I've been accumulating small projects to be quilted with my sewing machine. Machine stitching isn't something I enjoy but I do it because it needs to be done. The last time I posted about machine quilting, a commentator asked me why do it if I don't enjoy it? There's an easy one word answer to the question, money! I'm too frugal to send these little projects out for long arm quilting. I have no problem paying to have larger quilts professionally quilted but this little stuff I can do.
I'll be showing you my not so professional quilting for the rest of June and probably most of July, who knows, maybe even August!
Starting off the quilting procession are placemats, Christmas placemats. I pieced them last January, after Christmas of course, so I would have them for next Christmas.
I got tired of piecing after the first four in the bottom left corner so I just sashed pretty fabrics. I used a variety of stitching, all simple. You don't see the quilting on the sashed ones. The binding will probably be attached the first of December. The four in the bottom left corner are 14" by 17". The sashed placemats are 15" by 19".
A black & white stripe will be used for binding Tula Hexies and this little placemat. It measures 17" by 20". This was good practice for the full sized quilt but I'm still not sure if that is how I want to quilt the big quilt.
I've started quilting the small projects first, working my way up to the larger ones. These little placemats were perfect to use the small pieces of batting that have been accumulating.
Linking to Midweek Makers, Wednesday Wait Loss, Needle & Thread Thursday, Free Motion Mavericks, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF!, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts
It's a relief for me to see your small sets... I'm also working my way up from the small ones to the larger ones. And it's so much fun.
ReplyDeleteMost of the time I lack fabric. I think I'll have to buy a bulk lot to be able to do bigger things because I always lack the necessary colors.
Your hexies with the Tula fabric are also so great...
I wish you lots of joy.
love those tula pink prints! perfect with the black border
ReplyDeleteSo lovely...the little nine patch quilts. Ihave some too ( somewhere in a box😅🤔)
ReplyDeleteGreetings, Simone
Love your Christmas placemats. The hexies are so pretty - Tula always looks SO good with black/white.
ReplyDeleteYour one word answer "money" is mine, as well! The reason I have so many quilt tops is because I could never justify the cost of paying someone else to do the quilting when I knew full well I could do it myself - someday. Good for you to have these little gems finished!
ReplyDeleteGreat projects to get back into the swing of machine quilting. Thanks for sharing on my weekly show and tell, Wednesday Wait Loss.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.inquiringquilter.com/questions/2024/06/26/wednesday-wait-loss-386
Darling placemats, Gretchen and your quilting is gorgeous. Love the little nine patch quilts. Have a lovely day in the quilt room. Hug.
ReplyDeleteI don't pay for long arm at all as no way I can afford that. It's really hard to machine quilt a quilt and I sure can not come close to a professional finish.
ReplyDeletePlacemats are always a great way to use up small pieces of nice fabric and odd blocks. xx
ReplyDeleteHello, thank you vor you nice comments on my Blog. I like your Placemats👍. I like quilting by hand. Quilting by Maschine, i dont like it. but I do it fot little things.
ReplyDeleteGreetings, Marita
While I do enjoy machine quilting, my body does not. It also takes me too many hours to finish so some projects I quilt by check. I like your placemats. Especially your pieced one and your machine quilting looks awesome to me!
ReplyDeleteYour small quilting is fun - and I love your quilting on the hexies. I hate all the binding on placemats, so I am always unsure if I want to "pillowcase" or bind. The placemats are great projects, thanks for linking to TGIFF!
ReplyDeleteOoh, the Tula hexie mat is too cute! Will be wonderful as a big quilt too. Funny, when I started quilting there were still a lot of hand quilters but I swore I'd only machine quilt because I didn't want to do that. The thing about machine quilting is like everything thing else it takes practice to get "good" and how your machine is set up and sometimes what machine you use makes a big difference. Ironically, I did eventually learn to hand quilt but have only done it once, LOL!
ReplyDeleteThe panda fabric does a great job of highlighting your beautifully pieced Tula hexies.
ReplyDeleteIf you haven't checked out Leah Day's site for FMQ, do. I must have spent a decade dipping my toe into different classes and tutorials to learn how to machine quilt. I simply couldn't relax or understand how to move from spot to spot on the quilt. Then Leah did a QAL starting with stippling. Within the first few lessons I had stippling and couple other patterns down. Although the QAL is long past, all her tutorials are free and posted on her site. I often return to the site for inspiration and to jump start the pattern I select.
I agree with your comment on quilting your own little projects; although I don't mind that size. The Tula hexies are very cute and your quilting goes with it perfectly. Hooray for you making progress and getting things finished. Also love your dots and dashes quilt. The combination of directions adds such interest and is such a good scrap buster.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great collection of beautiful placemats, they are going to be fun practice before quilting bigger quilts. I love the mini Tula, and the way you quilted each hexie. Your quilting looks very good to me.
ReplyDeleteI love the hexies and the fabric. Thank you for linking up to Put your foot down.
ReplyDeleteNice Placemats! Hugs
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun way to use those tula prints!
ReplyDeleteLove your placemats - they look very festive!
Beautiful blog
ReplyDeletePlease read my post
ReplyDelete