Just One Star...

Both of my Quilt Guilds are participating in:

Just One Star

Mary's River Quilt Guild in Philomath, OR

Harlan Valley Quilters, Harlan, OR

I printed out the pattern and decided to get to it:

Excellent Directions & Easy to Follow

Just One Star Block

I couldn't stand it...

I had to make one red and one blue block.

There is still time to make a star block.

The deadline is May 1, 2011

CLICK HERE to Print the Pattern

CLICK HERE to view my Tutorials

CLICK HERE to view my Slideshows

CLICK HERE to view New Work

May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn Kessi

Hello Gramma.......Remember Me?

As a teenager I spent time visiting my grandmother at a care facility.

I would walk down a long corridor, reach the door of her room, knock gently then walk in...

I would walk over to her bed, touch her hand and greet her:

Hello Gramma.......remember me?

For 12 years my family watched my gramma's slow decline from Alzheimer's.

My Grandparents, Helen & Nicholas Fusco

This is the way I prefer to remember my grandmother

I was recently contacted by:

Jeffree Itrich
Sr. Clinical Trials Communications Specialist
Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study
University of California, San Diego

Here is Jeffree with one of the quilts donated to comfort an Alzheimer's patient

Quilts brighten the lives of Alzheimer's Patients

Quilters have long known that a quilt is a loving tribute that bonds quilters with recipients across generations and across vast distances. The warmth of a quilt is enhanced by the often bright patterns and colorful images which frequently suggest a simpler time.

Under a unique donation program organized by the Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study (ADCS, quilts are brightening the lives of Alzheimer's patients around the nation.

The Alzheimer’s Study Quilt Program began in late January 2010. An employee who quilts jumpstarted the project because she knows how positively people react when given a quilt and how quilters are wonderfully generous people. Her plea for quilts to give participants in the NGF (Nerve Growth Factor) Study was picked up by numerous quilting newsletters. Good Samaritans circulated the request for quilts and they began arriving from communities all over the U.S. The program has received nearly enough quilts for all the NGF Study participants and are now looking for quilts for two other Alzheimer’s studies in progress.

Those study participants who have received quilts have been immensely grateful and realize that the quilts were made with love, sincerity, and gratitude (for participating in the study and helping future generations). Many of the quilters had family members with Alzheimer’s (AD). One woman who lost her mother to AD made and donated 12 quilts and another whose grandfather had AD provided 11 quilts. A woman in Pennsylvania made five flannel quilts in one week!

If you would like to donate a new lap-sized quilt to the Alzheimer’s Quilt Study Project, please contact Jeffree Itrich atjitrich@ucsd.edu.

Jeffree

Jeffree Itrich
Sr. Clinical Trials Communications Specialist
Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study
University of California, San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive, MC 0949
San Diego, CA 92093-0949
Tel: 858-622-5827
FAX: 858-452-4291
jitrich@ucsd.edu

www.adcs.org

CLICK HERE to view the Purple Name Quilt

CLICK HERE to view Quilting on Sacred Ground

CLICK HERE to view Shave Your Legs...

May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn

Circle Quilt Tutorial

Circle Quilt Tutorial..... CLICK HERE

To see my New Work CLICK HERE

To see the Thread Shed CLICK HERE

To see my Exhibit Quilts CLICK HERE

Cattle Quilt Done.....Day 3 Final Post

Day 3 Cattle Quilt.......Final Post

Click Images to Enlarge:

2:00 Machine Quilting Complete

3 Bobbins and 3 Hours later......the Quilting is DONE

Blocked

The quilt has been blocked and is now ready to be trimmed and bound.

Back of Cattle Quilt

Love the pine cones on the back of the quilt.

The Bottom Line Thread blended in beautifully.

The person this quilt is intended for, grew up in pine tree country.

Trimmed and ready for Binding

Binding Strips sewn on Diagonal

See my previous post for a tutorial on this method.

The diagonal seam distributes the bulk of the seam.

There is no bulk in the seam area when you roll the binding around the edge of the quilt.

Binding Technique

A coffee can on the floor catches the pressed binding strip.

Binding Strips

They are easily transported from the pressing area over to the sewing area.

Binding the Quilt

Yes, that is Suzy the little Quilting Doggie asleep under the sewing machine.

I place the coffee can between my feet....the binding feeds flawlessly onto the quilt surface.....works every time!

Binding Tin

I have been using this little tin can to hold my binding supplies for more than 20 years.

I found it at a garage sale.......full of hair pins. I use the pins to secure the binding around to the front side of the quilt while I am hand stitching.

It is now 3:30 and I am heading into the house to get a bite to eat and begin hand stitching the binding to the back side of the quilt.

