Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Assorted Projects

Amongst other activities, in my sewing room I've been flitting from project to project, as usual. I had a nice exchange recently with Susan, my quilt-y friend in Melbourne, Australia, who affirmed that quilters are "better busy, than bored!"

To that end, I made another pillowcase dress for Dress a Girl Around the World. I haven't yet donated them, but will when I've accumulated enough to send a nice boxful. Fabric in this one is Cotton and Steel's "Clothesline in Floral."


My fabric-strips crocheted rug is 22" wide now, and growing. Idea from CrazyMomQuilts.

I've foundation fabric pieced five of the eight sections for my tuffet.

Quilting has begun on my Scrap Vortex quilt top finished at the end of June. It's 81" X 92" and it took me some time to get it quilting-ready. Batting is Quilter's Dream Request Poly; backing is gray with large white spots. The quilt sandwich has about a jillion 1" safety pins. 

Spiral quilting on a large quilt is something I've wanted to try for a long time, though I expected to quilt this on my Pfaff (with the 9-inch throat). However, that plan didn't work. For spiral quilting, you use the side of the walking foot as your "measurement" for the distance between each spiral. The Pfaff walking foot is wide enough for only 1/4" spirals! And, the Pfaff walking foot doesn't have the option of inserting a metal guide/bar to quilt different widths. So, to spiral quilt, I'm using my Bernina with the 7-1/2" throat and walking foot that allows for spirals 1/2" apart.

To make it work, and get smooth stitches, I'm taking it really slow, shoving wads of quilt through the donut-sized opening, adjusting, smoothing, and taking only a few stitches before shoving, adjusting, and smoothing again. I know I'm going to like the finished look, which is still hours away. 


First Time Quiltmaking ended last Monday, and this past Monday, I began teaching Beyond First Time Quiltmaking with 17 students, 16 of whom have previous been in a class with me. Such a nice group of quilters! I'm enjoying teaching them.

Nary a sewing machine in sight because these quilters are learning English paper piecing. Next week they'll hand appliqué their English paper-pieced design to a background. The last week they'll learn how to big stitch quilt the layers, ending up with a pillow similar to mine in in the Fall issue of Modern Patchwork magazine. It's nice to see a room full of quilters. 

Social media has allowed me to enjoy a great variety of "sewing room views." It's fun to see where quilters sews, and what they see out the window of those sewing rooms. My sewing room view has changed dramatically. In Iowa, I spent more than 20 years sewing in an unfinished concrete block-walled basement with that little window "view."

I had to climb on the ironing table to look out that window and take this picture! Yep, that's the neighbor's house.

Makes me really appreciate my view these days! 

Palms, flowering allamanda, and the occasional wildlife. A couple weeks ago it was a turtle; today a crane.

Do you have a nice sewing room view? Linda

11 comments:

  1. Wow that scrap vortex quilt is huge! guess you ate up a lot of scraps with that one...

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  2. Good luck with the spiral quilting! yikes. And my sewing room view? The main highway that goes through our town. But it's through a nice big window, so there's light at least!

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  3. You are definitely staying busy! I love that rug - that's going to be so beautiful. My sewing room view - yes, it's pretty nice. It's not on the lake side of our house but it does open to the front yard with a beautiful shade tree. :) blessings, marlene

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  4. I love doing the spirals too...my Bernina walking foot has a tendency to move...doesn't take much if I 'tap' it or 'hit' it with my quilt. Bugs me when I get crooked because of it. Your spirals look quite nice!

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  5. Great start to the spirals. Love the pictures of your previous vs. present sewing space.

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  6. I have a view of the neighborhood and tree tops. In the winter when there aren't leaves on the trees I can see Longs Peak, a 14,000+ peak in Rocky Mountain Natl. Park. Your spiral is looking so good. Any tips on how to start the spiral quilting? I hear the start is the hardest part.

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  7. I am always so impressed with your quilting. I have debated about doing some spiral quilting but just really dread rotating the quilt thru machine . My view is pretty good. It's the first floor of our house, but have a fully exposed basement on the back side, so it's like I Al looking out a second floor window into a huge old pecan tree. Fun to watch the birds and squirrels hopping around in the branches.

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  8. Wow! You are so dedicated to spiral quilt like that! Linda!! It's going to be fabulous! Sadly the view from my new sewing room is the quadrangle where the boys congregate at recess and lunchtime! Nothing like your fabulous view of greenery and wildlife! Although I'd get nothing done, gazing out the window all day!

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  9. You're getting lots done. Love that rug. I'm a confirmed flitter of projects, too. Keeps life interesting for sure. A messy sewing space though!

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  10. Your pillowcase dress is such a pretty color. I can see a cute little girl wearing that proudly. Your scrappy rug is right up my alley. I assume you are crocheting it? What width are your strips? It will look great in your sewing room with the selvage chair- still on my 'want to do list'. lol

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  11. I sew in two rooms. One looks out over the harbor, the other looks out over my rock garden, both views having their spectacular moments. I have Hawks and Eagles and Great Blie Herons, but how special it would be to look up and see a Great Egret! They are rare visitors to Cape Breton. Your projects continue to be an inspiration for me. Quilting in a spiral is on my list to try, but haven't attempted it yet. I'm loving your crocheted rug! How much fun it would be to sit in on one of your classes! XO

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