Quilting Tools 2

This post probably should have come first in my series of Quilting Tools since these are the very basic, most necessary tools for me and many other quilters.

First of course is the machine, a Janome 6600P which is a fabulous machine. It has a 9" throat which is an incredible improvement from a standard sized sewing machine. It could have come with a more comprehensive manual since I am certain it doesn't cover all that this machine is capable of. Don't forget the darning or free motion foot. Janome makes a fabulous free motion foot in high and low shank versions with changeable 'toes' and an adjustable height/presser foot, and it works without the noisy clackety clack of a bar over the needle screw. Love!

Then there are the Machingers Gloves . I always use these. I have tried other methods to give me 'grip' but always come back to these.

Next is the Queen Size Supreme Slider for the bed of my machine. It really helps me move the quilt sandwich more easily. Also note that my machine is recessed into my counter top surface. This helps with handling the quilt and also helps with the ergonomics of sitting at my machine.

Also pictured is a little doodled flamingo for a sick friend who loves flamingos. I'll finish it off as a small wall hanging with a simple zigzag edge finish after I do some quilting on the background.

Now it's time to serve up breakfast, sew I gotta go.....

Edited 5/20/12 to add link for supreme slider. The slider and machingers are available also from Leah Day.

Quilting Goals and Benchmarks

I'm having a bit of trouble with my camera so I'll have to get back to my series on tools in a few days. Meanwhile my thoughts have been on setting goals for myself in regards to my quilting. My main work in this season of life is to raise  my children and while that's great, it's a long-term goal without much of a measurable sense of achievement in the short-term. I quilt because it's one of the few things I do that stays done. I need a sense of accomplishment that comes from reaching for goals and achieving them. Too bad potty training, teaching math facts (we homeschool), and cooking up three meals a day (every dang day) doesn't quite do it for me. Maybe it ought to, but that's how it is.

I'd like to build my skills and hopefully position myself for some sort of part-time business when the kids are older, especially if we put them into school when they are older and definitely by when they are grown. I've met a few moms lately whose children have left the nest and they seem lost now. I don't want to be that way. I need to be Amy and Mom, and eventually more Amy and less Mom.

The internet is populated by a lot of talented moms who have been able to build a fabulous blog following and move into all kinds of crafty businesses. I don't think that's for me. I hang out with a lot of long arm quilters over on MQResource and many of them quilt for hire, but that's not likely to be me either.There's a new little quilt shop in town and I think I could be more active there, maybe teach some free motion quilting classes, but we'll have to see how it goes. I think I'd like teaching on a regular basis; I love sharing how fun and creative free motion quilting can be!

Ever since attending the Mid Atlantic Quilt Festival a few months ago, I've wondered if I should try making something for competition. Not that I think I'd win anything, but IF I could get something juried in, at least I'd get some judges comments to identify areas that need improvement. Certainly just learning how to get good enough photos for submission and figuring out all the competition requirements would be a challenge! So I've been looking for local and regional shows, which has me investigating different guilds.

With my commitment to the kids, it'll be a challenge just getting a quilt done, much less visit guilds and enter shows. I found a state guild that is very, very interesting and I hope to check it out. They have few meetings, quarterly I think, but those meeting include workshops with good teachers. In fact they just had their retreat, something they only do every other year. I found out about this group because Becky Goldsmith of Piece O Cake designs mentioned on her blog that she would be teaching there! I had to work really hard that weekend to keep from driving over and sneaking in. Lyric Kinard was there too along with a slew of great teachers.

Then I noticed the little challenges and calls for submissions in many of the quilting magazines. There's a color challenge for Quilting Arts Magazine that is interesting. Surely I can complete an 8x8" quilt and submit it? And there's SAQA, of which I am a member. They have several calls for submissions and competitions, but I'm not sure what I do is quite artsy enough for them.

I do know I want to get a new version of "Poured Out" put together for the Sacred Threads exhibit early next year, so I'd better get going on that. I also need to sell more of my pieces that I have in a local shop. It seems sales for all the artists there are stagnant so I should find a different venue, but I don't know what. Supposedly a full Etsy shop works better than one with just a few items posted here and there, so maybe I need to wait until I have a nice collection and get a friend with a better camera to shoot the items so I can get them posted and fill my inactive Etsy shop.

So have you stuck with me for this whole ramble? Hello? I'm open to ideas and comments. Do you set quilt goals? How do you grow as a quilter? There's a quilter online that is in Australia and she's part of a guild that has certification for different levels of quilting expertise, which sounds marvelous. I know there are programs for certification of teachers, judges, appraisers and the like here in the states, but I don't know of any official programs for just quilters.

