Pickin' And Grinnin'

 Howdy Quilty Friends! The pickin' is finished and I'm grinnin'!  My goodness what a chore it was to rip out the quilting on this quilt.  

Thankfully, only about a fourth of the quilt had been quilted.  The biggest problem was seeing the stitches.  When you quilt with invisible thread, guess what?  The thread is invisible.  Especially when paired with 100% polyester batting.  Pulling on the backing fabric helped but I was still flying blind.  I couldn't see the stitches but I could see where they were tugging on the fabric.  So I would try to slip the ripper under the invisible stitches.  Sometimes it took 3 or 4 tries to catch the stitches.  

Cutting them made them disappear into the batting. After ripping out all of the quilting it was time to pick the remaining threads out of the quilt top and backing.  Can you see the invisible thread?  Well of course not, it's invisible...HAHA!

Lets get a little closer.  If the light hits it just right I could see it.  In order to find them and not have my nose right on the quilt I would run my hand over the area.  The invisible thread had a rough feel and when cut it is very scratchy to the touch.  Not all invisible threads are rough to the touch.  This is a cheap brand from Joann's and was tossed it in the trash long ago.  I now use Superior Threads Mono Poly.

Wherever a thread was felt I would blindly grab at it with these Tula Pink tweezers.  This is the thread from the front of one chain block.  After picking all of the front of the quilt I had to turn it over and repeat the same blind unpicking on the back. Thankfully there wasn't as much on the back of the quilt top. It was mostly stitch in the ditch threads that I couldn't see or feel from the front of the quilt.

After the ripping and picking, some of the quilting left what I call ghost quilting.  The quilting is gone but can still see the design perfectly.  

The fix?  A little spritz with water then rubbed it with my hand.  I can still see some of the quilting.  But it should disappear as it dries.  If not, I'll spritz it again.  I've heard vinegar or fabric softener helps relax the ghost quilting but I don't have any liquid fabric softener.  And who knows when this quilt will be quilted.  Spraying it with acidic vinegar might cause damage if it's not quilted ASAP.

The plan is to quilt it sometime this year.  Right now I have a quilt on the frame and one waiting to be quilted.  I might get to this one in a month or two...or three.  You know how I roll....Squirrel!   She's not ready to be quilted anyway.  The backing isn't right for this quilt.  

I dug through my stash and all the hiding places looking for anything that I thought would work.  A  deep red, cream or indigo blue but came up with nothing.  I did find blue fabric scraps hiding in this picnic basket.  But they aren't big enough to make a backing. 

The selvages are still there  so why not see if the internet quilting fairies can find it online.  It was a good thought and I dug deep but luck was not on my side.   So I guess next week I get to go to the local quilt shop....and I'm a grinnin'!

Do you remember HeeHaw's Pickin' and Grinnin'?  Click image below to watch.

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Lots to share DWM

I'm taking momma to the doctor tomorrow, so lets have design wall progress  today.  

After a day and a half of hand stitching the small red circles in place.  This quilt came together quickly.  I took so many pictures!  Luckily for you I picked out just a few.

 Some of the perfect circles didn't come out quite as perfect as I would have liked.  They were perfect before stitching.  What I found is that needles make all the difference.   My first needle of choice was one of those quick threading kind.  Bad choice, the larger eye pulled my circles out of whack.  After changing to applique sharps needle things looked better.  

 If you not familiar with the how to make a perfect circle you can find a tute here.  

 LOVE LOVE LOVE the border fabric.  It took about a month to find just the right color indigo blue to match the blue of the oak and reel block.  I know it looks darker but really its not.  The small print on the blocks makes it appear to be a different shade of blue.    Since the border fabric is such a large print I had to do some fussy cutting on the length of the fabric instead of cutting on the width.  Lots of scraps were made by doing this but the outcome is worth it.  

 I wanted to share this pattern with you but the oak and reel has a copyright.  After searching for hours to find where the pattern, I finally found it in Inspired by Traditions by Kay Mackenzie.  Mines just spruced up a bit with the circles.  The alternating block is just a basic Irish chain block that can be found on my tutorials tab.  

