How to do swoopy, or woodgrain, style machine quilting...

My friend Lynz prompted me to make a blog entry about how to do "swoopy" machine quilting. I was inspired to try this when I saw a small quilt done by a lady named Krommama, over at Flickr. I studied her quilt for a bit and then just went for it on my little zigzag quilt, the Blue Morpho.

It came out really nicely so I did it again on the Amethyst Matrix, a companion piece which resides right next to the first one, on the bed, under a cat or two. Since they would be side-by-side, I wanted the quilts to have a lot of things in common- the colors/fabrics, the quilting, and the size.

One major note- I did this style quilting on these quilts first- these measure about 40 x 48" and it was pretty easy to do the quilting. Then I did a bigger quilt and it was NOT so easy to do, because of all the turning involved. I spent more time and energy wadding the quilt up and shoving it thru the small throat of my machine until I was about ready to scream. That quilt was about 70 x 84" and it was actually easier to work on the middle of the quilt instead of the edges, which was a shock to me, I've always disliked doing the middle before. So take my word for it, please and save yourself some aggravation. The smaller the quilt, the better for this style of quilting.

So to begin, I drew it out roughly on some paper just to give me an idea of where to start, but I didn't draw anything on the actual quilt sandwich which was basted together with pins.

Use your walking foot if you have one, it makes things so much easier!

I stitched a few main lines on the quilt.A couple of them go all the way from the top to the bottom, others don't, but you need to put some in there to keep things together nicely and to give yourself something to work off of as you continue stitching, a guide if you will.

Then you start filling in the blank places. I start out stitching with my lines about an inch apart but it varies here and there. There's a lot of turning in this quilt, except for those long, straight lines. Having a "needle down" position is really helpful and makes it a lot easier. Stop and ponder it every now and then, make sure you're getting the effect you want and aren't stitching yourself into a corner. Take it out and lay it on the floor, squint at it and try to picture what you want and where you want it. It won't take you long to realize how fun this is!

You can do knot holes, wood grain, butterfly wings, etc. All kinds of lines work well and you can do all of them in one quilt.

I have this posted at Flickr, too, on my photostream. You might get more info there in amongst the other questions asked and answered. I recommend reading that post and checking out the note.

Have fun doing this, once you get a little confident, you can get really creative with it.

And here you can see where Lynz did it on her swappy Christmas quilt!

I got my wonky log cabin blocks finished for the Hooter quilt today!

And I'm glad they're done, they were consuming all my time and the craft room is a wreck! I need to get busy on special orders and purse making. I have a few obligations to finish up and I am NOT good at working on several different things at one time, I seem to be able to cover every slightly flat surface with stuff and then I can't find anything. I love finishing things up so I can put all the bits and pieces away!

I think this is the final layout unless I spot a problem, I have to photograph it and then put all the blocks up or the cats will make a mess of them and if anyone tore them up, I'd be miffed.

This funny little guy is in one of my favorite blocks, it's simple and sweet, kind of like he is, I imagine.

And what the heck? There's a pussycat in the owl quilt! How did THAT get there? Nosey Parker must have done that when we were all asleep.

Yep. Busted!

My contribution to the Blogger's Quilt Festival...

The Blogger's Quilt Festival is being hosted by Amy of Parkcitygirl- it's going to be great fun to see all the quilts on display, I'm just afraid that I'll find it TOO inspirational!

My latest finished quilt is the Amethyst Matrix, the 2nd one I did for Amy's quilt along, the zigzag quilt. I did a zigzag quilt first, the Morpho, and then I needed another one to finish covering the foot of our bed, where the cats all hang out. So I laid this one out differently and just love it.

The Nosey Parker seal of approval, even if it's in the rocker instead of on the foot of the bed.

This was the 4th quilt I have finished. I started in March with the Oh,Fransson quilt along, the Mod Sampler. Then I participated in the Old Red Barn Quilt Along and while my attempt at using too many different bright fat quarters didn't work out, it forced me to find an alternate use for all those strips and I came up with a coin stack quilt which taught me a lot. It's the Lemonade quilt, for several reasons you can read about if you'd like to. After that, Amy's zigzag quilt and now we're working on John's (QuiltDad) Wonky Log Cabin quilt. Soon, we're onto circles!

This quilting stuff is addictive!

Rude awakenings and cereal killers....

Mmmm- Twangy!