Quilting Tools 1

Blogger told me my browser was no longer supported so I finally made the switch to Mozilla. Hopefully I haven't lost any information or vital links. I love doing quilty "research" on the web!

I picked up a new-to-me tool at the Mid Atlantic Quilt Festival; two stencils and a pounce pad to mark the stencils on the fabric. I don't usually use stencils for my quilting, mostly because I'm cheap frugal. But for these line stencils from  The Stencil Co. at quiltingstencils.com I'll gladly fork over the money. At $8.00 per stencil it wasn't too bad for what these lovely things will do. Below are the two large stencils:

These stencils are for marking lines for straight line quilting, piano keys or beadboard, crosshatching, and grids for grid-based designs. In the photo below, you can see I'm using what I call the positioning grid. There may be a more correct name for it, but that's what I'm calling it.

 I'm using the Quick Swipe pounce pad to mark the lines and it is removed with steam heat. Works like a charm once you get enough powder loaded into the new (clean) pad. Below you can see a faint white line just in front of my machine's foot where I used the lines to position my quilting design.

This small wall quilt is based on the Amish Diamond In The Square. The center quilting design is a butterfly surrounded by pebbles, swirls, feathers, and my attempt at "Nemeshing". "Nemeshing" is a quilting design developed by Bethanne Nemesh at White Arbor Quilting.

Forgive the cruddy photos as usual. I think I've got the hubby on board the idea that my point and shoot isn't up to the task of photographing the detail in my quilting.

Poured Out

I finally finished this quilt. I presented it to our church on Easter Sunday and below is the statement I read as I presented it. I had to read it as this was quite emotional for me. I only had to stop reading once and collect myself to stop tears. My camera and it's operator aren't the the best, so these pics don't do it justice.

"Poured Out"

When Eric was diagnosed with cancer in July of 2010, I needed an activity besides caring for him and the children to help keep from going completely crazy. Doctor’s appointments seemed unending and of course, housework and laundry never stay done but a stitch is a stitch and it stays that way. So I began doing more quilting whenever I could get a little time to myself.

This church had been such a help to us and I wanted to do something to show our gratitude. Making a wall quilt based on the church logo just seemed to be the perfect thing---if I could figure out how to do it. When I first drew out the design it seemed very surreal, as if the hands that were drawing were not my own. I am uncomfortable with "Art speak" or spiritual self-promotion but it did feel as if God was using me to create this.

I actually have a love/hate relationship with this quilt. When I started it, I didn't feel as if I had the technical skills to create it, but I just went with what I knew and hoped for the best. Consequently, I can point out numerous flaws, mistakes, and things that I would do differently if I did it again. But I think that this process is similar to our walk with Christ. With God, we learn as we go. The truly important part is to go; we go, are called, lead, follow.....but we go. And we learn on the way. The learning isn’t linear, it can be messy. Many times we move ahead to find we must step back and start over. I did a lot of ripping out of stitches on this quilt. There were times I just couldn't work on the thing because it wasn't as perfect as I had envisioned. Other times it was turning out so well that I was amazed. Then there were times that what this quilt represents was just too raw, too emotional, for me to work on. I put it aside many times.

Of course anyone that has been part of Grace Community Church for a while recognizes the pitcher of water representing the flowing out of God's mercy and grace upon us, the unending flow of Living Water that quenches the need of our souls. But there's another meaning for me.

During Eric's treatment for cancer there were times that I just felt utterly, completely, totally drained. That I had nothing left to give and that life was just sucking me dry. I had poured all I had on those I loved and felt empty. Ian was just 9 months old when we got Eric's diagnosis and I was already one tired momma. But over and over again, even when I didn't want to recognize it, His mercy, provision, and love flowed over me. This church was instrumental in how He poured out blessings over us.

The background of the quilt represents how God pulls His people together into one body. Nearly every block is quilted differently from the others, and yet it all still fits together into what I think of as a sort of wailing wall. We all are crying out for the Living Water of Christ which He pours out in abundance. There are a few hidden motifs in the quilt, a reference to how we rarely see clearly what God has planned for us and are called to trust in Him.

I would like to present this quilt as a gift to represent our thanks for all that this family of believers has done for us in the last few years and as an offering to God. I pray that the work of my hands is pleasing to Him and may touch those who see it, causing them to think on His pouring out of mercy and grace.