Hmmm Anael, that give us something to think about . . .

was able to give the quilt to my friend this morning. I gave it to him folded up so could read the label first, then we held it up so he could see the front side. He was quite amazed that it was something that had personal meaning for him and said that made it extra special.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...pskyke46kt.jpg

Lol, Anael.....very Freudian. I think I thought about that when in school but I don't recall.:D

Macybaby......precious picture and such a thoughtful gift. Looks like he's getting around good so I hope it's an indication he's on the mend. Your gift turned out lovely.

Tons of chores done today but still had time to work on silly wall hanging. All machine applique work done and the minimal piecing blocks done. Tomorrow, I'll assemble and start cutting out SBS borders....

I should probably clean the house after being gone so long but I did it before we left and still looks good. I'll just feather dust and call it good.

Bluebell...I tried to PM you but your inbox is full. You are popular...lol!!

You think so ladies? :D :D :D

What a beautiful picture Cathy! Hopefully he will be able to use his quilt for years to come.

Don't clean Teen, tomorrow all will still be there for you ;)

Tomorrow I'm going on a 62 miles ride with my brother. My first, he's used to riding long distances. So I really should be in bed sleeping! Second time I'm wide awake and downstairs.
I'll post some photos when I'm back - or the day after tomorrow.

Please try again.

I finished up the silly wall hanging and posted a picture.... I keep giggling over it.

https://www.quiltingboard.com/pictur...ml#post8056758

I PM'd you....forgive my misspelling of your name. I have an aunt with the same name but spelled differently and I didn't notice I typed it like hers. :o

I promised you a few pictures of yesterday's ride. I made it.......haha! It was a great ride.

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This is Steam Pumping Station Arkemheen, situated in one of the oldest polders in The Nethrlands. It's still working as you can see.

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Lots of flying..........swans :D :D :D

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Muiden Castle, built in the late 13th century, demolished in 1300 and rebuilt in the 14th century.

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Craftsy is having a free weekend for Mother's Day. I started watching an Angela Walters class but boy, does she talk a lot!!! I'm getting tired just listening LOL. But she's sharing some interesting ideas about free motion quilting :)

Love your pictures Anael, and Teen, that wall hanging is a real hoot!

I've started watching Craftsy at 1.25 speed. I got the unlimited package with the free quilt and $25 coupon. I also have my tablet on the eliptical, so I watch while I walk. Have not done near as much as I should though, and need to get going on it.

I have knee, ankle and foot problems (from doing too many stupid things on horseback as a kid, most involved falling off and landing wrong ). I have to wear shoes all the time now and it took me a while to get use to sewing with shoes on, I'd always done it without before. But that limits the amount of walking I can do, and even minor bicycling will result in serious knee pain. But I can go for miles on the elliptical but the view gets boring real quick. So now I watch instructional videos, and that helps get me motivated to do more quilting (vs piecing).

Not sure what I'm going to do today, it's going to rain again so no garden work so I guess I'll just have to stay in and sew!

DH is still asleep and he has managed not to give me anymore hints on what he got me so I'm very curious - should find out some time today!

Happy Mother's Day, ladies......and Happy Birthday, Cathy!

Anael....gorgeous pictures. I would love to see that castle up close and personal. I love old architecture and the history behind them. Looks like you did good on your ride.....the swans were breathtaking.

Happy Birthday Cathy!!

Thanks ladies ;) We were close to the castle and I took some photos but the red entrance gate didn't look that well in the pictures so I tossed them. No way to make those disappear, not even with Photoshop LOL.

Here's another swan for you Teen
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I also love swans. My bedroom is decorated with them.

In case you were curious, my husband bought me a red popcorn bowl. I eat popcorn as a snack quite often so that will be nice instead of eating it out of the bag and making a mess. He also bought me a holster for my new pistol and a chocolate bar.

I bought myself a quilt kit, magnetic pin holder and a cd of embroidery designs - all of these were with a 25% off birthday coupon from my LQS.

