Machine Quilting Monday - What I Learned from Entering My Quilt in a Show

No, I haven't been machine quilting much lately, but I realized I had never wrapped up my experience of entering my quilt into the East Cobb Quilters Guild show back in June.

For the backstory, visit these posts first:

1. Bonnie Hunter - the class that started it all
1. too many posts to list over the years detailing the incremental progress being made (or not)
2. Bobbin Chicken - entering my quilt 
3. I'm In! - my quilt was accepted into the show
4. Bordering on Insanity - quilting String Spider Web
5. Hip to Be Square - blocking a quilt for the first time
6. Georgia Celebrates Quilts - seeing my quilt hanging in the show

We were in Boston when it was time to pick up the quilts, so Ben generously collected mine for me. I didn't see him until our July guild meeting, and then completely forgot about it.




The Stitch did an episode where they shared their judges comments, so I thought you might like to see mine.

The comments were very kind, and none of the critique was a surprise. For instance, I got a "Good" on Complexity of Design (it was a pattern, and not particularly challenging) and Piecing Techniques (I cut off most of my star points by making my original template wrong).

I also got a "Good" for Finishing Techniques, with a note that says "pieced binding frames quilt well but could be smoother and straighter." That's fair.

The only other "Good" I received was for Quilting Techniques, which has the words "even stitches/tension" underlined. Tell me something I didn't know! I was happy to be rated "Good" in this category since even stitches are still my biggest challenge, especially when quilting teeny, tiny pebbles and other motifs.

But I was thrilled to also have "Very Good" in every other category, as well as these positive comments:

• "Clever idea, great assortment of fabrics" (that's what you get when you take this many years to finish a quilt!)
• "Quilting motif well chosen specific to quilt" (shoutout to Christa Watson, Angela Walters, and my #machinequiltingbloghop partners in crime, Kristin, HollyAnne, and Vicki!)
• "Held up well under stiff competition" (squeeee! Lynn says this means it was held for consideration for a ribbon!)

I am so pleased with this experience and only regret that it took me so long to try entering a show outside my own guild. It was a great learning experience, and pushed me to do my best work. I know that this quilt truly has been practice for the ones that come next, and I look forward to stepping up my game in the future.

Have you ever entered a judged show? How was your experience?

Friday Finish - "Bliss" - Abri's Quilt

I'm so excited that Abri's quilt is finished and in the mail, heading towards Arizona to wrap Abri in all of our love and prayers while her leg heals. 

If you remember, Amy (aka @amyjodubya on Instagram) made this beautiful top, that she called "Bliss" after the fabric line it was made from. (by Bonnie and Camille for Moda)

The pattern is by Moose on the Porch Quilts, but I can't find the pertinent details. At one time it was a free pattern on the website, but she has changed her url and it looks like the link may have gotten lost in the move. I will be happy to update if anyone has the details.

fierce

On Monday I had finished quilting all but the border. I decided to take The Pit Boss's suggestion and quilt hearts, loops, and flowers along with words of encouragement. It's hard to see the white on white, but I quilted Abri, hope, love, faith, joy, fierce, cure, peace, and strength. 

strength

Then I trimmed the excess batting away, trimmed the back of the quilt 1 1/2" from the edge of the top, and folded it over. I stitched it down so that the "binding" is nice and secure.

All I had left to do was make a label. I wanted to document who had made the quilt and why, so there's a lot of information on it. I also didn't want it to be too stiff, so I used a printable fabric sheet made out of silk instead of cotton. 

Of course I was a nervous wreck when I washed it! It came out beautifully, just a little bit crinkly and cozy. The flannel back that Amy sent is soft and warm - perfect for snuggling under when you don't feel 100% fierce.

Now the quilt is finished, but our work is not done. If you would like to donate batting, fabric, time or money to make quilts for kids with cancer, please contact Quilts for Cure.

Quilts for Cure has also recently announced a great way to beat the system with a UFO Disposal Service. For a small donation, you can send your UFO away - guilt free! - to QfC to comfort a sick child.  

Today I'm linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it Up Friday , Busy Hands Quilts for Finished or Not Friday, and TGIFF (Thank Goodness it's Finished Friday) over at Pretty Piney.

Georgia Celebrates Quilts

It's time for the East Cobb Quilters Guild show, Georgia Celebrates Quilts! If you are in the the area, please take time to go today or tomorrow. It is a fantastic show full of over 300 mind boggling quilts. Plus my String Spider Web is there.

