Quilt-As-You-Go (QAYG)

The first one is Leah’s Quilt-As-You-Go (QAYG) method for joining pre-quilted blocks into a final quilt. Something ALL us quilting large quilts on a domestic machine should learn.

I first tried this method on this quilt I made in the late 1990s:

The blocks for this quilt were done with a stitch and flip method. The quilt top pieces, batting and backing were completed at the same time. Then we had to learn how to join the pre-quilted blocks to complete the quilt. The written handouts were poorly done, but the teacher was good and taught us the QAYG technique well. I loved it! It opened up new opportunities to me to be able to quilt my own quilts on a small domestic machine.

Since then, I’ve always been interested in learning more about Quilt-As-You-Go (QAYG) methods. Always striving to find the “perfect” method for me. Over the years, I’ve researched the method in books, on the Internet, and even attended a few workshops claiming to be the “best”. I’ve even tried some of the ideas too. I’ll admit, I was frustrated by some of the ideas I found. I won’t link to them specifically, as it’s not necessary, and doesn’t add any value to my post.

While planning the layout and design for my Scrappy Bed Quilt, I had decisions to make ahead of time on how I was going to quilt this monster 95″x115″ quilt on my domestic machine … and not kill myself in the process. ;)

As you’ll see in the photo above, I decided to work in rows for this quilt instead of individual blocks. I could have gone either way, but working in rows meant less blocks that I’d have to join to put the entire quilt back together.

Just for clarification purposes, the photo above shows what will become the top row of my quilt, it does not have the wide, black top border attached yet. It does have the thin white top border and enough extra batting and so that I can add the border once the top has been completed and its side borders added first. At the bottom, you’ll also see the first white sashing strips along with what will become the cornerstones in black and a 1″ or so overhang of batting/backing that will be trimmed to 1/2″ when joining the two rows together.

Drum roll … and getting to the point. Leah’s recent Quilt-As-You-Go blog post and video.

I think she’s nailed this technique perfectly. Finally, a QAYG method that’s explained well, results in a flat, consistent finish, on the front and back, and is easy to complete. For myself, I prefer to hand stitch the back, either using an appliqué stitch or a ladder stitch.

One thing I’d been struggling with in my own plans for my postage stamp quilt, was that the way I had originally planned to put the rows together meant appliqueing both the front and back sashing strips of the quilt. The way Leah’s shown us in her video, she’s stitching the front sections too. Downright Brilliant! if you ask me.

Since my front sashing pieces will finish at 1″, not 1/2″ as shown in Leah’s video, I’ll need to finish my rows/quilt differently than what Leah’s done. Whenever I get back to that quilt, I’ll be sure to share exactly how I did it. I am thrilled that Leah’s technique solved one BIG time-consuming part of my original plan.

What about you? After watching Leah’s video are you ready to give QAYG a try?

It’s NOT “Just Stippling”

The second post from Leah this week that caught my attention was her Love Letter to Stippling.

Have you ever found yourself thinking, or even saying, It’s JUST stippling. I know I have, with my own quilts for sure. Not about someone else’s, that would be mean!

After reading Leah’s post, I have a much better appreciation and even respect for stippling. It IS a beautiful quilt design and really, it’s not as easy to do well as one might initially think. It takes time and hours of practice to perfect, not just to execute the rounded free-flowing curves, but the density of quilting too. This is something I’ve struggled with in the past. I’m still not very good at doing a large meandering stipple. My stippling is often tightly stitched close together with little open space.

An example is my Springtime Chubby Chicks quilt I made for my parents. I used a slightly smaller, closer stitch in the chick blocks than in the white border:

And here is the same quilt after it’s been washed and puckered up nicely. I love the dimension the stipple creates and the raised patchwork.

Here’s my Happy Memories quilt.

I had actually planned to do a quick, large stipple for that quilt, but I didn’t get the density right from the beginning so I ended up working hard to maintain a consistent density throughout the top instead of ripping out the beginning stitches. It turned out fine, but I put in several more hours, and thread, than my initial quick idea!

Here’s the latest quilting project, my Love-ly Garden wall hanging. For this quilt, again I’m concentrating on being consistent throughout the entire background. I’ve slowed down while stitching and am looking ahead of where I’m going while keeping the overall area I’m working on in view. I’m pleased with how it’s looking so far.

