A little update on my progress in quilting the Aviatrix Medallion Quilt in which I decide to do custom quilting with a home sewing machine. 

Was it a good idea?

At this point, I am doubting my choice. 

Custom quilting is fun, but I think if it is too large of a project, it can be draining to think about all the designs that should go into it. 

I personally have learned a hard lesson when I thought I was going to quilt a different design for every center of my wedding ring quilt.

But I think I’m doing it again this time. 

Less intense maybe. 

Can we do custom quilting with a home sewing machine?

Progress update and a little note on the making of the bed size quilts. 

While I love making small projects for the quick feeling of accomplishment and the fun joy it brings, in the end, the most satisfying quilted items to use is the big old bed size quilts. 

To me, it just make sense to make a bed size quilts rather than small ones if I was were to think about the practicality of things.

My recent bed size quilt finish: Sewcialites Quilt

How about you?

I mean, when we make something, we always have in mind why we’re making it right?

If it is just purely for the joy of making, I really don’t think much of how big the quilts is gonna turn out. I am simply having fun making. 

An odd size quilt up here: my Sewcial Bee sampler. But I did enjoy making and learning from this a lot!

I have made many odd size quilts around the house that really does not get used as often. Either it was too big for displaying here and there or too little to be used on the bed. 

Happy National Quilting Day! Saturdays full of quilting will be a dream and even if you don’t get to quilt all day, let’s celebrate the day by admiring all the quilts you’ve made or are in the process of making.

While we enjoy those if you want to get some treats or want to build your stash, enjoy these sales while you’re at it. 

There are affiliate links within this post in which I may earn comission from the links. Find full disclosure here.

 

1.  Enjoy 20% entire order, quilting fabrics, books, notions

this one is even valid for items that are already marked down, I’ve been eyeing some of the books that were up to 60% off and some threads. This is a great time to stock up. 

Use this link and code: LOVE2QUILT

If you’ve read my previous blog post, 10 ways to be more organised with your quilting project or if you’ve been following my quilting project progress, you’ll know that I absolutely love and vouch for the portable design board!

DIY portable design board for patchwork

You can DIY or buy ready-made ones here.

If you want to DIY, you can use cut out cardboard boxes or artboard like this one here.

I made my first set of these DIY portable design boards 5 years back, and they are still very good to use. Some are even made of just cut-out cardboard boxes.

I made random sizes in sets of 3s or 5s, and I find them really useful for different stages of the patchwork piecing of a quilt.

Particularly I love the small ones to chain piece smaller units as I can easily bring them around and they don’t take much space. 

But I find that I need to layout larger blocks easily without overlapping and I haven’t got anything larger than a 10″ board, so I made some new ones!

These are roughly 14″  square which makes it perfect for laying out 12″ blocks before piecing them together. These are also made from cut-out cardboard boxes. 

You can opt not to put the fabric “binding” on these boards. Simply cover a cardboard piece with batting and it should work as a charm for holding on to the little pieces of patchwork. 

But, the fabric binding made these boards so cute!! Hot glue gun mess was definitely worth it. 

For the full tutorial on how to make these board, click HERE>

If you don’t want to DIY,

you can also purchase ready-made design boards here.

I absolutely love using mine, and I find myself using them in every single quilting project. They keep everything organised and make it easy for me to transport my little pieces from one place to another. Especially from the cutting table to the sewing machine. 

And because of the sticky batting, we can put the pieces up and pick the board up to get a better view of it. Hence the name, design board. 

Are you already using them too? 

I have a finished quilt to share with you today..I blogged about this earlier here. It was a quick fun finish.

I made it smaller than the one in the FREE pattern because I am making a baby quilt. I simply removed the bottom two ribbon rows and made a smaller quilt.

You can click on the links below for all the details:

FREE Pattern: Ribbon Box Quilt

Quilting Tools and Notions I used:

• My trusted workhorse, Janome Horizon Memory Craft QCP8200
• So Fine Thread for piecing
• My ergonomic Rotary Cutter 
• Large cutting Mat
• Wool ironing Mat (I have no issues with the smell, but sometimes it can burn if the iron is way too hot and no steam)
• Sets of Trimming Rulers (small rulers makes a difference when you need to trim small units)
• Portable Design Board. I made mine using this tutorial, but you can also purchase them here. 

This one is made with fabrics with my stash and I simply started with the same colour palette as the quilt model in the pattern.

The quilt top finished in a day, and it was pretty quick to put together. I am definitely going to be putting this pattern in the list of my favorite. It will surely be one of my quick ones to pull out next time I have a baby quilt to make. 

I used two fat quarters for the binding.    

Quilt Label

I am testing out a smaller label I made and slipped it in the binding while stitching it down. It turns out great but I think the font kind of bleed a little on cotton fabric. Will surely be trying to print it on a different materials.

