83 Commandments of Quilting

I took this from The Quilting Board

I could never be so original

 

Thou shalt Not Covet your best friend's Stash!
Thou shalt not point out missing points.
Thou shalt not rotary cut whilst tired.
Thou shalt read directions BEFORE cutting!
Thou shalt obey the copyright laws.
Thou shalt not make suggestions about how you would have done it differently when a friend shows you her newly completed quilt.
Thou shalt measure twice, cut once.
Thou shalt honor thy quilts by giving them only in love and not out of a sense of obligation.
Thou shalt share your quilting tips with others!
Thou shalt ALWAYS close the cover on the rotary blade between cuts.
Thou shalt always feel honored to help a beginner.
Thou shalt not be anally-retentive about being perfect. The corollary: thou shalt observe the "Galloping Horse at 10 Miles Away" rule for judging perfection.
Thou shalt always have UFO's to brighten your life.
Thou shalt always budget so that fabric is a priority.
Thou shalt always measure for borders through the center of the quilt to the opposite raw edges.
Thou shalt always have at least three quilting projects going.
Thou shalt NOT turn up thy nose at another's restoration project, no matter how dirty or smelly. Remember, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder". A family quilt WILL BE a beautiful heirloom to them once again, when completed.
Thou shalt do charity quilts with pleasure of giving.
Thou shalt change the needle in the machine when it's so dull it won't penetrate the fabric.
Thou shalt always practice safe rotary cutting; cutting with the rotary blade going away from your body.
Thou shalt make it such that every stitch is made with love.
Thou shalt follow thine inspirations, no matter what anyone says.
Thou shalt support thine Local Fabric Store.
Thou shalt use thine scraps to make quilts for charity, so that those less fortunate may know the joy of sleeping beneath a quilt.
Thou shalt spread The Word to youth and elders alike, converting all you can to The Way of Quilting.
Thou shalt oil thy sewing machine.
Thou shalt use paper scissors for paper and fabric scissors for fabric.
Thou shalt share all knowledge with other quilters.
Thou shalt understand that there is an exception to every quilting rule.
Thou shalt give thyself permission to be unique, creative, and innovative.
Thou shalt understand that there is no such thing as an ugly quilt.
Thou shalt not skimp on buying many quality quilting fabrics, as they are the pallet of thine art.
Thou shalt not deny a cat a nap on any quilt or pile of fabric.
Thou shalt not sit on a quilt, as thou might poppeth thy stitching.
Thou shalt always label thy quilts.
Thou shalt challenge thyself to trying something different.
Thou shalt enjoy the process.
Thou shalt not neglect thy friends and family by being over-ambitious in quilting. Too much, anyway.
Thou shalt not fault thy husband for not knowing a selvage from a bias, especially if he is supplying the stash cash.
Thou shalt change the machine needle often.
Thou shalt not count anything under a yard as "fabric on hand" when asked why the stash is building.
Thou shalt not impersonate the Quilt Police.
As ye sew, so shalt ye rip. (OK, not a law but certainly worth remembering.)
Thou shalt honor your deepest creative impulse and express your true vision.
Thou shalt challenge yourself and others to try new colors, styles, skills that we may learn from each other.
Thou shalt not presew a seam without thread in the bobbin.
Thou shalt not show jealousy towards others' quilts or quilting abilities.
Thou shalt "press", not "iron".
Thou shalt be creative in hiding the size of your stash.
Thou shalt plan your quilt well so thou can relax and enjoy the making of the quilt.
Thou shalt practice/warm up your hand and/or machine quilting before making a pitiful mess.
Thou shalt put down your work and go to sleep shortly after your eyes have crossed.
Thou shalt not make obscene gestures at the quilt police. Learn the rules, then adapt them to suit yourself.
Thou shalt cherish the love and satisfaction in every stitch.
Thou shalt not horde UFOS, as they become NFOS (never finished objects), but thou shalt give them away to someone who will finish them for charity quilts.
Thou shalt feed thy family at least one(1) home cooked meal a week while trying to get that quilt done for the show.
Thou shalt stop quilting at least once a month and wave thy duster around (it only needs 5 minutes).
Thou shalt keep a quilt journal to remember where thy quilts have gone.
Thou shalt stop quilting at least once a month and wave thy duster around (it only needs 5 minutes).
Thou shalt keep a quilt journal to remember where thy quilts have gone.
Thou shalt learn new and creative ways to say "Oh no, honey. That fabric isn't new. I've had it a long time...."
Thou shalt not answer a compliment with "Oh it's easy". Especially one from thy son-in-laws who cannot imagine putting all those pieces together.
Thou shalt be creative in hiding the size of your stash.
Thou shalt ensure that all thine creations go to a loving home.
Thou shalt not pass judgment on those who use thine quilts in ways other than what you intended.
Thou shalt remember, "Done is better than Perfect".
Thou shalt honor thy stash by having SEX often.
(note for the uninitiated: SEX = "Stash Enhancing eXpeditions")
Thou shalt refuse to allow the Quilt Police into your sewing room.
Thou shalt not agonize so much over planning thine quilt that thou canst not enjoy the quilt-making process.
Thou shalt remember that stars in the sky are merely circles with no points, and as such, stars in quilts do not require points.
(hey, if ya don't believe me, look at Van Gogh's Starry Night, not a single blooming point in that painting!)
Thou shalt not criticize the quilter, lest she become wrathful and poke you with a seam ripper!
Thou shalt pick up all pins that have been dropped so that thy dearest family members don't step on them.
Thou shalt not use the selvages in any quilt.
Thou shalt jointh all the swaps thee little heart desires.
Thou shalt giveth freely any good quilting tips.
Thou shalt not be too critical of oneself. Perfection can only be aspired to, never attained.
Thou shalt practice moderation in all areas of thine life--except quilting!
Thou shalt always have at least 4 ideas on your "my next quilt will be" list....
Thou shalt build an ark, and thou shalt fill it with two bolts each of every colourway of every pattern of every fabric line of every man
ufacturer.
Thou shalt keep your collection of quilting books smaller than that of the local library.
Thou shalt finish all swaps and be in the mail by the deadline.
Thou shalt swap only 'good' fabric.
Thou shalt use at least one 'ugly' in a quilt top, thee will be surprised at the look.
Thou shalt not make a quilt without making a note of where the pattern came from.


