Topic: so do you Sew ~7~

[Triss]

You are moving right along Christy!  You can do the quilting on days that BB does not want to help so much.  Sounds like you are really enjoying your machine.

[christy]

yep thats what i plane on doing. i thought of getting up eairlier than bb so i can start quilting. but then im not a mornin person,  so guess ill get the time when i can.

[christy]

here they are, without there borders 


ill get updated pics when i can, i wanna do more to em , make em alittle bigger

[Triss]

Very nice Christy!  I like the 2nd one with the flowers, very pretty!

[MassMama]

they both turned out Great Christy..
How are you liking the new machine?

[christy]

thanks!!
i like it rita, i just gotta figure out how to get the points/corners to match with it, i may have to start ironing   
i dont mind if the points/corners are off here n there but there way off! 

[Triss]

Ironing has not helped me much Christy, I think it is more of a practice, practice, practice thing.

[MassMama]

That I am pretty good at.. Making all the corners match .. Are you allowing for the seam allowance? I know you make your own patterns so you figure OK here I have a square that I wanna cut in half .. Don't forget to add that 1/4 inch to that edge or it will make the corners off set.. Does that help at all?
BTW 1/4 inch is at the edge of the foot..

[christy]

yep i add the 1/4 in seem allowence.  i take two squares sew together down the middle from corner to corner then cut  half off, leavin room for the seem.  that way i know i have the same size half n half squares with my hole squares.
i think like triss says i need practice, practice, practice,  the meterial seems to slide n go were it wants instead of staying in place,  or its like the foot thing pushes the meterial, lol like a bully    ill try n bast em together better see if that helps.  do any of you bast sew by hand before you mechine sew?
i went through my stash, think ill do a patch work top just to practice, 

[MassMama]

No Christy I use small pins to hold the fabric in place while I am sewing on the maching.. do you know what size needle your using in the machine or is it the same one that came with the machine? Size 14 is the normal .. you would want to use a smaller # for thinner material and a larger for thick I use a 16 for denim.
If you use pins make sure you take them out just before the machine gets to them or you will break needles and that can get spendy
Also I make sure they are super lined up before sewing the strips together ..
I think its a great idea to go ahead and make some practice ones first!! 

[Triss]

I sewed all morning today while the boys were at school and finished up the main part of the quilt top. 



Now I gotta figure out what to do next.

[christy]

   triss that looks great!!!  so pretty! 

yep rita i used pins,  the needle that came with it is still in it.    i have no idea what size.

[Tonya]

Triss!!@! That looks fabulous!! Lys is gonna flip over it!! Great color choices!!

[Wrennie]

That came out great Triss!!!

Now I gotta figure out what to do next.

You mean what to do for a backing? Or what kind of batting? or if you'll do a binding/border...?

When I was out yesterday I found some cute cat fabrics. I looked in my cat bin, and its pretty darn full! I should lay it out and take a photo. I think i need a football field to fit it all!

Who was thinking of using skull fabric? Rita for the boys? I saw some prints in the JoAnns ad with skulls.

*********later the same day********
i had to take 2 pics to fit it all even with the pieces overlapped!
Then I sorted into piles of realistic, bright cartoonish, juvenile, repeats (the same cat over & over), backgrounds(like paw prints or flowers that coordinated with some of the prints), and not so cartoony but not realistic either.....

I dont need 3 quilts but i think I have enough fabric to make 3!

SO
My question is, should i do a simple 9 patch? I think I could pick & have whole cats or faces show the easiest that way. And, should I mix it all up, brights, and cartoony, and real, and, and, or make a realistic one then another with the brights?? or on the back, sorta reversible?

[christy]

that reminds me, i got my hubs a dog panel, its a yard, n the kind were the dogs are sitting around the table playing poker    got that awile ago. just have no idea what kinda border to put around it,
i havent practiced sewing today like i planed, instead i cut 8 1/2 squares out [ the extra 1/2 is for the seems 1/4 for each sides]  i figure if im gonna make a patchwork quilt i might as well go big like most are    i got 22 done so far.
i also measured most of my 4in blocks n noticed some are cut excatly 4in n some 4 1/2 !    ill haveta lable whats what, 
guess i better check my 2in squares as well.       i never did like to measure, 

wrennie you could use your cat fabric to make a patchwork quilt with  that would be cool a patchwork quilt with a thyme. 
i keep lookin at all these big squares n thinkin wow their big! might not take long at all to do 
i know rita wants to make a skull quilt for nick, not sure bout fabric? but that would be cool.

[Wrennie]

My quilt i took the pic of the crochet squares on is a large cat panel. Dixie, who made it, did a border sort of like what i did on my quilt square pillow I'm making, with coordinating and complimentary color fabrics. I can get a pic if you want.

[christy]

   holy cow! you wernt kidding you had alot!!!  

you could also do cat blocks with each fabric  
if ya dont need quilts you could always make them for christmas,birthday presents   or you could make bed pads to donate to your local annimal shelter   they could alwayd use them for the cages

yea get a pic i wanna see 

[Wrennie]

yea get a pic i wanna see 

OK
Be right back

[Wrennie]

There ya go. Isnt it cool? Just my colors. And when she was raffling it off I had that same cat print thats in the border as curtains in my front room!

[christy]

http://www.freequiltpatterns.info/QuiltCategories/FreeCatQuiltPatterns.htm

check out some of these cat quilt patterns  
the cat bowties is cute n paper piced kittys
i still like the patchwork idea though.  n you could do patchwork for the top n bottom, make it reversable

awwwwww that turned out great! i like how she did the border 

[Wrennie]

Cool link! I have a couple cat patterns I saved from magazines too. No where are they?

[MassMama]

Cool Material Wrennie!! You could do so much with all that.. you really have an eye with putting stuff together!  I would do 2 different ones if it were me..

[Wrennie]

!! You could do so much with all that.. 

yeah, its a bit overwhelming! 

[MassMama]

I couldn't imagine why  You Really do have a lot of material for about anything you wanna do!!

[christy]

i think you could get 3-4 quilt tops outta that , or alotta throws 
 looks like you have enough to make one cartoony n one real n one with both 
i gotta sheet n fitted sheet, its tan stripes, i was thinking it might make a good backing n border for the cat quilt?  i might wait n see if i find somthing else though
anyho i got 42 blocks cut n i took the extra pieces n made 2 crazy blocks with em, still have lots of extras for more crazy blocks,    i so love the zigzag on the mechine!!