Clear to Create? Or Create to Clear?
On those days that I don’t have a specific project in mind, I will head to my studio with every intention of clearing the decks. I would love to be able to have every little thing put back in its place. I don’t have a huge stash. It would be possible for me to achieve order, the kind that Melanie McNeil showed in her Studio and Stash Tour. I have a general plan of where things go, and I grab a pile to fold and put away…
And then I think, “Well, it would only take a little while to sew these scraps together, and then I could use up that sale batting I bought, and then there will be more room in here and it will look great!” And I roll my chair around the small area open in the middle of the room and start combining scraps.
In this case, I wanted to use up a bag of red, white, and blue scraps I’ve had for about 4 years, for a lap quilt for the VA hospital.
The last piece I had been working on was my practice piece with double layers of Hobbs 80/20 batting. I made myself finish quilting all the space on this before I started the new project.
More rows of free-motion quilting practice.
Toward the end there, I felt like I was getting pretty darned good! I was thinking, “You are on your way to becoming a good machine quilter!”
Here’s the whole piece:
Front. I have left the edges unbound in case I want to make it a section of a larger quilt.
The back. And let me say right here that the Adobe Photoshop Auto Smart Tone tool works absolute wonders in making flat stuff look three-dimensional and dramatic. If only I could stitch as easily as I photo edit!
This is also the back — the light color of this photo is closer to its true appearance. Close-up of the stitching that made me start to get very self-congratulatory here. Yes there are a few little dots of the top thread coming through to the back, but this is so much better than what I used to do, before I found the magical pre-wound bobbins!
With a warm feeling of FMQ confidence, I started putting the red, white, and blue scraps into log cabin squares. About half way through stitching random strips around the sides of 12 blocks , I realized what a terrible pattern that is for quick piecing. I chain-pieced, starting with two little squares in the middle, and adding a strip to one side of all 12 blocks in a row, but I still had to get up and press the chain of blocks after each addition, and then trim them so the next row would go on straight. And I spent a lot of time flipping through all the squares to be sure that I didn’t have the blue flowered fabric or the red striped fabric in the same position in any of them.
A better plan would have been to sew lots of strips together in long rows, and then cut those into rectangles for a rail fence or Roman stripe pattern. A lot less motion and the same amount of design fun. Next time.
As I was piecing, I was watching one of my Craftsy classes, Leah Day’s Free Motion Fillers. After all the close, intricate stitching I had been practicing, I thought I would be able to handle one of her designs for this lap quilt. (Yes! I have actually watched one of my Craftsy classes all the way through!)
I put nine blocks together randomly into a top. I was trying Hobbs Thermore ultra-thin polyester batting, and it had a slightly sticky surface. If I had put the quilt together the normal way, with the batting inside, that would have been great, and I think it would have helped the layers stick together. But I was sewing it pillowcase-style, with the batting on the bottom of the layers, and it was not easy to move it through the machine.
Time to quilt. I picked the design Leah calls “swirling waters”, watched the video segment again to review her tips, put in a new needle, and even warmed up on a practice piece. Everything seemed fine, but when I moved to the lap quilt, it just didn’t go smoothly. The top stitching looked okay, but the bobbin thread just lay on the surface. No matter how I adjusted the tension, I couldn’t get the look I like where the stitches go into the batting evenly. Maybe it was because the Thermore is so thin compared to the doubled batting I had been using before. Maybe it is because I was moving over seams in the blocks, and on the practice piece I was working on big strips of more loosely woven cloth.
I used Mettler 40 weight cotton on top and Fil-tec Clear-Quilt 50 weight cotton in the bobbin.
The good thing is that the Thermore only has to be quilted 8″ apart, so even if my stitching is less than even, it is not going to shift inside the quilt. And also, when I washed and dried it, the bobbin threads sank into the batting better.
The stitching on the back does not look nearly as smooth as on my practice piece. I would have preferred red thread but I had only bought gray pre-wound bobbins.
So here it is. Not the masterpiece of free-motion quilting I hoped for, but, one bag of scraps used up, one brand of batting sampled, and one video class completed! A small amount of clearing and creating at the same time.
Another set of scraps find their quilt destiny.
I quite like your practice machine quilting and the resulting “scraps” quilt.
Your post triggers a couple of thoughts, entirely unrelated.
The first is that I have a very experienced quilter friend who did hand piecing and quilting for years, and then discovered that machine quilting had become respectable (have you noticed how open to new things most quilters are?). Se when she retired she bought herself what she said was a “Mercedes” sewing machine, that did all kinds of wonderful things. She enjoyed it for a few years, but told me recently that she now wants a “Maserati,” ::-)
The unrelated thought has to do with the accumulation of your “stash.” It’s possible that you are right on the edge of “collecting,” a very dangerous enterprise indeed. I have this disease myself and have it so badly that I was once moved to write about it in a cautionary way.
https://raymondj.wordpress.com/2013/10/09/musings-about-collecting/
Something to be wary of, I think.
Best,
R. John Howe
Washington, DC..
