Making good progress here on my Colorful Whole Cloth Quilt and MORE!

Happy Slow Stitching Sunday to you all!!!  I am happy to be linking up magnanimous progress today at Kathy’s Quilts for Slow Stitching Sunday Celebration day… check out all the linkers HERE 😀

Before I share my AWESOME progress this week I wanted to share this Needle Nanny  / Needle Minder / Needle Keeper Notion that so many of you asked about last week.  This one was gifted to me by a great friend…. but I have made them as well since receiving this one!

Here is how it works with craft magnets on either side of the quilt and attached to a flat backed bauble of your choosing.  I have even added a craft magnet to a magnet… just make sure you put happy sides together before adding hot glue ! lol

Glue the magnet to your object of beauty then put a magnet happy sides together on the other side of your quilt … they will hold on to each other THROUGH your quilt sandwich!!!!  Tah Dah 😀  Hope this helps you make or to at least understand how they work!  I also use mine to hold my thimble onto my tilted frame… keeps it from rolling off this way because it has the lip avoid the rolling! 🙂

This week I think I hadn’t made much progress until I looked at last weeks blog post and WoW!!!!

Here is where I am this week!

I started here just moving the quilt in my PVC frame….

 I did take a peek at how much was left and it was one more move in the frame to get to the cool border!!!!

 So once I determined how much was left I decided to make this quilt even more my own and not leave what I call the “honeycomb” sections open to be puffy once washed but to fill them in like this…

 Doesn’t that look sooo cool??!!!!

I did that using these items…

 I used my honey’s medication for his inhaler that has a convex top side to leave an indention on the quilt once rubbed in well…

 Like this … can you see!!??

 Then using colored chalk lead in my mechanical pencil I marked that indention… then quilted it …

Here is a section that is now completely done….

Here is the whole edge with the wavy outer border…

 And here is either side to see better is you like… I think you can click on the pics to get a big view if you are on a computer 😀

Here is where I am this morning though…

I hope you can see the circles I will be working on today… I have 2 more sections this size to do then I can move to a different side of the quilt!  Oh my!!!! Very exciting!!!

Many people have asked about the blue lines that come premarked on this whole cloth quilt as well… do they really come out after all that work… well go back and look at some of my shots but I am spritzing and erasing as I go so YES they do come out… but best to soak in the washer for a bit I think.. and that is what I have heard as well from other hand quilters who have done this sort of whole cloth quilt.

Here is a fun pic I made for a hand quilting group… maybe you will like it too!

So whatever kind of project you are investing your time in… use your own creativity to make it your own I say!!!

Here is a cute Solar Dinosaur we found at Dollar Tree this week!  It keeps me smiling as we make our way around our town…

And here are some blocks I have also been working on this week when I am not slow stitching on this quilt….

These blocks (40 of them ) represent about 1/3 of the quilt to be for us to use… it is going to be a cool quilt I think when finished but kind of a Bonnie Hunter style scrapiness to it 😀  Speaking of Bonnie… did you catch her Quilt Cam yesterday afternoon?  Check that out HERE on her blog post this morning if you are interested!!!  She is actually lining up to be near me tomorrow but the class is full and my wallet doesn’t have $$ budgeted for her this time… but hopefully once we are relocated closer to her neck of the woods I can catch a class of hers in real time!!!  Have you ever seen someone you adore in real life?  What was it like??  I saw Jenny Doan of MSQC a few years back… she is as adorable in person as she is on youtube if not moreso… I saw her trunk show and HIGHLY recommend you seeing her trunk show too if you ever get the chance!!!

As for facebook groups… I do have one…

We chat about hand and machine quilting and piecing there… It is a closed group so you are safe to share your hidden objects and ask questions or share advice and progress as you make it.  It is a small group under 100 people and I plan to keep it small.  If you are interested in being part of this style group then click HERE to ask for entry.  Right now I am asking what everyone plans to focus on for February 😀

I hope you have a blessed end of January and welcome February with open arms!  Make sure you …

along the way too!  Until my next posting… Happy Quilting!