Last night was a doozie- we had storms all night and lost our satellite reception, so Jim headed off to bed early and I worked on my wonky quilt until I could barely keep my eyes open, I'd been up since 3 that morning. I headed to bed but the beasts were restless and wouldn't settle down. I ended up taking Paisley out in the pouring rain because when she has to go, she really has to go. She's so good though, rain doesn't stop her. Can't say that about the other 2 sissies- I think they held it for about 12 hours until their daddy went out in the rain with them. He took Paisley out again at 2:30 AM and while they were out, we had the biggest rumble of thunder I've ever heard- it went on and on and the whole house vibrated and shook, I thought we were having an earthquake! Poor P- she hates thunder and lightning and we have to leave a light on in the bathroom if it's dark outside so she won't see it as much. She didn't like being outside when that happened. I don't blame her. I was scared and I was in the bed!

Anyway, we finally were getting some good sleep (me with a pillow over my head to block out the light) when KA-RASH CRASH CRASH crashcrashcrashcrashcrash tinkletinkletinkle!!!! What the HE!! was that and even more importantly, where did it happen? Jim leapt up, the kitten disappeared under the bed, the dogs got riled and I ......... sat up. lol The clock says- 3 AM. Again. *snork* This is getting to be a habit.

Our hearts were pounding, we'd never heard anything like that before. Next thing I know, Jim's out on the front porch and I hear him sweet talking our orange and white cat, Beeswax. It's still raining out and the cat is out in it. Whatever happened scared him, too! He finally got him to come up the stairs and into the house, dried him off, came back to bed.

So? What happened, you ask? I'll show you.

Before

It's a giant margarita fountain.

After

It's a big fat mess. 500 little green glass marbles and broken glass. Oh, did I mention? Our bed is about 3 feet that way <<<<<. Jim thinks Beez was trying to get our attention so one of us would open the front door for him. Well. He DID! Little jerk. I just can't have anything nice anymore! My fountain is toast. And I have 400 more little marbles to pick up. I need a nap.

The Aspens Were Turning......

The aspen trees were SO pretty in Steamboat Springs and out at the lake. These photos were taken out at the lake in a huge grove of OLD aspens, some of them had carvings on them from the 50's. Once again, we had a great time with our friends Katie and Patrick and we thank them for letting us stay at their beautiful homes and hanging out with them, it was a lot of fun and we had so many laughs!

The view from this piece of property is breathtaking- you can see Steamboat Lake, Hahn's Peak, the village below it, even the dam at the far right end of the lake (not seen in this photo). The aspen grove is behind us now, we had to walk down thru it to get to this point, see Jim on the trail? Everything out there is HUGE. He looks so tiny. No wonder Patrick wanted us to see this! He's right, this is THE spot for a house at the lake. Of course, their house has views that rival this, it's about 100 acres to the left of this one.


It seems like ages ago since my last post, probably because it was! To those of you who emailed me, worried, I apologize. It just got crazy here before we headed off to Colorado- I had to teach a class on making a quilted duffle bag and that threw my whole schedule into a tizzy. Then I decided I needed a special purse for the trip and quick whipped up one my little strappy bags made out of that cool paint-by-number deer fabric that I found on Etsy.

I was able to get all the machine sewing done before we left and I finished the hand sewing part of it in the car, using my handy-dandy sewing organizer/caddy. I just love these little purses and I'm in the process of making a real pattern for it and soon I'll be teaching a class on them. I just need to perfect the purse first and come up with a zippered closure for the top of it, an alternative to the elastic closure that I prefer. I also have an order for purse slightly larger than this one, I need to get on that, too. Busy, busy.

Anyway, CO was beautiful. It snowed a few days after we got there but melted soon after and when the weather cleared up and got sunny, we went for a few hikes. This was taken at King Solomon's Creek. We wanted to hike to the falls but the way was too wet and treacherous so we headed to Nipple Peak, instead.

Katie, Jim, me and Shep, our friend Pam's dog, he's a good boy!

The Lodge Pole Pines have been decimated by a pine boring beetle and a lot of logging has been going on. Our friend Pam tried to beat me in a game of tic-tac-toe, but it was a tie game. :)

Pam is X's.

I am O's.

I had a lot of fun feeding and photographing my little friends, the chipmunks. I just love these guys, they are incredibly tiny! This one had had a small problem with its tail, part of it is missing, but isn't it cute? If I lived there, I have them all eating out of the palm of my hand, I just didn't have enough time to get them to trust me. They came close a few times but I think it was by accident- when they'd notice me their eyes would get real big, a little shriek would come out of them and they'd skedaddle into the grass or up a wall or something, it was so funny. When I was sitting quietly, they wouldn't come near me. When I was talking on my cell phone, they'd practically run right over me, go figure. I guess they wanted some air time, too. They do love their peanuts, I'll say that for them. And stale bread, too.

This one was my favorite!

