Scribble Drawing

Katie made an interesting comment on my blog a couple posts ago. She said she was uncomfortable with changing quilting midstream, as I did in my last finish. I mostly quilt all over designs, but her comment did make me think about why I was so comfortable mixing things up. I concluded it all goes back to my childhood activity of scribble drawings. 

As a child I loved to color, but I didn't always like the pictures in my coloring books. I also have no talent for drawing (proof of which is later in the post) Hence, my affinity for scribble drawings. There's probably a name for this, especially amongst Zentangle enthusiasts, but I don't know what it is. My childhood was long before the Zentangle fad. 

You start out by doing a large scribble on the page, making sure to cross over lines to make separate areas.

Then you color in each section a different color. I had two of my grandsons over yesterday, so they happily colored next to me. They both thought a drawing should look like something, so were a bit confused by my abstract design. This thing is, I did this a lot as a child, no rules drawing, I got to color, which I loved, and it didn't matter that I couldn't draw.

This applies to quilting HOW??? I'm going to make a confession. I have NEVER made a practice quilt sandwich. I mean it, NEVER. I may have a stash the size of Montana, but that doesn't mean I want to waste it practicing FMQ. Batting is getting more expensive all the time, and I piece scrap batting into larger pieces for quilts or smaller projects, I don't want to waste it either. I will practice a design on a sheet of paper or a white board, but if I'm going to FMQ, I'm going to do it on a real quilt. 

I saw a video years ago, and I wish I could find it now. I've looked for two weeks and I can't find. it. I'm pretty sure it was either a Leah Day video or Angela Walters. If you know what I'm talking about please post the link in the comments, and I'll edit this post to include it. 

Since I can't find the video, I'll walk you through the bullet points of what I remember, and how I've used that information personally. 

Let's suppose this sheet of paper is your quilt. You want to draw some random wavy lines across the quilt dividing the quilt into sections. If you are very new to FMQ, you can do this on a busy quilt because the quilting won't show much anyway. If you are a bit more confident, it looks fantastic on a quilt with a lot of negative space.

You can leave the lines as it, or if you want the divisions to be a bit more noticeable, you can add an echoing line that crosses your lines occasionally to give a twisted ribbon effect.

The video showed adding pebbles in the ribbon areas, and that is often called string of pearls quilting. This pic shows some lines just done as ribbons, and other done with the string of pearls. The first time I used this technique on a quilt was my first experience quilting string of pearls. 

This is what it looks like when all the lines are done. Here's the thing though, there are no rules for how you quilt your quilt. Let's say you did the wavy lines and tried the twisted ribbon idea on one line but you didn't like it. YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO IT AGAIN!!! You don't have to rip it out, you don't have to do more, you can just stop at one. The page that only has half the lines having string of pearls doesn't look bad, it's just different. 

Here's an example of two lines being plain, and two lines having string of pearls. Not bad, just different.

Since I did all my lines with string of pearls, all the examples from here on out have that option. I found out I'm better at FMQ on a quilt than drawing with a marker, so please forgive my cruddy examples.

I like to start in a larger area with a pattern I'm comfortable quilting.

That top section is pretty large, so let's say I meander there.

The bottom left is really large, and I like quilting spirals, so let's put those there. 

Let's say I've got an ocean themed quilt top almost done, and I want to refresh my memory on how to quilt a watery pattern, add it to the mix.

I've quilted flames before, but it's been a while, so maybe quilt those in one of the sections. 

You are just taking one section at a time, quilting whatever you like in each area. I like to try new designs in smaller areas, that way it's not a huge commitment. 

There are no rules here, if you want to try a section of walking foot quilting, go for it! Did you buy a template at a quilt show but never had the guts to try ruler work? Go for it! 

This basic idea has so many variations! You can make more lines at the start to create more sections, or even just two lines and only use three designs. Even one line gives you an opportunity to do two designs. It's actually pretty freeing to plan on mixing designs from the beginning. By mixing designs you are comfortable with, with others you are new to, you can expand your skills without as much pressure as trying it on a whole quilt can be. You want to use this as an opportunity to compare quilting threads? Choose a different color for each section, or a different weight thread. Never tried 40 wt poly on a quilt, or 28 wt cotton? This is your chance to play. Since you are quilting different designs, you can use the same thread throughout to add some continuity, or just go crazy with variations. When you are done, instead of having a pile of practice quilt sandwiches, you'll have a finished quilt. 

The first quilt I did this on was a Legend of Zelda themed baby quilt. I just did two lines on the quilt, and quilted fire, water, wind gusts with clouds, and leaves to represent the elements in the four sections. The larger the quilt the more sections I'm going to divide it into. 

