All Sorts of Inefficency / Beauties Pageant 6

Don’t get too excited. I’m currently unsewing all of these blocks!

Confession: I started a new project.

Now, I was not in the position to begin another quilt, but I ran out of fabric for the two-color QuiltCon challenge I had been working on. (This happens when you buy fabric before you decide on a design. Ack—inefficiency!) I could have worked on a variety of WIPs while waiting for reinforcements to arrive—like my Gypsy Wife quilt or my No Latitude quilt or my Modern Medallion quilt—but I succumbed to the allure of novelty.

Grabbing a fistful of fat quarters from Maureen Cracknell’s Nightfall line, I printed out a copy Garden Plots, a quilt Alison Vermilya designed for Moda Bake Shop. I’ve had that pattern on my radar screen all year. I love how it builds on big chunks of fabric—perfect for showcasing Nightfall’s bunnies and owls.

But Garden Plots calls for a jelly roll and yardage. All I had on hand were fats and a tiny bit of yardage. With minimal planning and no idea whether I had enough fabric, I just started cutting and sewing. (You see what I’m doing here, right? Setting myself up for another fabric emergency.)

I was feeling OK with my first few blocks (see picture above), but then I sewed this beauty ...

So now I’m reworking those first few blocks and using a print and solid in each of the frames. Doing suits me more aesthetically. It also helps me make the most of the limited fabric cuts I have.

How about your past week of sewing? Did you, like me, take a rotary cutter to a bundle of pristine fat quarters? If you finished up a project in the works, we want to hear about it. Join the linky below!

The pageant rules are simple:

• Post your finish in the linky tool. (No links to your own giveaway or linky, please!)
• Point your readers back here with a text link or use the button above.
• Visit and comment on other participants’ finishes.

The Other Man / Beauties Pageant 5

Although I haven’t been sewing, I have been plotting my two-color challenge for
QuiltCon. Here’s Mix and Mingle, a challenge quilt of mine that showed at
QuiltCon 2017.

There has not been a lot of sewing around From Bolt to Beauty this week because the Other Man, my Janome 1600P-QC, was at the spa. It returned just yesterday, all cleaned and oiled and ready to sew.

This machine earns my seal of approval. Previously, I sewed on a Janome that was marketed as a home décor machine. I had inherited it from my aunt, and it worked just fine. Pushing a quilt through it was rough going, though. I wanted a machine with a larger throat and something on which I could practice free-motion quilting.

Me and the Other Man.

I quickly homed in on the 1600 by reading what other bloggers were using. Both Anna Graham and Elizabeth Hartman were sewing on one at the time of my search. If that machine could keep up with those sewists’ schedules, I knew it could handle mine.

If you’re in the market for a new machine, here’s what you should know about the 1600:

• It’s an industrial machine and only straight-stitches.
• There are almost 9 inches to the right of the needle
• It is crazy fast, sewing up to 1,600 stitches per minute. You can ratchet that down, however, by adjusting the speed dial.
• The tension on this machine is a dream. I’ve never had eyelashes with my free-motion quilting or issues when I use different top and bottom thread colors.
• It comes with minimal bells and whistles, including a thread cutter, needle threader, and knee lift.

I would love to hear about your machine. If you’re finish-less like me, fill us in on why you love your machine in the comments below. Otherwise, it’s time to line up for this week’s Beauties Pageant!
 

The pageant rules are simple:

• Post your finish in the linky tool. (No links to your own giveaway or linky, please!)
• Point your readers back here with a text link or use the button above.
• Visit and comment on other participants’ finishes.

Six-Sided Perfection / Beauties Pageant 4

I’ve made a few modern hexagon pillows—à la Modern Handcraft—to gift to friends recently. (See them here and here.) I had such fun basting and appliqueing the hexagons on those projects that I wanted to make something in the same vein for myself. I don’t need any pillows, though, and I realized a throw quilt with appliqued hexagons wasn’t super practical, so I came up with this ...

I have had this Essex Linen for a while, just waiting for an opportunity
to show it off.

The pattern is Anna Graham’s Market Bag, from her book Handmade Style. I made a Market Bag before, for my sister. With that first one, I used matchstick quilting and Pellon’s Décor Bond to interface the not-so-well-fitting lining. For this second one, I quilted a less-dense hexagon motif and interfaced with fusible fleece. I also took my time with the lining and made sure it fit well. This second bag doesn’t have the level of structure that the first one did, but I’ve already given it a test-drive, at my guild’s retreat. I give it two thumbs up.

The hexagons were made from a charm pack of Midnight Garden, by 1canoe2.

Note to my future self: I’m not 100% sure which way to go with a third Market Bag. Consider finding a compromise between bag 1 and bag 2, like matchstick quilting and the fusible fleece. In any event, this experience is testament to taking your time and getting the lining right. Your projects are worth it! Also: Definitely mark your quilting lines before you adhere the hexagons to the next pillow or bag; it makes the whole process saner.

I love this hanging pocket and the lining fabric, a Joel Dewberry print.

What are your recent triumphs at your sewing machine, friends? Bring out your beauties for the rest of us to see!

The pageant rules are simple:

• Post your finish in the linky tool. (No links to your own giveaway or linky, please!)
• Point your readers back here with a text link or use the button above.
• Visit and comment on other participants’ finishes.