A few quilting books

Good morning All,

Did you get some fun, quilty things for Christmas?  I did!

Not only did I get a bit of fabric to add to my stash :) But I also got a few quilt related books.

The first one I've been wanting for a little while now. My regular readers know I am trying to improve my free motion quilting, so any free motion quilting books I want to read and absorb.

My Sweetie got this one for me:

                                                          

                                                               

Molly seems to be a down to earth Gal. She says in her book " I would rather be fishing than shopping." My kind of gal :) Her book is rather like two books in one. You get some great tips and tricks, plus a few free motion quilting designs. And then you get projects.

She practices on small pieces, 12 x 15, 16 x 18 and such, and then turns those pieces into bags, runners, mats, etc.

A great book to add to your collection.

I enjoy reading stories about homesteading, opening up the West, prairie living, mountain living, etc. (As well as other genre's.)

This is the second book my sweetie got me:

 A book about her life on the prairie in the late 1800's.... she becomes a very proficient quilter :)
 Here's part of what it says on Amazon:

No Time on My Hands is a remarkable chronicle of the sod house era and of Grace Snyder’s married life on a ranch in Nebraska’s sandhills. From there she finally flies above the clouds to exhibits where her quilts contribute to a worldwide revival of quiltmaking. Mrs. Snyder lived twenty years after the publication of these memoirs in 1963, to the age of one hundred. Her daughter, Nellie Snyder Yost, who helped to write No Time on My Hands, has added an epilogue to this Bison edition.

So far, it's a nice read.

Hope you got some nice things too.

Have a great day!

The dino quilt

Hello All,

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas day.

A few days ago, I put the last stitches on my middle son's Dino quilt. Yah! It's finally done.

I pieced this quilt LAST year! and have just got around to quilting it up. Here's the back.

Thankfully, it's large enough that he can still use it ;)

When he was looking at it, the toddler decided it was his and he kept trying to take it from Carson. LOL, too funny. Isaiah  finally asked where his quilt was and he went to his room to get it.

So another one to check off the list!

I tried a variety of different fmqing designs. Practice, practice... one day I might be better at it. I like to practice on my quilts, instead of on little pieces of cloth. Although I got a wonderful book for Christmas, that uses those pieces of of practice work for bags and such. More on that in a few days.

Have a wonderful day!

WIP Wednesday

Hello All!

Another beautiful day here.

My August goal was to get this dino quilt from LAST August quilted. NOT going to happen.


                                  

I have started on it, am only about 1/4 the way thru.

I have a hard time doing large motifs. I am finding that I just really like to quilt small ones, all over the place.

I still need A LOT of practice.

It's a good thing I have a huge pile of tops to practice on ;)

Linking up with Lee.

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December catchup

Good morning Everyone!

Didn't mean to be silent for so long. The days are just flying by so quickly. Yet it seems that I get nothing accomplished. Some Christmas decorating has been done. And I really want to start making some special holiday cookies, just haven't done so yet.

Although I have been practicing my fmqing, on some Christmas gifts.

I have a long way to go before I am any good. But I'm having fun...

And thats what is important right? Just keep practicing...

I got my first set of X and + blocks from Pat :)

And we got our first snowfall of the Winter. Isaiah had a great time walking around looking at things that are half buried.

He liked to sit in it for awhile too. And then he had a snowball fight with 2 of his siblings :) And yes, he does have mittens ;)

I hope to come back soon and so you some more stuff I'm working on.

Have a great day!

 

Quilting as you go...and practicing

Hello Everyone,

I hope you all in the States are enjoying some cool Fall weather. I know I am :) And there is fresh snow on the mtn top! That always makes me happy.

I have four of these blocks. They are 15" square. A little design I made up for a quilt design contest a few years ago. As they've just been sitting and doing nothing, I thought I would do a quilt as I go method. While I practiced my FMQing.

 

 I was having a little trouble at first.... till I realized I hadn't put my stitch length to zero. lol Here's some pebbling, I got confused which way to go occasionally.

 I just did some simple lines in these blocks... but it's hard to keep the line curved right.

 My regular readers know how much I love flowers. They are getting a little easier.

I'm still having fun! It sure is going to take a lot of practice! I best see what other ufo's I have laying around, small ones, that I can practice on. I know there is a lot of them somewhere. LOL

Linking up with:

Quilt story
I have to say
Free motion by the river

workS in progress wednesday

Hello, hello everyone,

Hope you are all enjoying the winding down?? of Summer. At least it's cooling off a bit here. I am ready for crisp Fall days and chilly nights.

I got the book (Beginners guide to FMQing) I ordered and had such a great time doing some practicing. I was having tensions issues that I thought was operator error, I thought I just needed to get my sewing machine speed and hand movement speed better coordinated. Well, I am happy to say, I was wrong! After reading my new book, I realized I might have to loosen my top tension some more. And low and behold, it worked!!

This first picture, you can see the black thread from the front coming thru and looping. See it on the left hand side?  But once I set the top tension looser, look here on the right. Much better!

 Here's another piece. You can't see any black stitching at all :D I am having so much fun!

Here's the front of the second piece. It's a LOT harder to stay on the lines then a person would think!!! lol. Yup, need lots more practice.

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Another mystery quilt weekend is coming up this weekend!!  (The link is for ordering the pattern) Jess asked if I wanted to/have time to test. Of course I want too!!! I just hope I have the time too ;) lol

Here are the fabrics I am using.

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I have a post up on the Q&N blog about keeping organized while sewing big projects. Especially useful if you do not have a design wall.

Thats what I'm up to, what about you?

Linking up with Lee.


 

Quilting practice

Hello Everyone,

Do you have good weekend plans? We are going to enjoy another day or two of sunshine, then get some much needed rain. Rainy days are good days for practicing the quilting...if baby allows that is ;)

I've been getting my Paint Chip Challenge project finished up. It just needs the binding. I have 7 more days, so I best get it done!

I love my walking foot! This is the most dense quilting I've done.

I've also been working on my FMQing.

I wish the back looked as good.... I know, practice, practice! LOL.

I did discover that my machine much prefers me quilting with the feed dogs up. So that helped, once I figured it out.

This is something I want to start practicing a lot, as I really like it!!

Have a great day all!