Pointless Quilter

Oh what fun we had tonight after dinner - we played Quelf.  If you need a fun and entertaining game for family and friends, I would recommend this game.  We all laughed so hard.  You have to do some silly things and answer some questions, or act out some pretty odd things.  It's a blast to play.  Here's a link about the game.   http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/19370/quelf   Anyway, I took some video of some of the funnies - the best was my nephew Drew had to slow dance like he was at a prom with the person on his left which would be my other nephew Shane.  Here's the video.  It's shaky because I was laughing so hard. Here's Marcy giving herself a wedgie. And Claire training Beverly the dog. And then I come to my room to update blog with photos and check my emails and I won the November Free Motion Quilting challenge package.  If I'm reading it right, I get a packet of five Aurifil threads, some Machinger quilting ...

  I finished the final month of the challenge which was taught by Patsy Thompson. I've watched several of her videos before but had never seen this lesson in mirroring the corners and centers. I only had a small section left on my quilt so I tried to make it look like a border. I hyper quilted too. Hard to tell but there is a dark purple with hyper quilting with a light purple. Here's the whole quilt finished. You can't see all the quilting in the black squares but it's all done in neon colors. I learned quite a bit. I've always machine quilted my own quilts but needed to learn some new all over designs and I've learned that you can always learn a new hint or tip and these tutorials didn't disappoint. In April I learned a new fill by Leah Day--the double stippling which I had never seen before. In June Cindy taught us to split the area in smaller sections and use different fills. Although I suck at it, I love Wendy Sheppard's August tutorial o...

Sara Vedeler was the teacher this month. She taught us how to do spirals in a row. I think I did okay. At the end (row on left near bottom) I didn't do the little line up before going down to the next spiral and I think I like that better. I have two more quilts pinned. One is a small redwork piece I put together for my mother-in-law and the second is a guild charity quilt that just needed quilting. Thanks for looking.   Posted with Blogsy

This months teacher for the Sew Cal Gal's Free Motion Challenge is Teri Lucas.  She wanted us to use different threads and needles.  Since I a using only neon threads on this quilt, my choices were limited.   I used some Madiera thread, and from Superior Threads some of the Brytes, New Brytes, Natures Color and some Rainbow Threads and I just bought some Connecting Threads spools and wanted to try those too.  they are pretty thick and I bought them to use when I raw edge applique with the buttonhole stitch.  Plus the prices are great.  It quilted nicely and if you really want your threads to show, this is the thread to use. On a personal quilting note, I finished machine quilted the HST quilt and have the binding on - with 3 more sides to hand sew down and a label.  I will work more on the binding after I post this blog and watch part two of the Ken Follet's World Without End series on Reelz.  Loved the books.  Love Ken Follet's books....

Got an iPad today and downloaded blogsy app to see if I can post from here. So I took picture of the FMQ challenge for this month and took picture with the pad and here it is. I didn't use the teacher's stencil or design since I had this one of my own to try.  Paula Reid was the teacher this month and she showed her fluff and stuff method. Woo hoo. Thanks for looking.  Having to edit on my laptop!  I'll figure it out soon. Posted with Blogsy

I don't have internet at home right now - well it's there, it's just my laptop won't connect.  It goes to the PC doctors this Thursday or Friday for some repairs and until then, I have no internet except through my phone. So because of that, I got a lot done this weekend.  First and foremost, I did my FMQ challenge.  The teacher this month is Wendy Sheppard - this month was the hardest for me.  We had to do these cute little jester hats.  However mine look more like bats that had no rhyme or reason.  My paper doodling was much better.  However this does fill the space and is a lot different from the scribbling or meandering. I dedicated this weekend to making boutique items for our guild.  We are having our first annual boutique in October and no one is sure what type of items will sell so we're trying all different kind of things.  The first things I made were these ties.  The blog where I got the pattern for the bow ties doesn't ...