I've spent the day putting backings together with all the quilt tops I had ready. one more to go and the whole lot can be hauled out to the LA shed. Then I'll have no quilt tops in the house, though my stack of quilts waiting to be bound is growing.

Oh....Anael....that is a beautiful picture. You are so good with a camera.

Cathy....sounds like you had a lovely birthday and your hubbie knows you so well! He's a great shopper. What kit did you pick out? I've only made a couple of quilts using kits but some kits are just perfect selections of colors that's it's hard to just buy a pattern and compete with the kit colors. Connecting threads new catalog came out and there is a kit in it I have my eye on. You've really hustled on those quilt tops. Will feel so good when there is no more backlog of quilts, however, I'm sure your antsy to start something new. I know I would be.

with Mothers Day and church today, I did not get to sew.....dang! My borders are cut for SBS....so, this week is my challenge for myself. Get r' done...

Wow, looks like you had a wonderful day!

One more swan :D

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OMGoodness! Gorgeous picture. Makes me want to try an art quilt.

So, Teen, very soon you'll show us your Swan art quilt? :D

Enjoyed the beautiful pictures from Anael, especially the one of the castle. Macybaby - happy belated birthday to you. I love popcorn too! Had a good Mother's Day -we had our first picnic of the year after church yesterday, & I enjoyed eating outside & watching my grandchildren play on the playground of the nice park we went too. Hope your Mother's Day was special too. Anael - do you celebrate that in the Netherlands?

Here's what happened in my sewing room over the weekend. And I am now officially over the half-way point on blocks! It's almost a charm quilt - other than the background fabric, I have only used the same fabric once (seemed like the thing to do at the time). A 99% charm quilt. Not sure I can make it through the rest of the blocks without another repeat, but we shall see. I didn't consider F-2 (Fool's Puzzle) especially difficult, but it sure took a while to cut all the pieces out.

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Congrats DonnaPea on getting halfway there!! Now you can count backwards :)
Well done on your blocks. Great fuzzy cutting on D2 !!
I hated F2!!

Yes we celebrate Mother's Day too. My youngest son was here with his wife and the grands. We had a lovely time together. I'm a bit like my mother who always said that, if we didn't appreciate her during the rest of the year, she didn't care for that one particular day LOL. It goes without saying we didn't celebrate Mother's Day at home hahaha!

Enjoy looking at your blocks. You certainly have a knack for putting fabrics together. Your blocks are so pretty.

Congratulations on reaching halfway, Donna!! Woohoo! Your blocks are wonderful. F2 looks good and glad it wasn't a nightmare block for you like it was for me. I'm good with curves but These were just too tiny for me. You've tackled a lot of the more complicated blocks so hopefully this last half will be a breeze.

Gorgeous day out today....need to clip my roses but sewing is on the agenda, too! Have a wonderful day, ladies!

I've been watching two Craftsy classes yesterday and now I would like to FMQ but temps are too high. So instead I worked in the garden today and watched some more video's on youtube. Now I'm trying to decide whether I'll purchase one of the Craftsy classes or not.

Yea Donna! Now it's all downhill!

I have backs ready for all my floppies including the SBS, so now it's out in the LA shed to wait it's turn. I have also been watching some craftsy classes and am itching to try some FMQ on my Juki2010. I've done just a bit of it on some other machines (vintage ones) so it's not totally new to me. I think it would be fun for smaller projects, I'll stick with the LA for the big ones.

Youtubes are great, aren't they? I pick up so much from watching them. I've watched a few of the Craftsy classes on FMQ and learned a lot. Some are worth the money and some, sadly, are not. My favorite class is the pieced borders class. Easy math tricks to help measure appropriately.

I stayed outside side longer than planned...then cleaned bathrooms...ugh! I'm off to sew. Good job, Cathy! What a relief to know you are ready to go when ready to tackle LA, I'm sure. Preparing backing and batting is my least favorite about quilting. I'd rather bind.

