Free Motion Friday - Blobs

I love the new design for this week!  I found stitching it out to be really quick once I understood how to make it.  I did try stitching this one out in a small scale, but I must admit the larger scale is more effective.  I also realized that orange thread on a pink background really doesn't show up much.  I took a very low light shot below so you could see the texture of the pattern.

The written directions can be found here.

Here is the video instructions.

And lastly, here are the picture instructions.

This design was originally going to be named "Cheetos," but after I started stitching it out, I realized that not every blob looked like a Cheeto, thus it became Blobs.  Start by making a curvy line.  The make it into a shape that looks like a Cheeto or a Blob.  I tried to keep them fairly uniform in thickness/the distance across and I tried to make sure it had a bump out or in at some point.

Here you can see the second shape I made.  It kind of looks like a Cheeto.  I'm talking puffed Cheetos, not the crunchy ones.

If you come to the edge of the fabric, just stitch along the seam until you get to a place where you want to start again.  Here are a few Blobs all together.  It looks kind of like stippling, but with closed shapes instead of just lines.

Here you can see how my Blobs are interconnecting and changing shape to fit spaces as I go along.

And the final Blobs taken in low light so you can see the texture.

Okay, so that is a LOT of instructions. Out of curiosity, I'd love to see comments on which way(s) you prefer directions.  Thanks in advance!

The lovely Ginny shared her first three samples on my Machine Applique Adventures Facebook group+.  They look wonderful Ginny!  Here is her Crying Clamshells form week one.

I too was using this design on a quilt this week...here's a preview of thing to come.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Floral Kaleidoscope - Part Three

Time to add more pieces!  It's so fun to watch the quilt grow.  You can see below that there is clearly a blue flower missing.  I hit that piece just right on the iron and somehow managed to crinkle it up really well.  While it was still hot I quickly pulled the flower and remaining bits of Steam-a-Seam 2 off the fabric.  I then cut a new piece to replace the ruined one.

All fixed and ready to do some more stitching!

Here is a closeup of the center.  I love the symmetry here.  Aligning all 24 pieces so that it looks symmetrical was a challenge, but one that was definitely worth it in the end.

If you look at the dots on the purple pieces you can see they are all at about the same place on the piece.  I marked the dots on my pattern pieces of Steam-a-seam to make sure they would all be at the same height.

Below you can see a closeup of the stitching and you can also see where my piece of stabilizer was put underneath the two green petals in the bottom of the photograph.

One thing I have been experimenting a lot with lately is using different sizes of blanket stitching.  For this particular quilt I had some trouble keeping the stitching even due to the size of the fabric so I decided to leave them all the same size 2.0 mm wide and 2.0 mm long.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Restaurant Inspiration

A few weeks ago we went up to the North Shore of Lake Superior here in Minnesota.  It was gorgeous and lovely as always.  These gorgeous fuchsia flowers were growing in a pot outside one of the restaurants we stopped at.  I'm not sure I've ever noticed this particular flower before. They are stunningly gorgeous and would make a great applique flower if I can figure out what to do with all the folds they seem to have!

Earlier in the week I was in another restaurant locally and there was a great piece of wall art.  I can see this being done with English paper piecing!

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Floral Kaleidoscope - Part Two

I started this large floral kaleidoscope on a 44 inch by 44 inch piece of batik.  You can read about the beginning of the process here.

I started stitching around the pieces in the center with my usual double blanket stitching.  I quickly had horrible results.  The stitching was not even at all.  I finally realized that the weight and size of the fabric was affecting the stitching.  I knew I was going to have to make the piece as small as I could.  I thought about cutting it into four pieces and then sewing them back together, but that would've ruined the symmetry.  So instead I cut off the extra fabric around the edge.  Now I had a 32 inch by 32 inch piece of fabric that was much easier to manipulate under the machine.  That took care of the size, now to take care of the weight.  Check out how I folded up the quilt below.  I knew I needed to limit the weight the feed dogs were pulling around in order to get more even stitching.  And let me tell you that after ripping out blanket stitching 3 times before this point, I was NOT going to do it again!

Fortunately, this method worked quite well and I was able to get the stitch quality that I wanted.

I also realized that the large piece of stabilizer I had attached to the back was causing problems, so I decided that I would use smaller pieces of stabilizer the size of the piece I was working on and rip it off after each piece was sewn.

Above you can see that I cut a piece of stabilizer the size of this center ring and then ripped off the extra when I was finished stitching.  I never rip the inside of the stabilizer, I leave it under my appliques.  I suppose I should try ripping it out at some point in the future to see what happens.

When I went to add the second layer of pieces to the quilt, I ran into a problem.  The original pattern called for the green leaves you see below.  It turns out that they looked great in the original design, but once I saw how much they changed the look of the purple fabric they were on top of I decided to leave them off.

Here you can see what it would've looked like with the six green leaves.  I'm really glad I decided to alter what I was doing and leave them off!  Sometimes you have to listen to the quilt and change your plans.