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Halfway done ~ Simply Woven for Kaydence!

I am so excited to share hand quilted progress on this toddler sized quilt I am making for my granddaughter’s 2nd birthday !!!

Here is a view of the flimsy before I layered it into my Hinterberg hand quilting frame…

And here is a shot of my sweet Kaydence Ava Grace…

She will be 2 the end of May this year 🙂

I am quilting in a “Baptist Fan” pattern in the center and fluttering butterflies around the outer border 🙂

Above you can see how I made my template for marking the baptist fan pattern…

The butterflies have a traditional stencil I had in my stash I am using… I am quilting them in rose YLI while the baptist fans are getting quilted in 28/2 Aurifil white … both are hand quilted though 🙂

Here is the right hand side…

And where I just finished marking on the left…

Once I have quilted a row or a section of a row I just spritz out the blue lines I am marking it all … with water! 🙂

At times I am using hemostats also known as a needle puller when the seams are thick to save my fingers…

Here is a good overhead view of my progress at this moment…

Above you can see how I marked the baptist fan pattern fairly well… I am using 3 marking implements for this quilt…

The marker on the left is by Dritz called “Mark B Gone”… I get it at walmart for about $3.00 each in their notions section.

Next to that is a plain piece of chalk I use for the dark blue fabrics to keep my lines easily visible.

Then on the right is a fine pointed wash away marker by Clover… I am using it for the delicate butterflies.. it doesn’t mark very dark but on the bright white fabric it shows up fairly well and spritzes away then easily once stitched 💗

Thanks for stopping by… you ALL are thimbly the best… I sure felt special after being off blogging for so long to hear from so many of you!!!

Linking this blog post to Kathy’s Slow Stitching Sunday HERE to share my progress on this project…

There are several projects that got abandoned that will be coming after this project is complete too… I need to finish that fun quilt for my daughter, work on a wholecloth, and sooo much more… all hand quilted!!!  I also got a special quilt top to figure out how to hand quilt!!!  So stick with me 🌷

If you like more up to the minute progress on this project follow me on Instagram at kathi.clower or on Facebook at Kathi B. Clower 🙂

Have a blessed weekend and make sure you take time to…

AQS Show ~ Daytona Beach 2016 and sooo much more!!!

I was soooo excited this week.. I went to the AQS Quilt Show ~ Daytona Beach 🙂

The AQS Show was held in the Ocean Center just across the street (A1A) from the beach!!!

I was lucky enough to go with my honey to the show on Wednesday the 24th…

We prepurchased our tickets in January and saved a few bucks… I also joined AQS for 1 year… see what I think of their mag and got a great discount on the 1 class I also chose to take …

Ya’ll this was my first quilt show!!!! lol

I had NO IDEA what to expect and was so happy my honey was going with me for this little adventure!!!  Here are some of our faves from the show…

Here is a quilt done by my friend on facebook in Germany.. Andrea Stracke!  I had my honey take this shot of her flowery wholecloth.. it was so pretty and bright!  Here hand quilting stitches are so tiny and precise too!

This quilt won BEST OF SHOW….

It had sparkles all over it too!

This one was machine quilted but look at the lovely piecing!!! It is totally fab in person!!!!

Here is a cute quilt I saw in a vendor shop… what a cute baby quilt this would make!!!

Speaking of quilts I wanna make… this kind of DWR is def on the list if I am able to learn applique well enough…

This quilt had some cool quilting that really made the quilt pop to me… can you see the texture???

And last but not least was our personal favorite aside from Andrea’s wholecloth…

Can you tell we enjoyed the show??? lol!

Thursday I braved the show by myself to go to the class I had chosen to take…

 Mary Sorensen is an EXCELLENT teacher too!  Boy was I glad I took this class… it helped me to like applique and look forward to my next attempt at it too 🙂  I identified my fears, tackled my troubling spots all during her 3 hour class… then bought the DVD for beginners that she offered at a discount to those in her class!!!!

