DONE HAND QUILTING

 I finally finished the hand quilting big stitch on the Carpe Diem quilt of improv Hourglass blocks.

I haven't done any hand quilting in decades, at least on anything this big.  

I pinned up a sheet of plastic on the work wall and pinned the quilt up, using lots of pins.  My purpose was to get it squared up and straight.  Then I sprayed it with water to get the blue marking lines to disappear.  It took a lot of spraying, some of the marks were a little stubborn, but they all eventually went away.

However, orange from the Aurifil 50wt thread I used for the basting left orange marks and faint lines here and there on the lightest fabric.  Very disappointing. 

I patted the quilt, while wet, to get the layers  to meld together and it looks a lot better now.  

So here it is:

Before I sprayed with water, notice the orange dots and faint lines between.

After water, marking lines are gone, but orange dots still visible.

TUESDAY PLAYTIME QUILTED

 Erik and I have been computer quilting on the Tuesday Playtime quilt, formally known as Quilters Playcation 2024, for a a few weeks now, off and on.  And it's finally done and off the longarm.  Just needs to be bound now.

LAGERTHA FINISHED

 I finished Lagertha and we took some photos.

At times I struggled with the Improv Quilting.  It's somewhat of a new technique for me and I had a hard time coming up with interesting patterns and variations.  Some days I was in the flow, and others were very frustrating.

But, I am pleased with the results and glad that I got it completed.

PLAYCATION 2024 QUILT TOP

 Over the last few day I've been sewing together the improv blocks from Cheryl Arkison's Quilters Playcation 2024 - all 49 of them.  I finished the top today.

Since I shy away from making square quilts, I made my blocks 10" by 12" because there would be 49 of them.  Which would make a great 7 by 7 blocks quilt.

INSPIRED BY PEGASUS BARS QUILT

I saw this improv quilt on Quiltfolk's Month 2 of Break the Rules.  Kirocofe talked about it and I was inspired to make a copy of it. This quilt is made of pieced strips and scraps of different materials.  On the opposite side is a flag showing Pegasus.

I got out my wools, and was pleasantly surprised at how much I had, plenty enough to make this project. I will have to look through my horse fabric collection to see if I have a Pegasus.

I got three of the bars made today.

CHECKERBOARDS TOP

 After lots of missteps, backups and restarts, I finally got the Checkerboards 15-17 top done!

Yea!  It's about 70" by 87".

MONDAY SEW

 I meet with the Monday Brave Patch zoom folks.  We had another great time, solving the world's problems and sewing up a storm.

I managed to finish and square up my improv project from Saturday's workshop with Sherri Lynn Wood.

SOLO SATURDAY

 I took Darrell to the airport in the morning.  He'll be teaching in Connecticut this week.  I'll be home alone (with the dogs and the cats.)

I spent the morning upstairs putting the latest Joe project together.  I'm not happy with that bar of yellow at the bottom.  I may take it out and replace it with more Xs or I was thinking I might hand sew some embroidered Xs in that space.  What do you think?

After lunch, I was out on the deck, sketching a still life as an assignment for Liz Steele's 'Foundations' workshop I've been doing.  It's a series of pre-recorded videos and instructions that is done at your own pace.

BINDING ON DAISY

 I got the binding on the Improv Daisy quilt.  It's done!

About this above photo: I was using the leftover white thread that was still on the bobbin after quilting Opening Night on the longarm.  This is the piece of thread that was still on the bobbin after I finished sewing down the binding here.  Talk about bobbin chicken!  I won!

FINISHED IMPROV DAISY

 I've been busy quilting on my Improv Daisy with different free-motion designs in each section.  I finished it today and am very pleased with how it turned out.  

LOTS DONE TODAY

 It was a very rainy morning, so after we got back from grocery shopping I went up to the studio and started quilting on my Improv Daisy.  It's coming along (other than it's not really flat).

After lunch, I made the first block for the Bryan House Quilts sew-along - Wildflower.  I finally settled on some fabrics.  

I even sewed together some of the rows on Opening Night, but I didn't take a picture.

MORE FMQ

 More free-motion quilting on the Improv  Daisy.  More to come, I'm closing in on the center of the quilt.

DAISY ON THE LONGARM

 I loaded up the backing and batting for the Improv Daisy, then rolled the top onto it's bar.  It wasn't happy trying to be straight, flat and square - mainly because its not!

I've got it all ready to go, now I just have to work up the courage and confidence to just do it.

QUILTED YUKI

 I got my order of Hobbs Tuscany Cotton/Wool blend batting.  I thought I'd try it out, it sounds interesting.  I set up the Yuki quilt on my longarm and quilted a pantograph.  It didn't take long. I was done before lunch.  But, it did take longer than it should have.  My machine kept losing it's mind and not understanding where it should be when I'd roll the quilt.  It did it three times.  I had to shut everything off and clear it then restart and reset it up.  Luckily, I had picked an easy panto that didn't need a lot of tweaking.  It's called Ginger Snap.

CORRECTED CATS

 I took the bottom border off and inserted some black bits and put it all back together.  Much better.

Since it has little white cats running about I decided it should be named after Victoria's new kitten, Yuki.  Yuki is very curious and loves to go where she has never been.  They've been keeping her confined to the house and not letting her outside until she's older and neutered.  She's not totally happy about that.  There have been times when we are all chasing her about the garden trying to entice her with treats.

So, here's the backing and border:

IMPROV ON EDUARD

I finished my Improv quilt from a class with Debbie Jeske.  I made a label and pieced it into the back and loaded it up on Eduard to quilt.

I'm using the Westalee Circle Ruler, I just purchased, for the first time.

There was a slight learning curve, hence I had to pick out half of the first circles I tried.

 The ruler is actually pretty neat and simple to use, once you figure it out.  The only thing I don't like is putting that big tack through your quilt.  It leaves a big hole.  Hopefully, it will disappear.

IMPROV QUILT

I took a class at Gossypium Quilt Shop in Issaquah last Saturday.  It was "Improv Piecing" taught by Debbie Jeske.

I was intrigued and had a good time.

I was so excited about finishing the project that I designed a block while at work and then came home early one day and made the block.

I cut out the paper pieces and used those as templates for the parts of the block.

All of the blocks together.

 Today, I sewed the blocks together and put a border on it.