Day: July 22, 2009

A little tip that saves time

On By alwaysquiltsIn Blogroll, dyeing fabrics, Hobbies, Home and Garden, machine quilting, quilts, Uncategorized3 Comments

I didn’t get a whole lot of quilting done today, but I did get some of the blocks quilted. I thought I’d share a tip that I used today for marking. I made radiating lines coming out from the design in the center, so instead of using a ruler and marking off every so many inches on each side and having to find the center of each block,  I cut a square of paper the size of the block and then folded in half, folded again in half, then again so that I had even folds along the edges. I then clipped the edge of the folds, so that I could use that as a guide. I then opened the paper and folded the opposite way, to get the other side marked so that it has little notches all the way around. I then laid it on the block and made little marks in each notched area.Picture 009

Then I took a long ruler and connected the marks, so that I could see where to quilt when I was against the design. (I used a disappearing pen and it didn’t stay on there very long.) Once I started I had to work fast!

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If you haven’t used folded paper for marking distances on sections, it is quick and easy. It can also be used in sashings.

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Ok that’s if for now. I’ll get back to canning tomatoes. They are finally coming on strong, so the next few weeks I’ll be canning lots of tomatoes and making salsa. Yum! Yum!

Have a great one!

Theresa

Getting back to work

On By alwaysquiltsIn Blogroll, Hobbies, Home and Garden, machine quilting, quilts, Uncategorized5 Comments

I had a busy weekend so I didn’t get hardly any quilting done.  I had one on the machine last Thursday that I knew I would finish on Friday. Well, it didn’t happen……….DH was home Friday & for some reason, when he’s around, I just don’t get as much done as I hope to. Oh well…….. he did go over to his Dad’s that night, and I thought I could finish the quilt before I headed out to the races. Didn’t happen…………….thread kept breaking. Oh well……………..I thought I could get it done on Saturday. Think again! We had a picnic over at the ball fields for the team that my DH coached this summer. I ended up spending Saturday getting everything ready for that. Running to town to make sure we had everything and then cooking that afternoon. I kept thinking about the quilt that was almost done.  Sunday came, went to church and finally late in the afternoon, I finished the quilting. Yeah!!!  I always do the borders last and it had a solid black border and I was using King Tut variegated thread so I was anxious to see how it was going to look on the border. I put  chubby little leaves in the border.

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The quilt was made up of nothing but triangles, so I just put a flower in each triangle.

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I was glad when I finally  finished  it.

My brother and I went to a funeral yesterday, it’s almost a 2 hour drive to get there. He made the comment when we pulled up that “we probably look like the Redneck cousins” since we had a motor in the back of the truck. I had to laugh!! He figured that since we were only going to be 20 miles from the place that he needed to take the motor, he might as well drop it off.  So we did!

So anyway, today I got back to quilting. I actually got 2 quilts quilted today. I only meandered them, so they went fairly quick. But they are done!!! I just finished loading the next one on, so hopefully I can get started on it in the morning.  I guess I better get to bed now, it’s getting late.

Have a great day!

Theresa

Oh….I was thinking today while I was quilting, the next quilt is one where I’m going to put the binding on while it’s still on the machine. Anyone interested in seeing pictures of how that’s done?  I thought if I remembered, that I could take a few pictures if anyone is interested. Let me know.