She provided needle, thread, and green fabric for the leaves as well as a neutral background fabric to eventually be the block pictured in her class announcement above!  The red bird will be the focus of the DVD… I am very excited to listen and watch this DVD and give applique a true try again!!!

I also have 2 machine quilted finished… this was my trial run bib for my granddaughter Kaydence…

 And here is the second one I made… a bit larger than the first as I felt she needed one a bit larger too 😉  My 301a Gloria did all the piecing on these patchwork bibs… but Zena my 401a warrior princess did all the quilting and bulky sewing jobs!

 I quilted them each a bit differently… the first one is straight line stitching and the second is organic wavy line quilting… can you see the difference???

 Here are both bibs… now you should be able to see the second one (on the right) is a bit wider and longer than the first… I think this is the PERFECT size too!

 The backing on both is Kaydence’s mom’s fave print… PINK CAMO!!!!

I used velcro at the neck opening and really like the way these turned out!!!   The pattern was an online class I got for free and I have modified the pattern a bit to make the second one… will keep that pattern for future bigger baby bibs for sure!!!

I plan to mail these out to Kaydence this week… so I hopefully will have a pic of her with one on in coming weeks 😉

Finally, my ongoing project this week is complete!  The marking on Brandi’s quilt is finished!!!!

I spent 11 days marking this quilt for hand quilting… my daughter chose this stencil for all the background white fabric areas and the rest I used ruler and white ceramic lead to mark the stars… will be a fun quilt with detailed quilting that should show quite nicely when done… but I have NEVER yet spent 11 days premarking a quilt before layering and starting the quilting on it!!! lol

I marked these lightly with graphite… each square is unique to the area I found the stencil fit best on the space… here above you can see an odd shaped white area I am filling in with graphite.

Here is a close up of the design and stencil I used…

Here is that same area once I have marked it with the stencil…

Once marked the legs are still blank spots all over so the design is not contiguous lines… so I fill in the “legs” and whalaah!!!

Now the design looks like it should and when I am stitching I won’t have to figure out what goes where… I can just zenly stitch the motif on the white… in black thread 🙂  The white lines on the dark grey and black will be stitched in white thread… and each star on the quilt will be outlined in big stitched dark red thread… it actually coordinates well with the backing and binding I am getting ready to iron….

The backing was my daughter’s choosing… as this is her graduation quilt… for now this quilt is “Brandi’s Carpenter Wheel quilt 2016”.  She actually will graduate high school next May (2017)… but I have a bug in my bonnet to get this quilt done!

The chevron striped fabric above will be the bias cut binding for this quilt which will put all these cute zig zags on a 45 angle… will add a festive finish to this quilt I think!

I will be using my fave batting… Hobbs Tuscany Cotton/Wool blend… it is 80% cotton and 20% wool so it still crinkles when washed and dried but also gets puffier thanks to that wool and is very breathable so not too much in the Florida weather either! 🙂

So this week I will be quilting on this… and thanks to the marking shots I took… I think this will be fun to link up to Kathy’s Slow Stitching Sunday here!  (Also, the applique she is showing is very similar to the method I learned this week! 🙂 )  I hope to take my first hand quilting stitches in this quilt much later today or tomorrow … after the pinning is finally done that is! lol  I also hope to get a full-sized shot of this quilt while it is laid out for pinning 🙂

This week… also brought the 31st birthday of my oldest child…  This was one of the pics I sent him… a little walk down memory lane… he is a HUGE history buff… Do you remember the song from the mid 80’s??? I didn’t until I listened to it on youtube! lol  Then it was VERY familiar to me … just never knew the name! lol

 Sorry this post is so long and I haven’t made time to share all this with you before the end of the week… but better late than never!  I hope you enjoyed the eye candy I had to share this week from the quilt show… I am MEGA inspired by that show!

Remember… no matter what twists and turns come your way this week…  Life is always precious and…

What is your favorite season?

Mine is Fall… Tennessee Fall to be exact…

Didn’t this turn out just LOVELY!!!

