Monday, June 30, 2014

Week-end happenings!

So much sewing this week-end! I sewed a fair bit on Friday and Saturday was another great MMGQ Sew In! I love hanging out with like-minded quilty people. We had two new members join us - Julie from Jada's Quilting Adventures and Crystal - and we chatted and sewed the day away!

For once, I effectively planned ahead and had some perfect projects to work on. Small and contained! I layered and quilted the tops to these Jawbreaker pillows that I was working on earlier in the week.
I had to pull a little fancy footwork to get all the trees pointing the same direction on the back. I love this print so much, but I've been reduced to just scraps. Oh well. More Christmas presents done!
On Friday, I was doing a little tidy up of the studio and figuring out what to take to the Sew In. I came across these... large triangle off cuts from my Giant Starburst quilt. I didn't want to stuff them in the scrap bin, so got to thinking. Anja made this from her off cuts. Hmmm....
I cut each triangle in half and then in half again and got to making some smaller HSTs. But I didn't really want to make a quilt with just the Persimmon and Punch....
Off to the Kona stash! I found (from top to bottom) Magenta, Peacock, Lime, and Canary. When in doubt, rainbow!
 I'd normally do rainbow with crisp white, but I think they look pretty darned good with Kona Steel  Coal too!
 
And as the afternoon was drawing to a close at the Sew In, I laid them out on the floor.
I was frantically sewing while Adrienne tidied up... thank God for chain piecing! I got the columns sewn...
and was able to sew the rows on Sunday! I know I don't really need another baby quilt in the stash, but it's just so danged cheerful!
But that's not all! I tackled the FMQ of J-Boy's Good Old Hockey Game! I've been putting it off... just worried it won't look like I imagined. Time to bite the bullet! I decided to try out my newly purchased Aurifil thread on some FMQ. Within minutes, my thread snapped. But I remembered that Linda from Scrapmaster saying that a larger needle works well with Aurifil. I upped my needle to an 80/12 from a 70/11 and this happened....
But once I'd taken some deep breaths, grabbed the seam ripper, and re-threaded, things went much better!  I'm still not 100% sold on the Aurifil. So far, Gutterman seems just as good. Feel free to leave a comment on this topic.. I'd love to hear your opinion!
Left side - un-quilted. Right side - done! Tomorrow I'll tackle the rest of the ice surface. I'm trying to pace myself... my poor neck and shoulders just can't stand up to hour after hour of FMQ.

I'm trying out a new link-up today... Anything Goes Mondays at Stitch by Stitch! I've been toying with starting my own Link Up for week-end quilters. I'm thinking Week-end WiP... I mean, not everyone wants to wait until Wednesday, right?

Hope you had time for some sewing this past week-end!

J

10 comments:

  1. I love the idea of a weekend link up. Mainly because that's when I do most of my sewing - so selfish! You FMQ looks awesome. I am not completely sold on Aurifil either. I do fine with Guterman as well.

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  2. Pretty Christmas cushions, and the Kona colors do look great with Steel. I have often used white for baby quilts and then wondered how practical that really is - a mom may appreciate a darker color.
    I began using Aurifil 50wts over 10 years ago because I had problems with skipped stitches when turning curves. It drove me nuts and I tried every thread I could get my hands on at that time. Since then I have a different machine for FMQ and find I can use most any thread now, but the Aurifil's are quite a bit cleaner. I use the smallest needle I can for each project because I don't care for large holes if I can avoid them. With a thin cotton batting and 50wt thread, I use a 70 needle. With a Poly or a blend batting, I up it to 80 - sometimes 90 if there is a lot of small patchwork. I still do a sample sandwich for most every project. And because I am a budgeted quilter, I use just about any decent thread I can get my hands on that looks good with the project, Gut's included. I love quilting with Sew Fine Superior too, it is a polyester thread so not for every project, and I have only afforded it twice. Superiors do quilt nicely though and they make a good 40wt too. Just keep experimenting - every machine, fabric, batting, needle, and thread is different!

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  3. Love the HST's. Good call on cutting them down to a more manageable size. I need one more fabric for my Jawbreaker -- couldn't find the right green Kona. I agree with Adrienne -- weekend link up -- that's when I do most of my sewing, at least most of the finishing.

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  4. I love the HST quilt, that's such a cool design, and fab colours!! I have to say I love Aurifil but I don't have a lot of experience of other threads. I love that you get so much on the spool. The Gutterman I used to run out of so fast it was crazy. Good idea re. the weekend WIP link up, I'll keep an eye out!

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  5. I love those Christmas prints! Great job lining up those prints :)

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  6. Wow! The Jawbreaker pillows turned out so beautiful! And love what you did with the HSTs. I know white is more common with the rainbow colours but I really like your choice with the steel Kona. It was great meeting you at Sew In :)

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  7. I have a Pfaff and it does not like Aurifil thread at all. It does fine on Gutterman, a tad bit better on Mettler but it loves Superior Threads. I can't find it local so I have to order it online, which is not the most convenient for thread. Oh well. Great job on the baby quilt. I really like the "different" colors for a baby.

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  8. I sew on a Janome and it loves Aurifil for the top and Superior Sew Fine for the bobbin. I think once you find what your machine likes you need to go with it!

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  9. I have a question about the pillows, more precisly about the tree fabric: Are either of the blues in the vertically stripped tree "Aqua"? I am calling this aqua research, LOL.

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  10. That baby quilt is danged cheerful. I absolutely LOVE your colour combinations in this quilt.

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