Thursday, May 27, 2010

My creative space... some actual quilting!

Things have been a bit insane around chez clutterpunk of late, with a toilet-training older child, a non-sleeping younger child, a few weeks in north Queensland, a malfunctioning sewing machine, pantry moths and a bit too much television - all amounting to a big, fat, craft-shaped hole in my universe.

So nothing speaks of a return to normality more than THIS picture:

The basting of my Scrap Management Quilt. I jumped to it on Monday evening, having heard that my sewing machine, replete with new walking foot, would be coming home on Tuesday.

Having heard on the blogvine that basting pins must be inserted at the terrifying interval of every two inches, I set about dutifully sandwiching my layers on the lounge room floor. Man, that was a tedious process! How do you regular quilty types not go insane? It got better as I moved outward, swapped my silly small pins for much larger ones, and... ahem... extended the 2" gaps to slightly larger ones. Like 2 feet. 


Anyway, the pain in my knees and thumbs and the boredom in my head was worth it, as on Tuesday, I was able to get to the quilting!

This was my first time using a walking foot, but in my enthusiasm to get this thing quilted I didn't do any practising on a test-piece. Thus, I adjusted and learnt as I went. My stitch lengths are very uneven - the machine seemed to want to slow down and do tight stitches in random places. Any thoughts? I had visions of lovely, evenly-spaced stitch lengths like Rita's... ha! In time, perhaps.


No matter... it is still looking just smashing and I can't wait to make some binding and finish it off so I can get snuggling under it, and of course show it off in next week's space!

I'm off for a cuppa-for-a-cause now, but will be back to see what's in your creative space this afternoon - thanks Kirsty for hosting.

34 comments:

  1. Looking good Gina! See, all that crawling around on the floor does pay off :)

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  2. Oh, it's looking excellent. Can't wait to see it all finished up.
    And I'm glad to see you back here, in this space. Been missing you!

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  3. It's looking grand. I can't wait for the show off either.

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  4. Ha basting is a P.I.T.A. It looks lovely though, can't wait to see the whole thing. I hope the toilet trainings going well and you guys are settling back into life at home. Sydney is suddenly feeling super cold to me!

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  5. Proper basting and quilting! So impressed. This quilt will be a beauty!!

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  6. You may have just inspired a crafty camp project. Thank goodness for that. I was working up to quite some conniption session...CAN I COPY?

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  7. yay for quilting time! i like normality!
    sorry can't be helpful {have never made one!}.

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  8. Like I said yesterday, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!! And apparently you can get a tool called a Kwik Klip (or some such) which saves your fingers at the very least, and to some degree saves your knees and back because it takes less time to baste! I will try to find out what it's really called, but Cheryl at Naptime Quilter (http://naptimequilter.blogspot.com) told me about them!

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  9. you have done really well at colour matching your scraps, it looks super.

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  10. Well done Gina! The quilt is looking great and basting is a tideous but necessary evil.

    Some tips:

    * when quilting increase your stitch length to somewhere between 3.5 - 4 (I set mine at about 3.8)

    * take your time, although you have a walking foot, the faster you sew the less effective it becomes.

    * There are some great gloves (ansell) you can get in coles that have a grippy base to them, these help holding the quilt when quilting.

    x

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  11. Gina, very inspirational. Lovely!

    Karena

    Art by Karena

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  12. Beautiful job! I'm feeling the urge to make a quilt after a 4 year gap, so inspirational too. I'm remembering those safety pins and all the readjustments i needed to make though! But the end result is so worth it.
    Good luck with the toilet training.
    Cathy x

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  13. I must say the more pins the better result, but every two inches!! No way, not me. I do them even lighter that you have and my two quilts came out perfect. Well that's to say no issues with the fabric! Your quilt is looking so lovely and I just adore that newsprint fabric, so neat.

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  14. Wow you've done it .... and its looking fantastic! I can't wait to see the photo-shoot next week.

    (PS good luck with the toilet training and wakeful child)

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  15. Gina, it's looking gorgeous! I spy some Yardage Design circles in there...

