Back again

Have been off vacationing with family, hence no posts or quilting for a while. Though it was 101 by Noon we went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park. Fortunately we got there by 9am when it opened and were able to see quite a few animnals on the tram ride around the perimeter of the park. A great way to see most of the park. Here is part of the creche of giraffes they have that are one of the most successful of their breeding programs. The park has lots of shade in places and "wet zones" where one can cool off - not to mention shows that give you a respite from the heat, but still it was hot! Here is grandson #2, Frank, cozying up to Mama Gorrilla. And last but not least, they put quilting blocks on the posts giving directions. Would make a great African quilt border.

Garden spot

The summer days continue and soon I will need to think about autumn chores to get ready for winter starts. In the meantime, I roam the yard (my DH's part) and look for photo ops of his holdings - he is a cactus and succulent nut. Found this one I like. They only bloom in the morning, but they are a nice surprise when I go out to get the morning paper:

Quilting as I go, Part 1

Hello, I went to see Julie and Julia the other day, and I just loved it. Since I can't get a copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking at this time (Borders has sold out, all the copies at the library are on loan - can't even interlibrary loan it), I'm going to set a quilting goal rather than a cooking goal (I was only going to make a few recipes - LOL) like Julie in the movie.

I've decided to chronicle my "quilting as I go method" for getting quilts done with my Bernina. Yes, I have taken some to long arm quilters to do, but I've become intrigued in doing these at home. I read an article by Diane Gaudinski and she has me in awe for the fabulous work she does on her home machine. So after reading books by Diane, Kaye Wood, Marti Michell, Georgia Bonesteel, Betty Cotton, Sharon Pederson and others, I decided to try quilting my own tops. Here are two I have already done this way - posted in order made:

So first thing I do is take out the batting I will need for the quilt, wash it, dry it and plan how I am going to cut up the batting for the number of sections the quilt will have. I like to use batting that is 80% cotton and 20% polyester. I find that this doesn't shift as much as others and makes for smooth backs.

For UFO #5- I have decided on seven sections. I've already taken the blocks down from the design wall, so I can't show you that. So on paper I figure out what I need. This is just breaking the quilt down to segments that are easy to handle in my machine. The center has 70 blocks, so I decided on three sections. My squares are 6"squares finished. So one section is 4 rows by seven blocks And there are 2 sections 3 rows by 7 blocks. The other 4 sections will be borders. I add 2 inches extra to the batting and backing sections so that they extend beyond the quilt segments. With planning on graph paper, I can cut all segments from a twin batting measuring 72"by 90". It's not a complicated as it reads once you've done it.

Now I like to have a patchwork back, so I look in my stash for three interesting fabrics to be the backing for the center of this quilt. If I can find something big enough, I'll use one fabric for all the borders. Off to my stash. Time for cutting batting, and picking fabrics = 1 hour.

Part II later.