Hi and welcome 😎 Spring is here 🌺! It was hot yesterday but very reasonable today. I'm sure that some people want it to stay hot but it'll get here soon enough. Today I worked outside in the yard and inside in my studio. It was both a long time coming.
Baby Quilt Coming Along
When I searched my blog, it looks like I hadn't worked on the baby quilt since January. The pattern is called Square Dance from the Modern Baby book by Martingale. I had made a rough plan but a lot of info was missing, so I redid that and I'm good to go.
This is as far as I got yesterday. Can you spot the mistake that unfortunately can't just be called a creative anything.... It was too late to fix it, so it'll be there the next time I start up.
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| Two full rows and an oops! |
Here's a progress photo since I took it! 😀
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| Progress on the baby quilt |
I've drawn out the entire quilt and took out the fabric as I was making decisions. It's not the way I usually do it but I needed to know what colours are in the next row to make the corresponding HST (half square triangles). At least I get to decide on the novelty fabric when I'm making the block 😊.
Getting Ready for a Retreat
On Saturday and Sunday I'll be at an intown retreat. It's with a new group to me. I've only met the leader but I'm really looking forward to it. I've become pretty isolated in my studio. Other than doing groceries and meeting a friend for coffee or a meal every once in a while, I've been avoiding almost all social interactions in groups. Hopefully this will get me back in the groove.
Several years ago I bought a Featherweight sewing machine. I was told that it worked, but I hadn't tried it out yet. So last weekend, I took it out of its case and gave it a go. It does work and using the original manual (in French!) I was able to sew a bit. However, I didn't want to do much since it needed maintenance. I found an amazing video that went through pretty much everything I needed to do.
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| My featherweight sewing machine - older than me! |
I wasn't able to locally find the grease they recommend so I found an alternative at Canadian Tire. It was quite the job greasing and oiling it but it was less intimidating than I expected. It does work but I think that it's noisier than the one on the video. I'm going to see if anyone at the retreat uses a Featherweight and compare notes. I did take out my trusty Kenmore so I'll have no problems sewing either way.
As for projects, I don't want to bring anything too difficult, so I went through some of my scraps and cut 2.5" squares. I've also started playing with scraps to make a sewing machine cover for my Jag. I found this cute one that just has ties, so the fit will be more forgiving.
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| To make - a scrappy cover for my Jag |
I'm also going to bring fabric for my orange house for the Quilter's Cove QAL. As well, I bought some fabric to convert my houses into a QAYG (Quilt as you go) project. That would require thinking - so we'll see how my brain is working. I did find a pattern and made notes, so I may be able to mock one up. Since the retreat is only a 10 minute ride from home, I can always come back if I'm missing anything.
I also usually bring a hand stitching project to work on if I need a break. I'll remember to pack it.
What I learned
- I did learn an important lesson about making the row of HSTs for the baby quilt:
- Make the blocks but only trim them once the row is done and ready to be sewn together. I obviously didn't trim them all properly, so I had a couple of blocks that were quite smaller.
- I guess I should mention double checking that all of the HSTs are in the correct spot but it seems to be a recurring lesson that I have to learn over and over!
- I think I've figured out how to extend my design wall for these larger quilts. Hopefully it'll work.
- I hope that the Featherweight will work well but at least I'll have my other machine with me.
- Two days feels like a lot of time but it usually isn't. If I can play, meet new quilters and have some fun, that would be wonderful, although a new scrappy cover for my jag would be lovely 😊
Related links
Linking parties
I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties. You may want to check some out, after you've linked up below.
Monday Musings,
Design Wall Monday,
Sew & Tell, Put your foot down,
Off The Wall Friday,
Finished (Or Not) Friday,
Patchwork & Quilts,
15 Minutes to Stitch 2026,
Oh Scrap!,
I Quilted This!
Welcome to the I Quilted This! linking party that celebrates quilting on a domestic machine or custom quilting on a long-arm. Feel free to link up and share any recent project, even if you're not quilting it!
Here are the posts that included FMQ, ruler work and walking foot quilting last week. Thanks for linking up 😊 and consider grabbing the button.
Gretchen from Gretchen's Little Corner has started her Spring quilting. This
turquoise patchwork quilt was the first one. It got some in-the-ditch quilting, diagonal lines in the white blocks, straight lines in the white border and then Baptist fans in the border. What a simple beauty. You might want to go
read her post.
Terry of On Going Projects quilted her
Beyond the Surface quilt. It started by quilting-in-the-ditch, followed by adding ghost flying geese and finally jazzing all of them up. It really looks great! To read more about Terry's process, check out her
post.
Kat from Scrapbox Quilts is on week 5 of her 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge. This one is a lovely
colourful flannel quilt.
Sally from Crafts, Caves and Cooking made this amazing lone star quilt called
Supernova (all lone start quilts are amazing!!!) Sally created lovely corner designs to make her lone star quilt stand out. Check out
her post for more info.
Gwyned Trefethen has finished quilting her
Secret Mission. Have a look at the FMQ from the back of the quilt!
It's now your turn 😍
