Quilt-achusetts

When I was selected to be an Aurifil Artisan we were asked to sign up for several challenges that we could complete throughout the year.  I wasn't sure if I could do the bag challenge but with a little encouragement from my friend Daisy, warmfolk.com , I took the leap and signed up! Tiffany Bag for the Aurifil November Challenge Aurifil partnered with both Sallie Tomato and Therm-o-web for the pattern and interfacing which made it so easy to pick a great bag and find all the supplies I needed to be successful.  I also dug deep into my stash and chose a "vintage" Melody Miller canvas print.  It was a little hard to cut into this fabric but having coordinating Robert Kaufman Essex and Arroyo linens helped. Aurifil Artisan Bag Challenge For the construction of this bag I used matching Aurifil 50 wt threads.  These were the perfect weight for the construction and didn't add unnecessary bulk to the seams, which was great when it came to those tight curv

As you put the finishing touches on your Infrastructure quilt,  or if your plugging along at your own comfortable pace, I hope you've enjoyed the quilt along and gleaned some new tips and tricks along the way. Infrastructure Quilt This week we will be talking about binding.  Christa has an amazing machine binding video tutorial over on her blog .  When we began the quilt along the plan was for Christa to hand bind and for me to machine bind the quilt but in the course of making out quilts it ended up the exact opposite.  So let me get into talking bindings! 60+ Quilts - 60+ Bindings I like to use 2 1/2" strips when binding and typically sew on the binding with a 3/8''  seam allowance.  This mean, whenever possible, I leave a little, very little, extra batting around the edge of the my quilt when squaring it up, to keep all those points around the edges intact.  After the binding is attached to the front of the quilt I will iron the binding back o

Let the fun begin, quilting!  Almost two years ago now I bought a Gammill Statler Stitcher longarm and never looked back.  I use to quilt using my domestic machine and walking foot, for more details regarding domestic machine quilting check out Christa's corresponding blog post , and when I got my Gammill I jumped right into custom digital designs.  While there is a perception out there that you draw your quilt design and walk away this is not the case.  I like to call my quilting hand aided computer quilting.  I keep a careful watch on my longarm as it stitches and will even manipulate the quilt top while stitches are being laid down. Infrastructure Quilting  After some trial and error I found that my machine, loves, I mean loves, Aurufil Thread .  For this, and for most of my quilts, I used Aurifil Forty3 , a 40 wt 3 ply thread made for longarms.  It makes the most amazing stitches and handles the extra stress of long straight lines.  I chose a medium grey for for most

YAY!  We've made it through all the rows and now it's time to start assembling the top.  Don't worry if you're not quite ready with all your rows, since this week is a less complicated week there is plenty of time to work on any unfinished rows.  Don't forget to check out Christa's blog for more tips on top assembly and basting for domestic machine quilting. Infrastructure Rows 1-9 with Anne (Bea) I have some quick top assembly tips, nothing earth shattering, but hopefully helpful.  I typically assemble my rows by doing the first half, in this case rows 1-5, then setting that aside and assembling the second half, rows 6-9.  Then I sew the two halves together.  This is really helpful when pressing seams.  Pressing seams gets a bit cumbersome at the end of the quilt, and by doing the top in two halves you don't have that problem.  If you look closely at the picture below I accidentally assembled one of the rows upside down but I correct the problem

You made it, the last row and it's a simple strip set so week 9 is also a great catch up week.  This week the Benartex Superior Solids being used are Magenta, Purple, Grape, Medium Gray and Charcoal.  Check out Christa's blog for more information on the Geo Pop version. Infrastructure Row 9 - fabric I think this is my favorite color combo so far.  The ombré is so calming and a great foundation for the rest of the quilt to stand on. Infrastructure row 9 - cut There have been a few other strip sets in the quilt and for more tips a tricks take a peek at weeks 2 - row 1 , week 4 - rows 3 & 5 and week 7 - row 7 .   I switched back to the medium-dark grey Aurifil 50 wt thread to piece row 9.  I had been using a mixture of white and medium-dark grey for the past few rows. Infrastructure Row 9 There you have it row 9 is complete!  I hope you've been able to see the quilt come together with each row we completed.  We'll be wrapping this one u