TILDA THREAD

[Franceslovesfabric]

I'm going to do a few yo-yos today. I treated myself to the entire set of yo-yo makers from Clover. I'm using the round ones for flowers on a piece I'm working on, and the heart-shaped ones as leaves. The flower-shaped ones will all be one color, with the small ones as the center of the bigger ones. The round ones will have yellow centers made with the smaller circles. This is going to take forever, LOL. I'll make all the yo-yos, but not sew them on until the quilt top is quilted--use them as embellishments. I think it's going to look quite nice.

When I hit a low spot in my quilting, sometimes I just take some time off and think about what's next, but usually I dig into some charity quilting to tide me over until ideas resurface.

Pat in Rockport, TX

[Franceslovesfabric]

Charlotte,
I'm kinda in the same place. I've got to get two quilts done in the next week and a half. I've had all this time to work on them but no energy or interest in doing it. I went to quilt bee today and got reenergized so maybe tonight I'll get some work done on them. I live just west of Austin, so we'll get even less rain than you.
Frances

[Franceslovesfabric]

I run into these low quilting spots when it is something that has to get done and is tedious. Invite a quilt buddy over to quilt with you, or go visit one. Sometimes change of quilting atmosphere can recharge you or go just to see what she is working on.If no quilting buddy near by then maybe quilt shop would do the trick..Sometimes I will go fondle fabric and see whats new, buy a spool fo pretty thread or needles then go home and sew with good music or a movie for background noise. I also thought about changing the room you are sewing in. Move your machine into a different room. My room is in the basement and sometimes it feels better to move my machine up to the main floor so I don't feel so isolated. Cheryl

[Franceslovesfabric]

Cheryl,
thanks for the suggestions. Going to quilt bee yesterday really helped. I wasn't happy with the way the quilting on one looked, but my bee buddies told me that it looked fine. And they liked my ideas for quilting the other one and gave me some more suggestions. So it's time to get back to work.
Frances in Austin where we got a gentle breeze but nothing else from Ike. (A little rain would have been appreciated.)

[jbtaz36]

Glad you got the gentle breeze. I wonder how QuilterLynn made out. I imagine she is without power at this time.

I have spent part of the morning searching through my UFO's for a project and was overwhelmed with all of the projects I have to do. I will die before I get them all completed. Of course, it was in the last bin I checked, wouldn't you know. At my LQS we are starting a new club called the Quilters' Bucket List Club. We will meet once a month bringing along a project that we have a pattern for and fabric, but haven't really started yet. In hopes that if we do this, we will complete the project before we die. I have tons of those but this is my DIL's quilt that I will bring tomorrow hopefully finishing it in time for Christmas. Judy in AZ

[jbtaz36]

I like all of your suggestions. Maybe I will call a friend and see what she's working on. If she's busy I may just go into Austin and go see what JoAnn's has on sale. The 40% off coupon is burning a hole in my pocket and I think today is the last day. If I could get my son to clean up his half of my "art room" as it was supposed to be, that might help too. I will just put on a Happy Face! Thanks y'all.
It's a little windy here but not bad. Wish we would get rain too. We are about 8-10 miles south east of Austin but I don't think we are going to get anything from Ike. Hope all our friends in Texas are safe.
Thanks again for the suggestions!!!

[jbtaz36]

Hi all. I think I posted here once before, but not sure. I'm working on the September BOM and have too many UFO's to mention. I started working on a Kool Kaleidoscope after getting Ricky's DVD but my strata are not wide enough. Fabrics now days seem to be narrower than before. I also sometimes buy sale fabric which may be odd lots and they are not as wide either. Nonetheless, I cannot fit 6 templates on the strata. That is the larger templates from the wide portion of the wedge. I have sent a message through TQS which they will forward to Ricky. He mentions twice in the DVD that if you can't fit all six that he has a "tip" later in the program about how to fix that...but I've watched the DVD three times and I can't find the "tip".

I probably will end up making a smaller quilt than he does. If everyone is not familiar with this project, it is really "kool" and very pretty. Lots of people have made them and I guess they didn't have the problem...probably bought more expensive fabric...which I can't afford!

