Jan 5, 2011

WIP Wednesday, wk #1

Ready to quilt today. Last night I ended up piecing batting for all three quiltlets. UGH but stash busting there too. Price of cotton is going up, up, up so those bits need to be used when possible. I have never been able to feed this stuff into the machine like Joy used to do. I think she used zigzag to bridge the two units or something but she had a Pfaff with a built in walking foot so that may have been the secret. Or I just need more practice.

I didn't get as early a start as I planned on that task and was still piddling with this well after 9 p.m. DJ had done the prep cleaning on the kitchen floor and then I had to mop. Then when I was out on errands I ran into a friend at the store who said there was a quilt in the works for a pal of ours. I made a block for that project. Can't show it though.

The leftover bits of fabric from the JATH BOM base unit were pieced to make the backing for "Winter". There was some unplanned back piecing on the January quiltlet too. I shorted myself fabric on both the top and bottom end, just a hair. Of course, I did not discover this til I had already spray basted it. No matter, it is fixed now and ready to go.

I am not sure about spray basting these long projects. It works fine for me on the smaller pieces ---like Winter, last years Calendar blocks, Be Attitude quilts. I loves me some 505 there. Longer and wider, Color me "unconvinced". I found I really didn't have a spot to spread it out properly, on the base unit anyway. The thing is I had debated for a day or two about making a run over to the church were we meet to just pin them traditionally. I still wonder if that was not the best decision. For subsequent ones, I will see how January quilts up.

The base unit will be easy quilting---just zoom lines, horizontal and vertical. January, SID though I ended up marking a grid 2 3/4 wide on the snowman base using the vest points to strike my angles. That 14 x 16 inch square was just too big not to do something in there. The vest will have buttons added but I may do a vertical line to make it look more vest-like. I don't plan on getting too carried away on 'Winter" as there are some anchoring beads and buttons to be added but will see, LOL.

As soon as I swap out machines, it will be "pedal to the metal" and on to meeting today's goals. Who knows, I may get carried away and quilt two of the pieces atop the armoire that greet me every morning! We'll see.

4 comments:

  1. the snowman and winter wallhangings are very cute. May I ask where the pattern came from??

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  2. looks good! you are cruising in 2011! and you will have your *11 in 11* done in no time, at all!

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  3. When joining my batting scraps, I trim the batting edges that will be joined together with a fresh cut. Then I just but the edges together, no overlap. I use my walking foot and a long, wide zig zag stitch to join the pieces. This seems to work for me. It sounds like you were already thinking along these lines by what you were describing in your post. I see you are debating on the 505--before I had my longarm, I used it on all sizes of quilts and I love it. But then you knew I was a 505 fan! LOL

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  4. Wisconsin Air gets pieced with a walking foot and a zigzag type stitch...piecing even the tiniest pieces together...Wisconsin Air has been stretched to the max and so appreciated! 505~since Ms. Norma convinced me to try it on larger quilts I have been doing just that and LOVE IT...latest quilt size to use 505 on was Ms. Pippi's Garden and measures just under 50x55. Go out on a limb and give it a try on JATHBOM...the base of which I also quilted last night

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