free-motion and a mini

After the kids went to bed last night I finally got brave enough to try free-motion quilting on my new machine. It took a few tweeks with the thread tension and sewing speed, but once it was just right I was totally amazed-- I could never get even stitches on my old machine like this.

Even the back looks good. No eyelashing!

Granted, this is a mini quilt and only about the size of a placemat so it was easy to keep control of things. But I'm relieved to see good results. There is a yahoo group for the Janome Horizon that has seemed to focus on problems more than successes. If you've been looking and seen these too, don't be discouraged. After a few weeks of reading I've come to see that a lot of the issues stem from not adjusting the machine's settings, and there are more glowing reports every day on what the machine can do. Leah Day of the fabulous 365 Days of Free Motion Quilting just bought one too! I'd definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a new machine.

a winning combination

Aqua and orange-- It's a combo I just can't get resist right now. All shades of them are fantastic together. Remember my cathedral window pillow? Yesterday when I needed to make up some hexies for our Anchorage Modern Quilt Guild meeting, I went straight for those scraps.

Today is my good friend Jess' birthday, so the kids and I met up with her for lunch. She just moved back to Anchorage, which I am so thrilled about! Everyone used to think we were sisters growing up. And so when our waitress asked if we were related, which we hadn't heard in years, it was awesome.

I wanted to make her a little gift. So I dove into my shot cottons and made a modified version of a scarf from this tutorial at Spool Sewing. (I had actually made a few of these for gifts at Christmas time, but for some reason I felt weird about giving them and ended up recycling the fabric. Silly mistake! They're the perfect summer scarf-- go make one!). Once it was done, I pulled more scraps and made a zippy to match.

Pssst. Look who's using the decorative stitches from her sewing machine! Me! Me!

Avery and Claire are totally crazy over Jess. I'm not surprised. Such style, even when posing in the parking lot.

And in one last show of my new favorite colors-- my quilt for Doll Quilt Swap 9. It's done!

Sure, there's just a bit of orange and aqua in those squares. But check out the back:

Move over red and turquoise! I saw a post in blogland awhile ago saying this is the new "it" combo. I believe it.

and we're back

We had an awesome time in Seattle! It was full of relaxation, sunshine, good food, baseball, and a lot of family time.

I finished all of the hand-stitching on my doll quilt. Binding goes on tonight!

Cooper hit the 7-month mark while we were gone. Time continues to fly by! He's right at 20.5 pounds. He loves to sit up to play and can roll as far as we'll let him, but luckily he's not even close to crawling. He still wakes up all night long, but is a great napper. Cooper seems to test out new skills every couple of weeks and then drop them when he's finished-- these have included the head shake, a wheezy laugh, and the "I'm so cute" flop to one side. A new one that's popped up is the angry scrunch face. That boy is developing a temper! He loves to eat. Just in the last few days he's been able to actually put cereal puffs in his mouth instead of just smearing them across the high chair.

The dogs have figured out his finger foods too. Which makes meal times just a bit less peaceful.

We've got just a few weeks left of summer (if you can call it that after the never ending rain we've had) before school starts back up. I'm going to soak up as much time with the kids as I can until then! And of course there's so much other stuff to do.

Better get back to it!

DSQ9

I finished my Doll Quilt Swap top this morning:

It's made up of linen and various shot cottons, and I love it-- so much that I don't want to give it away now. Cooper helped by busying himself with my scrap basket and then taking a good nap. I also love good naps!

I really wanted to get this done so that I can make the quilt sandwich tonight, then be ready for some on-the-road hand quilting. We're making our annual trek to Seattle to watch a bit of baseball. It used to be a solo trip for me. But then Rob joined me last year, and this time we're bringing the kids! I'm so excited.

You can bet I'll be eating a lot of this:

And I won't be cheering for the home team. Sorry, Mariners. My allegiance lies elsewhere.

Have a good rest of the week! I should have more quilty goodness to show when we get home. Go Red Sox!

cathedral window tutorial

Finally! It's ready.

First, gather your supplies:

9" square of background fabric
2 1/4" square of center fabric
permanent fabric pen or fine point sharpie
needle
thread to match background fabric
pins
ruler

1. Prepare your background square by placing a small mark along the fabric edge, 1/2 inch from each corner and at the center of each side (4.5" from either edge). When complete, you will have 3 marks on each side of the square.

2. Starting with any side, fold the fabric at the center mark with your fingers, then bring the fold over to the mark to its left. Make sure that the fold runs parallel to the edge of the fabric, then pin.

3. Continue step 2 on the remaining 3 sides, moving along the square in a counter-clockwise direction.

4. When all sides are folded and pinned, you'll have a mess that looks like this on the front and back:

5. It might be hard to imagine just looking at the photos, but the fabric will naturally flatten out into what you see below. Gently press out the folds with your fingers to create the square on the front, and you'll see that the fabric forms four equal squares on the back that leave just a tiny hole in the center.

6. Tack down the points of your new inner square. Tacking them down also helps to line things up so that your square is straight and centered. To do this, take your threaded needle and put it through the fold on the back, bringing it up through the very tip of the point at the front. Do a couple of tiny stitches and knot off your thread. Repeat at remaining three points, and remove your pins.

7. To create the origami effect, fold over the straight flap coming off of the inner square and finger press it over so that its point is approximately 1/4 inch from the edge (to ensure it will be hidden within seam allowances later on). Tack the point down with a stitch or two. Repeat for the other 3 flaps.

8. Place the center fabric on top of the square and pin to hold (pretend I did this AFTER I tacked down those folds, okay?).

9. To create the window, fold the edge of the square over as far as you can without distorting the corners and pin it to hold.

10. Stitch the fold down by hand or machine, as close to the edge as possible. Repeat for the rest of the sides.

11. And wha-la! There you have it.

12. Make sure when sewing blocks together, adding sashing, etc. that you use a 1/2 inch seam allowance (as opposed to the standard 1/4 inch).

A big thank you goes to JoAnn Gonzalez-Major, a super talented quilter who taught the Anchorage Modern Quilt Guild this technique at our last meeting. This is a quilt she made using the blocks:

Her technique is based on an example she found in a book called Fantastic Fabric Folding by Rebecca Wat. I was told a variation on the technique can also be found in Cathedral Window Quilts by Lynne Edwards.

Since this is my first tutorial, please let me know if there is something that can be clarified! I hope you enjoy using this technique as much as I do!