Jessica’s Patriotic Quilt Update

I thought that some of you might be interested to know how I go about machine quilting stencils using a domestic sewing machine.

I opened up EQ8 and found a stencil that I thought would work for the pieced blocks in Jessica’s Patriotic quilt. I altered it a little bit, and then printed it to the size that I needed for the quilt blocks.

I also cut sheets of tracing paper the same size as the stencil and stapled the stack together. One sheet for every block, in this case, 15 sheets.

Using a dull unthreaded needle, ‘trace’ around the stencil. Doing this not only creates multiple copies of the stencil, but allows me to become familiar with the design, and to plan out a way to continuously quilt it.

Yes, I could simply print out multiple copies of the stencil. I prefer to use tracing paper because it is not as thick as copy paper, and I find it easier to remove when I am finished quilting.

I pin the stencil to the block and free motion quilt following the holes that were created when making the stencil.

When I finish, I will tear away the tracing paper.

I pin and stitch one block at a time. Again, the tracing paper is thin and tears easily. Maneuvering one block at a time keeps me from tearing other blocks. I found this out the hard way!

I have no idea how I am going to quilt the rest of the blocks!

I am definitely open to suggestions!

In other news, I am spending almost all of my time working on genealogy. The plan is to work it hard until my subscription to Ancestry runs out (in a couple of months). As much as I enjoy the research, I will not be renewing. It is way too time consuming (and pricey), and I need to come up for air!

I am linking up with Kathleen’s Tips and Tutorials. You might want to click over there for some helpful hints!

Quilt On!

Quilting Floral Reflections 3

Some of you know that the day job has been particularly demanding this month…I have had no days off since I had one on December 3rd.

Therefore, I am not focused on Christmas.  

What little energy that I have had after work, has been spent machine quilting Floral Reflections.  I am determined to finish this quilt by the end of the year!

I was stumped as to how to quilt the border when I came upon this stencil design in my Electric Quilt 8 program.  I think it is a design that I imported to EQ some time ago.

It worked out great!

The quilting is finished.  I am on to the binding.

I just might make my self imposed deadline!

Quilt On!

Floral Reflections Intro

Floral Reflections

Floral Reflections Update

Floral Reflections Update 2

Floral Reflections Update 3

Pin Basted

Floral Reflections Update 4

Floral Reflections Update 5

Floral Reflections Update 6

Quilting Floral Reflections

Quilting Floral Reflections 2

Quilting Floral Reflections 2

The last time that I shared a Floral Reflections progress report, I was considering  what to use for the background filler for the applique blocks.

My go-to filler is stippling, but I wanted to try something different.   I did think about pebbles.  I love the look of pebbling, but I thought that would be too much work.

Cindy Needham talks about sunshine and shadow.  She uses scribbling to create the shadow and emphasize the sunshine.  So I decided to try it!

Scribbling does indeed create shadow and looks great!  But, for me, on a large project, this is a slow and tedious process!

The back.

Somebody save me from myself!

Quilt On!

Floral Reflections Intro

Floral Reflections

Floral Reflections Update

Floral Reflections Update 2

Floral Reflections Update 3

Pin Basted

Floral Reflections Update 4

Floral Reflections Update 5

Floral Reflections Update 6

Quilting Floral Reflections

Quilting Floral Reflections

I am liking the quilted circular elements!  

Not all of the blocks are quilted yet, but I thought that I would share my progress.  I know the color isn’t right.  The quilting shows up better when I take photos indoors without the lights on.

I am thinking of filling in the blocks with stippling to flatten the background and help the applique stand out better. 

Quilt On!

Floral Reflections Intro

Floral Reflections

Floral Reflections Update

Floral Reflections Update 2

Floral Reflections Update 3

Pin Basted

Floral Reflections Update 4

Floral Reflections Update 5

Floral Reflections Update 6

Floral Reflections

When I last shared an update about the Floral Reflections quilt, I shared that all of the stitching in the ditch and outline stitching was finished.

But I didn’t share a photo of what that looks like from the back.

Now I have.

In general, I am a quilt by the seat of my pants kind of girl.  I don’t usually have my quilting all planned out.

While looking at this quilt, I thought the square blocks needed circular elements.

To get started, I am going to use two circle templates.

I traced larger circles around each block using Cindy Needham’s template, and I chose a small circle template to trace ‘berries’  from Karen Kay Buckley’s assortment.

We’ll see how this turns out.

Quilt On!

Floral Reflections Intro

Floral Reflections

Floral Reflections Update

Floral Reflections Update 2

Floral Reflections Update 3

Pin Basted

Floral Reflections Update 4

Floral Reflections Update 5