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  16. Some great fabric choices there Gina. Can't wait to see more pics! :)

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  17. love your quilt and those fabrics are superb! i've just bought a walking foot to give some straight line quilting a go too so wish me luck....yours is beautiful...xx

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  18. great to see you today, thanks for listening ♥

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  19. How lovely to catch up!!! You have become a quilter - and it looks lovely!!!! I've got bitten by that bug too - pretty addictive eh? Love your posts about all the scraps - I keep everything and haven't got a good order sorted yet. Your hexagons inspired me and I now have a wee little bag with some hexagons to work on when I'm out - although there's no way I could commit to the number you're doing!!!! Look forward to popping in again soon. x

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  20. Hope you're tea went well today. Glad you've made some time for something you love. Love that little dalmation print- too cute! xo m.

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  21. Blimey! That is great work my friend. I really like the idea of a quilt and I absolutely love your its so inspiring but I KNOW I would get the shits with the pinning and never end up doing it... But I really like the idea of using all the scraps up... *sigh* maybe one day...

    word verification was: hardly


    Is this a sign!!!

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  22. Now I know the reason why I don't quilt...hee hee.
    It's looking extremely lovely and snuggly.

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  23. Your quilt looks STUNNING! Can't wait to see the finished object! Basting sucks. I get James to help me and use heavy books to hold the fabric tight on the loungeroom floor. Good evening TV job.

    Some great quilting tips above, too. I would also add that you need to help the walking foot out by supporting the weight of the quilt - roll up both sides into sausage-y rolls, so that only the middle bit that is under your walking foot is flat. Then don't feed the quilt through the machine from your lap, but pick up the rolls and put them over one shoulder - like you're giving them a big hug. I have a book that has a great pic of this - easier to show than to explain! But the point is to support the weight of the quilt as much as poss to help the walking foot do its job - so the little stitches aren't because it's struggling to pull a whole heavy quilt through...

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  24. That looks fantastic, I can't wait to see the whole thing in next weeks post. Sounds like the pinning job would be better done with a friend by your side!! Maybe offer the job to a friendly child and give them 5 cents every 5 pins or something...probably exploitation but may just be the ticket!

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  25. Hi Gina - thanks for your comment. I am still alive (just) but definitely no longer sane! Please don't stress about posting the apron. I still haven't found just the right fabric for yours, so promise to do so ASAP! xx

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  26. BTW - have you seen this? http://mlbmodernquiltguild.ning.com/ The group is very shiny new, just had their first meeting. I've just joined and hope to get to the next one. Looks exciting!

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  27. Wow - it's looking great - good on you! You should enter it in the Royal Melbourne Show - seriously. Nic

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  28. That mixture of scraps is such a delight - I so wish I could just go with it and mix scraps - SIGH control freak here.

    You have been given some GREAT tips here. I find when I quilt and my machine does uneven stitching one reason could be - the quilt was not basted evenly together. You will find all quilters have different ways to do things.

    I use masking tape and put the first layer on the floor (right side facing down) and use the tape to make it flat (not tight tight). Then the wadding - again tape that down as well and then the top on top facing up and tape that down as well - so you know all your fabrics are flat. Some quilters just put it all down and then pin together - I find my fabric moves - when they are large quilts - not so much for small.

    I am not a pinner - I tend to baste with thread and needle - but having said that I have started to try pins the last few and not sure which I prefer actually. There is a great dovalaky to pin quilts - just ask your local quilt shop. I use gardeners knee pads to protect my knees.

    I think everyone else has given the same suggestions I would. I am so looking forward to seeing this quilt finished!

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  29. What are you talking about?
    The quilting looks GREAT!!!!

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  30. My machine came with a walking foot... you're inspiring me to perhaps possibly one day learn how to use it.

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  31. It looks fantastic! A real inspiration. My first/last attempt at machine quilting with my walking foot looks similar with the fancy "herringbone" pattern on the back. I agree it's probably a smallstitchlengthissue. And I think I pulled my back too tight when I taped it to the floor (hence contributing to puckeriing).

    As for the tool mentioned, a nice metal knitting needle works well for doing up the basting pins! No extra fancy tools required :-)

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  32. Oh dear! Have I been on planet textured leaf for too long?
    What the heck is a 'walking foot'?
    That quilt is AMAZING!
    Googling 'walking feet'
    Funny images of people in odd shoes ensue....Gosh Darn It!

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“Three Rules of Work: Out of clutter find simplicity; From discord find harmony; In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”
~Albert Einstein