Come back Wednesday to see more.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Free Motion Friday - Jellybeans

I saw some Jelly Belly Jellybeans at the store the other day and for whatever reason it sparked an idea for a free motion pattern.

You can find the written directions here.

Here is a video of how to do Jellybeans.  It's a good thing I've been a teacher for 15 years and am totally used to explaining things on the spot!

So, I start with a Jellybean shape.  I make the back arc first, then come around and make the front arc including the little dip that makes it look like a bean.  Sure, they could be kidney beans or Lima beans, or whatever, but really Jellybeans are yummier!  Not healthier, but definitely yummier!

Once I've made my first bean shape I either start the next one from where I am or travel around my bean to the place where I want to start the next one.

Here are a few all quilted up.  It's fun to just fit them in against each other however they work.

Below you can see what I do when I hit the edge of my rectangle.  I make the bean look like it goes under the sashing and then travel along the edge to where I want to start again.

Halfway done almost!  I try to make the beans go ever which way so they don't look like they're all in a stack.  If you look diagonally to the lower left from my needle you can see five Jellybeans that are all going the same way.  This is something I'm going to try to avoid next time.

And right below my needle here is a little bean because that's all the space I had.  No one is ever going to care that its' a little smaller.   There is also one in the very front middle of this picture that is more oval that bean shaped. Oops.  Still okay though.   Once it's surrounded by Jellybeans it's hard to tell which one is awry.

Almost there.  Almost there!

And we're done!  Jellybeans.  This makes me hungry for some sugar.  It's a good thing I don't keep Jellybeans in the house, though I do keep them in my classroom to handout as prizes.  Kids will do a lot for one Jellybean (like help clean up the floor at the end of the day)!

I'd love to see what you're doing with your Brick Wall Quilt Along!  Share your pictures on either of my Facebook Groups: Machine Applique Adventures or Free Motion Fun.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Floral Kaleidoscope - Part One

The Plan:  To make a blanket-stitch applique quilt that was larger and not cut in pieces.  The last time I tried this it was a bit disastrous as I fused all the pieces and then as I put this large bundle in the machine pieces began to fall off before I could get them stitched down.  So, could I do it successfully this time?

Well, sort of.  Follow along over the next few weeks and you'll see what I mean.  I am a bit picky after all...

I drafted out a pattern that I was happy with.  I love drawing patterns.  It always makes me happy because the next step is playing with fabric and making it come alive!

Then I started playing with fabric and did a mock-up of part of the quilt I could reflect in my mirrors.

After a lot of playing, I was finally happy with my choices.  I know I'm happy when I feel like the quilt "sings."  

So I started by fusing down all the pieces on the bottom layer.  At this point the quilt was on a 44 x 44 inch piece of background batik fabric.

I knew the center was going to be a challenge because this quilt has 12-fold symmetry like a clock does.  I started by looking at my 12 pieces that would go around in a circle.

I fussy cut these pieces from a batik and I love the way they look in a circle!  However, I knew that it was critical that these pieces be in the right places because otherwise they symmetry was not going to be correct.  So....what to do.  Well, since there is a piece that goes in the center and completely covers the middle of the circle I decided it was safe to use a Frixion pen to help mark registration lines.

Now I used these lines to carefully put down my pieces.  I laid the fabric on the original patttern on top of a light box to ensure even more precision.  This is always how I put down my pieces.  First, I roll small pieces of rolled Scotch tape and stick them to my pattern.  I then put my pattern on the light box and stick my background fabric to it.  Since I use Steam-a-Seam 2 I can then stick my fusible pieces to the background fabric and they won't move.  Then I iron them on.

Here is the first layer in process and all ironed on.  You can see that I have stitched down the horizontal and vertical lines in the middle of the quilt to help with lining up pieces.  These lines are done in large basting stitches and removed later.  (You can learn all about how I do this in my new book Folk Art Quilted Traditions coming out August 30, 2016 from the American Quilter's Society!)

Come back Saturday to see the start of stitching and the next steps in the process!

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Carrot Inspiration

One of the joys of summer is going to the local farmer's market.  My sons are always impressed with colored carrots.   We tried growing them once, but it didn't work out very well, so we buy them when they're in season.  It's so fun to look at the different colors and then cut them up and put them in a salad and get tons of gorgeous color!  These carrots would make a fantastic pallet for a quilt. I think I'm currently stuck in a warm colors rut.  But I love them!

On a strange side not the purple carrots are purple all the way through, but the red carrot is orange in the middle.  A strange, but true fact.

I've also been inspired by tissue boxes lately.  They are always a great source on inspiration.  This box would make a wonderful quilting pattern.  Lots of swirls and leaves are always pretty.

I like the flower below.  It has 7 petals, so 7-fold symmetry.  I think it's unique because of that.  I also really like the ring of dots around it, but that is a lot of dots to applique!  The straight lines the background are also a nice addition to the pattern.

I hope you get inspired and get to quilt today!
Suzy