Saturday, January 2, 2016

It's all about having FUN!

Happy 2016!!  

I trust you all had a wonderful New Year!  We spent our New Year's babysitting our GS, munching on chips and cheezies and toasting in the New Year with ginger ale...and going to bed at 9 o'clock! Hey, don't judge, it was midnight in New York City...I stayed up long enough to give Ryan Seacrest a hug...and the little guy had had enough of the merriment and so had we! Seriously, we had a fun evening!  And of course, we rang in the new year with pancakes in the morning...a good time was had by all!:o)

Out in Blogland, it is fun to read about resolutions and goals being made and Words for the New Year.  I KNOW that I am not good at keeping resolutions, so I would never go that route...and I failed miserably at my GOALS last year...NEVER again with the goals!  I seriously got a ton done but I didn't have FUN!  And quilting is all about FUN...right?!  And picking a Word for the Year...well...IF I was going to choose a word, it would be just that word..FUN!  Having goals sucked out most of the Quilting fun!  So this year I want it to be a YEAR of FUN, trying new and different things... or NOT, quilting what I want and when I want...or not, finishing a UFO...or NOT!  Hey, I think this blogger just picked a WORD for this year!  FUN!:o))

SEW let's have FUN this year!

What with Christmas, the flu and babysitting...not a lot of sewing got done...but that's OK...we had fun (except for the flu part..blah!)  Let me show you what did get done...

I put a cheater quilt on the frame and practiced with the new Juki mid-arm!  I am whispering here because I don't want to jinx anything...but I am loving her!  She is purrrrfect!  I have to confess that I am having a hard time relaxing with her...I am so use to having problems with my other machine (Pfaff) that I am waiting for the shoe to fall with this one!  Let's hope the Juki continues to let me have FUN!

One of my readers (Montana Nancy) asked me a question about the Juki that I too was wondering about...Maybe SOMEONE out there in blogland may have the answer to it...The Juki 2010q comes with TWO Free Motion Feet...pictured here...Why two? And what are their functions?  I have tried both and both seem to be the same...I ended up choosing the foot that is more open and a bit smaller...

I then quilted my Patchwork Forest...
 I kept it simple...an all over meander...not my finest but it will do and besides...what I love about doing a meander is that it crinkles up wonderfully after a washing (hiding all and any flaws:o)...making it look like an old vintage quilt!  Love that look!

These are 'improv' trees...fast and simple to make!  You can make them really wonky or just tweak them a bit to make them look a bit different.  I used the tutorial provide by Diary of a Quilter!  I will definitely make these trees again...LOVE THEM and FUN to make!  Thank you Diary, for making this quilt fun and a joy to make!  I used two charm packs of Kansas Trouble "Holly Wishes" to build the trees and the binding is a wee flower print from the same line!  LOVE this fabric!

 I also put on a hanging sleeve, which is easy to do. I kept it simple...AFTER I have the binding machine sewn in place (but before turning it and hand stitching it down) ....I take a piece of fabric (length of quilt by about 4")...lay it on the back of the quilt to measure...cut to the width of the quilt leaving just enough fabric to finish off the ends (1/2" as you fold up 1/4" and then fold it again and top stitch)  The IMPORTANT thing to remember is to leave room for the binding to fold over without it touching the sleeve.  Do you see how I left a good 1/4" away from the binding.  I iron the folded strip nice and flat (wrong sides kissing) and then pin it to the raw edge at the top edge of the quilt and then machine sew it onto the binding seam.  Then I  just fold the binding on top...hiding all the raw edges!  I know...clear as mud but it's really fast and simple to do!  Gosh it must be difficult to write out complicated Quilt Patterns!
Now my Patchwork Forest is ready for hand stitching the binding down, along with that one bottom edge of the sleeve.  I know she is 'a little' late for the Christmas season but she will be ready for next December!  It's all good...and we had FUN...didn't we?

Have a super Saturday...the first Saturday in our brand New Year...and Happy FUN Stitching!~P

16 comments:

  1. From the look of them, I would say the larger one would be good for heavier and thicker quilts to hold it down and not be pushed around by the heavy quilt. The quilting looks wonderful.

    Debbie

    ReplyDelete
  2. It is such terrific quilt! Love the meandering too. I'm happy your machine is working so wonderfully!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love your Patchwork Forest. And I don't think of you as being late, as much you are way ahead of the game for being prepared for Winter/Christmas 2016.

    QuiltShopGal
    www.quiltshopgal.com

    PS - I'm finding it really easy to follow you via http://mycreativebloglist.blogspot.com/, although I still follow you via a variety of tools

    ReplyDelete
  4. Your quilt looks wonderful and your meandering amazing! You really did an excellent job. So glad to hear that you like your Juki, I've heard nothing but good things about it.
    Happy New Year Paulette!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Your Patchwork Forest quilt is gorgeous! Love everything about it! "Fun" is a perfect word...we should be having fun, shouldn't we? Lift is too short for anything else. Blessings in the New Year!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I have to say, it felt to me too like you were making things too hard for yourself last spring! I will learn from your experience. :D

    I know you will have plenty of fun with the new machine, and whatever else catches your fancy! Happy new year. :D

    ReplyDelete
  7. Happy New Year Paulette, to you and your family! So glad your new machine is working out so well. I have mad a list of goals, but I really want to keep the fun in there too!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Paulette, measure the width of the metal on the left foot, it looks to about a quarter inch. I'm thinking it is so you can do echo quilting consistent distance?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Love your tree quilt. I can't tell very well from the picture, but is the one on the left thicker so it could possibly be used with rulers, and the one on the right more open so you can see better when doing other quilting?
    Just a guess.
    Happy New Year! Let the fun begin!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Happy New Year P and hope that the Juki continues to give you great results. I'm with you on the Fun part of quilting, it has to be that or it's just another job right.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Love that tree quilt! I think you just put into words exactly why I don't ever do the Finish Alongs--it sucks all the joy out of quilting for me, always having to be accountable and on task! Hope you have a ton of fun this year!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I'm all for the FUN part of things...resolutions and goals create too much pressure and even when you are having FUN there's usually a deadline or two that creeps in, so good for you for going with the flow. Happy New Year, Paulette, and glad that you are feeling better.

    ReplyDelete
  13. As I remember the feet are 1/4 inch, and the smaller one is 1/5 inch. The 1/4 for regular spaced lines and the 1/5 inch for regular free motion it says. Glad you are enjoying the new machine.

    ReplyDelete
  14. like you I was tucked up in bed at midnight, mind you fireworks did wake me up.
    Fun yes we all need some of that a good word to dwell on.
    Sorry cannot help with the feet but see you have some replies. Tree quilt looks splendid

    ReplyDelete
  15. According to the Juki website the 1/5 inch quilting foot is for regular FMQ
    The 1/4 inch quilting foot is suitable for sewing equally spaced curved lines.
    Hope this helps.
    Sandy A.

    ReplyDelete
  16. My Bernina sewing machine has two machine quilting feet also. One is open and one a circle. Whichever one you can see better with.

    ReplyDelete