Low-fat quilting.

June 9, 2014April 27, 20152 Comments

I finished my Aerial quilt top, pattern by Carolyn Friedlander.

I endeavor to quilt this on my machine, rather than hand quilting it. I purchased the book, Machine Quilting in Sections. Don’t Finish Another Quilt Until You Read This Book, to learn how to reduce the bulk of the quilt.

I’m trying “Low-Fat Quilting” first.

I didn’t have a large floor to assemble the quilt sandwich. I took over the local high school’s weight room on a Sunday afternoon. (thanks to my sweet husband who is the head football coach)

The back of the quilt, attached to the floor with duct tape.

Then the batting.

The top.

I pinned just the middle third of the quilt.

I pulled the top and back away from the batting and cut the batting in a wavy line with scissors — about 2 inches from the safety pins.

I marked the right top and left top so I can put it back the right way.

I rolled it up. It’s ready for quilting.

I made a lanyard.

June 1, 2014April 27, 2015Leave a comment

I got this idea when I saw a photo of Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts who was attending quilt market in Pittsburgh. She was wearing a beautiful lanyard. http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/2014/05/to-market-and-back-again.html. Sorry about the link. I’m having trouble getting the “title” part to work when I insert the address. Oh well.

I took one of my Fat Eighths and went to work:

I cut a 3-inch strip along the length of the Fat Eighth.

I folded it in half and ironed it.

I unfolded it and then ironed into the middle seam like I was making binding.

I sewed one end about a quarter inch.

I added the ring. (they make rings which snap on, but I didn’t have one; I used the one from the one I was replacing)

I overlapped the two end pieces, matching the same stitched sides together.

Stitched it together.

To make it lay flat around my neck, I twisted it at the back.

Stitched across the two pieces about 1 inch from the ring.

The finished lanyard.

The happy employee.

Let’s go to work.

Folding Fat Eighths.

May 25, 2014April 27, 20157 Comments

Quilting Adventures, my local quilt shop, recently had a “Stuff Your Sewing Basket” sale which they have once a year. If you are on their email list, they send you an email with that day’s goodies for sale. They ship the items or you pick them up at the store.

Anyway, I purchased two sets of 6 Fat Eighths in orange and gray:

They were too cute to use, but I was curious how they were folded:

Fold the fabric into thirds:

This is the tricky part, from the left pull the fabric up to the right until there is about a half inch above the top of the fabric on the right corner of the triangle.

Fold the flap over the back and finger press it against the back. You should have a sharp edge on the left and the top of the fabric.

Now lift the creased top part and lay it inside and on top of the long strip. You can now start to make the triangles, back and forth until you get to the end.