I will do a formal post on this very soon.. but I am just giddy to share this shot… and the journey that led to this finish deserves a post all it’s own…

So yes, Fall is my favorite season.. What is yours???

Since I finished this quilt with fun hand quilting … then washed, dried, and hung this beauty… I am linking to Kathy’s Slow Stitching Sunday post… HERE!

Now I have switched gears and started marking my daughters’ graduation quilt!!!  In 1 year and a few month she will be graduating from high school!!!

So she got this flimsy for Christmas…

she picked it out online as just a flimsy so that I could hand quilt it done for her 🙂

So after some fits and starts and erasures… I have a pattern going and I currently have 2 of the 9 carpenters wheel stars marked…

but check out how the white background is getting stitched…

I do hope you can see the meandering star and moon pattern I am marking on the white background…

On this quilt I am marking with graphite, white chalk & white ceramic lead size 0.09 mm… this will all wash out when I am done but is safe for the quilt as it shall take me several months to stitch all this… I am choosing to mark the quilt before layering because the designs are so involved and I need the straight lines drawn neatly for me when I quilt… will go MUCH faster for me 🙂

Her idea is… I stitch all the black/grey areas in white thread (YLI) and all the white background meanderings in black thread (YLI)… then we will add some dark red (Valdani Perle 8 cotton) big stitching to the stars to make them pop a bit… very exciting and different from anything I have ever done and VERY QUilTy when finished! lol

In the meanwhile, my friend Wendy is getting a Double Wedding Ring Template Set!  I am very excited about this as I have always wanted to do this pattern… so I bought the template set as well!  It is by Marti Michell and will be a project in the future for me..

I am in a fb group for DWR designs and see lovely eye candy there…  so many ideas!!!

Once I finish the 3rd carpenters wheel and star I will be making Kaydence some bibs with both Zena and Gloria!  Here are some of the fabrics I have pulled along with the perfect thread I found in my stash… and a cool pattern I found online…

 Here is the cute recipient of these bibs to be…

I am blessed to call her my granddaughter for sure!

Here is my inspiration to encourage my design…

I found this one for sale on Etsy 🙂

So I best get back to marking… this sweetie needs some handmade bibs !!! lol

Whooping up all this accomplishments and plans with Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict HERE

Have a blessed weekend and always remember…

Stencils and Hand Quilting with them ~ Tutorial

Today on facebook I posted this picture of hand quilting I am currently working on …

It spawned several comments and questions.. so I thought I would do a blog post all about it to share with you all 🙂

This is the stencil I am using.. I bought it at JoAnne’s in their miniscule quilting section I think…

As you can tell it is a string of butterflies.. 🙂  I needed a stencil 3″ wide for this wider sashing on a quilt I am working on…

So try to choose a Continuous line stencil .. most are made that way these days anyway! lol

You can view and purchase templates online and Stencil Company or Stencils International company… or you may find some at Joanne’s and occasionally in quilt shops… but I rarely find anything but most common there unfortunately…

So decide what you are marking with and trace it out on a sheet of paper if the path you should go to make it “continuous” is not obvious…

So above is this stencil traced out with my blue Mark-Be-Gone water soluble pen… with the stencil laying beside it…

See these openings where I didn’t draw??

Those are “legs” and keep the template in 1 piece with giving you the ending of a continuous stitch design…

Here is a close up of the stencil.. check out those Legs! lol

I have only highlighted some of the legs here… but notice the black arrow in BOTH of the above shots.. that makes this one tricky to figure out… so do this..

After you trace your stencil go back with the same device for marking you already used and fill in the “legs”..