String Spider Web by Jennifer Greer

Last week a supportive and optimistic friend from work asked, "When do you find out if your quilt won?" Isn't she cute? I had to break it to her gently that I already knew, and there was no way in hell my quilt was going to win anything in this show. I'm not being modest or self-deprecating; I am very proud of my quilt and I love how it turned out, but it is not even in the same ballpark as the winners. There are quilts in this show that will make you weep for how beautiful they are with no ribbons on them. The winners are simply breathtaking. I cannot imagine how hard this was for the judges. Honestly, I'm just honored that my quilt was accepted.

My Belle by Cindy Christenson
Best Machine Quilting - Computer Guided. 1st Place - Special Technique

Being in the middle of the #machinequiltingbloghop, I was very drawn into the fabulous quilting in this show. There were some examples of every stitch we've practiced and many, many more. 

My Belle by Cindy Christenson
Best Machine Quilting - Computer Guided. 1st Place - Special Technique

My Belle by Cindy Christenson
Best Machine Quilting - Computer Guided. 1st Place - Special Technique

HollyAnne and I found ourselves leaning in, oohing and aahing, pointing out little details, and fighting off envy. 

My Belle by Cindy Christenson
Best Machine Quilting - Computer Guided. 1st Place - Special Technique

We found the section above and many more like it and called Lynn over to ask, what is that? She said it's microstippling. HollyAnne and I just looked at each other and agreed, we've both been calling regular stippling microstippling! It is so tiny and dense, and gives the illusion of snow.

Omigosh by Christie Stevens

And that's not to say that the piecing was lacking. There were so many quilts with so many tiny pieces. Walking away from this one I overheard someone say, "She obviously has a problem throwing away scraps." 

Omigosh by Christie Stevens

Yes, there are 10,000 pieces in Christie's quilt!

Bonkers by Lynn Rinehart

It was fun to see quilts by people we know... 

A Celebration of Lines by Ben Hollingsworth
3rd Place - Special Techniques

...especially quilts with ribbons on them. I didn't even realize this was Ben's, although I should have recognized his style immediately. He had been keeping under wraps until the show. 

A Celebration of Lines by Ben Hollingsworth
3rd Place - Special Techniques

If you look closely, you can see some very special lines on the elephant.

Snow Day by Andi Settlemoir Barney

I don't know how Andi still has time to quilt while running Red Hen, servicing machines, and working with Paul on Lasting Impressions. She is the queen of multitasking!  

These pictures are just the tip of the iceberg! I hope you make time to come see the quilts and shop with the vendors. 

#MachineQuiltingBlogHop Week 6 - Cornered

Welcome to Week 6 of the Machine Quilting Blog Hop!

Today we are working on Chapter 6 of The Ultimate Guide to Machine Quilting by Angela Walters and Christa Watson, Cornered.

I decided to practice this week's designs on an old round robin UFO with some questionable fabric choices but good borders to practice my quilting. I apologize for the photography. It has been raining for days. Not that we complain about the weather.

One of the designs I am having a lot of fun experimenting with is the triangles in all their variations. They're simple and quick - no more work than stitching in the ditch but much more interesting! I'm not marking them at all; I just aim for the point of the triangle and swoop over. No, they are not all exactly the same and they are not perfect, but I love the texture and effect.

The design that I thought I would like and which didn't look all that complicated is this spiral flower. It was way harder than I expected, and the first one definitely had to be ripped out. You know I don't do that lightly! I'm a big believer in practice and that it doesn't have to be perfect, so you know it is bad if I pulled out the seam ripper.

It got better as I went along.

The spiral hook design is beautiful but a little bit difficult to wrap your head around. I practiced it on paper quite a bit before attempting it on the quilt, and I still had some awkward moments. One thing I need to practice more is how to move around the space and fill in the gaps.

I'm a huge fan of this wavy plaid design. It is even easier than it looks and creates a beautiful texture. I think this would make a fantastic all over design in the negative space behind applique. 

We're moving right through the book, which is still on sale over at the Martingale site. Don't forget to visit Vicki, Kristin, and HollyAnne to see what they practiced this week. I think it's so cool how different we each approach the same material.

Please jump in and join us on your favorite social media channel using the hashtag #machinequiltingbloghop and post pictures of your progress. No blog required! It's lots of fun and it really does help improve your machine quilting skills.

Sunday Stash - Finally!

I haven't been linking up with Sunday Stash for awhile now because there hasn't been anything to share. I've managed not to take in any new fabric, but I haven't finished anything either.

However, this week I'm thrilled beyond words to tell you that String Spider Web is FINISHED and dropped off at the East Cobb Quilt Show, Georgia Celebrates Quilts!

What I didn't realize until I sat down to write this post is that I didn't take a picture of it all done. The good news is that I'll see it hanging in the show at the preview party on Wednesday night and can take a picture then. 

