Improvising New Stitches

Perhaps I'm a little OCD but I get really annoyed at stitches that only go to one side when I am centered on my seam line. For example #78 & #80 below- the the hearts and stars all face the same direction.


So I use 2 functions of my sewing machine to improvise the stitches that I want. I have a programmable memory on my machine that will store up to 30 stitches so when I want to use the star stitch (#80) I put 1 repeat of the star in the memory and then I use the mirror image function on my machine (it looks like a half circle with a dotted line mirror image half circle facing it)


and I program in 1 repeat of the mirror image of the star. I leaves the rest of the spaces in the memory blank so when I stitch it just alternates between the star and the mirror image of the star and now it looks like this:


When I want to do the hearts I just clear out the memory and repeat the process for that stitch:


I even tried it with my blanket stitch. Here's what it normally looks like (#63):

and after I alternate it in the memory:

and when I'm really bored I just combine several different stitches in the memory- here's 1 heart 1 star and 1 flower:

I just thought I'd share that incase you have these functions on your machine too but haven't tried them- you can have a lot of fun with them!

Ready for Quilting

I made the last cut and got my blocks basted so they are now headed towards the pile of blocks that are ready to be quilted.

What other projects are in that pile? I was wondering that myself and after a quick search it looks as if there are only 2 other projects in that pile now:

the one I started last fall with hand dyed fabrics



and one I started many years ago as an experiment. I had some metallic fabric that I wanted to try out and figured it would be the perfect project to try metallic threads on too.

It's been a learning experience. Mostly I learned I will never use metallic threads for decorative stitching again.


I think I'm going to make a goal of finishing the metallic one in time to put it in this year's CASA auction in November.

P.S. The blue & yellow one I was wondering what I should do with is headed to my dad's cousin who was recently in a terrible car accident.

Works in Progress

I got bored finishing projects I had already started and decided to start a couple of new quilts. The first one is another project using charm squares but this time I'm only doing one cut per charm and I'm putting nine charms together to form a block instead of four. I'm leaving the center charm in each block a solid piece of fabric and I'm going to use that same fabric for the sashing later.
Here's a pic of the charms before I cut them:


after the 1 cut:


Here they are pieced back together, now I just need to sew the 9 charms together:



The other project I started is the same cuts as my mom's "Warm chocolate Wrap" from our book but I'm making it twin sized and using some blue & yellow plaids that I've had for a few years. Here's a pic of my blocks with 5 cuts in them- I still have one more cut to do:


I'll try to make some progress and post again in a couple of days.

Easy to Go Crazy

I finished another one! I'm feeling very productive all the sudden! This one is the same as one of the quilts in our book only slightly different fabrics. The one in the book was made by my mother so I wanted to make one myself. There are seven quilts in the book that my mom made using cuts I haven't tried and I'd like to try them all eventually.
I'm having a bit of a dilemma about what to do with this quilt so I thought I'd put my options out there to see what you guys think. Option #1: Give it to an acquaintance who just had a baby (I don't know this person very well, so I'm worried it might be weird if I give her a quilt) Option #2: Put it in the charity quilt auction in November (which will make it a tax write off) #3: Save it for Christmas and give it to an as-of-yet-undecided person on my shopping list or #4: Try to sell it on Etsy. Thoughts?

close up:

back:

Weekend Fun

We've had some beautiful weather this weekend and we've been out enjoying it and I thought I'd share some of the photos:
The beach at Kincaid



Face painting at the Saturday market

Audrey was very proud of her Frosty

More fun at the Saturday market- Audrey's turn to paint

Shortcake

I just got my camera back from the repair shop! I'm so happy to have it home and it arrived right in time to show you the quilt I just finished. It's from my mom's Shortcake pattern which only takes 1 layer cake and 1 yard of fabric for the sashing & binding. It's fast and easy and I think it will be the perfect gift for a little girl I know that is turning 2 in August.
front:

close up:

back:

Pyramids

This is from a class I took at Seams Like Home about 2 years ago I think. So it's really a newbie to my UFO pile, but quilting a lapsize quilt seemed really appealing after that flannel beast. This pattern is usually called either 1,000 Pyramids or 10,000 Pyramids, I forget which, and has a ton of bias to deal with. It didn't stretch too bad although next time I will use a heavier hand with the starch before I cut my pieces out. And yes, you heard me right, I liked it so much I think I will make another one! Not right away- I'm not ready to give up on my battle against the UFO's- but I am starting to plan.

You can sort of see my quilting lines if you look really closely. I did a zig zag pattern following the same angle of the triangles (it reminds me of Charlie Brown's shirt).

And for the back I found a really cool varigated striped batik. All the fabrics on the front are batik too.

I've decided to give this one to a family member with a birthday in June- I hope she likes blue!