New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop!
Today I am excited to be one of the hosts of the New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop. Although we are officially at the end of the hop, I hope you gained some new quilty friends along the way. A huge thank you to Beth at Plum and June for both organizing and keeping us organized throughout the process.
I have been quilting for about two years. I kind of like little rules, so I chose a piece of hummingbird fabric, matched everything else to that piece, and then decided that each square had to have a strip of hummingbird fabric in it. Somewhere. That is all. It worked for me!
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| Of course it rained when I wanted to take pics! |
About the time my youngest daughter was married I decided to purchase an embroidery machine to make decorations, gifts and hopefully to embroider my quilts. My first try was with a tutorial from Urban Threads, and I was thrilled with the results.
My favorite quilts are made with bold colors and a lot of design. Anna Maria Horner and Amy Butler fabrics suit me perfectly! Both of these designers are featured prominently in my X-plus quilt.
As far as quilting tips go, one of my favorites is NOT to measure my sashing. I generally cut my sashing strips a little longer, pin them to my prepared blocks or rows, then cut off any excess. Sometimes I have been known not to pin. This could bring the quilt police to your home. My question for you is, what do YOU do that might bring the quilt police to your home? I'd love to know, lol!
Let me present to you the Blog Hop for July 16th!
Sharon @ Fabrics and Flowers
Serena @ Sew Giving
Carmit @ Quilting Rainbows
Jehn @ Jehnny And The Boys
Jenny @ Jack's Room
Deborah @ Sunshine Through The Rain
Jennifer @ A Quarter Inch From The Edge
Jane @ Where Jane Creates
Carla @ Granny Maud's Girl
Thank you all so much for sharing your time with my friends and me. Please stop by again!
xo, Debbie
Great post. Love your projects! I don't usually wash my fabric before I start cutting into it. But I did start to measure my borders before I sew them on. I found they don't get so wavy and my quilt stays more square if I take that one extra step. That said, truth is, I don't often put borders on my quilts.
ReplyDeleteI do love Amy Butler fabric, too. Your embroider quilt is so beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI used to confuse between the right & wrong side of plain white fabric until my quilting teacher told me that I was using the wrong side. Since then, I'm very careful when using the plain light color.
I love your x-plus blocks, I also love bold colors. I don't measure my sashing or borders either! I find it saves time, because I go back and square up my blocks anyway. I haven't had any problems yet, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteWhat do I do that would upset the quilt police. Hmmm. I think I iron and don't press. I have never used a sandpaper board. I have too many projects on the go. I am sure I will think of other things in ten minutes!
ReplyDeleteI think we could be fabric twins! If your stash goes missing ... it was me! The quilt police would lock me up if they knew that I didn't keep my scraps - eek!
ReplyDeleteI don't pre-wash my fabric, I never pin, and my sashing/borders are never pre-cut. Yup, I guess I'm a rebel!
ReplyDeleteI have to admit I rarely measure my sashing/borders, and it drove one my quilt teachers nuts, but alas such is life. I also only machine bind, I don't like hand work. But the worst is I sometimes use fabric from JoAnns and not a quilt store....whatever you do, don't tell the QP on me or I will have to spend life in jail I just know it. :)
ReplyDeleteI don't pre-wash or iron mu fabric before cutting, and I've been known to trim pieces with scissors instead of a rotary cutter and ruler. Look at us - such rule breakers! :)
ReplyDelete*my not *mu......duh.....
DeleteI understood perfectly, lol! And yes we are indeed rule breakers!!!
DeletePretty much everything I do is "wrong", I don't pre-wash, I don't pin many times I don't iron and finger press when sewing rows. Sashing is always a fly by the seat of my pants experience. At this point I am terrified to take a class so no one will the know all these horrors! Many times they are time savers and have worked in my favor.
ReplyDeleteI must say I have seen the most wonderful quilts from this bunch of rule-breaking quilters! I would just keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteNice to meet you Debbie. It's great to read some more about you and I've enjoyed your post. I too loooove Amy Butler fabrics, but I'm also a bit of a Kaffe Fassett fan. I've always wanted an embroidery machine...do you find you use it a lot?