 

No Pattern French Braid

I was given a huge jelly roll of batiks last year from my Secret Sister at the guild.  I wasn't too sure what I wanted to do with it, but I decided to make a french braid.  I didn't have a pattern at the time so I just sewed as I thought I should. 

This is the results of my actions. Originally, the black parts were way to wide and I had to dismantle the quilt and re-sew it. For now it has no home right now.



Orphan LeMoyne Star Practice Quilt

At the Road to California Quilt Show in January, I picked up Deb Turner's Rapid Fire LeMoyne Star gadget (not sure if it is a gadget or a tool.)  Now that gadget sat on my shelf until September,  I had previously purchased a jelly roll and fat quarter selection of Moda's Warm Marbles for a manly quilt but changed my mind and did a double Irish Chain.  Now DH (dear husband) has a little buddy Namaar who is studying to be a minister right now.  He graduated from Kentucky State year before last and I wanted to make him a quilt.  I wasn't sure what kind I wanted to do though, but I knew these colors would be great for a young man. So I set about and made about 37 LeMoyne Stars in a 9.5 inch block.  They weren't too hard and I added another jelly roll in maroon to the mix, I had some dark beige with with designs for the background.  However, now what do I do with all these blocks! So off to google I went once again to look up images for LeMoyne Star quilts.  I found a quilt on a blog (I left a message but have not yet heard back from her) and it mentioned that she made her quilt from a pattern in Marsha McCloskey's Quick Classic Quilts. Off to Amazon now to find a copy of the book, which I did for under $5.00 ( it smelt a bit like old smoke though)  But I am not going to show your Namaar's quilt yet as I haven't quilted it yet. Instead I made a lap quilt with the left over blocks, and I invested in some pounce and kicked up my FMQ a notch!  I used the pounce blue and it did wash out of the beige and I also echo quilted around the Celtic crosses and outlined the stars and outlined on the inside too.  I am pretty pleased with my first attempt at stencil quilting though there is lots of room for improvement.

For the stencil I used navy blue thread and the outline and echo quilting I used clear polyester thread.



Watercolor Heart Wall Hanging using a fusible grid material

I bought the tiny square to make this heart at a quilt show last year. 16 x 17 = a lot of little squares!  I finally got around to doing this project.  I was hoping to hang it in the spare room but the colors are not quite right, so it is on the wall in my sewing studio.

The original instructions said to lay out the wall quilt accordingly and then to sew each square one at a time together to form a row and then sew the rows together. I guess this is the part that was stopping me from doing this.  Now in July, my girlfriend, Clara and I went to the Long Beach International Quilt Show and one of the vendors was selling something similar to this but they were also selling a fusible grid so that once you had your quilt laid out to your own satisfactions you could then iron it all and then sew each row horizontally and then vertically. I must have stored this information in the back of my brain for suture reference.  So last month, when I was between projects I saw package for this little wall quilt, I re-read her instructions and then it came to me about the fusible grid material.  A google search found me the 2 inch square grid I was looking for.  I ordered it and it arrived quickly. I used a sharpie and marked out the heart outline on the grid and then proceeded to arrange the squares into a wall quilt, once I was satisfied with my work I pinned each of the squares to the grid and then I went and ironed the quilt to fuse it. 
I found while sewing the quilt that the fusible grid was rather flimsy and stretched.  The grid material also left a sticky film on my sewing machine bed, and I had t wash it off a couple of times before finishing.
Now that it is finished, I am pleased with it.  Would I do it again - hmmmmmmmmmm rather finicky for my liking and the pattern with fabric was far too expensive ($75.00)  Some lessons are harder to learn than others, but I still have the pattern and maybe another time I will try it again.