Now that I've said how I play with mixing quilt designs, I'm going to add this. If you like making practice quilt sandwiches, and you feel better having made them, continue doing so. If you think this idea would just look like a hot mess, it's probably not for you. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, my perfection quotient is not very high. I do enjoy FMQ, it gets more fun as my skills improve, but if I only meandered on every quilt from here on out, I'd still end up with a pile of finished quilts, which to me is preferable to a closet of quilt tops. Because I am such a prolific piecer, and piecing is my favorite part of quilting, I'll never be an expert at FMQ, and I am perfectly comfortable with that! My skills improve no matter which design I'm quilting just through experience. Do you know how many quilts I have had people refuse because they didn't like the quilting? ZERO

This is just my way of encouraging you to play, especially if you are feeling stuck at your skill level, or not motivated to finish a quilt. Sometimes a little play is just the ticket to get new ideas flowing! 

Ninth Finish of the Year

 My typical goal is to average two quilt finishes per month, and I'm running behind this year. Three months in a hotel certainly didn't help my finish numbers. That said, at the end of the sixth month, I've got nine finishes, and that's not too bad. 

When I was trimming this quilt for binding I had it laid out on my quilting table, and I realized how well the quilting showed up in the dimly lit room. You can see the different quilting designs, but it's still hard to see that the far right hand corner is spirals too. I do have overhead lighting in this room, but the quilting showed up better with the lights off. 

Today I got the binding finished and this twin sized quilt is finished! I even wound bobbins for my next quilt in the FMQ queue. 

I haven't let myself do any piecing because my main goal has been to get the bags sewn for the scooter rally we are hosting in November. 

All of them are sewn, and now all that needs to be done is to run the drawstrings through the casings. I can do that in the evening while watching TV, so it's all easy from here. I still have to make the rally quilt, which will be raffled off and proceeds will go to our local food pantry. I've been looking forward to making this quilt, because I'm finally getting to make the steampunk themed scooter quilt that I've been wanting to make for years now. 

All of the rally bags were sewn on this vintage lovely! 

I'm going to have to come up with a strategy now. I have 7 grandkids asking for new quilts, I have two baby quilts to make, and a birthday quilt for DD#2,  plus the rally quilt. I also have a dozens of UFOs in various stages, plus a closet full of quilt tops to finish. Just the 17 quilt tops I have from my hotel sewing added a lot to my quilting queue. When I'm really busy like this, I've found a couple things that help me move things along, even with a bunch of new starts. It's basically a New Start/UFO buddy system.

1) I use UFO's as my leader/ender project. I can piece remaining blocks, or piece borders, or even assemble rows of a quilt as leaders/enders. If I need to sew rows together or sew on a border, I can switch and use the New Start as my leader/ender, but by pairing the piecing of a UFO with a new start I'm doing double duty. 

2) If I'm cutting a new deadline quilt, assess if I can cut something I need for the next step of a UFO. For example, is it a UFO because I haven't cut borders, or sashing, or background fabric to finish the blocks? I can easily think of several UFO's where this is the case. So use the buddy system on the cutting. 

3) Basting on the buddy system? For every deadline quilt I baste, I baste at least one UFO. 

When it comes to quilting I'm limited to my hour per day of FMQ. As long as I stick with that one hour per day, my arm doesn't complain of strain, and I'm finishing quilts. 

I haven't been as good about the hour of FMQ per day habit as I should have been since I've been home. DH still wasn't home though, and his schedule helps me keep mine on track. He was actually deployed for four months, but I came home for the last month. He gets home today though, so next week things will go back to a normal schedule, which won't feel normal after having a different schedule the last four months. Even his work hours were different in Yuma. 

I hope some of those tips help someone out there. It's time for me to get back on track!

When You Don't Like the Quilting

Surely I'm not the only one who has started quilting a quilt, then a little while into it, you decide you don't like the quilting design you decided on. What do you do in that case? I'll tell you what I won't do, unless I'm having tension issues, I'm NOT going to rip out the quilting. 

When I got home after three months of living in a hotel, I wanted to get back to my FMQ an hour a day routine. I had a few quilts basted and ready to quilt, and I chose one of the larger ones.  It's a generous twin sized quilt. It's been a while since I used my walking foot for quilting, and I thought it might be fun to do that. I decided to start with a wavy line going diagonally down the quilt.

It didn't take me long to realize that the last time I used this technique, I was on my Bernina, not the Janome. My Bernina has a walking foot, the Janome has dual feed, which seems like they are the same, but they actually feel a bit different. I'm sure I will get better at quilting wavy lines with the Janome, but I need more practice for that. It only took a few lines to make me realize that I did not like how it was coming out. 

