Hi ,
Happy Spring! This past week Josh and James and I put the finishing touches on our garden project, taking
advantage of the nice weather. In these terraced side gardens we've planted lots of herbs: basil, parsley, thyme, and oregano.
I also keep rosemary and sage, but in other gardens because those plants get so big. I've also planted green beans and cucumbers which can easily grow upward along the woven wire against the carport.
I'm really excited about growing and eating so many vegetables this summer. We're
planning to can at least two shelves of tomatoes because we eat spaghetti every Sunday night.
Have you started planting your gardens yet? What are you planning to grow this summer?
My Three Favorite Quilting Tools |
If the weather is still too chilly to head outdoors, I hope you'll take advantage of the indoor time and get behind the sewing machine to practice your free motion quilting or finish a UFO.
If you're struggling witha FMQ on your home machine, you don't need a newer, bigger, or more expensive sewing machine, you just need better tools to make this craft easier to master.
When I started free motion quilting, I had only one tool: a set of Machingers gloves. From the very first time I tried them on, I noticed a huge difference in my control and comfort while quilting.
Many years later, I stumbled across the Supreme Slider and Little Genie Magic Bobbin Washers. At the time I was struggling with constant thread breaks and a feeling that the large quilt was "stuck" in my little machine.
After only 5 minutes, I knew my investment in these tools was worth it. Not only did my thread stop breaking, I noticed minor tension issues I'd been struggling with had suddenly disappeared. The quilt was also far easier to
move, even in the 5 inch harp I was working in!
The point of this story is simple: we use hundreds of tools to make piecing and applique easier: rotary cutters, rulers, templates, and pins. Shouldn't we make free motion quilting easier too?
How to Machine Quilt Block #4 |
Remember, you can join this quilting block party anytime: just pick up your block patterns and follow along with the videos as you learn more about piecing and machine quilting.
In the following video, make sure to watch the section when I machine quilted Pebbling into the background of the Spinning Sun block. I often used half or quarter circle shapes to bounce along the ditch lines instead of having to stitch in the
ditch.
I also explain how to avoid hesitation knots at the beginning of the video. These little knots often happen to beginning quilters, but with practice it's really easy to fix this issue.
Monday I was working on a new video and quickly cutting a quarter Dresden Plate block. Instead of re-positioning my ruler for every cut, I was trying to speed through the cutting process by slicing across the top of the ruler from left to
right.
I can hear you wincing and yes, it really hurt when the rotary cutter kicked up over the ruler and sliced right through the top of my middle finger.
Thankfully it just cut off skin and barely nicked my fingernail, but this quilting accident has reminded me if a very important lesson in quilting - slow steady, careful work is the key to beautiful quilts.
It's easy to get caught up in the race to
finish a quilt, but it's important to remember that we're working with sharp tools that can definitely hurt you if you're careless. Slow down, take your time, and put pride and focus in every stitch.
Most of the collections are arranged within a color family so if you love blue or red or green, you can find a collection that's perfectly suited for you.
I decided to pick up a pack of blue / teal 2 1/2 inch strips to create a waterfall bargello quilt.
I love coordinating color precuts like this because it can be such a pain to
pick out several solids of the same shade.
Craftsy is offering precut 2 1/2 inch strip packs, 6 inch strip packs, charm packs, and 10 inch squares. Comparing the price and quality to popular Kona and Moda fabrics, Boundless is just as great quality with a tight weave and strips I purchased were cut nicely on
grain. So all in all, I really like the Boundless Fabric line from Craftsy and I plan to buy more. If you'd like to check it out, click here to see all Craftsy has to offer.
Yes, I will be sharing a new video on how to piece a simple bargello wallhanging quilt using this Breezy Boundless fabric.
Be looking for this new pattern and tutorial sometime next week.
So that's it for this newsletter! Don't forget to check out the Ultimate Quilting Kit to learn more about my favorite three tools for free motion quilting.
Let's go quilt,
Leah
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