New to me curtains

This summer we travelled to Edmonton, Alberta , Canada to visit my eldest daughter Diana and her family.  We were so excited to meet our newest granddaughter, Gemma Elizabeth!  While there, I bought Diana some new blackout curtains for her living room as the hot prairie sun blazed in on us all day long and it was so dang hot!  These Ikea curtains below were full-length and hanging up prior to our trip to Walmart.  I asked Diana what she would do with them and she had no plans, I asked her If I could have them and she said yes!  Already, I could see them hanging in my sewing cave.  My alterations were simple, I folded them in half and sewed the bottom to just about the top. I didn't measure or cut - I just sewed them, as Diana's new curtains had grommets I took the curtains rings too.  I stopped at Ross's and picked up a nickle colored rod and after a trip to Lowe's to get proper wall fasteners my new window treatment was complete.

Thanks Didi - these look so much better than the black mini-blinds that used to grace this window.

Guest Room Quilt # 2

Here is the quilt that I sandwiched on the ping pong table.  It is a scrappy quilt from one of the American Patchwork by Better Homes and Gardens magazine.  This is the second quilt I have made for the guest room, and I think that this one goes even better than the last one. With  each quilt that I make I try to do something a bit different so that I can continue to grow in my quilting.  This is a foundation pieced quilt, I used muslin for the foundation fabric and one thing I can say about this method it that all the blocks sewed together really nicely.  Golly gee, they were all the pretty much the same size.  I did use the Deb Turner square for squaring blocks for the first time also..

Pillow cases to coordinate are a must also.

Here is a table runner to match the quilt also!

This is a super easy and fast pattern that we were given at the guild.  I have made three runners so far..



Oh, the joys of a ping pong table!

Carnell got me a ping pong table for our anniversary - do we play ping pong heck no but I sure am going to put it to good use or spray basting my quilts.  I am getting too old to get down on the floor to tape and spray and smooth my quilts.  I rarely do anything smaller that a queen size quilt and it is just to hard on my aging body.

In this picture you can see the backing is clamped down to the table and I have laid my batting down. I have it taped the backing to the table on the far end to keep it taunt.  The is enough room to walk around the quilt on 3 sides.

Now you can see that I have added the quilt top and have it laid back, I have already spray basted the batting to the back and now working on the top to the batting.  This quilt is queen size , so I will have to unclasp, move the quilt over and then clamp it again to finish the spray basting.

Can you see how nice and flat things are turning out?

I was able to spray baste 5 quilts in one afternoon using my ping pong table!  I have Planter's Facsits in both feet and this new table has been heaven sent.  Thanks Carnell, you are an amazing husband!

Another nice feature of the table is bonus storage space underneath !



Wow, I can't believe that it is over a month since I wrote anything new.  With the start of the new school year and lots of projects to work on things just go by the wayside.  However, I am ready, willing and able to

share a few new things with you.

A Light Light to Sew By :)

My sewing space was once a garage, and it has one window and only one double set of wall plugs and no ceiling lights.  I have been struggling with clip on lights, free standing Ott lights, desk Ott lights but try as I might I haven't been able to achieve a decent sewing light.  With winter fast approaching and the amount of day light decreasing I was determined to find a light to sew by.  Off to Lowes I went two weeks ago to get a new Ott light for the HD reading light we have in the living room.  While I could not find a light bulb for that light, I did spy this hanging garage light that plugs into the wall. Now the garage does not have a proper ceiling, but rather ceiling tiles and I debated on whether or not I could hang a  suspended light over my sewing table.  I threw caution to the wind and brought it home - light fixture and day light bulbs  cost just over $20.00.  I screwed the toggle bolts into the ceiling tile and hung it up - while I will replace the toggle bolts with ceiling hanging hooks for now all is good!  I think I will have to get different chain as the one supplied will not work with the ceiling hooks (like for hanging plants from)

I am very pleased to say that the light is amazing and I can sew after dark with no trouble.  The heat put off by the light will be nice in the colder weather also as the garage is unheated, but it really doesn't get too cold down there for me - this is southern California :)