Bubble Up Lap Quilt in the making

It's almost done! I've been wanting to make another lap quilt for our love seats in our living room to keep Chevy cosy and the seats relatively dog hair free.

Bubble Up Lap Quilt - Where two spirals meet

Bubble Up fabric strips

The day that I heard that Quilty Pleasures, our local quilt shop, was not an essential service, and would have to close to customer traffic, I rushed out and supported the shop 😊 Among my purchases was a package of Bubble Up fabric strips. Enough to make one lap quilt!

I didn't get fancy, I just sewed all of the strips together. The fabric is so colourful and amazing that I didn't want to mess with it (that's my story and I'm sticking to it!)

It took me a while to figure out how to quilt it since the fabric was too busy, colourful and amazing. It wouldn't have been worth doing any fancy free motion quilting (FMQ). So I didn't.

Quilting spirals using my walking foot

In the meantime, I've been watching some excellent BluPrint (Craftsy) classes. I never used to watch them unless I was going to start doing the work, but in the last couple of months, I'm just watching them for entertainment. That way I can view many and just follow the ones that I want.

I started by watching the first of Jacquie Gering's walking foot courses, Creative Quilting With Your Walking Foot. I then watched her second course, Next Steps With Your Walking Foot. Jacquie is a really excellent teacher and her courses are interesting and instructive. I highly recommend them!

So how to quilt my Bubble Up Lap Quilt - with a walking foot using spirals. I learned so much from watching the courses and quilting this piece.

I'll be mentioning what I learned below but I did want to talk about the constructive interference that I experienced when these two spirals met. If you look at the picture, you will probably start to cringe!

Constructive interference -
when two spirals meet

Yup, you guessed it!

It looks like my quilt top wasn't quite taunt enough and trouble was coming. Anyway, I wasn't in any mood to remove any of the stitching, so I forged ahead. Yup, my quilt has some lovely pleats where the two spirals met. At that point, Better Done Than Perfect was my mantra. If you examine it closely, you can see the lovely pleats, but otherwise they are quite inconspicuous.😊

I looked in my stash for fabric to bind the quilt but really, none of it was up to these amazing colours - so I just had to find an online store in Canada that had some Bubble Up fabric. My fabric is coming to me from East Coast Quilt Co, in St. John's, Newfoundland. If I can't travel, at least my fabric can!

Since it was a beautiful day, I went out with my son and Chevy for a photo shoot to a deserted park down the street.

Bubble Up - where two spirals meet

Fun with Chevy

There's a lot going on in that quilt!

Bubble Up Quilt
basking in the sun

See the flowers blooming - oh, and there's the quilt!

What I learned

• As you know, I love free motion quilting (FMQ) but since I've been using my walking foot to make journal covers, I've come to appreciate it. I thought that it would be good to try out quilting with the walking foot on this quilt.
• Jacquie Gering warned us that quilting spirals with the walking foot could be tricky. It is! The hardest thing to master, in my opinion, is turning the quilt around while not leaving a trace on the quilting. I have quite a few tiny bumps in the quilting. I'm sure that if I had been in a more zen mood that it would have gotten better earlier in the quilting. I was getting the hang of it by the end.
• I used a colourful variegated King Tut thread for the top of the quilt - and I wasn't sure that I would have enough. I'm happy to report that I did, although I don't think that there's much left on the spool.
• I love the secondary pattern that comes from the two spirals intersecting. 
• I'm really looking forward to binding the quilt when my fabric arrives. Of course, I'll post it when it's finished! 

Related links

• BluPrint (Craftsy) courses with Jacquie Gering: 



Free Motion Mavericks

• Creative Quilting With Your Walking Foot 
• Next Steps With Your Walking Foot
• Constructive interference - when waves overlap

Linking parties
I will be linking up to many fun linky parties, including Free Motion Mavericks which is with Muv this week. Make sure that you go link up - it's not only about FMQ!
I'm also linking up with Sandra's DrEAMi quilt party, as well as many other fun linking parties. Let's check them out and see what's going on while we stay home and quilt! Peacock Party, Friday Foto Fun, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, Tuesday Colour and Inspiration, What I Made Monday, Monday Making,

Shattered Angles Quilt

I've spent some time this weekend working on my Splash of Color QAL. My version is called Shattered Angles.


As I worked on it, it all came back to me why I had been so frustrated with this project. Since I seem to be in a more zen mood, I even managed to figure out how to make the process easier. I thought that I would share some of my learning with you.

The pattern is based on cutting and sewing strips, stacking them and then cutting them at a 45 degree angle. The pieces are then moved around so that each finished strip will have different fabrics. So far, so good.

