My Finger Thanks You

I been through countless thimbles.  They usually...suck.  They're either too small, too big, too slippery, too hard, too soft, or I just loose them.  They're expensive and, for me, they're pretty useless.  For my previous projects I suffered through at least 1 new thimble but usually end up just using bandages.  Hey they're relatively inexpensive, stay on, and you could adjust it to fit just right :).

But guess what?  I found a solution that I LOVE!  So to tackle this quilt:

I have discovered this:

They are leather STICK on thimble pads from Colonial...and my hand quilting savior.  Sure I was skeptical, very skeptical in the beginning.  Will they actually stay on?  Would that little piece of leather be enough coverage? Would it hurt to pull it off?  How long will it actually last?  Would I go through this whole 12 pack before I even finish my quilt??

Yes they stay on very well.  Yes there is enough coverage.  No, it doesn't hurt to pull it off - well not more than a package.  I have been using the same little piece for almost a week now, so I've gone through about 1/4 of a full size quilt and that same little piece is still going strong.  And no I will NOT finish the whole 12 pack with this one quilt.  At this rate I think I'll probably go through 2 or 3 of them. 

Another great thing about these?  You could stick it to any hard surface when you're not using them.  That means I don't have to worry about them rolling away or my kids playing with them.  I just stick it on the scissors I'm using or on the edge of the cup table.  Very small and discrete :).   I am going to put in another order of these babies.

I am definitely not cut out for hand modeling, but I just wanted to show you a picture of the little thimble in action.

The brand I use is Colonial and they're called ThimblePad.  Definitely on top of my list of favorite sewing tools.

Borders and Stripes - Hand Quilting Begins

I don't know how this happened, but it was definitely not the initial plan for this quilt.  After scrapping the initial plan to machine quilt it then spending the last few days taking out about a large section of machine quilting this is the final plan:

Hand quilting Borders and Stripes.  For the straight line hand quilting, I marked small sections with masking type to make sure the lines are straight.

Yep that's right - I'm hand-quilting!  I haven't hand quilted a quilt for a few months now.  I guess I miss it.  As much as I like the convenience and results of machine quilting, there is nothing like hand quilting.  It looks different, it feels different, and it gives a quilt a very nice old fashioned custom look. 

Borders and Stripes piecing was very simple - consisting of strips of different fabrics.  After doing a little machine on it, I soon realized that it was not the right approach for this quilt.  I'm still not 100% sure what kind of quilting pattern I want on the whole quilt but I am confident that hand quilting was the right thing.

So far I have 3 straight lines quilted - and about 50 more to go.  I'm going to be doing the straight line on all the solid browns.  I used a off-white thread to match the backside of the quilt.  My goal is to always use thread that is the same color as the backside. 

For the Borders fabric I did an outline of the flowers and stems (Bryant Park fabric).  There's 3 Borders strips so I'm about 20% done with that part.  Here's a closeup of a Border strip:

Doesn't show up too well in the photo, but it's a pretty discrete hand quilted outline around each flower and stem on the Bryant Park fabric.  This is creating a very nice look and feel to the quilt.  A lot more work to do but I am liking the results a lot.

 The back side of the floral hand quilting.  Loving it.

One of the goals of doing this type of hand quilting is to preserve the look of this pretty fabric.  Here's a closeup of the fabric before quilting.  I didn't want any quilt lines to take away from the overall look and feel of the design.

 A look at the fabric before the quilting.

This has been a lot of work...and a lot more to do.  But I do love the results of hand quilting.

My Superman

Asher, my 3 year old attended his first day of preschool the other day.  I was very proud looking at him with his little backpack on with no fear and only full of excitement.  I was instantly reminded of all his "firsts" - first laugh,  first crawl, first steps, first words, first "I Love You"....

Despite his tantrums, picky eating, and sleepless nights, this little guy has been a true joy in my life.  He makes me smile even on the worse of days.  He brings spirit and life into our lives.  He is a wonderful big brother and I am overjoyed to be his mom.

I love you THIS MUCH - to infinity!

The Panel Quilt will now be his Preschool quilt.  I was told to write his name on the blanket.  You know me, I can't just ruin a perfectly fine quilt with a sharpie.  I broke out my needle and thread and did a quick embroidery of his name - Asher :).

xoxo Mommy

 to my Superman :)

 FYI: Big fan of Superman at first sight.

A Change of Plans

It seems like I've been working on the Borders and Stripes quilt FOREVER!  Mostly due to lack of desire (I don't really want to work on a big quilt in the heat of the summer) and life (kids, work, etc).  So last week I took a stab at the quilting for this quilt.

And?  Disaster!  I went with a free motion quilt pattern on just the brown part of the quilt top.  BTW, my plan was to have different quilting throughout the quilt.  So after struggling for hours with the string tension of trying to do a dark bright thread for the top thread and off white for the bobbin (the quilt bottom was off white where the browns where on top - I know I know I should of planned it a little better right?), I gave up.  The quilting looked awful!

See for yourself this mess of a quilt job:

Okay, this picture doesn't show you all the awfulness with the quilting, but in person it is hideous.  The dark top thread IS NOT suppose to show on the bottom!  And don't even get me started on the top of the quilt.  most of it is too ugly to even share.

So what do I do?  Seam ripper becomes my companion...for a while...

You could see a little bit of the bad quilting top here.  No matter what I tried the tension of the string did not work.  It was constantly too tight or too loose and when I finally get it right for a little bit, the bobbin runs out and I have to start all over.  ARG!  Is my machine broken?

So - yeah a complete redo of the Borders and Stripes quilting.  Thank God I only did one brown section of these!  The hand quilting will resume after I get all these machine quilting OUT and GONE!