Debriefing the Boxer-Another Harley Davidson Quilt!!

About a week and a half ago I decided to make a small quilt for the Road Maggots poker run on the 28th of January. (Yes, they call themselves the Road Maggots, my husband and son are members) :^)

A poker run is where the riders begin at one point and purchase a poker hand. They can purchase as many as they want. They pick the first card of their hand there, then ride to the next stop and pick another card, and so on. Usually there are five stops on the poker run. At the end of the ride, the high hand and the low hand are the winners. After that, they raffle off items that have been donated to the group. Poker runs are great ways to get everyone out on their bikes to enjoy the outdoors and each others company. It really is like a family gathering!!

So I thought it would be fun to make a small quilt to put into the raffle and this is it!! At the end of this post, you will find the winner of this little quilt!!

I started with the center emblem which is actually cut out of a pair of Harley Davidson boxers we bought, hence the name, Debriefing the Boxer!!

From there, I added a few borders and then squared it up. A few more little borders and I was ready for the outer border which I decided to piece. Sometimes I make things a little more difficult than they need to be!!

After the first pieced border was done, I decided I should stream line the production or I was never going to get this little quilt done in time. (I actually finished hand sewing the hanging sleeve and label onto the back on the day of the ride!!)

 I always press my pieces before I open up the seam to press again. The edges seem to be sharper.

                                         Seams pressed open

                                         Before quilting the flames

    

And after the flames. This flame design is from the book "From Feathers To Flames" by Leah Day of Day Designs. I purchased the downloadable version and what a great resource for my machine quilting!!! It was fun and easy to do and really makes the quilt!!! Thanks Leah!!

                                And the winner is: Bob

                               The quilt looks so much smaller in his hands!!!

Take care every one, Happy Quilting and keep those needles sharp!! Martha

2012 Free Motion Quilting Challenge

Yes!! I am taking on the invitation in the 2012 Free Motion Quilting Challenge. I need to work on my machine quilting and what better way to do it than with a challenge. There will be 12 nationally known machine quilters teaching and it is free!! Oh, and there are potential prizes to win not to mention refining your machine quilting skills!!! WOW!! And one more thing, probably the most important of all, it is a way to meet more quilters and share in this wonderful world we live in!! How fun is that??!!
I just joined and got my sample done today just in time to post it on my blog for the month of January.

To find the "Button" for the Free Motion Quilting Challenge, start at the top of my home page, scroll down looking at the left side column and you will find it below the "Subscribe To" and above "Martha's Quilts". It is a little black and white "poster". Click on that and it will link you to this educational challenge if you are interested!!

So here is my practice quilt block for my first lesson from Frances Moore. This is how I ready all my quilts to be quilted. Tape the backing down first, layer the batting then the quilt top, and then pin all over.

I usually don't do practice blocks, but since I wasn't really planning on this, I don't have a quilt ready to go. I am actually planning on creating a larger quilt to use for this year of lessons. I drew it out on graph paper and now just need to cut and piece and as I get comfortable with each new design, I will transfer that knowledge onto my big quilt!! I will try to scan and download the quilt layout I came up with.

Here is my work area, all uncluttered and ready to go!!

And the final product, and I need a lot more practice!!! Not too terribly bad though for my first try at this design!! This was fun and I am looking forward to the February lesson!!
Below is the design layout for the quilt. I love sitting down with pencil and graph paper and designing things on my own. I know there are computer programs that will do the same, but sometimes it is so nice to just sit quietly and sketch. I will be using Dupioni white silk with an accent of a lime green and deep red. I will probably do all my quilting with YLI 100wt green thread, but not sure yet, time will tell.

I will share the progression of this quilt on my blog!!!

 Take care all, happy quilting and keep those scissors sharp!! Martha :^)

Machine Quilting

"Fit to Frame", Quilt Design by Lori Smith

I quilt all my quilts on my Juki TL-98Q. I've had it for several years now and it works well for me. It is a straight stitch machine and I use it exclusively for machine quilting.

I started machine quilting on my Viking 60 20 which is about 40 years old!! I cannot believe that it is that old, my parents bought that sewing machine for me when I was 15 years old and it is still my favorite machine for piecing my quilts.