What about you? Do you have a new respect for stippling after reading Leah’s post?

Be sure to follow along with Leah’s Free Motion Quilt-Along for more inspiration.

Remembrance Day | Veterans Day

~ Remembering ~

By: Ruth Gallant – November 11, 1998

Today is November the eleventh
A day to reflect upon heroes
And all that these men gave
To create a safer world for us
Through war they fought to make us free

I look up at a portrait
Of a man I never knew
He was my mother’s brother
Who died in World War II
A hero through and through

He was only thirty-five years old
When his life came to an end
He fought so others could be free
And in doing so died
Like so many other courageous men

So today I think of him
This man I never knew
And so many others who died
In lands across the sea
To keep freedom for you and me

There is a special symbol I wear
So proudly today upon my chest
It is a simple red poppy
For these men who died
Along with my thanks to each one

Freedom rings today
In this my homeland of Canada
But across the sea in foreign lands
Lie the bodies of many brave men
Who fought to keep us free

God Bless them today and always
And may we never forget
Just what each gave for us
Let’s remember they were the best.

In memory of Lance Corporal GEORGE HARRY ROWE who died on March 24, 1941

Published with permission from Ruth Gallant.
Please do not copy or republish without permission from Ruth.

I hope you’ve been having fun on this blog hop, collecting the Spring blocks that have been created and leaving comments for your chance to win some Irresistible Aurifil Threads.

Nine bloggers, nine blocks and 10 chances to win. Here are the other participants:

• Monday, Feb. 21st – Pat Sloan
• Tuesday, Feb. 22nd – Pink Chalk Studio and Lizzie B Girls
• Wednesday, Feb. 23rd – Erin Russek (Video Tutorial) and Thimbleanna
• Thursday, Feb. 24th – Stitchen heaven and ME! – Quilting Gallery
• Friday Feb. 25th – Sew Cal Gal and I Have A Notion

Be sure to leave a comment on each blog before Saturday for your chance to win the grand prize:

Share your finished blocks in the Flickr group.

Aurifil Threads are Irresistible.

Aurifil makes 4 weights of its 100% cotton Mako threads: 12wt, 28wt, 40wt and 50wt. The larger the number, the smaller the thread. I use the 50wt thread for all of my piecing. I love how thin it is and that it doesn’t add any bulk to my seams when pressed.

Pat’s done a great video on the different thread weights and how to recognize the spool colours:

I love how Aurifil threads have a tiny bit of shine to them and shimmer ever-so-slightly when the light hits them. Hopefully you can see the shimmering effect in this photo:

I love the subtle gradients in many of their threads. I have two nieces and these purple and pink gradient threads get used often.

I love that when I use the 50wt thread for hand appliqué, the stitches vanish right into the fabric.

I love that I can get gorgeous machine blanket stitch, accurate stitch-in-the-ditch and beautiful dense quilting with Aurifil threads. I’ve been using Aurifil threads for two years and not once has my thread broken.

For me, Aurifil threads are irresistible. They make my quilting life more enjoyable and beautiful.

Here’s my block: Hidden Star. Made up of simple half-square triangles and four patches. Don’t let the on-point layout scare you, it’s super easy to put together.

Download the block instructions here: Hidden-Star-Quilting-Gallery [PDF File]

Leave a comment below telling me what’s your favourite season and why? For me, it’s Spring, when the birds return and the flowers and trees awaken from their cold Winter’s nap.

Two winners will be selected to win a thread sampler pack containing one spool of each of the different weights of Irresistible Aurifil Threads. Winners will be selected on Saturday.

Today (Thursday) is the last day to enter your quilt in this week’s contest Colourful Modern Quilts. Check back on Friday for your chance to vote for your favourite.

I love Ana White and her fabulous DIY furniture projects. Her plans are awesome, and if I didn’t live in an apartment with little space, I’d love to try my hand at a few.

Check out this expandable sewing table that folds to less than 18″ wide when not in use. Best of all make it yourself for less than $50.

