Beginners Unite! Quilting

We have pieced our quilt, sandwiched it and we are ready to quilt.

To be completely honest, I am a much stronger "piecer" than quilter. I have a few tips to share, though, and will hook you up with a couple of links to those who are more knowledgeable in this area.. Plus, stick around to the end and get the info for a Beginners Unite! Quilt Along, sponsored by Phat Quarters.

Tools that I use for quilting on my domestic include a good pair of gloves. I have quilting gloves, but I find they are bulky, so my go to are gardening gloves with the little rubber fingers.

I also use either a walking foot or a free motion foot. Lately, I have used the walking foot for everything. I don't have to decided on a design, I just stitch in the ditch and get it done. When I didn't have a walking foot or a free motion foot I simply used the foot that came with the machine, dropped my feed dogs and quilted away. It can be done.

When machine quilting on your domestic, start in the middle. I'm not an expert, so maybe others say differently, but I have found that it's worth figuring out the quilting pattern from the middle out, even with a lap sized quilt. This keeps the fabric from bunching, especially underneath where you can't see it, as it gets pushed out towards the edge. When using a walking foot (shown) keep the feed dongs up, if you are using a free motion foot, make sure the dogs are down. Start with your needle down, that way you know you are starting in the right place, and pull your thread ends towards the back. Hold them for just a second as you start, to keep them from getting tangled.

My plan is to just quilt the angles, so when I get back to my starting spot I am going to give myself some extra thread before I cut. We'll bury the threads when we are done. If you have a big project I recommend burying threads every now and then so you aren't faced with a bazillion threads to bury. That's no fun.

I work my way around the quilt.

Since I decided to just do the angles I had a lot of stops and starts. It's time to bury those threads. Burying your threads gives your quilt a nice finished look. The backs of my quilts and wall hangings before burying threads (BBT) looked a little rough. Knots all over the place. They are unsightly, but a good reminder of how much I learned, and how I wasn't afraid to try. FMQ (free motion quilting) can be intimidating, but if you can bite the bullet and just go for it, it will be worth it.

See the itty bitty loop? I'm going to use my pin to pull that all the way to the back.

Here is how I bury my threads. I have no idea if this is the "correct" way to do it, but it works for me. Please feel free to share your tips in the comments!!  Flip your top to the backside. Taking one thread, pull on it gently until you get a little loop of the thread from the top side. Pull it all the way to the back.

I do this for all of them before I start knotting.

My little knot loop and the pin goes through that loop and marks the spot I want the knot to end up at.

Make a little loop knot. (For the life of me I can't figure out how to tie a quilters knot, so this is what I do.) I have found that by putting a pin through the little loop know and holding it where I want the know to end up to, next to the backing, I don't end up with a knot half way up the thread.

Once you have your knot, thread your needle and take a stitch directly under the knot and coming up a little bit away from that point, making sure to catch some of the batting, but not coming out on the quilt front.

Pull the thread until the knot "pops" into the fabric. Keeping the thread taut, clip very carefully next to the fabric. (I'm a righty, holding the scissors with my left hand, so I can hold the camera in my right. That was interesting!!) Once the fabric smooths out, the thread will disappear.

Beautiful.

Your top is quilted, your threads are buried.

The back is just as pretty as the front.

Christa of  Christa Quilts (new book just came out yesterday and I'll share more in a couple of weeks) hit me with a link that has all of *her* links on free motion quilting articles. Trust me, you will want to check them out, because she teaches this stuff, I just play with it.

Find all of the links HERE.

These two are great starting points: Introduction to Free Motion Quilting and 10 Beginner Tips for FMQ.

Now. Drum roll, please! I'm hosting my very first Quilt Along, and it's especially for those who have been following Beginners Unite! Though anyone can join, obviously. We are going to be making the Here A Square, There A Square quilt I shared in June. This is currently a free pattern for a lap sized quilt.

I think this quilt is the perfect quilt to practice all of the topics we covered, plus a few more, like adding sashing and fussy cutting. I'm so very excited about this!!!  Phat Quarters is sponsoring the Beginners Unite Quilt Along and I'm using the beautiful Haiku 2 fabric line from Monaluna Organic Fabrics. Yum. Phat Quarters is also going to run a sale especially for us that I will announce August 20th along with more information. The Beginners Unite Quilt Along will start September 5th!