Inspiration has struck and I'm stuck in the darker colors.  Here's what I've made today from a Primitive Gatherings layer cake and some yardage.  Those little squares finish at 1.5.   The red center fabric is from the oak and reel quilt, and don't tell anyone..... but that gingham.....its a baby sheet I scored at the Goodwill for $1.  

 Hopefully I'll have time to shop for the sashing fabric after momma's doctor appointment.

 You know I can't go very long with out playing with the brights.  I made this itty bitty cutie(5.5").  It's a freebie tutorial from Red Pepper Quilts that you can find here.  If you have EQ7 it's one of the basic patterns.   This will become my leaders and enders project.  Some of you may recognize it from Jenny Doans Youtube Tutorial from last week.  Jenny requires you buy her papers and a template to make the quilt.  Red Pepper lets you print it out for free!  I set my printer up for fast printing which makes it use less ink.  Either way it's going to cost something.  

Want more quilty inspirations?  Its just a click away!  Judy at Patchwork Times hosts a link up every Monday morning.  Anyone can enter their blog.  So hop on over, link up, and check out others Design walls. 

~Lea Anne~

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Still in the Dark

Since I've made a color change on the frame might as well pull out a UFO in darker colors.  This was started umm...a couple of years ago maybe.  Hand appliqued, not sure where I found the oak and reel block pattern.

Kinda plain and boring huh?

Needs more color, so I had the brilliant idea to just add some simple circles.  By using Kay Buckley's Perfect circle templates they're much easier and the finished circle is Perfect!  Cutting a strip of fabric the width of the unfinished circle, then sub cutting, and using the circle as a guide for cutting.  108 unfinished circles cut in less than 30 minutes.  4 layers can be cut at once, speeding up the process tremendously.  My finished size circle is the ones at the top left corner of this picture, they are almost out of view.  

 TADA!  3 down 105 more to go.  I'll spend the afternoon doing the running stitch around each circle while doing laundry.  After they are stitched its back to the quilting frame. 

 Tomorrow I can start the starching and ironing of each little circle and glue them in place.  Yes glue!  Its Roxanne's basting glue, or if you're cheap like me Elmer's Washable school glue refills the fine tipped bottle.   If you interested in a tutorial on how to make these perfect circles go here and here.   

The added 3(needs 9 more) finished to the block, I suppose they could be the acorns.  Gives the block a much happier look, don't you think?

 Using EQ7, I scanned in my border and inset fabrics, used EQ's version of the Oak and Reel and here's the plan.  Yep another quilt with the simple Irish chain block.   It goes together quickly and can be done by strip piecing and sub cutting.  All 16 blocks could easily be made in a short afternoon sewing spree.

I'm linking up with Connie today for Linky Tuesday.  Hop on over check out what others quilters are stitching up, and add your own link.  Its a great way to meet new quilty friends and share ideas.  There's always new and free tutorials being link up.  

~Lea Anne~

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Look what I found yesterday!

There's two areas in my life that can get messy. Everyone needs a place to just "BE" .  My sewing studio and my truck is my let it "BE" spaces.  Mom says my home is  too clean.  Is that possible?  Well anyway... while digging through a cabinet yesterday a very suspicious looking bag caught my eye, and it was stuffed to the gills.  Don't remember putting anything in that bag, glad I found it I'd been looking for it(the empty bag).  It was a freebie from a quilt show last year.  Now look what was tucked inside.  My goodness, the things we forget.  Another UFO that is so close to being ready to make into a flimsy.

 One block left to hand applique, that can be done in one good movie!  And then all that's left to do is piece the alternating block which is an easy one.  Those gloves laying there also were found yesterday, they are supposed to be in the glove box in my truck, somehow they ended up in one of my hope chests...who knows how.  It's like the time the TV remote was found in the fridge...could be aliens, ghosts, gremlins, it most certainly couldn't be me!

While we're on the subject of applique here's a great tutorial for making perfect circles every time.  It's an Erin Russek tute.  

Until next time " Quilt out of your Comfort Zone!"

Lea

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