Putting the two pieces together

My problem comes when I have to add a strip to the others, after having inserted the coloured fabric. Before figuring it out, I ended up with some very narrow strips. That's why my finished blocks are now 6" instead of 6½" square.

Adding a pin where the two pieces meet (top right)

I finally figured out that if I placed a pin where the new strip and the coloured piece meet, I could then  pull the fabric over and make sure that it was straight.

Looks straight to me!

It doesn't seem like much, but I would probably have finished the whole quilt 2 years ago if I have figured it out sooner :-)

I also found that if I ironed the seams and pinned everything, that it was much easier to sew. (I know, it should be evident!)

Ironed, pined and ready to sew.

Here is the finished strip, ready to be trimmed and cut. I'm quite happy with the top of the strip since it's fairly straight. That's what I was trying to do!

Ready to be trimmed

After trimming the strip to 6" long, I then cut it to get 6" square blocks.

Trimmed and ready to cut

Here is my pile of blocks. So far, I have 24 completed. I made 15 of them on the weekend.

Pile of finished 6" blocks

There are many options for laying out this quilt, but this is the most obvious one. Four blocks are placed together to make a kind of square box type pattern. It's best if the coloured lines don't meet, but that's easier said than done.

Preview of what the quilt could look like

 At this point, the quilt is about half done. I have put it away since I have other priorities this month. I'm not sure that I'll be finished in time for the final link-up for the quilt top (December 12, 2017), but that would be the story of my life. I'm just thrilled that I gotten ahead on this UFO!

To-Do Tuesday

I didn't get any of the things I wanted done this week - so I'm going to try again!
For my To-Do list this week, I'm going to work on another wholecloth quilt and add a few more rows on my batik quilt!

What I learned

• Isn't it amazing what effect your state of mind can have on your quilting? I guess it shouldn't be surprising since our state of mind pretty much affects our whole life :-) Anyway, I am glad that I was calmer and able to work out how to put these strips together. I did try out a couple of other methods but they didn't work. I don't see things easily in 3D, so it's not surprising that I had that much trouble. I'm just thrilled that it worked out.
• This will never be my favourite quilt or pattern. Even without the black and white fabric, it's way too much work for me! Of course I would never say that about an art quilt that I would put just as much effort into :-)

Related Links

• More learning and updates, November 5, 2017
• Splash of Color QAL and a deadline, October 16, 2017

Linking Parties: I am linking up to the Splash of Color QAL, as well as many other quilting parties. Check them out! Main Crush Monday, Monday Making, To-Do Tuesday, Linky Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Let's Bee Social, WOW - Wips on Wednesdays, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?, Finished or Not Friday,

I have awesome news! My Shattered Angles project was featured on Connie's Linky Tuesday. Check it out!

Progress and Fun

Fibre Fling 6 - A Success!

I took most of last week off - to quilt, rest and then to volunteer at Fibre Fling 6. It was the ultimate holiday - taking time for myself, quilting, reading 2 books (that's how I rest), spending some quality time with my young adults and hanging out with fibre art and artists.

As I was talking with visitors and fellow artists at the show, I was so excited - I swear I was high on life and art!!!

Here are some of the things that I played with this week:

I have been wanting to make a couple of neutral lap quilts for a while. For the last year or so I've been increasing my stash of neutral fabrics.

More Take 5 Quilts

Anyone who knows me will wonder how I could make a neutral coloured quilt, but since I made the Bali Back Flip quilt and the Orange Peel Runner in neutrals, I must say that I've really come to appreciate them. I find them so classy and zen. Don't get me wrong, I couldn't work for very long without some real colour, but a change of scenery is not a bad thing :-)

All of the fabric strips for the quilt

The pattern I chose for the first quilt comes from More Take 5 Quilts by Kathy Brown. It's called Take 5 Loves Coffee Milk.

I don't usually cut all of my fabric before I start the quilt, but in this case I had no choice since each block requires pieces from all of the fabrics.

It took me a while to get the hang of the pattern because I had substituted some of the colours and had to translate the pattern to my fabrics.

Once I got the hang of it, it went really well. Just a lot of straight seams and no matching or points. My kind of piecing! Since the blocks are 14½ ", they sewed up quickly. It was also interesting to see the different colour combinations. I love the dark fabrics on the outside the best. I think that it's going to make a nice quilt.

Different block variations

More blocks

I've now completed 14 of the 20, 14½ " blocks required. The pattern is much larger than I need, but I'm going to make all of the blocks and then decide what to do with the extra ones. This might be my chance to make a partially pieced back. I've ordered and received the backing fabric - it's the wide backing and was on sale. Gotta love it!

Needle Felting

After participating in a Needle Felting Play Day last June, I had bought some supplies but didn't take any of them out until this week. I have to admit that I did so to justify buying a few more supplies - the shop is close to the Fibre Fling 6 venue!

