Machine quilting in sections, part 2

I will try again to show you some photos.  Here is the quilt in sections.

Here is the finished project.

Machine quilting in sections

About 1.5 years a go I ran across Marti Michell's book Machine Quilting in Sections.  This was after doing FMQ on my largest project yet, a large lap Yellow Brick Road.  I have a cabinet but no insert to fit around my machine and I just got tired of wrestling with the quilt and the 100% cotton Warm & Natural batting that I decided to use.  So, I bought the book and decided I was going to try it.

I wish I could have attended a seminar from Marti about this technique but it was not to be.  Sew, with book in hand, on graph paper, I carefully planned my attack of dividing the bed size quilt tops into manageable pieces that would allow me to stitch them together after quilting. Marti provides 5 methods for working in sections so planning is a must.  For my first project I chose not to use the seam strips.  Instead I quilted to within one inch of the outside of each section and joined a five layer seam, leaving one of the backing pieces to press, fold over the large seam and then sew down over the seam to hide it.

There are 3 large tops that I had near completion:  a mystery quilt from the sewing center that went together very easily (due to the big pieces), a scrappy pinwheel quilt, and a 90x100 BOM that I plan to back in flannel. The mystery was done first, and since it was not one of my favorite projects (DH asked with a frown in his brow if I planned to keep it), it became the guinea pig.  The scrappy pinwheel still has blocks to finish and the BOM had to wait until a test subject had been sacrificed finished.


The part of quilting that I dislike most is sandwiching, especially large pieces. This method helps immensely.  My largest piece was 45x45.  Yes, I cut more backing but it was so much easier to get the small sizes ready than to work with one enormous piece, same for the batting.

I am sorry there are no photos in this post - blogger is not cooperating!  I will try later.

Big giveaway!

Here's one big one to check out - at Stray Stitches - an entire Thimbleberries BOM (minus a border or two).

More "Be Merry"

Here are a few more blocks to the Christmas BOM, Be Merry.

The rectangular blocks are supposed to be gifts but I've not fused the bows onto them yet.  Thanks to Leona (this post), I had several fabrics to choose from when putting these little guys together.  I mean little - each block is 7.5".


Calling Be Merry a BOM is a bit of a misnomer.  The first month we made one block - the church block, about 15x18.  Since then, we have made from 3 to 6 blocks per month.  While the blocks may be small, it's the cutting that takes time.  For the gift blocks we cut ribbon strips that were 1" wide by 3.5" to 5" long.   At least it uses up scraps - gotta love that!

Today...

Today was full of stuff that had to be done.  Seems like that's been happening a lot lately, hence the time between posts.  First, my 92 year old grandmother had a brief stay on the hospital this weekend that switched our plans from her coming to see us Thursday to us going to see her.  A little change in medication and she seems to be just fine.

The only thing I don't like about the change is that several quilt shops in the area are having special Friday sales that I cannot attend.

Ruby had to go to the vet.  She has some sort of tumor on her leg that is benign and the vet says is common to young dogs.  She has some ointment and it should go away in a month's time.  When I told Alec she had to go to the doctor he said to Ruby while giving her a hug, "I'm sorry Ruby. I maked you sick feeding you chocolate."  No ill effects from the chocolate, at least.

I wanted to put the final borders on the 3 quilt tops that I've managed to piece over the past week.  However, I forgot all about my guild's Christmas block exchange - tonight, so I whipped out a quickie block this morning before the vet visit. A little dizzy-ing (is that a word) but it will have to do.

And while I have been waiting for the pix to upload, I've been enjoying a little something I picked up for myself at the health food store which is by the vet's office.

YUM!!

Happy Birthday!

Not mine - my husband's.  We have plans - plans that will bring us joy and plans that will show how old we are - LOL!

We will be seeing a movie, not any movie but the long awaited new...

Harry Potter movie.  That doesn't make us seem old, does it?  Harry Potter is for kids, right?  It's which showing we are going to that makes us seem old.  We will be in the theater at 3:30PM for the 3:50 PM show.

After the movie we are off to try a new Peruvian restaurant.  The restaurant isn't new, we've not been there. We will be arriving at a normal dinner time - 6:30 or 7.  We should be back home by 9PM.  Our babysitter will earn her money for entertaining and feeding our 3 year old for about 6 hours!  (That's also part of the fun.)

Christmas BOM

My only block of the month this year has been through my sewing center (well, I did do a thangles project but that was a pick up and go, no meetings or socializing).  We sit around and sew and talk for a couple of hours and the projects aren't too complicated.  I mean, I love some of these BOM programs out there but I found myself spending about 3 hours on each block in the 12-month program that I was in last year through my LQS. No wonder with 52 pieces in a 12" block.  I have too many projects that I want to do to spend that much time on a single block. We won't even talk about the finishing kit.

The sewing center sells machines and accessories but no fabric, so we can use whatever we want to use.  It's a lot of fun to see what everyone selects.  The first half of the year we did a mystery quilt - more on that one when it's done, which, hopefully, will be soon.  The last half of the year we've been working on  "Be Merry."  It's a ton of fun to do - a little of this and a little of that: piecing and applique.

 (the above is not my finished project!)

The best part - it's all done with scraps. I like to play with fabrics and see what works best.  Guess that's why I don't buy many kits.

These are the first few blocks.  The church and snowman are pieced with no applique or embellishments added.

Here they are with the fusibles added but no stitching yet.  Author, Ann Fahl talked at our last guild meeting and provided some great ideas on embellishing with thread.

I will update the photos as the project progresses.