Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Wednesday Works in Progress


All the blocks from my Modern Traditions 
Charm Square Quilt Along are in place on my
design wall now. The current discussion here is 
what fabric to use for sashing, and which other
for the border. The prints are from the Amy Butler
line Hapi, and it's been interesting to see
pictures of the whole chunk of fabric versus
my little bits in the charm squares.
Any suggestions?

Next up is my picture I used for my landscape class
last weekend. It was taken in south eastern Sweden
on a trip 2 years ago. I chose it for the contrast
between the grey skies and the chartruese
rapeseed fields. Pressed rapeseed gives us 
canola oil. The blooms were neon in the 
overcast days, and almost iconic of our trip.



This is as far as I came with my prototype, but
I approached this purely as a learning project.
Some of the other projects done that day would
impress you while mine might be a concept only.


Carolyn Mann was an enthusiastic teacher, 
and her work was inspiring, but I found my 
heart is not in making landscapes. That's okay.
It was still a great class, and I learned
both technique, and things about myself 
while working among friends.

We don't have to love everything we do, but 
it's important we stretch ourselves often, 
and try new things. You want to pursue things 
that give you an emotional response. 
You want to be excited!

************

And now I need some advice from you. I'm 
struggling to get my quilt sandwiches together 
smoothly, and STAY TOGETHER! I'm experiencing
shifting and movement even before I start 
FMQ so imagine the complications when I'm 
sitting at my machine. I'm feeling less and less
in love with my 505 unless it's a small project.
I've found myself needing to pin to keep
alignment, and then angry that I have to both
spray AND pin! Are you feeling my dark cloud?
What do you do that WORKS?

I need to take the Aquiltic sandwich apart 
entirely now, and start over from scratch.
I'm not happy.


Jelly Beans and Chocolate is supposed to be
done before Easter, but it would be a tight finish.
The top was done back at the end of January!
Where did time go?


For those of you locals--sewing tonight at 
Joann's in New Philadelphia, Ohio. 
We'd love to see some new faces!


So thankful for the link up opportunity!

Come on, Doxie Girls.
Let's go sew.

13 comments:

Allison said...

Hapi is such a wild, bright, and colorful collection, that it takes on a totally different look when it's mixed with solids. I really like your combos.

The canola is usally blooming here in May, and it's one of my favorite times of the year... it's also the time of year when white asparagus and strawberry selling stands pop up everywhere - yum!

Great advice that we don't have to love everything we do...

Greetings from Germany!

Unknown said...

Ho colorful is your work and you do such a lot. I spray when I sandwich my quilts and I do not have problems with fmq. But my spray is gone very quick.
Love the come back to see what discisions you made.
Love from Amsterdam

Sherry said...

Hi Julie, I have tried 505 spray and also a brand that Joann's carries and also batting that is pre-glued or sprayed and you have to iron it to make it work. I have never had good luck with any of those. What works (for me) is to take Tpins and stretch the backing on the floor, pin it into the carpet, then spread the batting on top of that, smooth it out and finally the top which also gets stretched (not too much, but firm) on top and more Tpins around the edges. Then toss a million and one bent safety quilting pins in the middle, climb right in the middle and start pinning from the middle out, about a hand's width apart. Don't close them till you start taking the quilt up, it is easier that way. This has been the only successful method for me. Your girls might climb in to help and they won't hurt anything as it is all tight. I have had all four of my cats in the middle with me. Just lock your furbabies in another room so you can vacuum first and get your sandwich together and then invite them to help.

Julie said...

Sherry, I have berber carpet in my sewing room, and I have tried a similar method, but keep catching the carpet loops in my safety pins. I am debating about using a pingpong table that is currently stored in a garage, but don't want to scratch the finish on top of it. Maybe a piece of laminated sheeting? Plush carpet somewhere in the house would work, too.

I've watched Leah Day stretch her smaller projects on elastic bands. Then she uses straight pins with Pinmoors to hold them. Smaller projects aren't my normal thing, and aren't causing any issues. It's the 60" and above.

Thank you for your tips here. I will definitely give this one a try.

Julie

Andrea @ Mouse in My Pocket said...

I love all your projects. Sorry you have to redo your basting. I don't have any experience with spray basting, but I hope you get it figured out.

Robyn said...

Hi Julie, thanks for your comment on my blog, I'm so happy to hear from you! Linda and I are totally on the same page as far as out of control print usage goes...

All of your quilts in this post are great! I particularly like the first one with the Amy Butler prints, even though it has solids, the colors are just right. :) I'm working on two quilts with solids right now and I feel a little out of my comfort zone, but I'm hoping to make up for all that empty space with the quilting.

I hope you get your basting sussed out, I've not tried the spray basting before, but I've heard a lot of good things about it. Some of my pin basting gets caught on the carpet too, but that's just part of the experience! (and I imaging my carpet is a lot crappier than yours, if mine were nice I might be afraid of damaging it :/ )

Maryse said...

Your blocks look fabulous, I wish I could help you with the sashing, but that is the kind of decisions that would take me forever to make ... I like what you said about we don't have to love everything we do and how it's important to try new things ...

Maryse said...

Your blocks look fabulous, I wish I could help you with the sashing, but that is the kind of decisions that would take me forever to make ... I like what you said about we don't have to love everything we do and how it's important to try new things ...

Sarah Craig said...

I haven't tried the 505, but I use the June Tailor basting spray they sell at Joanns without any problems. I lay my batting out on the carpet and smooth it out, lay my back on it and smooth it all down. Then I crawl into the center with my trusty basting spray in hand, peel back half the quilt and spray about a foot wide all the way across the backing. I smooth it all back down on the basting spray, then spray the next foot wide section all the way across, until that half is done. Then I turn around and do the other half of the quilt back the same way. Flip it all over, lay the top on it and repeat the process. I think it's the careful smoothing and plenty of basting spray that makes it work. I never have trouble with it coming apart, and it all washes out and is nice and soft when it's finished.

Cathy said...

Every time I see your Jelly Beans and Chocolate top I fall in love with it all over again!

Mary Marcotte said...

I use my dining room table and some huge office butterfly clips to hold all the pieces together. (I protect the table with an old-fashioned cardboard cutting board available at Hancocks Fabrics). I have never had success with the spray, so I use the bent quilting pins and an old seam ripper to close the pins. I also pin very close about 3 inches apart. I find it helps to remove several pins once the quilt is in place on the machine. Otherwise, I get frustrated having to stop every few seconds to take out a pin. For smaller quilts I use straight pins, but they will eat up your hand, so maybe don't follow that advice. :-) Good luck with your basting.

Marly said...

I always pin quilt sandwiches for machine quilting with bent safety pins, but they're the devil to remove if you sew too close. I've never tried spray glue, I don't think it's available here, but I'm not happy about breathing in glue anyway. For hand quilting projects I roughly pin first with flower-headed pins, and then use large tacking stitches and remove the pins (they get in the way of the frame otherwise).

Tricia ~~ Handmade Whimzy said...

I have never had a problem with my 505 spray. I love it. Due to some health issues, there is no way I could pin baste - especially a large quilt.
I have used both before though but I just use a few pins especially around the edges. Have you tried a basting stitch all the way around your quilt first thing before you start quilting? I took a Sue Nichols workshop and that's what she does with every project.