Above are my quilting lines to keep it continuous and avoid traveling 🙂

This tutorial was made for some of my fave fb groups… because it was popular there I am sharing with…
Kelly at My Quilt Infatuation.. Needle and Thread Thursday AKA NTT… Here🙂
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict (and she really is!!! lol)….  HERE 🙂
and Happy Thanksgiving Canada at Kathy’s Quilts… Slow Sunday Stitching … HERE 🙂

Here is a cutie I found in an Australian’s fb page I follow…

You see it is Spring “Down Under”.. their seasons are opposite ours 😉

“Charm Dance” ~ Designed and Quilted by Wendy Gontier

Speaking of Australian Best Friends… I have the best one!!! And she recently did a YOUTUBE video about hand sewing down the binding on a quilt… GO HERE >>>> Wendy Gontier  <<<<<  To watch it… leave a comment or hit the thumbs up and subscribe to her channel if you like it.. she is an EXCELLENT teacher too!!!
But I loved it and wanted to share it with you all… I do hope the ups and downs of daily life… are mainly with needle and thread this season 🙂

Until my next post.. PINK POST STILL IN THE WORKS!!!! lol

For the love of hand quilting!

I really love to slow stitch… via hand quilting!  So when I saw this design I knew it needed to go on the quilt I am currently quilting!

the stencil…

close up of the design once stitched 🙂

In the blocks of this quilt for my honey ….

The piecing is far from perfect … but piecing is NOT my gift… the hand quilting is 😀

But how to mark these intricate blocks… I tried all my marking utensils (and I have a LOT) but all were VERY labor intensive… finally I found the POUNCE PAD… and baby powder 🙂

Here is my marked block.. I didn’t use the stick of chalk but I am not sure I won’t so it got included in this pic 🙂  It marks well on all the fabrics though… as does the pounce pad with baby powder added to it.

And here is how the bottom right corner looks finished….

see how the powder fades away… it doesn’t fade completely but sunlight is my fave light for this process by far!!!

Here is a close up of my quilting stitches thus far…

Overall do I wish I was doing an overall design as many suggested as these are busy blocks already???

Absolutely not… The joy of the hand quilting process makes it all worth is along with the desire my honey has of seeing these designs come to life forever in HIS quilt! lol  Truly how he feels so it is my honor to quilt these designs.

Feather count is up to 32 of the 49 feathers to do (over 65% done with that part)… here is a pic I showed last week that shows how cool the design is as I stitch a feather too 🙂  I REALLY like stitching the feathers… they are playful and fun!

Hooking this up with Kathy’s Slow Stitching Sunday here.

Have a blessed day and enjoy your day today!  Do something nice for you!!

Marking a quilt top…

Do you mark your quilt pattern before or after you layer your quilt… I do both! lol

At least on this quilt I will mark this feather I bought a template for on the sashings…

So I got my Fons & Porter graphite pencil (you could use a regular #2 mechanical pencil that is 0.7 or 0.9 though :)) and marked one to check it out…

Points on both ends was my preference and less “frilly”…

So here is how I did it…

Here is a horizontal sashing I marked first with just the template… except when I came to that frilly end on the right of the photo I turned the template and fit in the pointed end from the opposite end of the template 🙂  Whalahhh!  A Design Original by KC creation now 🙂  Have you ever altered templates to your own design???

 Now I prefer to fill in the design.. makes me feel like I can draw and I like the continuous line when I am stitching it by hand… so I fill in the “dots” 🙂  THIS IS A GOOD TIME TO plan your quilting path too!  Trace the way you will quilt to find the most efficient way to stitch it once sandwiched 🙂

Filling in the dots…

Ta dah!

How do you mark intricate patterns on darker fabric… ???  The graphite only shows in daylight well.. so not sure what I am gonna mark the blocks with as they are all midtones and hard to find a contrasting color… we shall see!  Suggestions welcome 🙂

Here is what I have on the one block I have marked so far…

That is supposed to be the geckos above but you can’t really see it on the fabric… this is marked with white ceramic and soapstone with graphite over it too… not sure how to mark this now…  So I will do the feathery swirls in the sashings and stabilize each block then do the blocks I think 🙂

One thing I recommend and is a bit pricey but worth it for marking is a sandpaper board like this one…

Makes marking lightly and getting great results that are easily erased easy peasy!!!  Worth a thought for a Christmas gift if you find yourself in need of some ideas 🙂  I got mine through Overstock here!

Hope you have a happy Saturday and look forward to your feedback if you have any suggestions 🙂