I can't even begin to imagine how much fabric I used with all the string piecing and the pieced back, but I'm going to put it at 9 yards total. I'm really happy to cross this 4 year old UFO off my list and check that yardage out of my stash.

Additionally, I completely forgot to calculate the yardage I gave away. I didn't measure before I brought a whole box of fabric to guild last month for the "Free to a Good Home" table, but again I'm going to guess at 5 yards. I love that the whole box, plus several hardback books and some patterns, were gone in an hour! I think a lot of it was taken by the charitable service committee, but I'm not sure enough to add it to my "used for charity" column. 

I'm still in the red, but the gap is closing. One more decent sized finish would get me back on the right side of zero.

• Fabric Used this Week: 9 yards
• Fabric Used year to Date: 21.5 yards
• Fabric Added this Week: 0 yards
• Fabric Added Year to Date: 23.5 yards
• Net Fabric for 2017: -2 yards used
• Used for Charity Year to Date: 2.5 yards
• Percentage Used for Charity: 33%

See more stash reports at Molli Sparkles!

#MachineQuiltingBlogHop Week 5 - Quatrefoil Applique

Welcome to Week 5 of the Machine Quilting Blog Hop!

Today we are working on Chapter 6 of The Ultimate Guide to Machine Quilting by Angela Walters and Christa Watson, Quatrefoil Applique. If you've been paying attention, you may have noticed that we skipped Chapter 4 and moved right on to Chapter 5 last week. That's because, when Vicki, Kristin, HollyAnne and I looked at Chapter 4, we all decided we were not ready for that one yet. Chapter 4 has been renamed Chapter 10, and we'll work up to that one at the end! 

So, even though it's week 5, we're working on Chapter 6. Clear as mud?

This week we move into the free motion quilting designs that are more in my wheelhouse; the curvy, loopy ones that come easier for me. In Christa's class back in February, she mentioned that most people have a preference for either the straight line designs or the rounder designs, and I definitely prefer the latter. I've done lots of loopy hearts and flowers going back to my earliest attempts at FMQ.

That's why I wasn't worried about what to do this week - I was already doing it! Remember how the String Spider Web quilt has to be dropped off by Saturday? Yes, I'm almost done quilting it! And I've been taking a few pages out of this awesome book for inspiration.

Some of these are easier to see from the back, so I'll try to show them to you from both sides.

I used Switchbacks in the background stars.

I used spirals in the spider web blocks. I'm sure it's obvious that I didn't mark them, and this is the one thing I may go back and redo after the show. Unfortunately I don't think I have time before the drop off to fix them ahead of time.

I used variations of Echo Plumes and Echo Leaves and Paisley and Pearls all along the border, and more switchbacks on the edges.

I really love how this is turning out. Even though it is far from perfect, and my stitch length is not even remotely consistent, it is still a giant leap forward in the complexity of my quilting. I just have to keep reminding myself that this quilt is practice for the next one.

If you haven't yet, please join us as we practice our way through this book and improve our machine quilting for our future quilts. You don't have to have a blog to participate - just use the hashtag #machinequiltingbloghop on your favorite social media channel.

One more thing I keep forgetting to mention is that the book is on sale over at the Martingale site. Now is a perfect time to buy it and start quilting along with us.

#MachineQuiltingBlogHop Week 2 - Choosing Colors

Welcome to Week 2 of the Machine Quilting Blog Hop!

Today we are working on Chapter 2 of The Ultimate Guide to Machine Quilting by Angela Walters and Christa Watson, Choosing Colors.

We're back to work on the quilt from last week's post. I chose to do the wood grain or flame stitch design in the star points. I thought it would give the star a little bit of movement and interest, but this stitch is much harder than I guessed. I have to say it's also not my favorite.

One of the topics in this chapter is about choosing thread color. So far I've used a violet Aurifil 50 wt cotton thread for all of the areas. I love the purple and green together, but for the next section of pebbling in the background, I decided I should switch to a neutral.

While I was working on these pebbles, I was listening to Frances's latest podcast. Ironically, as I was just hitting the point of the pebbling where you start to wonder why you even started, Frances was talking about the pendulum swing away from really dense quilting in the modern movement. 

Last, I'm wondering about leaving some areas unquilted, and I'd love some feedback. Can I leave the purple star points and the corner triangles unquilted? Is that a design choice or am I just being lazy? What do you think?

Please join us even if you don't have a blog. Use the hashtag #machinequiltingbloghop on your favorite social medial channel and get quilting. Remember, the only way to get better is to practice, practice, practice!