Nancy in NC

[Lorna1021]

I did very little sewing last week as I was babysitting my 12 mo DGD and 3yo DGS. I had such a blast but I am exhausted by the end of each day. Today I relaxed and I am almost done with the August BOM. I just have to applique on the little bars on the vase and do the hand embroidery for the baby's breath. (I miss having the little ones around!)

Lorna

[Judymc]

Judy, I love the Bucket List Club idea!!! That's really cute!!! I'm seriously looking at all my UFOs and wanting to clear some of them out. I'm working on the July BOM right now and trying to catch up. Judy in Torrance

[sandytn]

Nancy - I haven't seen Ricky's Kaleidoscope DVD but do you have enough fabric to find the exact repeat you are cutting the five from and cut the sixth from that repeat. Or am I completely missing the point which I often do?

[sandytn]

Kaleidoscope Quilt DVD... you are right Ricky does not mention how to solve the problem.

Mathematically using 40 inch as my WOF I figured the largest a strada template can be is 6.5 inches in length.... So any strada cuts should be smaller than that.


The only ways I figure out out of this delimma is to :

1/ Make duplicate strada .... which requires a bit more fabric.

2/ Be sure you have enough angles to keep the sizes of the strada under the 6.5 inch size... You might have to plan the way you make your cuts to keep the size under that 6.5 inch size.

3/ Change the angles of your strada... I usually make my stradas about 10 inches wide, so a shift in the strada angle allows me to keep the 6 repeats in place. If I have a problem piece I copy the piece on freezer paper and duplicate it 6 times just to check the size and placement. Then I can see the placement a little better.... I only do this when I am stumped big time. Usually angling a strada section more get it to stay on my WOF better.

4 / MY OWN IDEA AND I HAVE YET TO TRY IT OUT..... I AM THINKING YOU COULD Stick in an extra piece of fabric cut identical (x 6) in the middle of the strada sections. This could add a little spice into the design....

I am thinking triangular or wedge shape would do (keeping the point of the triangle going toward the center of the kalidascope.
This would push the stradas to the sides of the 30 degree wedge and make it bigger. As long as each wedge is consistent and you do not go to wild with the triangles it shoudl work at solving the not enough fabric delimma.

I am thinking this may be an advance technique for FUDGING THE KALIDESCOPE TECHNIQUE and there could be a lot of design issues that pop up... You would probably have to see how it looks in your kalidescope at the design wall....


I hope this helps.

[sandytn]

Lady Rags, thanks so much for the response. I thought that maybe I could use the smaller of the templates for the narrowest strata, and then see if I could get the larger ones out of the widest strata. The templates at the big end of the wedge are really quite large. I will try your idea about placement. I really don't want to add any more fabric to what I have done.

If I cut a 16" square of freezer paper and made my wedges and templates, they would be much smaller. The quilt will be smaller too which isn't really a problem. I so do want to work on this.

I sent a message through TQS to Ricky. John responded and said he was going to forward it to Ricky. Then perhaps I can find out what he says about it. But it's great that you responded with possible solutions. Thanks so much.

Nancy in NC

[jbtaz36]

Judy Mc, Just got home from the Bucket club. I spent my morning cutting fabric for the Magical Horses by Laurel Burch. The LQS had 15 ladies show up. Really a big success for the first time. Next time, we will have pot luck with finger food for lunch. Now I have a new UFO :roll:
Judy in AZ

[jbtaz36]

Today I start the dragon quilt. I am very nervous. This is my first attempt at fabric art. I am going to post a pic of the before drawing if the camera is findable.

[jbtaz36]

Ntr quilter

I was also thinking that if you put a triangular piece with the point going up wards on both sides of the kalediscope 30 degree wedge you would end up with a ray ( sun ray ) looking piece that would also add interest... I have been playing around with this on my design board. So far fudging as long as you do it on all the strada at the same place ( BEFORE YOU SEW THINGS TOGETHER seems to work..... but as I said this is a work in progress and I am just playing around.


Anna