Les Amis Quilt 🇫🇷

This "Les Amis Quilt" is the Craftsy 2018 BOM Quilt of the Year.  If you're reading this and you're not a quilter BOM means Block of the Month and it's where you're sent out a different block each month of the year and have a whole year to complete a quilt.  This particular quilt went on sale on Black Friday of 2018 and I was able to get the whole entire kit at once AND at a huge discount.  This kit is now back to regular price ... and what a lesson learned.  Now whenever I see a quilt kit that I really want I'll wait till next Black Friday to see if it gets marked down. Quilt kits are très cher (very expensive) and this french named quilt was no different; so, any amount you can save is a good thing.

My husband, the master quilt holder!

This quilt is technically one of the harder quilts I have pieced together. It comes in just under a thousand pieces and you have to cut the pieces out precisely and then piece them together precisely so that all the points and seams match.  It took me two days to cut all the fabric out.

998 Pieces

It then took thirteen days to piece all 998 pieces together ... with a little bit of life intruding along the way.  I ended up cutting the border smaller as I didn't like how wide they had it in the pattern but otherwise I left the pattern as is and it went together well. 

Moroccan Star Block

This quilt is more traditional than what I've done in the past but oh those colors!  It's made up of Moroccan Star, Flower Star and Flying Geese blocks joined together by sashing blocks that make the quilt appear to have been pieced on point.  

Once this quilt was pieced I looked at it long and hard to decide how to quilt it on the longarm.  I wanted to do something special but after auditioning all sorts of free motion quilting designs it occurred to me that the piecing is so intricate and beautiful, in and of itself, that the piecing should be the star, not the quilting. 

So, instead, I did a lot of stitch in the ditch and some simple ruler work designs allowing the eye to see the piecing first, which allows that to shine while the quilting takes a back seat.

For this quilt I used Quilter's Dream Orient batting because it drapes so beautifully and it's softer than a cotton or polyester batting. For the thread I used Micro Quilter by Superior Threads in #7007 - Silver for most of the top and Bottom Line Silver for the bobbin.  I also used Isacord #3355 - Dark Indigo for the border and some darker blue thread that I had here on hand for the darkest blue in the Flower Star block because the Micro Quilter thread showed up too much on that block.  

I am finding more and more that although I love to piece a quilt I can't wait until that part is over so that I can quilt it on the longarm. That is and will probably always be my favorite part.  It's so easy to want to "overquilt" a quilt because it's so much fun.  And it's very hard to step back sometimes and let the piecing shine like I did on this one. 

This quilt was made for my sister.  Les Amis is french for "the friends" and I can't think of a better friend than my big sister! In January of this year she turned a "special" age that I won't put into print.  (You're welcome, sis❣️)  (She doesn't look that old, anyway!)  When I saw this quilt it reminded me of her so I decided to make it for her birthday.  My sister is eight years older than I am and when I was a little girl back in the sixties my younger brother and I would lay on the floor of the bathroom door, chins in hand, and watch as my big sister teased her hair over and over to get it really high into a bouffant and then used half a can of hair spray on it to fix it into place. As a kid it was really fun to watch, but then all those sixties styles were something else! Growing up, I always envied my sister, she was a beauty and I always wanted to be just like her. She's still beautiful today and I wanted to make her something special for her birthday. I wish her many more birthdays. She is the bestest sister ever and I love her very much❣️

Remember, to pick up a needle and thread and stitch some love into your world!

MISSION TO MARS QUILT 🚀

The "Mission to Mars Quilt" is a whimsical space quilt that I chose to make for my great-nephew whose name is Marshall and whose nickname is Mars! How could I resist making a quilt that shared his name!

This quilt is made up of a delightful line of fabric from Lily and Loom called "Space Camp".  The entire center of the quilt is paper-pieced. This is the first quilt that I've done with paper piecing and it went really well. Paper piecing is actually quite fun.  It's more like doing an art project than sewing.

Paper Pieced Star Block

Making the Sputnik Block

On the Longarm

This quilt is made up of blocks, each with a different name.  I really got a kick out of the one called the Sputnik Block because the Sputnik was launched by the Russians into Outer Space in 1957, the same year that I was born.  It was the first Earth satellite. My Mom told me that I used to scoot around the house like crazy in a round contraption, similar to the baby walkers of today, that was shaped like the Sputnik and because of this my nickname growing up was Little Sputnik.  In a recent conversation with my oldest brother, however, he said that he gave me the nickname because I was completely bald and resembled the pictures of the Sputnik that they saw on the TV.  This means that this quilt has both my nickname and Marshall's nickname in it along with a little bit of space history in-between.

The Sputnik Block

The rest of the quilt surrounding the paper-pieced center blocks is made up of borders and traditionally pieced blocks.  I had fun putting it all together while my husband and son went off to Daytona for the big race, leaving me with five days all to myself.  Once pieced I put it on the longarm.  On this quilt I used mostly ruler work, stitch in the ditch and some stippling. 

