Quilting the Blue and Yellow Leaders and Enders Quilt

 One of the most challenging parts of making a quilt is the actual quilting.  I suppose that's why longarmers have wait lists that can be several weeks or months long.  When I purchased my midarm on a frame I had big plans of quilting for others someday.  The only problem was I don't like the quilting process.  I had grand illusions of the quilting machine making the quilting process more enjoyable.  Ten years later and I really don't enjoy quilting anymore than I did on my domestic machine.  Sure it is easier but enjoyable? Not really.  

My quilting setup is one of the cheapest out there.  It has what I call an old school Stitch Regulator with a learning curve that make some owners throw in the towel and buy a different set up. 

 Over the years I've made some modifications to my Bailey Home Quilter.  She looks like a monster   but the old girl gets the job done.  It doesn't matter what she looks like or how much I paid for her, what matters is we have learned to work together and make some pretty good looking quilts.  

 Every once in awhile after finishing the quilting on a quilt I will still need a binding fabric.  The easiest way to find just the right binding fabric is to take the quilt with you to the quilt shop.  Of course a finished quilt in a quilt shop is going to draw some attention.  The questions are always the same...

1.  What's the name of quilt pattern?

2.  Who designed it?

3.  The quilting is amazing, who quilted it for you?

4.  What brand is your longarm?

The Bailey Home Quilter isn't a brand that most quilters know.  And when I explain to them how cheap it is and it's lack of bells and whistles they are shocked that I can make it look like a "big girl" machine did the work.  It may seem like I'm bragging a little but really I'm not.  No one needs a frame quilter to make beautiful quilts.  I too have been impressed with the quilting on a quilt and ask some of the same questions.  And I too am shocked when they sometimes say...I quilted it on my mothers old sewing machine with a seven inch throat.  

The first thing I learned when I first starting quilting on a frame is....

Buying a quilter does not an artist make

Only time and lots of practice is going to produce a pretty quilting design.  Some learn it faster than others but all can and will if they put in the blood, sweat and tears.  I think I've paid my dues and for the most part I can give a quilt a little character with the quilting.  

And then there's quilts like this one.  I love this quilt.  It's simple design and bright colors just tickle me pink.  But my choice of quilting design...EH...I'm not feeling it but I'm not changing it or picking out the stitches.  The quilting doesn't look bad it just looks to be the wrong scale or wrong shape.  To me it's just off.  But it's quilted and that is all that matters.  Sometimes you win and sometimes you don't.

The real win is when a quilt is actually finished and no longer a UFO, right?  Yes ma'am!  So I'm moving forward and getting this girl done.

I'm linking up this post at a new to me link up over at 

Quilting and Learning-What a Combo

for the Free Motion Mavericks Linkup Party

Hop over to be inspired or to link up.

My word of the year, MOOVE.  Moving along UFOs and moving physically.

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Blue and Yellow Leaders and Enders

 The blocks for my current leaders and enders project are complete.  It took a little longer than expected to finish them.  For some reason I thought since it was a simple pattern with few pieces it would be farther along at this point.  In reality finishing it may take working on it during a couple more quilt tops.

Honestly this is the hardest part.  Waiting and waiting to put the rest of the quilt together.

They are staring at me and whispering "Come play with me" every time I walk in the room.  Oh the restraint it takes to stay on task.  They say it takes 12 times of doing something for it to become a habit.  Oh dear lord 12 more times.  Does this mean 12 days or 12 quilts?  Lets hope it 12 days.  

Maybe hanging them on the wall will curb the feeling to start making sashing.

At this point I realize I haven't cut the sashing.  Should I make it scrappy or use one print.

My plan is to make one of the quilts below.  The only difference between the two is one has yellow border.  The sashing and cornerstones are the same.  The blue corner units could be done in scrappy or one fabric.

And I could make the yellow in the sashing scrappy as well if I really wanted.  The large amount of white already gives the eye a place to land in this scrappy quilt.  Hmmm...I'm not sure but my comfort zone says one fabric for the blue and yellow.  Should I work outside my zone?  What do you think?

Did you know I'm an April Fool's baby?  Yep that's right.  My birthday day is April 1.  So I decided to have a my biggest sale of the year to celebrate my birthday.  

40% OFF  

No joke!  This is a great time to stock up.  I may have other sales throughout the year but none this large. No code needed the prices are reduced in shop.

Click here to go to my online shop

The leaders and enders quilt above is MOO-VING along nicely.  Most of the fabrics in this quilt are scraps from 2 other quilts.  If  new here and you're wonder what MOO-VE means to me, click the image below.  When the page opens scroll until you see the same image as below.

My Word of the Year

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Moo-ving Along the Leader and Enders

Before we get into the details of this quilt on the wall I want to give a big shout out to Mr. Podunk for my new step stool. I love it!  No more climbing on kitchen chairs or wobbly stools. The lazy old grandma in me thinks one more is needed so I could step from one to the other in order to reach both sides of my design wall without stepping down.  But the reality of it is quilting is a sedentary hobby and a little stepping up and down will do me some good.  Maybe I finally get those buns of steal...HA!  Dream on old girl, you've never had them and never will.  Over 50 and a member of the Saggy Bottom Girls club.😂

Now that grandma is down off the ladder I can admire my design wall.  It's okay, kind of boring.  But for my first successful attempt at leaders and enders it's not bad.  Not to mention I didn't have a plan for the leaders and enders. I was just grabbing squares and sewing when I really wanted to cut the thread. After years of saying I was going to make a leaders and enders quilt I have finally got the rhythm down pat, but the old me is itching to put this girl together right now.   