I really missed my sewing machine while we were away. Fortunately, Katie and Patrick needed something made and it was a hand-sewing project. They had seen fleece blankets for sale for using while flying, since the airline blankies can be kind of gross and unwashed. We off we went to the only place in Steamboat that sells fabric (sob) - Wal Mart. We got fleece for both of them and then proceeded to do a blanket stitch all the way around them and fashioned some straps so they can be hung over the handle of a carryon bag and dragged thru the airport with ease, or slung over the shoulder and carried like a purse. Katie's is like the latter, Patrick's is the black one and he's still waiting for me to make him a matching pillow. I needed the machine for that!

This is their backyard at the house in town, that's the ski mountain but the slopes are off to the left.

And even more than my sewing machine, we missed Nosey Parker! She was at home with our pet sitter and all her brothers and sisters, just hanging out waiting for us.

I had a few photos of her in my phone- I would console myself by looking at them several times a day and saying "Where's the baby?" like we do all the time with her, it's a game we play. The little stinker took several days to warm back up to us after we got home, I was a little surprised about that. She's back to normal though, coming over to me in bed at 3 or 4 AM and wanting some cuddling and smooches, I just love when she does that! She's a busy girl and doesn't take too much time during the day for a cuddle, she's got things to do and places to explore. She's a good girl, though and she's still cracking us up on a regular basis!

More stories later, the house will awaken soon and I want to go sew a wonky block or 2 first. We're making a Wonky Log Cabin quilt and I have 7 blocks done, only a hoo-gob more to go (OK, maybe only 18 more, but it seems daunting to me!) It'll be 5 x 5, probably and the blocks are 15" square, so it'll finish out about 75" square. I may make it smaller, though, I'm not sure yet. I'm having fun with the Hooter Quilt. See the owls in the centers? :) Oh, the sashing is a dark brown, not black like you might think. Looks pretty sharp with the bright solids, I like it.

We have a drawing winner! Finally....

I'm sorry about the delay, it's a long story but suffice it to say I had no cell phone and no internet for about 36 hours and I hated that! I had so much to do and couldn't do any of it. So I quilted a quilt instead and first thing this morning headed to the big city to get a new phone and new USB modem. A few glitches during set up and finally I'm back in business. Phew.

So, on to the drawing! Thirteen of you signed up for a chance to win the original sewing organizer, thank you all so much!

We set up the rolly-ball thing that Nosey Parker just loves. These are the set-up photos...

Waiting on a kitten....

Oh, good, she's here. She looks a little dozey, though, what did you, Daddy, wake her up? Oh. Yeah, he did!

She wasn't real happy about it, either. I'm pretty sure I heard her complaining about having to do EVERYTHING around this joint. Twerp. Then she thought it would be fun to pull all the numbers off and try to eat them, some of them were pretty yommed by the time this was over. See that 5? It's got a lot of little holes in it and it's not in the right place, a MAN put it back. Did I tell you she was a twerp? It's true. She is.

Finally, she deigned to give it a push and the game was ON!

Man, that was exhausting work! Around and around and around she goes, and where it stops, nobody knows..... until it's stopped. Then it's obvious. lol

And the winner is- NOVA! She was the 9th poster on the giveaway. Nova, I'll contact you for your address, congratulations! Or you can email me at
flossieblossoms at yahoo dot com

Thanks again, everyone and again, I'm sorry about the delay! For Nosey's reward for a job well done, Daddy has taken her outside to run around. Her little tree escapades are giving us nightmares, but she has to learn because it's only a matter of days, probably, before she figures out the cat doors. I'm surprised she didn't figure them out weeks ago, frankly, she's usually quite bright, for a twerp!

Giveaway time! Sewing Organizer- Version 1.0.....

How would you like a chance to win the original sewing organizer I made? I used Kaffe Fassett materials for both the inside and the outside. Since I did actually USE it for a few days, I can't sell it on Etsy, but I can sure give it away! I've just washed it and it's in the dryer right now. It's just like new, you wouldn't ever know it wasn't if I hadn't told you. I mean, it's not like it's half-eaten or anything! rofl

If you'd like a chance to win this, just leave a comment on this post. You don't have to do anything else but you're certainly welcome to spread the word. And if you would like to make your own sewing organizer, I posted a tutorial this morning. http://flossieblossoms.blogspot.com/2009/09/my-first-tutorial-sewing-organizer-part.html

I'll pick a winner on Friday morning using a random generator that I call Nosey Parker. We'll figure out a way to have her pick the winner. :) Good luck!

This is my 4th post today, how odd. At this rate, I'll hit the hundred mark.... oh, tomorrow! lol