Quilting a motif from a book

For years I collected books with beautiful quilting designs in them. 

Never figuring out how to get the beautiful quilting designs on the quilts where I wanted them, in the correct size etc....so here a brief tutorial on ONE of the methods I like, using the Golden Threads paper.

First, I peruse through my books looking for a motif I like OR part of a motif that I like. In this case I found a square motif that I only wanted to use half of for my set in triangles in my customer, Eva's quilt.

Next I measure the places I want to use the motif carefully.

Then using this tool, the Quilt's Assistant Proportional Scale (AKA the best thing ever!)

I take the size the motif is in the book and line it up on the scale with the size I need it to be in the block.  The percentage I need to shrink or enlarge the motif appears in the window! I know a math formula that will do this magic as well but it is very convenient to have this tool!

So then I run out to the local printer and I ask them to blow up the motif to the size I need it on one big sheet of paper:

In this case I needed it blown up to 160% so they used the blueprint machine and I got it the enlargement for just a dollar!

Next I cut the golden threads paper to the size I need it:

 And the shape I need it.

Checking my sizing:

 And that I have enough pieces made.

Then I start to copy the motif onto each of my perfectly sized papers I have to do this by hand. I use something I KNOW won't stain the quilt like a wash out pencil or pen *just in case*. 

 Next I use my little glue roller to apply glue to the wrong side of the paper:

 This is great stuff because I can put it all over the piece of paper if I need to and it won't stick to my needle and it comes off without any residue on the fabric. You can use pins but then you have to strategically place them so you don't hit them with the hopping foot and its a pain!

I place it on the loaded quilt right where I want it and gently press the paper to the fabric so the glue on the back side of the paper can hold it in place while I sew through it.

My chosen design is one continuous line so I begin at one side- anchoring my stitches and then stitch along following right on top of the line.

It sort of tears as it sews but you are going to rip it off anyway so don't worry. This is what it looks like when I am through sewing:

 Then I rip it all off! It tears really easy and if my stitches were normal it does not tear them loose at all either. The only time I have problems is when my stitches were too loose to begin with!

 Here you can see the stitches on the fabric after I ripped the paper off:

Then you just repeat for all the sections you want to motif on!

Because the motif was on a busy fabric and difficult to see, here it is from the back where it is clearer:

Here is Eva's whole quilt done and ready to go home for binding!

 It is Edyta Sitar's pattern for the Dresden Star.

What a beauty!

My favorite age

My daughter is 17 now, learning to drive, teaching Irish dance, touring colleges, thinking about careers. She has a great sense of humor, a level head and in my opinion is pretty darn great!

My son is now 14, wearing a suit in and out of the pool! Dancing with girls, making great friends and developing into a really wonderfully fun and clever person.

 

Life is flying by so fast with these two it takes my breath away!

When the kids were young, the moms in our first homeschooling group would gather and often we'd talk about what our favorite parts about being a mom and things like that. I remember also discussing what your favorite age was-- meaning what was the most fun age for your kids to be, for you as a mom. Hopefully you know what I mean here. I could never answer other than I liked all the ages, while all the other moms had very specific ages like 3 or 7! All the ages were fun, seeing how they learned new things, became more capable and responsible etc...I had no strong pull towards one age UNTIL, the teen years. I have to say I NOW know what they meant, I really love having teenagers. They are sooo much fun! This is definitely my favorite age.

So lucky! So happy! Trying to keep up with them!

Dallas Quilt Show-Inspiration!

This weekend my daughter had an Irish dance competition in Dallas and I got wind of a quilt show happening there as well so we made that part of our trip. Lots of inspiring pictures to follow none of which are quilts I had anything to do with but enjoyed looking at! Hope you will too!

 Quilting detail:

 Simple "lasagna" quilt but with rock star quilting!

 This is a Judy Niemeyer quilt pattern done with solids and Kafe Fassat fabrics! They are almost ALWAYS done with batiks so this was really a standout to me! And it looked great!

 Chevrons: well established trend right now! 

This horse quilt used a solid black background quilted with metallic thread to make those navajo designs with. I would have loved to see a before and after of the quilting on this quilt!

Close up of the quilting:

 The metallic on black quilting:

Use of value in this blue quilt was really neat!

This was a 5 person project where together they make a complete scene- on my bucket list, always wanted to try one of these!

 The horse in this one was made with a shiny sheer fabric overlayed and stitched down on the red base. Very cool idea.

The undulating quilting lines with variegated thread really give this quilt movement:

 Use of solid fabrics in quilts:

Solids with some crazy pieces pattern:

And Hexies were everywhere! It was great!:

 I recognized this as Julie Herman's pattern Science Fair- another on my bucket list!

This was a real eye catcher- it was a shame they couldn't show it full length:

 This quilt's name was VOLDEMORT because they owner said she could NOT think of a name that fit so it was the Quilt that shall not be names. Harry Potter fans will get the reference! She made it with all 3/4" pieces! It was pretty neat!

This quilt had some amazing ruler work quilting on it:

 All the curved cross hatching was so amazing!

 Needle turn applique on the birds and all the custom quilting- labor of love doesn't begin to cover it!