PhD Challenge – Kelly's Kwilts

Latest Finishes

I know I haven’t been around in awhile, but I’ve been VERY busy getting things ready for my son’s arrival. I haven’t even had time to work on my Dear Jane quilt – although that could also be due to the carpal tunnel!

I’ve added another finish to the PhD Challenge for the quild, I finally got the Sudoku quilt quilted and bound. The best part of this quilt is that it is the first quilt I completed on my quilting frame with a pantograph! I haven’t been able to work on any others on the frame, even though I have many I could do because my belly is a little to large to get close to the frame! They’ll have to wait until after this little one is born!

I also managed to complete the Shower Quilt and a Wallhanging that allows me to put pictures in it. There’s lots of room left on the Shower Quilt to allow others to sign it once he’s born, but it looks pretty good in his bedroom.

I doubt I’ll be around much in the next few weeks, we’ll see what I can get done before he’s born (I’m not counting on it being very much!)

Happy Day!!!

I’ve had my Mini-Pinni frame for almost 2 years now and have really only played with it. I haven’t finished a SINGLE quilt on it! It wasn’t until March that I figured out why it wasn’t working correctly (this post). I decided that if I’m going to get anything else on my PhD list done before this baby is born, I have to be able to do some pantographs. So I went up today and tried the free one that came with the frame package. It worked! 🙂 I need the hubby to help me figure out the right way to hook the laser up to my machine so I don’t have to hold the button down while I’m sewing, but it works! I think the first one I do is going to be the Quilter’s Suduko that I put together in January. Hopefully I won’t make too much of a mess of it and be able to put the binding on in a few days!

Last weekend I put together the backing for the quilt for the shower. I mentioned last month that I wasn’t going to actually quilt it until after the shower, but I figured it might save me some time later if I figured out the backing now. I got out my Accuquilt Go and cut out tumbler blocks out of all the fabrics that were used in the front. Lucky for me I had just enough tumbler blocks to have enough for the backing without adding anything! This left some of the fat quarters that I didn’t know what to do with. So I got out the die that came with my Go and starting cutting them up into 4.5″ squares and 2.5″ squares where I could. I now have a nice pile of 4.5″ charm squares that I can use to make some more quilts! Not that I need to make anymore!

Since I already had the Go out, I decided to start going through all my scraps and see what could actually be saved and cut up into 4.5″ or 2.5″ squares or 2.5″ triangles. I still have more scraps that need to be cut up, but it will get done sooner or later. I also have a small pile of scraps that can be cut into 1.5″ strips (this needs to be done by hand since I don’t have the die for my Go). The 1.5″ strips will be used for my locker rug hooking. I know, I have way too many projects going!!! 🙂

Sorry, no pictures today!

Finish #7!

I finished yet another item off my PhD Challenge list! I finished quilting it the other day, but couldn’t put the binding on until I finished shirts for a client. Finished those yesterday and decided to put the binding and sleeve on it. It’s really small, so it didn’t take long to hand sew it on last night. That’s now 3 items for show and tell at guild this month! I want to work on quilting on the frame, but until everything gets moved around and set up I don’t want to add the machine weight to the frame. Mom and dad are coming over tomorrow night so dad can help Michael move the bed from the nursery into the “guest” room.

Yet another finish!

I actually quilted this yesterday, but finished putting it together today. I’m very happy to get another item off my PhD Challenge list. I have 1 more item that I’d like to see if I can finish today, if I can then I can have the hubby put my machine on the frame and I can play with learning how to use the laser and the pantograph. If it works I have a BUNCH of quilts on the PhD list that can be done with a pantograph. I have a job for a client that has to be done before I can play though, but I’m planning on doing that tomorrow!

I didn’t come up with this idea on my own, I found it on Kim’s Blog. I made a change to it and rotated the blocks in the center, just because I liked it that way better. I used my Accuquilt Go to cut all the squares and triangles on this and it was so fast to cut everything out! I have lots of scraps left, and I have a few ideas of what I can do with them. I just want to finish some other projects before I start a new one! Since I didn’t feel like making a lot of these blocks (they finish at 24″ x 24″) I decided to make it into a pillow. I just need to get to JoAnn’s to buy a pillow form.

Batik Lap Quilt Finished!

I have finally finished the batik lap quilt. Since there were so many squares on this quilt I didn’t know how to quilt it. After a lot of pondering, I decided to print out a different design from my Quilting Designs software. I have volume 1 and 2 – but I do want all the rest! I had to pick 49 different designs from the software and it was not easy! Once I had all the designs picked out I printed each one on Floriani Stitch-n-Wash stabilizer, pinned it to the block I wanted it on and stitched away. Because I had so many designs from each category I pulled them into EQ and decided where each was going to be placed before I started stitching anything. This allowed me to play with placement and EQ7! It took me a couple weeks of serious work, but I finally got all 49 quilted. Once I got the binding on and washed it I found that the Stitch-n-wash was “stuck” under the quilting but all the rest was washed away. This resulted in me sitting for nights on end with tweezers and a lint roller picking the pieces out of my quilting. I didn’t mind so much since it meant I could easily sit in my husband’s office on the couch and talk to him while I worked on it. I’m glad that it’s completed and I can finally mark that one off the list!