Happy Stitching!
Jen

1) Intro - May 2 

2) Quilting supplies ~ What makes the process easier - May 9
2a) Side Trip ~ Maintenance - May 11
3) Choosing fabric and color - May 16

4) Accurate cutting - May 23
4a) Side Trip ~ Cutting Large Yardage - May 25

5) That crazy scant 1/4 inch seam allowance - May 30

6) Sewing strips and squares - June 6

7) HST - Half Square Triangles (My one true love) - June 13

8) Flying Geese - June 20

9) What about those blocks that are just a tad off? - June 27
9) Strip Piecing - July 11

11) Is there a trick to keeping those points? - July 13
12) Adding Borders - July 18

13) Sandwich that top - July 25

14) Quilting ~ You are here - August 1

15) Binding - August 8
16) Labels  - August 15

August Muggamo

The August Muggamo pattern is here!

This is a simple, simple star, because we are entering into the "dog days" of summer now, and simple, quick and easy is important. 

If you are here for the Beginners Unite! series, it will post tomorrow, with an announcement for a quilt along. Come back for all the news!

Cutting

Cream - Four 2 1/2" squares

Green and Yellow - One 4" square

-Two 3 1/4" squares

*Draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of all the yellow squares*

Blue - One 2 1/2" square

Make your half square triangles first with the 4" green and yellow squares. Here is a post on how to make Half Square Triangles.

Hourglass units

Sew 1/4"  on both sides of the drawn line.

I still chain piece, even though there are only a few units being made.

Cut on line. Press towards green.

Draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of two HST units. Make sure the line is perpendicular to the seam.

Matching the units, opposite colors, sew 1/4" on both sides of the drawn line.

Cut on the line, press either way.

Square to 2 1/2". The pieces meet at the 1 1/4" mark.

Lay out your block.

Sew into rows first.

Then sew rows together.

Next sew the side piece, noting direction of HST.

Sew the star and side piece together.

Sandwich and pin.

Quilt. Once again I just did a quick stitch in the ditch.

Bind. Enjoy!

Happy Stitching!

Jen

When you make your August Muggamo, use #muggamo on social media so I can see what you made!

Beginners Unite! Sandwiching your quilt top

Your top is pieced and you are ready to quilt it.

As with all things quilty there are different preferences for sandwiching your quilt top. I'm going to show how I sandwich my tops. I cut my backing and batting a few inches larger than the pieced top. I don't do the full four inches all around that long armers require, but that's because I quilt on my domestic machine.

I pin all my tops, lap size to wall hanging. I use masking tape, curved safety pins and the awesome Kwik Klip (no affiliation). I don't use spray baste. I know some swear by it. I don't because 1) I've never had success with it, my fabric always slides and shifts and I end up in tears and 2) I live in Minnesota, the only time I can use spray baste with proper ventilation is about 2 months out of 12. Really. It's either forty below or 80% humidity. (I say that with love, there is no better place for living the four seasons than Minnesota!)

When I quilt wall hangings, I piece my batting. I know it's not going to get washed so I just zig zag the pieces together. 

Make sure you have nice straight edges, keep the seam in the middle and stitch. I use a 2.5 stitch length and 3.5 zig zag.

Lay out your backing, making sure it's nice and smooth. I'm showing a wall hanging, but I promise, I do this for the lap size as well, on my floor, which is going to end soon, because it's getting harder and harder to get up off the floor. Place piece of masking tape in the middle of one side, then making sure your backing is smooth and a little taut (no stretching) place another piece, exactly opposite,

on the other side.

Next, place a piece on either side of the middle tape, and across on the other side.

Then again, on the other side of the middle piece of tape, and again, across on the other side.

Repeat on the top and bottom.

Then smooth your batting over the backing and tape as you did the backing.

Lay your top over the layer and begin pinning from the center out. Pin every four inches or so. I just pin whatever looks right. Which, really means, I over pin. I'm a big believer in pinning. They are my favorite quilting tool for accuracy.

Don't miss any of the Beginners Unite! posts and make sure you come back for the August 2nd post for an exciting quilt along announcement! I'm moving the next Beginners post one day, because the August Muggamo pattern comes out on Tuesday.

Happy Stitching!