The blocks are simple and it would be easy to get this one together in a day.

As I started pulling the blocks down off the wall and placing them on the mini design boards the designer in me said "What if?"

You may remember a previous post where I shared my quilt ideas for the leaders and enders.  The quilt on the wall was not one of the options.  The quilt designs were a little more complicated.  Simplifying the quilt design would make it easier and quicker for a newbie leaders and enders project.

But I just don't like how the super simple looks...so what if I add more white?  You know how much I love white spaces for quilting it to death.

But what if....we add a little more color?

And what if?

How about combining the two previous ideas?

Oh...more color? Hmmm...there's so many option.   I would need to cut more scraps but I'm loving these last two ideas.

So here's where I am now, back in the scrap bins of blue.  Should I decide to make either of the last two ideas, the added blues will be scrappy but the yellow will be cut from on yellow yardage because my yellow scrap bin is almost empty.  Or maybe a quilt shop trip is needed.  Our local quilt shop, Back Door Quilts, is having a sale.  Take all of what's on the bolt and get 20% off!  

 For now I'm walking away from designing and letting the ideas float around in my mind while I quilt my On Ringo Lake quilt.  See you soon, maybe I'll see you at the quilt shop!

My word of the year 2021.

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~ Simply Summer Quilt ~

I took a little detour in the last couple of weeks to work on a simple blue and yellow quilt I started as a leader and ender project a year or so ago.  This is the umpteenth time I've tried the leader and ender technique and it just isn't my cup of tea.  So I decided to just jump in and get the piecing done all at once.

The simple patchwork goes together super quick.  I was making about 4 blocks an hour.  The quilt needed (64) 12" blocks and will finish at 96" x 96".   As you can see in the picture below my design wall was a tad bit too small but I made it work.

I had to get a little creative and put a few pins into the drywall and trim to hold the blocks in place.  

Now all I need to do is find a backing for this monster.  A quick dig through my stash cabinet for the backing produced a whole lot of nothing. 

Then I remembered I had a box in my office with four bolts of fabric in it that wouldn't fit in my stash cabinets.  Look at this cute blue and yellow floral print, it's perfect!

It would be better if it didn't have a pink dot in the center of the flower but it'll work just fine, don't you think?

Since the quilt pattern is simple I decided to keep the quilting simple.  The continuous circle quilting design is fast and easy.  I can't wait to get this one finished and on the bed.

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Webbing Quilt Blocks, How Speed Piece Quilt Blocks with NO Pinning

That's right you can make almost any quilt block with almost no pinning.  Pinning each seam is the best way to get perfectly aligned seams.  But pinning requires a considerable amount of time.  So here's  little hack to help save time.  If you are one of those quilters who likes seams pressed open it takes a little more time but I believe it's still quicker than pinning.  Since I'm not a die hard open seam presser and because this is a simple quilt block, this tutorial is for the old fashion method of pressing the seams to the dark.  If you are like me and are very visual when it comes to learning I made a video of this method and have attached it to the bottom of this blog post.  So feel free to scroll down to the bottom.

The first thing to do is assemble the first column with the second, right sides together.

When feeding them through your sewing machine make sure you only take ONE stitch off of the end of the fabric. This is where the magic happens, so go slowly in order to make sure you only take one stitch off the fabric.  I'm using an open toe foot for your visibility.  

Then you will push the next set patches right up against the needle then stitch just as you did previously.  Only one stitch off the fabric.  Repeat this process until you have all of the first two rows assembled.

Once your first two columns are assemble remove them from under the presser foot and cut the thread from the needle but DO NOT cut them apart.  You'll want to leave them in the order you fed them into the machine.  Just slide them carefully to the left of your machine and press the seams to the darker fabric.  I always finger press when assembling quilt blocks.  Normally I heavily starch my fabrics.  However these have not been starched at all and they finger pressed very well much to my surprise.

Okay now that they are pressed we will continue to assemble the block in the same manner.

Here's what it looks like after my third column is added.

Just keep adding columns and pressing to the dark.  You'll end up with something that looks like this.  The rows are webbed together by one tiny magical little stitch.  

To assemble the rows turn the block to the right.  Flip the row on the far right on top of the next row.

If you're like me and have a pinning obsession, you'll want to place a pin in the top and one in the bottom.

The rest of the seams are already nested together for you.  No pinning needed!  YAH!

Assemble the rest of the rows in the same manner, finger pressing as you go.  If you want your seams pressed open you will need to clip each joining thread AFTER stitching the rows together, then press your seams open.  It sounds like it takes a lot of time but it's really quick and easy to slide your scissors along the seam to clip the threads.

Click on the video below for a speedy little tutorial.

Just a little reminder that you can still gt 20% off you entire purchase at The Purple Hobbies website using the code PodunkPrettiesJan20  

Offer ends February 29, 2020.   Make sure when adding the code to your shopping cart that you click APPLY.  You can see my review of the BladeSaver Thread cutter here.  And the Third hand Binding Folder Clip here.

50% OFF Sweet Sixteen PDF pattern

Expires 2-15-2020

#quiltvideotutorial #quiltingtips #webbingaquiltblock

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