If it turns out great, I’ll be adding the template in Quilt Label Wizard. So if you are in the course, be sure to look out for the additional free template!

Applique Letters for a custom quilt

I added a custom name with my Cricut Maker as I did in this quilt here and then started quilting!

Check out Cricut Maker Deal HERE>

I love how it turned out!

I used a cute backing fabric I got from a local store for this one.

 

I am strip piecing the sashing for my Together quilt and found a couple of things that make things more organized that I would like to share with you in this post. Anything that makes patchwork easy is always good to know. So in this post, I have a video of me sewing the cornerstone post for this quilt, and while at it, I share some tips for easy patchwork using the strip piecing technique.

Previous work in progress post: Together Heart Quilt First Progress

Previous Heart Quilt on the blog

• I Heart Quilt
• Scrappy Heart Pillow
• Patchwork Heart Quilt
• Free Motion Quilting Hearts

 

Here are my best tips for starting free motion quilting with a domestic sewing machine. If you want to start free motion quilting your own quilt this year, make sure you read these tips to start your free motion quilting journey. 

There are affiliate links within this post where I may earn a commission from the links. Find full disclosure here. 

How to get better at free motion quilting?

I think it is so easy to think that in order to start your quilting, we should get straight to do the machine and start right? However, with free-motion quilting, the best way to get started is to do some work away from the machine first. What do I mean by that?

I can’t believe that this one came together pretty quickly. It is surely a quilt in a day. I guess it is not a quilt yet, just a quilt top flimsy at the moment. But it came together in a few hours. So, technically if I did have the time to spend a couple more hours, it can become a fully finish quilt – in a day. 

This pattern makes a perfect baby quilt. and the pattern is free….

Another heart quilt in the making, I just love heart shapes and always love the opportunity to make heart quilt blocks.

Previous Heart Quilt on the blog

• I Heart Quilt
• Scrappy Heart Pillow
• Patchwork Heart Quilt
• Free Motion Quilting Hearts

This quilt in progress is a new start late last year. When I first saw the pattern, I knew straight away that I wanted to make it. Something about the alternate blocks and the varieties of the heart quilt blocks that makes me want to jump right in and start piecing. 

I also love the idea of making a few of the same quilt blocks on repeat. I find myself getting bored of making too many of the same quilt blocks, so patterns like this are always something that interests me. 

Using fabrics from my stash of pinks and corals, I started making the blocks for the quilt.

Together Quilt Pattern and Tutorials:

• Together Quilt Pattern
• Together Quilt Moda Stitch Pink Sew Along using this pattern – video tutorials

Quilting Tools and Notions I used:

• My trusted workhorse, Janome Horizon Memory Craft QCP8200
• So Fine Thread for piecing
• My ergonomic Rotary Cutter 
• Large cutting Mat
• Wool ironing Mat (I have no issues with the smell, but sometimes it can burn if the iron is way too hot and no steam)
• Sets of Trimming Rulers (small rulers makes a difference when you need to trim small units)
• Stripology Ruler ( Absolutely love this ruler – makes cutting lots of tiny pieces and strips so easy)

Heart Quilt Blocks 

The pinks and corals of this quilt are making heart fleet around as I make these heart quilt blocks. 

I love it when I get to mix and match what I have in stash in a quilt. 

Strip Pieced Heart Quilt Blocks

These strip pieced ones took a little longer to piece, but they are fabulous. The more patches the better right?

And then there are the alternating blocks. 

I am using these mushroom fabrics for the four patches, they’re super cute and have been in my stash for quite a while. I thought it would be nice to finally use them since I have the required amount just for the job.

The only thing about using this mushroom fabric is that it is directional, so I have to make sure that the mushrooms are all upright.

Well, will anyone notice? But I try to anyway cause it’s fun. 

Strip Piecing Four Patches

Stripology Ruler helps make strip piecing a breeze. I highly recommend this ruler. A little pricey for the large one, but so easy to use. And I can’t tell you how often I am so glad I have this ruler and how it has help in making tons of scrips in matter of minutes and without the hassle of moving the rulers and the fabrics for each cut. 

You can check out Stripology Ruler here or here on Amazon. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Amira – Quilting And Sewing (@amira_littlemushroomcap)

Finding time to sew

I am hoping to finish off the alternating blocks in the next few weeks as I sew a couple of minutes a day. Yes, lately I have not had much of a sewing time but a little progress can go a long way!

Even the above video is not even done in one day. Can you believe it?

I sometimes only have time to do one step of the process. Sometimes I get to press a couple of strips. Sometimes to sew a couple of seams. It all adds up. Trust me. This is why I love patchwork! 

If you have been struggling to find time to sew, maybe you’re aiming to sew for a whole block of time of an hour. Ideally, that would be awesome.. but sometimes, a few minutes can also do wonders!

Till next time, 

Let me know in the comment, do you like heart quilt blocks too?

Happy quilting!