Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Well Magoo, You've Done It Again

That's probably not an appropriate title because Mr. Magoo was a buffoon and was always doing hairbrained things.  And I'm really impressed with myself on this one.  I've been sewing for a while and I've made a lot of quilts.  Until about 8 years ago, I always tied my quilts.  This means having to stretch the quilt out on tables and sewing the top to the bottom with embroidery floss and then you have to leave each tie with about an inch of floss remaining free.  This is a fine method, but I've always wanted to make "real" quilts that are actually quilted.

My mother bought the Handiquilter which we thought would be the answer to all of our quilting needs.  This was an early model of the Hanidquilter. They've come a long way.  But the version we had left me constantly saying THERE HAS TO BE A BETTER WAY!!  I quilted 2 large wedding quilts with the Handiquilter, and did  a lot of swearing, and I did a few baby quilts, but I finally gave in and told my mother to just sell it.  It was not for us.

My mother now sends her quilts out to be quilted.  The woman does a great job, but it really rachets up the price and it's just not something I will do.  For years, I heard about the "quilt as you go" method and thanks to the power of youtube, I learned just enough to get me into trouble!  But it lets me quilt on my regular machine, thanks to the quilting foot my mother gave me for Christmas.  The first thing I did on my machine was a baby quilt that I did not quilt as I went.  This made for a cumbersome afternoon.  And probably more swearing. And I learned very quickly that I have to get used to this machine quilting instead of the Handiquilter method.  It's exactly the opposite.  With the Handiquilter, you move the machine over the fabric.  With the regular sewing machine, you move the fabric around under the presser foot.

So, here is attempt number 2 at quilting on my machine.  AND quilting as I went.  I think it came out nicely.  My favorite part is this color!  I was like "ew, teal, yuck" but I had that material leftover, so I wanted to use it.  And I thought it might be nice with white.  Wow, I had no idea!!  If I had anything of a teal or aqua variety in my house, I'd keep it.  But I really don't, and I need to get these crafts out of my house, so I put it up on my etsy.  But here's your personal sneak preview.

PS: my second favorite part is the way the aqua thread shows up on the white.




Linking here:

http://www.glitterglueandpaint.com/throwback-thursday-3/

http://www.skiptomylou.org

6 comments:

  1. Yes, I looooove those colors! I think it turned out great :)

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  2. wow I am intimidated...you are so crafty!!


    sigh



    that is all

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  3. BEAUTIFUL!!!! Makes me long for my sewing machine and the totes full of fabric in the basement waiting for me to figure out how and when to fill my sewing/quilting passion again.

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  4. It's beautiful! Geez, what talent!

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  5. Wow! Great job! Learning to quilt is definitely on my someday list.

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  6. Hi, I come from linky party Throwback Thusday
    your quilting is very beautiful
    hugs from Italy
    Roberta
    La Sportina

    ReplyDelete

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