Jen

1) Intro - May 2 

2) Quilting supplies ~ What makes the process easier - May 9

2a) Side Trip ~ Maintenance - May 11

3) Choosing fabric and color - May 16

4) Accurate cutting - May 23

4a) Side Trip ~ Cutting Large Yardage - May 25

5) That crazy scant 1/4 inch seam allowance - May 30

6) Sewing strips and squares - June 6

7) HST - Half Square Triangles (My one true love) - June 13

8) Flying Geese - June 20

9) What about those blocks that are just a tad off? - June 27

9) Strip Piecing - July 11

11) Is there a trick to keeping those points? - July 13

12) Adding borders - July 17

13) Sandwich that top - You are here

14) Quilting - August 2

15) Binding - August 8
16) Labels - August 15

Picked By Jen ~ Fabric Basket from Pink Penguin

It has been a long time since I've done a Picked By Jen post. 

Picked By Jen is simply a pattern/tutorial that I have found, and made, and choose to share with you. The Fabric Basket from Pink Penguin is my choice for today.  

I am part of a Quilting Bee this year with eleven other quilters. Each month we make a block of the Queen Bee's choice, she will end up with eleven blocks, 12"finished and it will make a great quilt. 

I send little zipper pouches or fabric baskets with each block. It's fun to step away from quilt tops to make something quick and easy. 

The pouches are made in the same fabrics as the block. It makes for a quick sew, because the fabric has already been pulled, and since those colors were picked by the Queen Bee I know they will like them. 

This fabric basket is super easy and super fast. Both pluses when needing or wanting a quick finish. 

Happy Stitching!

Jen

Beginners Unite! Adding borders

Surprise! I added a topic, because I realized when I was writing the post on how to sandwich your quilts I hadn't talked about the borders.

Have you ever put borders on your finished top and ended up with waves? It can be so frustrating to have a beautiful top end up with bunched up borders, or sides that are waving at you. This can be easily avoided, and easily fixed if it happens. 

Designers give you measurements for your borders, but it is important to measure your top first, before cutting to those measurements. 

Here is how I put on borders. This is on a smaller scale, but it is the same for larger quilts, too. 

If you are putting on the side borders, first measure vertically. You need three numbers:

Left

Middle

Right

Write those measurements down. Add them, and then divide the total by three (finding the average means you divide by the number of measurements you've taken).

In this case the number is 8.458333333333, so I am going to cut my piece at 8.5" because it's close enough it won't make a difference.

I'm going to pin my border on. First I put a pin in each corner, then I pull the whole thing taut (do NOT stretch) and pin in the middle. Once I have those pins in I will pull the fabric between one corner and the middle pin taut and pin that middle. Repeat for the other side. In a larger quilt, you will use more pins. Pinning keeps the fabric from stretching and becoming wavy.

To add the top and bottom borders you will do the exact same thing, but take these measurements:

Top

Middle

Bottom. 

Add those three numbers, divide by three and use that number to cut the length of your border. Pin, stitch and press. Remember to lift and press, not push and press, that will cause wavy borders, too, by stretching the fabric.

You now have beautiful borders to frame your beautiful top. This block is a test block from Softly Circled. I made one and quickly decided the block needed to be bigger or it was going to send me to the loony bin way earlier than I have planned.

As in all things quilty, there are many ways to measure and add borders. You will get different advice from many different people. This is what works for me, I encourage you to use different techniques to find what works for you!

Happy Stitching!

Jen

I'm linking up with Tips and Tutorials from Quilting Jetgirl and Late Night Quilter.

Follow me on Instagram and Facebook.

1) Intro - May 2 

2) Quilting supplies ~ What makes the process easier - May 9
2a) Side Trip ~ Maintenance - May 11
3) Choosing fabric and color - May 16

4) Accurate cutting - May 23
4a) Side Trip ~ Cutting Large Yardage - May 25

5) That crazy scant 1/4 inch seam allowance - May 30

6) Sewing strips and squares - June 6

7) HST - Half Square Triangles (My one true love) - June 13

8) Flying Geese - June 20

9) What about those blocks that are just a tad off? - June 27
9) Strip Piecing - July 11

11) Is there a trick to keeping those points? - July 13
12) Adding borders - You are here

13) Sandwich that top - July 25

14) Quilting - August 1

15) Binding - August 8
16) Labels  - August 15