On Saturday, between errands, I took over the kitchen table and played! Turns out that mixing different coloured threads, wool roving and fibre is really good for my artist's soul.

My first piece was made purely for fun. I wanted to use a merino wool and roving mixture that I purchased this week. It's so beautiful and soft that all I want to do is snuggle up to it! It reminds me of a scrumptious sherbet :-) I think that I've completed the needle felting part, but I would like to embellish it with beads. I have no idea how this piece will progress, but I'm sure that it'll come to me.

Add caption

The second and third pieces are for an art piece that I had hoped to make for the Colour Unboxed Exhibition. It wasn't made for the show, but I bought the fabrics I wanted and I still think that it's a great idea. Now that there's no pressure, I will probably make it. There are bound to be more shows that will need art quilts :-)




Fibre Fling 6

The view as visitors walked in to Fibre Fling 6

Here are a few pictures of Fibre Fling 6. Two of my pieces were in a great location - visible just as people walked into the room. Do you see them under the wonderful multi-coloured piece?

Sifting Pebbles was made by my friend and ex-colleague Kathy. Isn't it lovely?

Kathy created the copper wire knitted basket that is treated with patina in a workshop led by Sayward Johnson. The basket is displayed on a raw silk background to highlight its delicacy. The piece reminds Kathy of sifting sand and pebbles on the beach.

I just have to share this last one - it was created in honour of the 20th anniversary of the Out of the Box artist group. Véronique free motion quilted zentangle designs that she then shaded with water colours. I just love it!

Out of the Box celebrates 20 years!

What I learned:

• It seems that I don't need wine to get high - I just need to attend and participate in an art show! Great to know :-)
• Cutting fabric is the perfect thing to do when I'm sick with a sinus cold and can't lie down. That's how I cut all of the fabric for my neutral quilt. I made sure that I was well organised and then cut the fabric while listening to the audio version of Inheritance, the 4th book of the Eragon Series by Christopher Paolini. I don't read, or listen to, a lot of fantasy, but this series rocks!
• There's nothing like guilt to motivate me. In this case I don't mind since I did end up felting.

Featured Links:

• Bali Back Flip Lap Quilt (January 2, 2016)
• Orange Peel Table Runner (February 3, 2016)
• More Take 5 Quilts by Kathy Brown
• Needle Felting Play Day (June 8, 2016)
• Colour Unboxed Exhibition (January 24, 2017)
• Artists: Sharon Collins, Elaine Quehl, Sayward Johnson
• Inheritance by Christopher Paolini

Linky Parties

See what other quilters are making by visiting these parties I've linked up to: Main Crush Monday, Monday Making, Moving it Forward Monday, Linky Tuesday, Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers, MOP Monday, Finished or Not Friday, Can I get a Whoop Whoop? Off the Wall Friday, 

Learning Through a Table Runner

The Common Thread Quilt Guild in Orleans, Ontario organised a Print Windows table runner workshop last November with teacher / designer Valerie Miller. Her designs are quite modern and incorporate some lovely details – gentle curves, piping, mini squares, etc.  When I saw a sample of her runner, I decided to take her course to learn the techniques involved in making these.

Here is the link to her Print Windows table runner pattern.

Details of Print Windows Table Runner

Valery came to our guild as a guest speaker, so that evening I chose my fabrics for the weekend workshop. I liked the fabrics, although I have made few projects with a black background.

The workshop was enjoyable and I did learn a few tips and tricks. For instance, the fabrics that make up the mini windows within the grey strip were strip pieced. Since I don’t usually have great success with these, I did get a couple of tips to help me.

Print Windows Table Runner

1. Sew the strips together from alternate directions. This helps the fabric stay flat.
2. Use a smaller stitch so that they won’t fall apart after you cut them.

Sewing gentle curves isn't difficult. You just have to take your time. The trick is to use pins and then to clip the seam allowance once you've sewn the curve. I just find that this gives the piece a nice flat finish once it’s pressed. I've included a link to a Connecting Threads tutorial, in case you’d like to learn to sew curved pieces.

Finally, when cutting and inserting the grey strip into the runner, you just have to be careful to adjust the curved piece that it’s going through so that the curve will continue evenly on both sides of the strip.

What I learned:

• The sewing tips I've written while making this runner are above. 
• My life lesson was more difficult. As much as I enjoyed the workshop, it was during the time that my “best friend” Bandit died. The quilting helped me get through those rough days but as lovely as it is, it will forever be associated with those difficult times. I guess that’s how life and perception works (and the black background doesn't help.)

This post is listed on Link-a-Finish Friday. See what other quilters have been up to!