ReplyDeleteJen
Your entomology quilt is so pretty! I tend to fudge it a little when blocks won't meet up rather than ripping out stitches and actually fixing them. It doesn't always work, but I figure it just shows things are handmade, right?
ReplyDeleteI don't prewash any quilting fabrics, and only pin some times. My hand quilting stitches also look terrible on the back, all sized differently. Love the entomology quilt, great use of embroidery in your patchwork!
ReplyDeleteYour embroidered quilt is beautiful. And I love little quirks in quilts like how you had to include the same fabric in every block. I often cheat on borders. However, I sew them on with dual feed and don't have a problem with rippling. (I don't care about the quilt police, just don't tell my mom!)
ReplyDeleteThose x-+ blocks are beautiful! I'm a sucker for most designers that begin with the letter A! And, um, everything I do would bring the quilt police around here!
ReplyDeleteI love your x-blocks! And all the lovely insects and butterflies. You also made me laugh with you comment about the quilt police. I am such a perfectionist that the quilt police is probably me!! LOL Seriously though, quilting is supposed to be a fun, creative pastime, and you should just get on with doing it the way that suits you & forget the q.p.
ReplyDeleteSomething that I have started to do lately is to just aim for the corner when I sew the diagonal line for HSTs, especially if they are smallish. But shhhhh. Don't tell those pesky quilt police. (*wink)
I love your X and O blocks, so stunning. I don't prewash fabrics, always postwash finished quilts, don't square up my quilts... I'm sure the quilt police would have a field day there....
ReplyDeleteVisiting from Plum and June's Blog Hop. Nice to meet you! I'll be a no-reply blogger because Blogger and Blogspot do not play with Wordpress, but don't worry about replying. There isn't anything I can do about it.
ReplyDeleteTrust me, your quilt will look better, hang straighter and lay flatter if you will measure your borders. I know from personal experience that the slap and sew method results in wavy borders, so I learned to measure and have had fewer problems with quilting the borders. I did a tutorial on my blog so readers would understand why it makes a difference - http://frommycarolinahome.wordpress.com/2014/02/09/quilt-borders-tutorial-understanding-the-why/
Carole @ From My Carolina Home
I took the time to read your post, and I see exactly what is happening. I do understand, as I have many of a log cabin block. You have made excellent points!
DeleteYour X Plus blocks are awesome!! Not mentioning everything I do to send the QP out my way....LOL
ReplyDeleteI can't tell the wrong side from the right side in solids, I don't prewash at all and lots of times I don't pin!
ReplyDeleteLove your quilts! I do not pin like I "should" or at all at times and I do not do quilt math. I just go with the flow!
ReplyDeleteLovely quilts Debbie - and AMH and Amy Butler are my favourites too - nice and bright :-)
ReplyDeleteHello, nice to meet you, I love your attitude of little rules! I'm surprised the quilt police haven't battered my door down yet. I'm not a fan of pins, they hurt, the 1/4" seam is virtually unknown in my house and I'm notoriously bad at pressing!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what should bring the quilt police into my place. I hardly use pins and I like to do things my way. I don't meassure very well and I usually don't have exact plan while starting a project :)
ReplyDeleteLate visit from the blog hop. Your quilts are beautiful, and I love your newest scrap quilt I spotted on the way down to here too (one of the advantages of a late visit!). I think I probably do lots of things that would bring the quilt police round - definitely a lack of pins at times, often a lack of measuring and frequently a lack of careful cutting too, good thing I don't mind my quilts being wonky!
ReplyDeleteHi, Debbie! Stopping by from the hop. Love your work, but that applique piece is really amazing! You must be quite patient and detailed (though I suppose if I had an empty nest, I might finally remember what patience was, too ; ) Glad to meet you!
ReplyDeleteI never pin! I do sometimes baste seams together to ensure that they meet up nicely, and I am a big fan of Wonder Clips. I love mixing patchwork and embroidery - did you do your embroidery by hand or machine? It looks so precise! I almost always come up short when I measure my sashing - I either cut it a bit too long or figure it out as I go. I waste less fabric that way. ;) Love your x plus blocks - so wonderfully vibrant!
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