When will I learn?

Ok, first off I need to make a correction to my last post. The “Love” block that I completed is by McKenna Ryan – NOT Ryan McKenna! I don’t know why I didn’t double check that before I posted!

I’ve almost completed the quilt top for the shower, I just need to decide if I’m appliqueing his name or doing it on my embroidery machine. I just can’t make a decision! I’ve got scrappy stars top made, I just need to decide on fabric for the back. It’s going to be a 24″ x 24″ pillow (once I buy the pillow form). I need to do some simple quilting to make it look more like a star before I can put the whole thing together, but it’s another item off my PhD list!

I’m teaching another set of classes at the Amherst Public Library at the end of August. They’ve recently setup a computer lab, so this might become a regular gig for me!

So to better explain todays post title, I was working on putting the borders on the tumbler quilt top and my machine was making some weird noises. So since I needed to refill bobbins anyway I decided to take the plate off and see if something was caught. To my surprise it’s been awhile since I’ve cleaned under the plate!!!! Once I got it all cleaned out and put back together it is running better and sounds wonderful!

I also have a small cross stitch picture that I finished recently for one of my husband’s employees that got married on Friday. I seem to make these for everyone we know that gets married, it’s personal, quick, inexpensive (if you can get the frames on sale) and I love making things for people!

I’ll be back later with another post, I finished the batik lap quilt!!!

New Finishes

I’ve been working on lots of different projects at the same time. I’ve quilted the batik lap quilt but still need to do some finish work on it before it’s considered complete. I took a day and completed the Ryan McKenna Love block that I’ve had sitting here for at least a year if not more. And I’ve been working on a quilt for the baby shower that will have enough blocks for everyone to write something to the baby. I’m not planning on quilting it until after the shower, it’s easier to write on the blocks if there is no batting in the way. Learned that after the quilt I made for Diane last year. I’m trying hard to get as many quilts completed before the baby is born that I can, I doubt I’ll have time to work on anything after he’s born 🙂 I officially have 5 out of 15 items from my PhD list completed. I’m hoping to get quite a few more done, especially since most of them just need to be quilted!

Yesterday I received the fabric I ordered from ebay to finish the tumbler quilt. I think Kimmie wants it and I’m planning on using the pantograph I have for the quilt frame to quilt it. This one wasn’t on my PhD list, but it’s another finish!

June blocks & a Finish

I finished the June blocks pretty quickly. I cut everything out before vacation, and even got the Irish Chain block completed. All I needed to do today was put the 2 stars together. I can’t wait to start putting the top together, this is going to look so cool when it’s done!

I was also able to quilt and bind the 2009 Quilt Show BOM. However, since I never finished it (only completed month 1) I decided to make it into a table topper. Then I changed my mind and put a sleeve on it so I can hang it in my half bath that has a red, white and blue theme. It was something easy to work on during the flight to Florida. Another finish for the year!!!

Finish #2!

I finished another one of my table runners! It’s the patriotic one that was charm squares my husband got me on one of his trips. I miss his trips, I don’t get fabric gifts anymore 🙂 But at least now I have 2 items finished from my PhD list.

Well, I’ve been an idiot for the last year or so when it comes to my quilting frame. I had bought a Mini-Pinni frame and bought the stitch regulator that works for my sewing machine. I was having lots of problems getting it to work properly and I just gave up working on it since I was so frustrated. Now that I have so many tops finished I’d like to get quilted, I decided to try again. Again, it wasn’t working right and I got frustrated. But I started looking at the manual for the stitch regulator. Everything looked setup right, but when I asked the hubby if he remembered changing the jumpers for my machine, he couldn’t remember. Sure enough that was the problem! Once he fixed the jumpers it started working right! The tension is looking good and I’ve been practicing on some muslin. Yesterday we went and bought a laser pen at Staples so I can try doing pantographs from the back of the machine. If my test works out well, I’ll start quilting one of my tops that needs done!

Since my machine is upstairs on the frame, I can’t work on the Quilt Show BOM yet. I printed out the instructions today, I have to pull the fabrics that I’m going to use with it.

It’s been snowing a lot lately, so much that we now have 20 inches on our deck! Some of that is from drifting, but not all of it! Please Spring, come soon!!!!!!

A Finish!!!

I finally finished something! I joined the guild’s PhD challenge and decided to work on something from the list last week. I finished the tumbler table runner that has been a finished top for well over a year. I’m not very good with free motion quilting so I decided to practice and meandered the table runner. It’s not too bad, but I had some tension issues at the beginning. It doesn’t look too bad actually 🙂