I was having a hard time making the wavy lines as wavy as I wanted. Mostly, they just looked crooked. I decided I didn't like it after quilting six or so lines. I was not going to rip that out, so my plan was to quilt enough lines that it looked purposeful, then I'd switch to FMQ. This quilt is super busy, so I knew any quilting design I used wasn't going to show up that much, even with me choosing red thread for the quilting.

Once I had about a two foot wide section of walking foot quilting going diagonally down the quilt. I quilted spirals in the other corners. 

I finished the quilting this morning, and I'm not sorry I approached it this way. The quilt is busy enough that it didn't really matter what quilting design I chose, the quilting was going to get lost in the busy-ness of the quilt. That being said, I think this approach would also work with a much less busy quilt. I've often heard quilt teachers say, "Do it once on a quilt and it's a mistake, do it several times and it's a design choice".

I tried to get a couple pics so you can see the spirals next to the lines. It looks fine to me. I'll take a pic of the whole quilt once the binding is on, and you'll see how little the quilting shows up. Even if it hadn't been so busy, I wouldn't have ripped out the quilting. Life is short, and less than ideal quilting is not worth my time to rip out. 

I'm still going to try quilting wavy lines with my Janome, but maybe on a smaller quilt next time. I've also done wavy lines freemotion, and that's definitely another option. I really want to up my walking foot quilting game, so if my arm is bothering me I can have the machine do more of the work for me. 

I've got about 1/3 of the rally bags sewn now. I'll run the drawstrings through after they are all sewn. All the bags are started, they are sewn front to back, I'm just bouncing around now one whether I'm just securing the side seams or actually finishing the bag. My goal was to have the rally bags finished by next weekend, and I'm not sure I'll make that goal. The next week is super busy for me. A couple grandkids having a sleepover, babysitting a couple others later in the week. Hopefully I'll have at least 2/3 of them done by next weekend. 

Need for Routine

 I'm usually really good at multi-tasking. Whether it's working on six different quilts at the same time, or getting ready for a huge event while balancing family functions and quilting time. Since I got home, I'm really struggling to get into a routine. I can't say I've gotten nothing done, just that I could have done so much more. 

One distraction I've had is my attempt at buying a travel sewing machine. I bought an Eversewn Celine. When I unboxed the machine it had a factory sample sewn on it. At first glance, the stitching looked great, zigzag, button hole, a few decorative stitches, all looked good...from the top. When I turned over the sample, I could easily see that the tension was all jacked up! Now, I've been sewing almost 40 years, and adjusting tension does not scare me. I understand the mechanics of sewing machine tension and I've sewn on dozens of sewing machines. I've got this, or so I thought.

Aurifil 50 wt is my favorite piecing thread, so I tried it first. I wound a bobbin for the new machine, the bobbin that came with said machine. When the bobbin winder stopped automatically, the bobbin was only half wound, and unevenly at that. Not a good sign. I double checked I had the thread going correctly for winding bobbins. The second was a bit more even, but mostly because I was using my finger on the thread to make it wind evenly. It still stopped at half full. There is no way to adjust the bobbin winder, I checked that too. 

I put the bobbin in, making sure I had it threaded correctly. I threaded the top, double checking I had it done correctly with the manual. Since I mostly use a straight stitch, I just tried doing a straight stitch. After several different tension settings, I finally had a nice even straight stitch. I sewed a bit with that thread, and all was fine. 

The next day, I tried a cotton/poly thread, something I would use when making a garment. The new bobbin still only wound half full, which I knew was going to bother me. This thread was a bit thicker, so I expected I may have to change the tension again. My first attempt had loops on the bottom and skipped stitches. Hmmm, skipped stitches? I rethreaded the machine and changed the needle, even though the needle had very little use. I adjusted the tension, still loops, still skipped stitches. I used every setting on the tension dial, from 0 to 5, and I could not get a decent stitch from any setting. I rethreaded over and over again, and nothing was working. As I was doing all this testing, I also was learning other things about the machine, like the fact the needle bar was so far to the back of the machine it was hard to see behind the presser foot, and the only seam markings on the machine were behind the presser foot.

Can you tell that the fractional markings are behind the presser foot, and in shadow? The 1/4" foot I had purchased separately for the machine could help me get a decent 1/4" seam for quilting, but what If I was making a garment with 5/8" seams, or a craft project that needed 1/2" seams? 

To give a comparison, here's the same shot of my Janome M7, also a drop-in bobbin machine.

The seams are marked behind the presser foot, but also on the door to the bobbin area, and marked closest to you in front of the bobbin area. This is a much better design.