The one class I regret having purchased is the Dot to Dot quilting with Angela Walters. I learned a few things but not enough to justify the money spent. I'm not a fan of Angela Walters!

The only pieced border I ever made was a braided one. I never piece a border, I cut a few strips and sew them on the quilttop :D :D :D The first time I ever made a flange was the last quilt I finished. It was a faux flange though...hahaha. Easy peasy!

I don't like the sandwiching part of the quilting process. Once that's done I'm fine ;)

I'm not a fan of Angela Walters, either, as a teacher. She quilts amazingly, though. I think that faux flange is a cool trick and I don't do it any other way now. Same result with less hassle is my motto. I'll be doing that on my SBS...

speaking of.....the inner border is on!! Decided to do just one....this thing is big already before the applique border so re-evaluated. I'm working on applique border now...it's turning out better than I visualized...

the fear of sandwiching is the main reason I bought a LA. I can have a quilt loaded on the frame and ready to start stitching in about 30 mn.

I have never tried the flange binding, have never even looked fully at the tutorial. I do mine by machine and the narrow foot on my juki is perfect for getting a nice even topstitch just along the edge. It's one of the things that sold me on buying that machine. I took a bunch of test sewing with me, and one was a bit of binding on a potholder size sandwich.

I'm gonna research the Juki. I've heard many positive comments about it.

Teen, you're right about Angela's quilting, except when she teaches. Maybe she's just better on a LA?

How long before we can see your finished SB top? Can't wait to see it!!

Mace, I do my binding by machine also but the faux flange....haha! I loved it! I use the walking foot for attaching the second part of the binding. I tried the narrow foot once but I like the walking foot better.

I've never used a walking foot, though I have them for most of my machines (including the "penguin" for the FW). I even have a Pfaff with the built in one.

I can get a king size quilt fully bound in about an hour. And once I sit down at the machine, I do not get up again until it's done. I've seen so many tutorials about joining the binding, and most make it so much more work than it needs to be. It's actually really simple, and the key is to press over the diagonal on the leading edge (I match the direction of the other seams).

However since I seem to let my quilts build up and then do 4-5 bindings at a time, that repetition helps to hard code how to do it in my brain. Its like most things, if you do just a little bit (like one quilt) and then don't get back to it for a long time, you forget a lot. However if you do a lot at one time, then you get the muscle memory and the next time (even if it's been 6 months or more) your body remembers quicker how to do the motions.

I'm watching one of Angela's craftsy classes right now, and not has encouraged by it as some of the other instructors. It is getting me more enthusiastic about doing more FM with my quilting. I started out with a machine without robotics, and even had the HQ for a year before adding them. But now that I have them, I'm more tempted to use them. Was not what I intended, and in truth they can take more time than doing FMQ if you want a more free flowing pattern. Much easier to plan your starts and stops, and make things fit without a lot of resizing and adjusting the design. Though your arms get much more tired doing FM than watching the machine move itself!

Now that you mention the adjusting and resizing it makes sense. I always thought you load the quilt, start the computer and the machine does the rest. Not so.....haha! You need to have panto's to let the machine work on its own?

I always bind the quilt I quilted right after the quilting. Otherwise I might use the binding fabric in another project LOL. I don't join binding strips diagonal, I know I should but I never did. I know how to, that's not the problem, I just don't without a reason.

Funny because I use to think Machine embroidery was like that, hoop your fabric, load the design, thread the machine and hit "go" - very little thought required :p.

I guess we both were wrong!

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Silly, Anael! Welp, I gotta hit the LQS to buy another yard of my stem fabric. I don't have enough to cut on bias so to LQS I go after dentist appointment tomorrow. Bummer...:D Applique'd some more pieces today but had to stop until I have more stems. I should be on target for handing this off to LA at end of May. I'll share pictures when quilt complete...*wink*

On binding, I sew at the diagonal and do that technique that joins the ends. (I don't know what that technique is called if it even has a name). I started cutting the binding for SBS since I had to stop on applique. I'm gonna have to piece the back since it's so wide. I have plenty still on the bolt of the 2 main fabrics. I'm so glad I am using that stuff up. I am so close to finishing this baby I get more excited.