First business.  I finally took some time to work on the July Free Motion Quilting Challenge.   This month's challenge was taught by Angela Walters.  She showed us another way to break up spaces.  I decided to keep my insides all the same  I need to remember that circles are time consuming but I love the look.   And as promised on the last post, here's a picture of me and Jack.  My mom, my niece Claire and I went to visit Kelly and Jack (Chad was working).  We also wanted to see her chickens, her garden and her chicken coop.  All so wonderful but the best part was seeing how much Jack is growing. He's talking a lot - I don't always know what he's saying, he is a giggler which I love.  No sound is sweeter than a child's laugh.  Anyway, we got one good picture of us.  He's a wiggler and wants to RUN!  And be chased.  And did I say he likes to laugh?  Check out the video I posted on the post be...

I finally got around to draw/doodle the June Free Motion Quilting Challenge.  I didn't even finish the page.  I did this at work (while I should have been working). The teacher this month was Cindy Needham (of Linen Quilt fame).  I've taken 2 real live classes with her before, one was her Vintage Linen class at Road to California several years ago and this last year I was able to take her Thread Bar class which was also very helpful.  She's a sweet lady and a great teacher and I would and have recommended her to many people who want to machine quilt.   This was a lot of fun but to fill in all those spaces is very time consuming so I guess this would be labors of love if I decided to do a big quilt filling in all of this. I've also finished two quilts except for the binding.  I plan on finishing that at a mini-Cambria retreat this weekend with some friends.  I also am bringing about 4 new projects to work on - hopefully I won't run out of th...

I joined Sew Cal Gal's Free Motion Quilting challenge and I got around to doing this month's challenge. April's FMQ Challenge This months teacher is Don Linn.  I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Linn and taking his Asian Salsa class when he came to our guild a few years ago.  Another friend took his free motion quilting class at Asilimar the next year and I got to peak in their room quite a bit and see what they were doing.  His seminars are funny and he is a wealth of information and an all around nice guy. I got this design from a Design Source Book - Oriental Flower Designs.  They are free designs that you can use and I find that a lot of them can be used for machine quilting.  At least an inspiration for quilting. I have a charity quilt pinned and my scrap quilt pinned this morning.  Will start those tomorrow. Thanks for looking.

While my machine was set up for machine quilting -finished my green and white quilt - just need to hand sew the binding down and do a label) I figured I'd work on the Free Motion Quilting challenge.  I also picked up another charity quilt from guild and figured I could practice on that too.  When I saw the tutorial for this months teacher I realized I had already completed the stars and loops last month.  See  here  and scroll down .  For information re: the challenge check out  Sew Cal Gal's Free Motion Quilting Challenge This is March's sample.  Used neon yellow in honor of the flowers. Just her basic loop design from the tutorial.  (Charity Quilt) Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to finally show the green and white quilt.  Yea!!!! Thanks for looking

Finally got around to completing the February Free Motion Quilting challenge - it was a lesson from Diane Gaudynski thru Sew Cal Gal's FMQ Monthly Challenge . It was Diane's signature feathers.  I've done feather before so the feather part wasn't too hard for me but I've never done them like she does so it was still quite a challenge.  Used neon pink on this block.  Looking at the pictures, I need to be more consistant with the echoing. Also worked on machine quilting a guilds charity quilt - did an all over loopy and star design - finished it this morning. Also putting the finishing touches on my Vintage Moments.  Just have to sew the binding down, make a sleeve and sew that down and then a label.  Next post you will see pictures.  Promise. Thanks for looking.

I decided to join Sew Cal Gal's Free Motion Quilting challenge.  I love to machine quilt but have always had a problem with background or all over design challenges.  I can do pretty good with stencils and I am fairly good at feathers, but all over designs stump me.  I have a problem keeping the designs consistent in size and look so I thought this challenge would help.  She (Sew Cal Gal) suggested some tops to make to keep all the samples in the same place and because I normally make things  little more difficult, I decided to make a different top.  I wanted to use my neon threads against black and designed this top for the monthly challenge. My dog Walter who instinctively knows when a quilt hits the ground. Here's my January sample piece. I didn't do too bad.  I went slow and tried not to get myself locked in a corner but I did a few times.  Anyway I practiced on paper and you saw my Valentine quilt I made for Anna where I tried to make ...