There was no reason for the machine to be so poorly marked. I took a break from fighting with the machine and took the time to think things over. Do I want to travel with a machine where I have to fight with the tension? A machine that is hard to get a reliable seam allowance on? Sure I could buy an aftermarket seam guide, but because of the drop in bobbin, I'd likely have to move it all the time. I decided this machine was not worth the trouble, and I boxed it up for return. 

Are all of the Eversewn Celine's as finicky as that one? I don't know. It could have just been a lemon. Someone else may have been willing to work with it a lot longer than the two days I did. My mind kept going back to the wonky factory sample. They had used orange top thread and yellow bobbin thread, it was easy to see on the backside that the tension was all wrong. If it was wrong at the factory, and I couldn't get a decent stitch going through every tension setting, it wasn't worth my time or money. I read a lot of reviews on the machine before buying. They were mixed, but I know a lot of bad reviews are written by new sewists who are struggling to learn how to operate any machine. I have enough experience that the several hours I spent on the machine should have been sufficient to sort out the tension issues. The design of the machine wasn't to my liking either, and no amount of fiddling was going to change that. 

I don't have any imminent travel plans, and I think I'll take my vintage Singer 301 in for servicing and just travel with that for now. Sure it's only a straight stitch, but it makes a great stitch, with no fighting. I have two Singer 301's, and both need servicing. They have the exact same problem. The motor keeps slowing down to a crawl after sewing for a bit. I'm not sure if they are overheating or what. If I can get that issue sorted, I could travel with either of those machines. I'll be limited to straight stitch sewing, but that's mostly what I use anyway. Maybe I'll bring them both in at once, since the problem is likely the same on both. The Singer 301 is light enough to be a good travel machine, and I have travelled with both of them. I was looking for a newer machine so I'd have better lighting and a needle threader, but maybe those aren't worth the expense. After I get them serviced, I'll try an LED replacement bulb and see how much of a difference that makes. 

So did I get anything done besides deciding to return the new sewing machine? DH has another scooter rally planned for November, and this one will be run by his club. I talked him into a steampunk theme, so I'm making the rally bags with steampunk fabric, and I'm making a steampunk scooter quilt. I haven't started the quilt yet, but I cut out the rally bags.

I ordered the fabric last year, and I couldn't remember how much I ordered. It was 108" wide fabric. Last year I made 50 rally bags, and we used them all. I'm figuring this year we needed more. DH and I decided on 75 bags for this year. I was hoping I had enough fabric to also use it to back the rally quilt, which will be raffled off and proceeds will got to the local food pantry. I cut off a couple yards of fabric and put it aside for backing, and cut the rest up for rally bags. I ended up with enough for 88 bags, and I cut as many as I could. I think we will limit the rally to 75, but DH often sponsors other rallies, and he gives a Scooter 'Zine gift pack in one of my drawstring bags, so the extras will be used for that. Nothing goes to waste around here. I think these will be great bags, and I love how many of the scooter people tell me what they are using their bags for after the rally. It's a lot of work, but it is appreciated, and I prefer making reusable bags rather than using plastic. 

I hadn't worked on the temperature quilt since May 22, but yesterday I got caught up. I really like how it's coming out. 

Now to get caught up on the murder mystery quilt! I still haven't made May's block, and June's block comes out next week! 

Finally at Home!

 If the background of my photos the last three months looked like I was in a hotel, there's a good reason for that! Due to a nursing shortage, DH was sent to Yuma, AZ, and I went with him. During the three months we were there, we only came home one weekend That was a crazy weekend filled with a late Easter celebration, plus I had to baste, quilt, and bind the Amerivespa quilt. 

At this point I have sewed in a lot of hotel rooms. When I can, I bring a portable sewing table and a padded folding chair. The desks and chairs in hotel rooms are bad ergonomically for sewing. 

I always bring extra lighting, I've never stayed at a hotel with adequate lighting for sewing. I also bring a power strip so I can plug in my machine and extra lighting, no matter where the plug in the room is. 

Since I knew I'd be living in hotel for three solid months, I bought a larger folding cutting mat, and an extra wool pressing mat to keep with my travel stuff. I also bought a couple of folding rulers, because the last time I was sewing in a hotel I was lamenting the fact I didn't have any larger rulers. 

The hotel we stayed in this time had two desk type areas. One of those DH was using, but this was my area. I used it for counting units, sorting squares, and cutting. I don't know who designed this hotel, but they won't be getting my vote for good design. That countertop desk area, had a height of 34". To put that in perspective, most kitchen counters are 36" high, a kitchen table is usually 30" high, and my personal desk is 29" high. Basically, their design gave you something that is too high to sit at, and too short to stand at. I stood to cut, but it did bother my back to do so. I think that's a large part of why I stuck with the 2" squares so long, all those squares were already cut, as well as the 3.5" squares I was using with the four patches. I only had to cut background fabrics for some of the quilts.