Every quilter needs a modern quilt rack to display her beautiful creations. I’ll be moving soon and I really hope there will be room in my new place for one of these. Dad: please make this for my new place!

Chase away those winter blues with the Happiness Key Mystery Quilt and Novellini with Pat Sloan and Emilie Richards. Pat will be giving you her Mystery Quilt in 6 parts. One part each month on the 1st Tuesday, while Emilie will be giving you a bit of her story, Treasure Beach, each week for 6 months.

There will be monthly challenges and give-aways too. So much fun!! Click here for the full details, but scroll down on the this page to see the first part of the series released last week.

From the National Film Board of Canada comes this video by Gayle Thomas. Thanks to my friend Sandi for sharing it with me and now you.

Quilt: A tribute to the unique and long-established art form of patchwork quilting, this abstract animated film uses computer and experimental techniques to choreograph quilt motifs and designs to music.

Cara’s doing something wonderful. Check out her story and The Basics Charity Challenge. The challenge itself is simple, but the difference it can make to those in need in your local community is tremendous. Cara’s lined up sponsors who have donated fabulous prizes too.

The Lizzie B Cre8ive gals are at it again, inspiring us to DREAM. LAUGH. CREATE. with their new free eMAGAZINE! There’s a Facebook page too.

Calling all quiltmakers! The Alliance for American Quilts invites you to enter Alliances: People, Patterns, Passion, a contest for all ages with a broad theme celebrating cooperative relationships that work towards a common goal. The Grand Prize this year is again a Handi Quilter machine quilting system–but this year you get to choose! All entries will debut in an exhibition at the 2011 American Quilter’s Society show in Paducah.

Click here for contest rules and more information.

I’m really excited about this, and can’t wait to start viewing the episodes next week. I consider myself more of a quilter than a textile artist right now, but I definitely feel the pull to explore my own creativity in new ways.

From the 14th February 2011, they will be sending you an episode of Talking Threads Series 1 for FREE in a series of weekly emails. They will send you one episode of Talking Threads a week, for 10 weeks. Each episode is approximately 20 minutes long, that’s over 5 hours of inspirational textile videos free of charge.

To register sign up for their newsletter. You will receive an email asking you to confirm your registration. Check your spam folder if you don’t get it. If you have any problems, please send an email to: info@colouricious.com.

Here’s the trailer video:

Talking Threads is an exciting 10 part series about the colourful world of contemporary textile art. Featuring 9 artists this series allows you to gain an insight into what inspires each of them and how they develop their work through stitch, mixed media and fabric manipulation.

Featuring easy to follow workshops on:

• Silk Painting
• Contemporary Quilting Techniques
• Machine Embroidery
• Hand Dyeing Fabric
• Water Solubles
• Mixed Media Fabric
• Hot Textiles, Creating New Surfaces with Heat Processes
• Slashing – An Age Old Technique Reinvented

Featured artists include: Angie Hughes, Linda Miller, Gilda Baron, Anne Griffiths, Jill Kennedy, Fay Maxwell, Myfanwy Hart, Di Wells and Kim Thittichai.

Of course, if you don’t want to wait for each weekly email, you can purchase the DVD now.

Try snow dyeing!

Pro Chemical & Dye put together a timely blog post on Snow Dyeing.

Here’s their picture slideshow:

The Snow Dyeing instructions are also available as a PDF file for you to download too.

Also, my Facebook friend Gayle McKay, has a few snow dyeing tutorials and examples available on her blog too.

Ya know, if the white crap is going to fall, we might as well find something pretty to do with it.

After a couple of week’s holiday, it’s time for our first weekly quilt contest of 2011. The theme for this week is Your Favourite Quilt from 2010. Everyone is welcome to submit a quilt for the contest (see below for how to enter).

If you’re new to the Quilting Gallery, here’s a short run down of how the weekly contests work. Each Monday, I post a new theme for the week. You can see the 2011 themes here, so you can plan ahead.

You have until Thursday at midnight (EST) to submit your quilt photo each week. Voting takes place on this site starting Friday morning and lasts until Sunday evening. Everyone is encouraged to invite their family and friends to visit the site and vote for their favourite quilt. There are also prizes to be won from fabulous sponsors. Want to be a sponsor?

