Monday, May 21, 2012

A Little Quilting Goin’ On

This past week I finished my Carpenters Star quilt top.

CarpentersStar top

As you can see my Design Wall is behind a lot of other things so getting a straight shot of this top is not going to happen.  (and note that the Dragon is lying in wait right in front, impatiently waiting to get his home).

bananas on frame

With that completed it was time to get my Color Palette Challenge piece on the frame and quilted.  I had been having trouble with the stitch regulator but Sunday it worked perfectly and we went to town.

finally working

Well, before that I had to figure out how to use my bobbin winder.  I have had my HQ for 6 years and have never been able to make this thing work.  About 6 months ago I finally bought a dimmer switch to attempt to regulate the speed and I also bought bobbins with holes on the sides.  But I never had tried to use either.  However, when I went to start quilting I found I had no prewound bobbins that would work with my backing so I had to get this out and see what would happen.  And low and behold, it worked GREAT!  And to add to that, I used Maxi-Lock thread in the bobbin for the first time: also worked great. 

quilting started I decided on a basket weave pattern for the borders.  I saw this on one of Ebony’s YouTube videos (LoveBug Studios).  She used it for sashing but I thought it would look great in these little squares.

Banana closeup

And this is how I quilted the bananas.  My intent was to practice quilting with control but that control thing seems to be hit and/or miss with me.

 

 

 

 

 

2 placemats 

I got the two placemats quilted….

quilted tablerunner

And the table runner quilted, too.  Of course, they were all on the same backing fabric so were quilted as one quilt.  I still need to cut them apart, square them, and bind them, but that is for another day.

 

 

 

 

quilting closeup I love that despite my control issues, the quilting looks really good or just how I wanted it to look.

texture

And I love all the texture.  I tend to like a lot of close quilting so this fabric was just perfect for me.

On my quilting breaks I started reading the instructions for Carol Doak’s new BOM.  I do enjoy paper piecing but I have never cut the fabric the way she teaches.  So I decided that I would try it her way, since she is the expert and all, and see if it would make the job easier.  Later this morning I will cut the fabric for the first block and see how it goes.

That is I will do that right after I start reading all the blogs that have linked up with Design Wall Monday.

10 comments:

Wilma Lee said...

Love the quilt. I use Carol Doaks method of PP. Can't remember how she cutes her fabrics though.....

Sue Daurio said...

That banana fabric is wonderful and the quilting on it looks amazing!!

Granny said...

Your quilting looks great. Maxi-Lock thread has been one that a lot of quilters put down for so many years but I love it and now that I'm not quilting for others, it's about all I use!

Judy D in WA said...

Love your Carpenter's star! Congrats on being a bobbin winder. :)
Love, love the placemats and runner! Your quilting looks great!

One Minnesota Quilter said...

Love how you used the banana fabric and how you quilted it. Clever!

Judy

Vicki H. said...

I love your quilting and I think it is wonderful to have those projects that you can try new things and this turned out great! Hmm, I better go read Carol Doak's paper piecing stuff because I didn't know that there may be a better way to cut the fabrics than the willy nilly way I do it.

Melinda said...

Your quilting looks great - I especially like the banana quilting. I am also filing away the basket weave quilting idea.

Pat said...

I love paper piecing, too. I'm glad things worked out with your stitch regulator and your bobbin winder.

Bonnie said...

Wow girl, you got a lot done this week. Or if not, you took a lot of pictures! Your banana "assemblage" is great. You'll enjoy sitting at the table with those around you. Now to figure out about Carol Doak's new bom. Is it the one that she designed for the Texas shop? just curious...

Quilter Kathy said...

Great quilting...very fun!