Batting, continued

Tiny Bubbles

Here's one of my award winning quilts, Tiny Bubbles. It's won 2 Blue Ribbons, a White, an a National Ribbon. the NACQJ Award of Merit for Outstanding Achievement in Quiltmaking. 

Batting

   If anyone knows me, I like to do show quilts. I also make everyday quilts for fun, but I also make at least one or two quilts that are strictly for show. That's what really gets my juices flowing, so to speak. From start to finish, it takes time, effort, research, trial & error. But, oh! The rewards in the end! My studio is a pre-fab building, 18 X 30.  There are beams that are 18 feet across. One of those beams is now full of ribbons! They're not all blue, some are red, some are white, but they all represent a win in a show for the work I've done on my quilts. 

   Part of the process of putting any quilt together is choosing the right batting. A couple of days ago I received an email from APQS that contained an interesting article explaining how to choose your batting for your project. I'll give you the link at the end of this post because there is a chart for you to download that is a good reference tool. 

    I use Hobbs 80/20 for my every day quilts. I buy it by the roll because it's cheaper for me to get it that way. For my show quilts, I use the Hobbs 80/20 on the bottom & Hobbs wool on the top. I want a good loft for my designs. If I don't want them to stand out so much then I won't double bat the quilt.

    APQS has some very interesting articles if you have some time to read them. But here is the link to Dawn Cavanaugh's article on batting:   https://www.apqs.com/how-to-pick-batting-for-your-quilt/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=how+to+pick+batting&utm_campaign=newsletter.august.28.2020

Sunshine

 Seems I've been a little remiss in the blog department the last few days as I've been tied up with a certain little girl. She weighs in at about 16 lbs,, & has lots of fur! My husband, Floyd, & I have Shelties dogs. We started out with two, then one, then two, which became three, and now, has become four. We had Lassie first for 2 years & got Skipper as a mate for her, but we lost her earlier this year. Instead of replacing her from a Breeder, we decided to rescue a Sheltie for our forlorn Skipper who was lost without Lassie. So, about 7 weeks ago, a breeding kennel owner near us passed away & the neighbor posted on Facebook that they needed homes for the dogs. We wound up with 2 of the girls, Rockie & Pebbles. Now comes last Friday. Well, a long time ago, I mean YEARS AGO, we applied for adoption through Sheltie Rescue & they called us with a little girl from the same kennel as our other girls! But now she's at a different kennel & we have to call them to go get her. O.K., so we call them, & we go to get her & they get her so agitated & scared that she gets away & no one can catch her. We finally get her trapped, but we let her be for the weekend & we get hold of our Vet & consult with him as to advice as to how to handle getting her in the carrier to transport her home. Best thing he says is for us to deal with her, not them, as they are the ones she doesn't trust anymore & she doesn't know us. So, we go up there & we gain enough of her trust that she allowed us to get her in the carrier to come home.  Here she is:

Blocks 1-4 of Afternoon Delight

 I thought I'd share the beginnings of the painted Afternoon Delight Blocks. Here's blocks 1-4:

Lori Holt Boards

 Have you ever had an occasion where you got all done with the block you were working on and when you got done ironing it found out one of the pieces was backwards or upside down? Well, to solve that problem, a lady by the name of Lori Holt came up with an idea of a board to put all your pieces on to take to your machine, stitch them in the proper order, an then take them to the ironing station.  She calls them Design Boards & they're so cute! And so easy to make! I've just make 18 of the 10" ones & 2 of the 14" ones for me. She also says she makes them as large as 18", but I don't really see a need for that size for me, personally.  Here's a link to her YouTube video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uO-fosn6Yfs

And a picture a one of my 10" Design Boards:

Jesse's Gems Cover

 The other day, when I started posting again, I told you about the other project I'm currently working on. It's called Jesse's Gems. The original pattern was first published in "Piecing It All Together" by JoAnne Louis and Chris Moline and was inspired by an unnamed block in an old newspaper column. It was the first first quilt that JoAnne's daughter wanted to assist with, so she named it after her.  I saw the email the end of April & immediately ordered the pattern. My start date on it became 5/2/2020. My intention is to show it. Here is the pattern:

 

Double 9 Patch

 I've managed to get out to the studio & get some sewing time in & work on the double 9 patch blocks. There will be 64 in total in the quilt. Each block consists of 5 - 9 patch blocks equaling 320 each of which is only 2 3/4"  square. The Double 9 block, when finished, measures 7 1/4" before it's sewn into the quilt.

Here's one:

 Well, it's been a couple of days & I've got a few more blocks painted & I'm almost caught up with everyone that's doing Afternoon Delight. Or at least I think so at least. When I've caught up in a few days. I'll take pics of the blocks & post them for all to see. But what I can share is a picture of the shoo fly block. I've got all of them done. HOORAY! Here's one:

 It's been a very long time since I've been on my blog. with the pandemic having hit this world, more and more people have taken to the internet to learning things. I have been thinking that it's high time I resurrect my blog & start interacting with the quilting world that I love and maybe share some of my knowledge with you of what I'm doing, how I'm accomplishing it or how I did it (if it was past tense), etc.

So, where to start? Well, first of all, I'm working on two projects. 1) Afternoon Delight. This quilt is a Sue Garman pattern that she designed.  Totally scrappy, it's a Block of the Month being done by the Quilt Show and headed up by Barbara Black. If you've never taken a class from her, please do, you'll learn a lot, she's an awesome teacher! 2) Jesse's Gem. This is an English Paper Pieced project. One that I can take with me to the Dr.'s office waiting room, etc.

Afternoon Delight has 64 double 9-patch blocks, 9 Shoo Fly blocks and 40 applique blocks. Well, that's what the pattern calls for anyway. If anyone knows me, they know that I'm not one to follow ALL the directions! I'm painting my applique blocks. That's right, I said painting my block. In the coming days I'll show you another of my quilts that I took liberty on the pattern that turned out different from the original.

I'm still longarming. I love custom work, but simple works for every day quilts too. As I go along I'll catch you up on some of the quilts that you've missed since I've not been posting.

Stay tuned! I'll be back shortly!