WIP Wednesday 3/26

This is what I am working on this week.  Its an applique block from a block of the month at One Piece at a Time.  I love hand work.  What I haven't loved is this thread.  And I think its just me.  I have been searching all over Google for help.  I have been using Superior Masterpiece's bobbins that they make specifically for hand applique.  I have even gone so far as to email the manufacturer to see if I am just crazy.  (Just did it today so no response yet.)  I have been stubborn and dealing with them for the last 6 months trying to make it work out. Everyone raves about how great they are for hand applique.  I literally have not found one negative review.  My thread keeps breaking.  A lot.  Like stitch for about an inch and it breaks.  My thread isn't too long.  I have tried different needles.  I have used wax.  I think its time for me to part ways with it.  

My next try will be with silk.  I just can't wrap my head around only needing to use a few neutral colors though.  Can you really not see it?  Does anyone have any words of advice for a thread for hand applique?

Linking up to Lee at Freshly Pieced. 

Finish it up Friday - 3/22/2013

I thought that I would share a quilt today that I had finished a couple months ago.  It is called the Hot Chocolate Club.  I haven't shared this on my blog yet.  I never got around to taking photos because I wanted to take them outside in a snow setting and the timing was never right.  A couple weeks ago, I was rather bummed out because I didn't think I would get another chance.  However, mother nature choose to give us one more really good snowstorm a couple days ago.  My husband was a great help to me and we finally got them done.

I started this quilt about 8 years ago as a block of the month.  I picked it back up in July and worked on it until I got the top done in August.  And there is where the anxiety kicked in.  I have always machine quilted my own quilts.  But this one was super special to me and I was scared I would ruin it because of the amount of custom quilting it was going to need to make it right.  At the time I had a small cheap brother sewing machine that quilted fine but wasn't great for detail work.  So I proceeded to pack up the top deciding to wait until I got a new machine.  It was on my wish list but I thought it was going to be awhile.  However, Christmas time rolled around and my wonderful husband surprised me with a new machine.  He bought me a Husqvarna Viking Tribute 140c.  We ended up getting a great deal on it because it was a special edition and their cycle was over.  I spent about a month practicing all the motifs I wanted to do on this quilt and then started in. 

So here are tons of pictures to share.  In total I think I took almost 40.  Don't worry I won't show you all of them but I do believe they are all on my Flickr.  You can get there by clicking one of these photos. 

One of my favorite blocks.  I was scared to use the yellow but I really love it. Notice how they are all holding hot chocolate mugs in every block.

Here is a close up of some of the quilting.

I tried a swirly design here to look like wind but I think I should have made some of my swirls go in different directions.

I really love the paisley design I tried out.  I think this is going to be my go to background filler design.

The old granny couple.  There really isn't a wrinkle in his face.  The quilt wasn't flat.

The igloo was done all free hand with no marking.  Its my husband's favorite block.

More yellow quilting.

Playing with some photo editing software.  :)

Today I am linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts!  I can't see what everyone has this week!

WIP Wednesday - 3/20/2013

This is a sort of work in progress. I finished the binding last night and now it just has to be washed and needs a label. This is a gift for a couple that has a baby due in a few weeks. They haven't picked out a name yet so I haven't decided what to write on it. (Any ideas? I am lost without a name for the baby.)  I also made a cute tote that the quilt fits in out of the leftover fabric. The pattern for this tote was in the same free Craftsy class I talked about here. I changed it a little so I could use those cute owl squares.  I had actually cut those squares up to use in the quilt instead of the white but it was just too busy.  I am glad I went with the white.  

I am also going to make a cute little zipper pouch that a trial pack of wipes should fit in. I am going to stop at Walgreens tomorrow and pick one up so I can be sure.

I machine quilted the swirls in the center with some detail on the applique.

The inner border is a ribbon motif.  The outer is some feathers.  I make my feathers bump bump style and no pre-stitched spine. I mark it with chalk and then make it as I go.  It's easier for me this way.    

Guess I missed a string I need to trim.  Some veins quilted in the leaves.

I made the feathers too close to the edge and the binding cut them off.  :(  Oh well.  I will learn for next time. This is the first time I have made feathers on a quilt to give away.  I have always been to hard on myself thinking they weren't good enough.  

The cute back!

Linking up to Freshly Pieced!  I can't wait to see what everyone else has done this week!

Finish it up Friday 3/15/2013

Ssshh, I actually finished this last week.  I had no finishes this week to share and I never shared this so I thought I would.  This is the result of a FREE craftsy class.  That's right folks, free.  I loved that class.  Its one of their mini classes and honestly I have made three of these pouches.  I am down to 45 mins a pouch.  It is taught by Kristin Link of Sew Mama Sew.  Here's the link.

My daughter stole one of them for her hand sewing items.  (so proud!)  She's only 8.  She does hand embroidery that is a bit unstructured at the moment but very cute.  I have taught her how to knot and thread her needle but nothing else really.  I figured that could wait until she gets used to the needle a bit more.  Right now she uses a variation of the running stitch.

This pouch was my favorite.  I got this fabric at my LQS in a fat quarter.  I am not sure of the line but I love it.  I am going to see if they have anymore when I go back this Saturday.  I am pretty sure I can get at least three of these bags out of 2 fat quarters.  One for the lining and one for the outside.

I use it to store my Hexi's!

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday.

Update on owl quilt!

Yesterday I posted about some frustrations I was having with my baby quilt.  Last night I decided to make two mini quilt sandwiches, one pin basted and one spray basted.  I had not one issue with the pin basted one.  I only had a couple skipped stitches with the spray basted.  Not nearly as many or as bad as with the owl quilt.  So I think its definitely the spray.  I think I may have sprayed too much.  I have used this spray before with no problems so I think its just user error.  :)

So short of ripping it all out, I have to deal with it.  I did find that if I went slower I could feel when the needle was starting to stick.  In these areas I made extra sure I held my quilt securely and as flat as possible and that seemed to help.  It cut down on the times I needed to rip thread out and restart.  I did read that a larger needle might help so I ordered some yesterday to be here today.  I love Amazon.

I am glad this quilt is going to a baby.  It's not my best quilting work.  If the baby destroys it I won't be sad. And to be honest, if this didn't need to be done in two weeks I might just start over.  I should be done the middle of the quilt tonight and then its on to the borders.  I wanted to do feathers there so hopefully I didn't over spray the edges.  I can't wait til this quilt is done!

P.S.  I got so many visitors to my blog yesterday from Freshly Pieced.  And more comments than I ever have!  Thanks everyone.  So glad I decided to start linking up with Lee.

Frustration In Progress

I have renamed this weeks post from WIP to FIP.  I have been working on machine quilting this quilt for a few days now.  For some reason I keep getting skipped stitches.  I have changed my needle, cleaned my machine and tried a new spool of thread.  I tried quilting a sample I made up and my machine worked fine.  The only difference between the sample and the quilt is that I did not use spray baste on the sample.  So my conclusion is that something is going on with my spray basting.  I have used this kind before with no problems.  It's the June Taylor quilting spray they sell at JoAnns.  Maybe it was just a bad bottle or I used too much.  At this point I think all I can do is muddle through and keep fixing it as I go.  Luckily this is just a baby quilt so it won't be quite so dreadful.  UGH.  I just need to get it done.  The baby is due in about 3 weeks and I still have to ship it.

The skipped stitch is hard to see on this one but is on the white part.  

A little more obvious here.  I see three in this picture.  

A bigger picture of the quilt.  

Just showing more of the quilting design.

This week I am linking up to Lee at Freshly Pieced.