This week’s contest is sponsored by Sympoz who does interactive video tutorials. They’ve donated four classes: two quilting and two cooking. The top two quilters with the most votes will each receive one of the courses. The other two courses will be awarded by Judge’s Choice. They’ve also given me 60% off codes for both courses that anyone can use. More below.

Sympoz – Interactive Video Tutorials

So, what exactly does interactive video tutorials mean? Well, I’ll show you with a screen capture I took earlier today while I was watching Jenny Doan’s Quilting Quickly course.

The course is 9 sessions long, totaling approximately 4.5 hours. Each session is further broken down by chapters. See the red box I drew around one of the blue comment icons above, that indicates a new chapter. As you’re watching the videos and go from chapter to chapter, the discussions related to that chapter will appear underneath. This is where you can ask Jenny questions and/or chat among other class participants. Very handy!

Over on the left-hand side of the screen, you’ll see a link for Materials. This is a PDF file for the course and includes a summary of what Jenny’s taught in the video, fabric requirements and cutting instructions, links to other resources shown or mentioned, and an extensive glossary of quilt terms. This too is very handy as you don’t have to worry about writing down the instructions as you’re watching the video.

Over on the right-hand side you’ll see the remote control that allows you to navigate through the sessions, pause the video or start a new discussion for Jenny and your classmates to see.

Jenny’s course is aimed at the beginner quilter and focuses on using pre-cuts to make quilts quickly. Just grab some pre-cuts (charm packs, jelly rolls) and away you go. I would not classify this as a great quilting technique course, as that’s not its goal. Instead it’s geared towards the busy quilter who just wants to learn some basic techniques, grab some fabric and get a quilt done that looks fabulous. Here’s the list of the various sessions:

• Session 1: Quilter’s Toolkit
• Session 2: Charm Pack Quilt
• Session 3: Disappearing 9-Patch
• Session 4: The Super Easy Pinwheel
• Session 5: Jelly Cakes
• Session 6: Altered Squares
• Session 7: Jelly Charms
• Session 8: Strip Quilting
• Session 9: Finishing Your Bag

Sympoz offers several different online courses including cooking, financial planning, wine demystifying, and fatherhood. Check the course catalogue here.

Please note: high speed Internet access is highly recommended to take these courses. The videos are professionally shot and edited and of high quality. A dial-up connection will be too slow.

Enter the Quilt Contest

Get your cameras out! To enter the weekly contest, read the rules and guidelines, then submit your quilt photo by Thursday evening (EST). Voting will start on Friday and last until Sunday night.

Blog It

Please share the logo below on your own blog. The more contestants, the more exciting the contests!

• 2011 weekly themes
• Be a weekly sponsor!

Sing-along with Ricky Tims:

How to wrap a cat for Christmas:

I’ll be taking the next several days to celebrate with family and friends this Holiday season.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas.

I love watching videos to learn new quilting techniques. Here are some of my favourite YouTube channels.

The Missouri Star Quilt Company has a huge selection of awesome videos ranging from beginner to more advanced to using specific cuts of fabric. This is one of my favourite, showing a new (to me anyway) way to make half quarter square triangles… no more drawing the lines on the fabric.

Aimee Griffin’s Overall Quilter has 20+ videos more geared towards learning beginner techniques. There is a great 3-part series on paper piecing.

Sharon Schamber’s Network – I’ve featured a few of her binding videos before on this site. There are many other videos to help improve your quilting. More of Sharon’s videos are available directly on her web site. I’ve watched the Piped Binding one a few times over the past week. I’m eager to give it a try myself.

There are lots of great tips and project ideas on the AccuQuilt and Clover Needle Crafts Channels.

Colouricious videos have “instant inspirations” including interviews and demonstrations from artists and simple demonstrations of how to apply binding to a quilt.

Not exactly quilting-related, I love watching these Doodles come to life. Great inspiration for free motion quilting.

Do you have a favourite YouTube channel? Please share in the comments below.

Update: This was mentioned by a quilting friend on Facebook, and important enough to include. While many of the videos are great, and it’s wonderful to learn new techniques this way, I’ve seen some using very unsafe rotary cutting techniques. Never cross over yourself to make a cut, close your blade, etc.