There was a time during the quilting revival of the 1970s when quilters were told that had to stitch and quilt by hand. I think that may have arisen from trying to replicate efforts of our foremothers at the beginning of the country. However, the fabrics we used in the 1970s were not from the 1770s, nor were the threads or needles or scissors, the designs, etc. You can still hear some people say that hand-quilting is right because that is how their mothers or grandmothers quilted.
The truth, though, is as you say. Quilters have always been open to new things. As soon as sewing machines were available to residences rather than commercial enterprises, in the mid-1800s, quilters began piecing by machine. Indeed they even found ways to quilt by machine.
Hand-quilting provides a different aesthetic than machine-quilting. Some quilters still prefer it for that reason. Others enjoy the contemplative time of hand-quilting, time that is available now as never before.
Oh, I enjoyed that powerpoint! I have to admit I have a lot of little collections like that. As far as collectible textiles, I have a nice group of quilts I have picked up for bargain prices. I have some nice flour sack textiles that at some point I will donate to the University of Texas for a collection they have.
I loved Madeline Albright’s pins! When I was teaching, I picked my jewelry for the same reason, to send a message. On days that looked to be tough, I wore a lot of heavy silver and turquoise. We had one principal who complained that we teachers weren’t spending enough on our wardrobes to look professional, so then I wore my string of real pearls. 🙂
I know what your friend means about the Mercedes/Maserati sewing machines. Mine is very good for a domestic machine, but since quilts are so big, something made for machine quilting might help me get better results. I am planning to at least try one meant for machine quilting, but since I am not planning to try to make it big as a quilt exhibitor and I just make donation quilts, I will probably stay with what I have. I feel good that I didn’t even think of blaming my bad stitches on the machine, but that might be a useful thought in the future! 🙂
Will the finished quilt be a VA quilt? I love that it isn’t RED WHITE AND BLUE. Much more subtle than a lot of vets’ quilts I see, and very pleasing.
As to the back tension, yeah, I’d suspect the thin batting as the main culprit. And yes, washing does help set those stitches into the layers. I don’t usually wash my quilts before giving them, but I’ve certainly done that to minimize tension troubles.
Good work all the way around. 🙂
Well, the lap quilt is red, white, and blue (mostly) because I have all the scraps from an earlier twin size veteran’s quilt my group did. But I agree with you that that color combination wears thin. I usually do the quilts in other colors, whatever I have that I think will be cheerful.
The scrap quilt of solid colors where I practiced FMQ, I planned to keep, and combine with about 3 other sections the same size, into a quilt I would keep. But I don’t really like using double batting, and I think it would be weird to have one fourth of the quilt with double batting and the rest single, so now I don’t know. It looks a lot better in the pictures than it does in real life. It may be just one more thing I put on the furniture for the cats. 🙂
Great work of art thanks for sharing helpful and useful post. Blessings Always, Mtetar
Thank you, I like to be useful! 🙂
Well, I like the lap quilt and I say congrats for using up a bag of scraps! As far as your quilting goes, it looks good …we are our own worst critics of our work but I think you did well with your stitching. I’m like you as when i’ve practiced and tried a new pattern, etc., and it starts looking good, I think wow, I’m finally getting the hang of this! Then it’s back to reality and I know I’ve got alot more “practicing” to do! When I was making a table runner one time, I had my batting as you did, on the bottom layer, and it does cause dragging, so I agree, had you had it on the inside it probably would have flowed much better. For the most part my batting remains the same, as I primarily use Hobbs 80/20; I experiment with threads and like 40wt cotton threads, as I have lots of that to use up, but do like the definition I get using Aurifil or a 70wt thread. If you get the chance at the next quilt show, try out one of the sit-down mid-arm machines; once you do you’ll be hooked. Find a model you like then watch and most likely you’ll find a used one..I did and love mine.
I am going to International Quilt Festival tomorrow! I think I will find time to sit down and try some machines. And then there are always bargains on the last day of the show!
So true. . They will discount their show models substantialy. My past boss was looking at them for “me”, when she became so enthused with the machines that she purchased the show model for herself! All I got was flyers of available machines! There are now several different models of sit-down mid-arms, and if you are comfortable with FMQ, it’s the way to go, or at least I think so.
I tried two today, and I was very pleased that I got smooth stitching from the beginning, so I do know what I’m doing a little bit! I am still content with what I have for now, but we will see what happens in the future!
You could always check in with local sewing machine stores to see if they have any second hand mid arm machines for sale. Often they take trade ins as quilters upgrade. Also, sometimes guild members sell machines they no longer use. My trusty Janome was a second hand machine.
Yes, and I see a lot at the auctions we go to too. But at this point, I want to make sure it’s not just me. Here’s a cooking comparison- if my mashed potatoes were lumpy, I would want to make sure of my mashing technique before I bought a new range. It could just be me! 🙂
I really like your “just do it” style.
I know I could clear up fast if I would just limit myself to one or two hobbies, but I still think “some day I might….” So for now I just work in the middle of everything. 🙂
Gorgeous quilts!!
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