.

Our last stop was to the Missouri Star Quilt Company in Hamilton, Missouri.

What a fun place! Everyone was very friendly. They have the main store and separate stores for reproduction prints, another for holiday fabrics, another for batiks and solids. They also have a store for machines and their retreat center. Here are my goodies!
The deal of the day was the Frost charm pack so of course I got that in addition to these other two packs.

The first three issues of their Block magazine.

These are more of a book than a magazine. They have the great patterns MSQC are known for along with lots of great stories. The pictures are fabulous and they are printed on heavy paper. I will be watching for the next issue. Mr. Wonderful bought me a t-shirt also.

At the reproduction shop, I purchased this FQ bundle of Shenendoah by Nancy Gere.

It is back to work day for me today! I would love to stay home and play but I am thankful for my job. I wonder what interesting people I will meet today.

Linking up with Connie at Free Motion by the River for Linky Tuesday.

We are home again! It was a wonderful trip and having Daughter #2 here the week before made for a fabulous couple of weeks. Now it is time to do laundry, put things away, and regroup. Even with that, I hope to get a bit of stitching in.

After I finish this block, I will have a total of 55 in my pile!
T

hear are prepared and I hope to stitch them today. This turned out to be a great road trip project. I didn’t work on my hexies at all but after the pumpkin seeds are done, I am sure I will be ready to go back to them.

Linking up with Kathy for Slow Stitching Sunday.