I used Glitter thread throughout the entire quilt.  Working with Glitter Thread by Superior Threads was a joy! It wasn't fussy like metallic thread.  It just required a low tension setting, a slower speed and a 90/14 Topstitch needle.  The Glitter Thread is a hologram thread and it sPaRkLeS! 

I couldn't get the glitter thread to show up in the pictures the way it does in person.  Trust me, it's really shiny!  

Silver Glitter Thread

Peacock and Gucci Gold Glitter Thread

Glitter Thread

This quilt finishes at 68" X 80" ... which means with the side leaders on it JUST fit on my nine foot longarm.  I'm so glad that I didn't get the twelve foot longarm.  I haven't made a quilt yet that hasn't fit the nine foot and getting the shorter longarm meant I didn't have to take part of a wall down to fit it into the room.

I love this little whimsical space quilt and I had fun watching it all come together.  I hope Mars enjoys his quilt 🚀

Remember to pick up a needle and thread and stitch some love into your world ❣️

Happy Holly Quilt 🎄

From disaster comes a tinier quilt than intended❣️ ️ 

I'm usually very careful with my rotary cutter. I also measure twice before cutting, especially when working with quilt kits because they typically give you just enough fabric for piecing with no room for mistakes.  

With this quilt, however, I had a "slight" problem.  You see, I sew in a closet.  When I lived in Florida I sewed in half of a closet. Here in North Carolina I actually upgraded to a full size closet for my sewing machine, that is, until we built my longarm in front of that closet, leaving it unusable.  So, now I sew in the guest bedroom closet which is rather large and has its very own tiny window looking out onto the guest bedroom balcony.  The day I was cutting out the fabric for this quilt I had several layers of fabric on my cutting board ready to cut across all at once when there was a sudden CRASH on the balcony behind me.  I still have no idea what crashed, I only know that I jumped causing the rotary cutter to cut through my stack of fabric at such an angle that it was rendered useless. I guess I should be happy it was the fabric and not my fingers that got cut but at the time I was just angry that it had happened at all.

A search of the internet showed that they no longer made this fabric and no one on Etsy or EBay had it.  Sooooooooo, I took the damaged fabric and cut it into much smaller triangles than the pattern called for and then took the fabric pieces that I had already cut out and re-cut those into pieces of proportionate size.  This meant I could make my quilt ... just a much tinier version of it.  

I was making this quilt for my brother but since it was so small, I decided to use it instead as a sample quilt and test out metallic thread on it.  Metallic thread is one of the fussiest threads to work with on a longarm and I have never used it before. This was the perfect opportunity to test it out.  Superior Threads metallic thread had been recommended to me but when I went on their website  their metallic thread was out of stock.  I searched around the internet and found some YLI metallic thread. This thread said that it was made especially for the longarm and it was a 50 weight thread. This was thinner than the Superior Threads metallic making it even easier to use ... or so I thought.

Who knew this beautiful thread could cause so much trouble?

I started off by doing everything possible to make this a smooth procedure. I put the thread net on the thread cone.  I put two drops of thread conditioner on the thread pad.  (Two drops, instead of one, since I had never used it before.)  I set my stitch length to 8, my machine speed to 200, and my tension to 1.0.  I also used Bottom Line in the bobbin set to a 200 tension.  UGH!  This thread, no matter the settings, no matter the pleading, no matter what, hung up in the tension discs and would not pull through. Each and every time that I took my first stitch it would eat the thread up into the machine with a huge jerk, leaving me with an empty needle.  It was impossible to work with. Make no mistake, this thread is bright and shiny but it's also thick and coarse and does not run well at all.  I went back to the Superior Threads website and their metallic thread was back in stock, so, I ordered that. When it finally came I held a strand of both threads in my hand.  The YLI Longarm Metallic stood out straight and stiff.  The Superior Metallic fell gracefully down like any other thread, YET, it was the heavier weight of the two. Go figure!  

The  Superior Metallic thread was SO much easier to work with.  It was like night and day compared to the YLI thread.  It didn't hang up in the tension discs at all and that first stitch was just a normal stitch.  I paired it with So Fine thread in the bobbin and used a 90/14 Topstitch needle. Quite honestly, I had no problem with the tension. My only problem was that any time I stitched from left to right in an upward angle I got skipped stitches.  I checked my top and it wasn't rolled too tight.  I rethreaded, changed tension settings but only stitching very slow helped and not always then.  

Cocoa Bear enjoying the quilt!

I had intended on making this Christmas quilt for my brother, who is a retired teacher, and lives with his wife and dog on top of Beech Mountain and decorates for Christmas year round.  After this quilt became a test quilt I decided not to send it to my brother but then I decided to send it to him anyway ... but since it was so tiny I sent it for his dog, Buddy to lay on!  Even puppies should have a bit of Christmas in their lives 🎄

Remember, to pick up your needle and thread (even if it is metallic) and stitch some love into your world❣️