Interesting dialog about faux flange binding, long arm & embroidery machines, etc. I keep it pretty simple - I'm a hand quilter, almost exclusive. I occasionally machine quilt something if I need it quickly, but otherwise enjoy the zen of hand quilting. In, out, calm, peace, serenity - love it. I also just slap on the binding, hand sew it down. But you've caught my interest about faux flange binding - will look it up. That's what's so interesting about this board - exposure to so many different techniques.

2 more blocks done since the weekend:

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Oh wow, such great fuzzy cutting again!!! And such lovely colours :)

Yes I agree, you can learn a lot here! The faux binding is so easy and looks great on a quilt. I'm going to use it more often now that I know how to do it.

Wow you, ladies have definitely been a talkative bunch.

Anael, love the photo of the castle and the swan. Such history you have. It's really beautiful to see.

Actually, all of you have shared such beautiful photos of your areas. They are really nice to share.

I would say I'm a tentative quilter at best. I much prefer piecing and sending out the larger quilts. (Much easier on me.) I carry a lot of tension in my hands and tend to pull and stretch to an inch of a "quilts" life. Not a good thing when quilting. They smaller projects I do quilt at home. But, still keep quilting down to a smaller scale. So as to not psyche myself out.

Donna Pea, congrats on making it to the half way point. Things are looking great. Your all scrappy blocks are going to make into an amazing quilt.

Teen can't wait to see your quilt with the applique borders on it.

Anael, I loved your first pp block. The blue and the stars just came out amazing.

Thank you Judith!!

Riding my bike is really great as I learn about our history too :) I thought I knew a bit but actually I don't know anything at all. It's been such a long time since I learned it......I forgot everything, oh well almost everything. And seeing the places where it actually took place is even better.
I'm planning on riding for a long time to come, hopefully I will be able to.

Today was my neighbor's funeral. My quilt was on his casket, he had a basket like casket made of cane (or reed?) instead of wood. It really was a beautiful casket/basket. I managed not to cry, though I was crying inside.
They mentioned the fact he was about to retire but didn't make it.....so I decided not to waste time on stuff I don't want to do or don't like besides the few things you really need to do.

Anael, sounds like it was a beautiful funeral. I love the visual picture I have in my mind of your lovely quilt on a basket-type coffin. So sad he didn't get the closure to a work-life that retirement brings. You're right - that does sort of put things we think are so important into perspective, doesn't it.

Donna....love your blocks. The kaleidoscope block turned out awesome with the he fabrics you chose. Keep on rockin girl! And, like you, I have learned so much from QB members. Truly a talented bunch of people, more so on this thread. Amazing skills. When you try the faux flange, you'll be doing it for all your quilts...it's super easy.

Judith....I've been quilting here and there but mostly take my quilts to LA. This SBS will be a bit of a challenge since I'm only asking her to do the blocks and I'm going to do the borders because of the applique. There is another LA who does FMQ on applique quilts but she charges an arm and a leg. My quilt shop friend has all hers done by this gal (she does really amazing, intricate hand applique stuff ....tons of ribbons received....3D layered stuff....phew...beyond me). The last quilt she took in cost $500 and took LA 6 mos to do. No thanks....I don't sew show worthy stuff so I'll keep my money for something else.

Anael....sad day for you and I'm so sorry. Funerals are sad but also reminders for the living that every moment is precious and should be lived as such. I'm sure your quilt looked amazing....very touching for you, I'm sure.

OMG!!! I shouldn't have let my husband choose the applique layout. I auditioned 3 borders and he chose the most challenging in terms of location on quilt. Then...Miss Picky (namely me) adds another splash of color here and there...more vines etc...so more applique. Ugh! I need to just stop it and finish this thing but I am enjoying playing. I think I've nailed the creative process down so it's just sewing now. Geesh!