The next sewing machine was a Viking Lily, which I use a lot for sewing clothes and for putting my binding on the quilts. I keep the walking foot on that one at all times, unless I am sewing clothes, so it is always ready for a new binding. It worked OK for quilting, but I still had a lot of problems with tension, broken threads, even broken needles!!

Then came the Juki and life became easy!! Wow, what a difference it makes to have a machine that was made to machine quilt. Love it!!!!! Now I have my eyes on a long arm, but I will keep my Juki always.

The little quilt shown here is from a pattern set called "Fit to Frame", a design by Lori Smith. There is hand applique and machine piecing. The inner borders are quilted with "Ribbon Candy", well, that is what I call it. It is fun and easy and I use it in a lot of my quilts. I look at it as practice. The more I do it the better my skills should become!!

I quilted around each applique piece and then did a small stipple in the background.

I have this quilt hanging up in the medical office where I work. It is such a comfort for my patients and I enjoy sharing with them  :^)

Happy Quilting and keep those needles sharp!! Martha

My quilting companion

Here is my "puppy" Maddie who is almost 5 years old. She likes hanging out with me while I sew and quilt. As you can see, she is very interested in what I am doing!! :^)

Dupioni Silk-Amazing!!

The red fabric in this quilt is the Dupioni

I have sewn and quilted with Dupioni Silk just a little, but I am planning on doing much more!! I absolutely love the look of the silk when quilted. There is such a beautiful sheen with this fabric, and the shadows that are created with the quilting stitches are amazing!!

Sewing with silk can be a little challenging, although I think the Dupioni is easier than the others. I fused my silk to a very fine fusible called "PerfectFuse Light" by Palmer/Pletsch. This helped give the silk a little stability, kept it from sliding all over, and decreased the amount of unraveling that silk tends to do. I quilted it using 100wt silk thread with a 50wt cotton in the bobbin. This is just the second time I have quilted feathers, much still to learn!!

The history of silk is pretty amazing too!! One story I read said that the silk thread was discovered around 2600 BC! WOW!! The Dupioni silk is created when two different silk worms spin their cocoons so close together that they become entangled and create one kind of lumpy thread which is then made into the fabric. This makes the Dupioni a bit thicker and stiffer and more durable. It does give it a more uneven surface which, I think, gives it more amazing features.

And to think that this fabulous fabric is made from the cocoons of silk worms is incredible. These worms definitely have some wonderful spinning skills to be sure. :^)

I've got some beautiful lime green Dupioni silk that I have had my eye on in the fabric stash. Not quite sure what I am going to do with it yet but I will share it when done!!


Happy Quilting and keep those needles sharp!! Martha

Quilting Friends

This little quilt was made by my friend Jean McDaniel

I belong to the Santiam Scrappers Quilt Guild here in Lebanon. In the past we have put on a yearly quilt show. With only 25-30 members, it can be a very time consuming task, so we have opted to do one quilt show every other year.

My responsibility for the quilt show is to run the small quilt silent auction. Members make one or more small quilt and we put them up for auction with a "starting" price and a "buy it now" price.

This past quilt show in October of 2011, I spoke with a visitor about our many small quilts up for auction. She said is would be silly for her to purchase any of the quilts as she could easily make her own. She didn't understand why any quilter would purchase one!!

I must admit, her comment took me by surprise and I had to sit back and think about it for awhile.

After giving her comment much thought, I proceeded to buy several of the small quilts. My take on it is: I am surrounded by my quilting friends because of these beautiful small quilts they graciously donated, giving me the opportunity to purchase.

This cute cupcake was made by my birthmom, Judith Daniels

This one is by Alice Leisy

I am surrounded by my Quilting friends in my sewing room and in my home. When I am quilting, working, sewing, creating, I feel the warmth and kindness and most importantly, the encouragement from my friends just from seeing their quilts in my space!! I love it!!! It would be silly NOT to purchase as least one!

The little quilt in the upper right corner was made by Shirley Kerr

So friends and family, do what you love, surround yourselves with those you love and who love you. Enjoy life. And for those quilters out there, keep those needles sharp!!

The table runner above and the little one below were made by Elle' Garrison