elly66

PaperPrincess Happy Birthday month! Have lots of fun. Pictures please if you splurge.

When taking stock this past two months, I've fallen twice. I really need to make it a month without adding to the stash. So that's my mini goal I guess. NO exemptions for me this month.

Krystyna

You are all too runny with the exemptions! I will admit I took a tumble. A friend of mine lost her husband recently. She's the nurse at the NICU that got all those quilts. But I felt she needed to have a quilt for herself. I asked what her favorite colors were and she said BLUE. The blues I have on hand are all too murky ... so ... do we get an exemption for condolence quilts?

AnngelAnne

I am thinking I read back a bit ago that if you have a purpose for a particular quilt it was good to go and I would say you more than have a purpose. You don't even need an exemption, you have a very good reason, and you didn't have what you needed to put a smile on her face. Murky doesn't not put smiles on, they just fit in to the right places when needed.

MadQuilter

Of course condolences have an exemption. It's a sad reason for an addition to the rules but a necessary one.

I finished the little hearts quilt at 4 a.m. so I am a happy camper. As soon as I get off the PC, I am going upstairs to pull out the next UFO. This one was pulled entirely from stash. I didn't have enough of one color for the sashing and the solution was a two-color sashing. This is also my first foray into ruler work. All the SID and the scallops are done with rulers. The hearts are echo-quilted with a swirl. I am quite pleased even though I see all the "issues" I would fix in a do-over.
http://www.quiltingboard.com/quiltin...284858-56.html

here is a closeup

PaperPrincess

Nice job, Martina!! Your scallops look great and your echoing around the heart is nice & even!!

rryder

Good job Martina! I like the scallops and the swirls. Watch out though cause ruler work can be addictive LOL! I've gotten to where I find myself planning quilts just so I can play with my rulers.

Rob

AnngelAnne

I am interested in this ruler idea you all are talking about. Is that something you can do with just a regular machine. You tube here I come. Martina your work looks great.

rryder

AnngelAnne, yes, you can do ruler work with a regular sewing machine. I first started doing ruler work on a regular sized domestic sewing machine, now I use a PQ1500s which is slightly larger, but you still sit down and move the quilt just like with a regular sewing machine.

To do ruler work you need to get a special ruler foot for your machine so that the rulers don't accidentally ride up over the foot or go under it causing the needle to hit the ruler. Check out Westalee ruler videos on Youtube, she shows some being used with a long arm, but she also has a bunch of videos showing use of rulers with a domestic machine. Other Youtube videos to check out: Amy Johnson of Amy's quilting adventures and Patsy Thompson. Amy Johnson has two classes on Craftsy on how to do ruler work on a domestic machine.

Rob

MadQuilter

Rob already covered it but I have to second that ruler work opens a whole new world to FMQ. I was amazed at how fast (and how much easier) SITD was with the ruler. The one thing to watch out for is that you can't lift the foot and drop the needle at the same time or you have a collision. I just make sure to not use the automated foot lift when I have the Westalee ruler attached. Easy-peasy.

Altairss

Since joining this group a couple years ago I have overall been good but have you ever done a purchase and just could not even bring yourself to feel guilty? Lol. Usually if I fall I make myself feel good and guilty about having done so but this last Friday I totally leaped off the wagon without feeling a trace of guilt. I had planned for over a month to go to sew expo with my big sis but at the last minute my big sis due to an infection could not go. I had budgeted 100 to pay for gas, ticket in as well as lunch so I figured I would have about 55 to spend on fabric. I really had a couple of fabrics I was looking for to finish some projects that I hoped to find.

I decided to hit a local store that I don't shop much at due to the parking I hate hate hate to parallel park! and the area is filled with one way narrow roads. They had just marked down a whole ton of fabrics and had gotten in about a 100 new bolts. As I browsed I realized I had that 100 that I had set aside and dang did I just go to town. I did get some fat quarters in fabric for a quilt idea that I have been slowly collecting for. A batik jewel box and a brick wall quilt and I found one of the fabrics I was looking for in the clearance but still although much of it I did not need I was utterly without guilt. Now its back on the wagon even though big sis now wants to take me to a cool place she just found.
Anyone else ever just feel gleeful instead of contrite for a splurge purchase?