Tag: quilt

Why you need a quilting plan for finishing your quilts

July 21, 2024

Basically, a “quilting plan” helps you convert more flimsies into finished quilts. It can be as general or detailed as you wish.

Your quilting plan might be to send the top to a longarm quilter. If so, there’s some prep work you’ll still need to do before delivering the top and backing fabric to the longarm quilter. Consult your longarmer for any special instructions.

If you decide to quilt the top yourself, will you do straight-line/walking foot quilting or free motion quilting? Either method requires different planning and prep.

Personally, my quilting plans for FMQ are more detailed than straight line designs using my walking foot. I write my quilting plans down in a 5″x8″ journal. I’ll sketch the top, add in any inspiration photos or quilting details, make notes on the quilting design, spacing, thread, needle, bobbin, etc., along with my plan to divide and conquer maneuvering the quilt sandwich through my machine (I have 11″ to the right of the needle). Right now, my FMQ is to use the same design all over my quilt. As my skills grow, I’ll add semi-custom details in the sashing and borders. Those will be indicated on my quilting plan. It’ll definitely be a while before I reach the stage where each individual block is custom quilted, with each unit having a separate quilting design – like the photo below I took of a quilt at the Omaha Quilt Show .

Photo of a quilt showing quilting detail.

Close-up of quilt showing detailed custom quilting.

Next up on my quilting agenda is my husband’s retirement quilt. Yes, it’s two years after the fact, but I couldn’t decide on the quilting design. I really wanted to do this one all by myself rather than sending it out. I finally saw a quilting design I liked in a collection of straight line quilting designs, but couldn’t figure out how to stitch it. My gut told me this was the design, so I waited. Recently, some YouTube video I streamed had a segment of someone demonstrating how to quilt that exact design. Well, duh! Things finally clicked. Sadie & I will be basting that quilt this afternoon.

Rainy Friday Night Fun

July 20, 2024
Cutting apart four patch blocks made from half-square triangles and rearranging to make a star pattern block.

This is one of the projects I set aside to work on at Friday Sew Days. Today, I finally finished sewing all of the HSTs into 4 patch blocks. For me, pressing and detailed cutting are best done at home away from all the chatter that results when we get together.

I spent this stormy Friday night doing exactly that. All of the blocks will be cut and flipped according to the pattern instructions. Here, I’m stacking them up on a design board. Everything will be ready to transport to the next Friday Sew Day.

Our guild meeting is next Friday, so it’ll be a couple of weeks before I attend Friday Sew Day again. Honestly, I’m likely to continue sewing in the interim so I can get the blocks done. It’s been fun to see the few blocks I’ve sewn together take shape. The completed top is going to be so pretty. The FMQ double loopy meander I plan to quilt will also complement the design. This particular quilt will actually be donated to a specific charity through my quilt guild.

Quilt 2024 – virtual quilt camp this week

July 18, 2024

If you have some free time this week, head over to the Quilt2024 site and register for a free, 5 day virtual summer camp for quilters that starts Wednesday, July 17th. There are six sessions that go live every day at 11 AM EST and remain available for 24 hours. Should you need more time to watch the replays or want to view everything on the first day, you can sign up for a paid registration. Free is fine for me!

I watched a little bit from each of today’s sessions, then went back and watched the replays that interested me. Yes, there’s a bit of a sales pitch involved, but the two sessions that I went back and watched were well worth my time. I made sure to download any free patterns and tutorials that were available. I was very pleased to discover that my local library system actually has multiple copies of Carolina Moore’s bag making book. I quickly placed a hold on that one!

Five additional sessions are on my watch list for Thursday and Friday. Hopefully, they’ll be as informative as the two sessions today were. Some of the instructors participating in this event also teach similar, more in-depth classes at regional and national quilting events. Watching them in action here helps me decide if I want to take a F2F class with them in the future.

As much as I like in-person classes, I find myself attending “YouTube University” more often these days. It’s convenient. Replays allow me to pause and review the instruction as needed. It’s also more cost effective. Unless the class is local, I have to factor in travel costs. I usually opt to stay home and make certain projects along with the corresponding YouTube video(s). I’ll sew along with a friend or join a group sponsored by a local quilt shop. Lately, all of the classes I’ve wanted to take are in Utah and Idaho. Can’t justify the cost of the retreat nor the travel costs in this instance.