If you wondered why I kept using the same background fabrics, maybe now you can guess. I only brought a few pieces of yardage with me, and although I did check out the local quilt shops and buy some fat quarters, I did not want to purchase solids in Yuma when I had plenty at home. Since I knew I was mostly going to be busting scraps, I opted to bring six yards lengths of a red (always good with scrap quilts), a darker gray (grey), an odd shade of blue that didn't match much, and some dark teal, which I find is a great contrast to most scraps and adds a more modern look. I also brought a length of cream with me, but I had a specific quilt in mind for that, and I didn't get to it. I used all six yards of the gray and the blue, and I have less than a yard of red left. The teal I bought was smaller, and it's gone. There were several times I would have chosen a different fabric had I been at home, but making do with what you have is a good skill to have. 

I didn't take a photo of my sewing table set up, because there was only one place in the room that my sewing table would fit, directly in front of a full length mirror. I tried taking a photo, but the mirror was directly across from the window, so there was a lot of glare. FYI, don't sew in front of a mirror if you don't have to, it caused a lot of eye strain because of the weird things it did to the light. I was adjusting the shades on the window constantly during the day to try to get some natural light but not be blinded. 

Every time I sew in a hotel, I think about what works and what doesn't. I'm really glad I bought the folding rulers and the larger folding cutting mat. Those were definitely worth the cost. The lighting I bought early on in my sewing in hotels days is indispensable, as is the power strip. 

What wasn't working for me? Well, I decided this is the last trip my Bernina 440 is going on, aside from the service shop when it needs it. There's nothing wrong with my Aurora, but after thinking about it, bringing my favorite machine with me isn't actually a great idea. On a trip you have to worry about it getting stolen, or knocks it may get from a fast stop, or hopefully not, an accident. My Bernina is over 12 years old, so it's no spring chicken, and travelling with it just isn't a great idea. I've often traveled with a Singer 301, but since I wasn't sure if I'd need to quilt the Amerivespa quilt at the hotel, I wanted something that would FMQ well, and be able to do the binding without a problem. Normally I wouldn't even consider FMQ or binding in a hotel, and thankfully, I didn't have to this time either, since I got it all done the one weekend we came home. 

I have had times when I brought the Singer 301 that I wished I had more options than a straight stitch, usually when I had to repair something. DH and I talked it over, and we decided it was time to buy a travel machine. I've already downsized four machines this year, so getting a new one wasn't too crazy. It arrived yesterday, but you'll have to wait until next week to see what I decided on. It's not set up yet. My criteria for a travel machine was sub $400, LED lighting, a needle threader and an extension table. I was also considering the weight of the machine, since we aren't getting any younger. Could I have just gone to a big box store and bought a super basic machine? Sure, but I would have hated it. I've never had a sewing machine stolen, nor had one damaged when traveling. So although those concerns had me not wanting a high end machine, I felt it was worth risking a bit to get one I'd actually enjoy sewing on. I hope I chose well. If something does happen to it, I'll be disappointed but not devastated. 

The other thing I'd really like to get for travel sewing is a larger Tutto case. I think I only have the medium case, maybe the large, but I'd really like an XL or even an XXL case. If we were only going away for a long weekend, and DH was bringing his scooter, I'd really like to be able to fit a sewing project in my Tutto case instead of always having to bring another tote with my project. Being able to pack everything for a few days into one case would be a great benefit. Tuttos are expensive, so I'll be watching for sales. This one I bought on a Black Friday sale, so maybe in November I'll get lucky on a larger version. 

I am very glad I brought all those two inch squares for my three month hotel stint. It gave me a huge variety of fabrics to play with, for not that much space. I had planned on switching projects that weekend I was home, but decided to only bring a couple extra projects to use as leaders/enders instead of swapping projects. I brought home all the finished quilt tops that same weekend, so I wasn't just adding to the stuff in the hotel room.

One other thing I had to grab that weekend? Piecing thread!

These are my empty spools from the three months of hotel sewing! I used over five miles of thread just piecing! Turns out I can get a lot of sewing done when I have no housework to do 😉

Now that I'm home I'm already enjoying all the things I was missing while I was at the hotel. We had two granddaughters spend a couple nights, a big family dinner, swimming with four of the grandkids, lunch and shopping with my sister, and even silly little things like my block design boards.

It's GOOD to be HOME!