As of now I have about 17 hours into this quilt. I am fortunate that it was a simple quilt, with big pieces (I designed it as I went along), and I chose a simple quilting motif with no thread changes. I had a 3 day window of opportunity to work on this quilt.

Why did I show you so much of the process?

When I began quilting over 22 years ago.......I struggled and struggled and struggled.

We all have a starting point.....we were all beginners at one time.

This post has been for all of the beginners out there.

Learn and make many quilts to keep your loved ones cozy.

May Your Life be Filled with Quilts,

LuAnn

To see my New Work CLICK HERE

To see the Thread Shed CLICK HERE

To see my Exhibit Quilts CLICK HERE

To see Tutorials CLICK HERE

Cattle Quilt Done....Continued

Day 3 Continued: Cattle Quilt

Click Images to Enlarge:

Using the 60 wt Bottom Line thread...I wound 4 Bobbins.

Each bobbin holds about 100 yards of this particular thread.

From experience, I know I go through one bobbin per hour free motion quilting.

I guess you could say....I am expecting this quilt to take me 4 hours to quilt.

Bobbin Genie

This little white disk keeps your thread from back lashing in the bobbin during high speed free motion stitching. (It prevents the knots on the back of your quilt)

You can find out more from Sharon Shamber's site.

The Bobbin Genie is inside the bobbin housing and I am ready to go!

Titanium Needles

Stronger and sharper and last 10 times longer

Titanium Size 75

This size works best with the YLI Variations Trilobal Polyester threads.

Remember to choose your thread, then match the appropriate needle size to the thread.

Bobbin Tension

I need to tighten my bobbin tension screw to accommodate the small 60 wt Bottom Line Thread. Remember....Righty Tighty......Lefty Loosey.

Practice Sandwich

I warm up on a practice sandwich to check my thread tensions....top and bottom.

Sewing Machine Top Tension Dial

The YLI Variations thread likes about 1.5 tension

Neutrogena Hand Cream

I need to get a GRIP on the quilt during free motion quilting.

I love this greaseless hand cream. A tip I learned from Diane Gaudynski

Ready to Machine Quilt

Fasten Your Seat belt.......Here we go!

Curved Thread Snips

One hour almost to the minute.....I ran out of the first filled bobbin.

I love these curved tip thread snips.

I have been known to cut holes into my quilts snipping threads with regular scissors.

Stopping Point

When I reach the end of a bobbin and have to stop, I mark my place with a visible pin.

Once I have a new bobbin loaded, it is easy to find my place and get quilting again.

Two Hours into Quilting

As I load my third bobbin, I check over the quilting.

I am very happy with the TEDDY brown thread.

It blends and doesn't stand out where it shouldn't.

Quilter Energy

Take 2 of these after each bobbin reload........you can quilt for hours!

Again, this post is becoming too long.......more tomorrow!

May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn

To see my New Work CLICK HERE

To see the Thread Shed CLICK HERE

To see my Exhibit Quilts CLICK HERE

To see Tutorials CLICK HERE

Cattle Quilt.....Done

Day 3: The Cattle Quilt is Done

Click Images to Enlarge:

I made it out to the Thread Shed by 10am.

I started out by choosing a masculine quilting motif that fit the quilt.

I decided the Stars and Lasso pattern was perfect for this Cattle Quilt.

I keep my free motion sample sandwiches in a pile by my sewing machine.

They come in handy when I need a visual of what a quilting motif looks like stitched out.

Free Motion Vine Motif Sample

Free Motion Feather Motif Sample

Free Motion Feather Vine Sample

Hyper-quilted Feather Sample

I created all of these samples a few years ago when i was learning from Patsy Thompson's Quilting DVDs.

Time to choose the quilting THREAD

I decided a subtle variegated thread would be a good choice.

I narrowed it down to these 3 browns

Variations Variegated threads are my very favorites!

I eliminated the darkest brown, it was just too dark for the lighter areas of the quilt.

The medium brown and the light brown worked on the lighter areas.

They both also worked on the darkest parts of the quilt.

I liked the medium brown because it didn't blend as much on the gold borders.

This would help the quilting stand out on the final border of the quilt.

YLI Variations TEDDY thread is the winner!

Now for the bobbin thread...

I almost always choose a Bottom Line for the bobbin thread.

It is 60 wt and just melts into the backing fabric.

Even when I do heavy quilting, there is no thread build-up on the back side.

The Bottom Line is the Winner for the Back Side.

My Two Threads

By choosing only 1 thread color for the top, will save me LOTS of time not having to change thread colors throughout the machine quilting process.

This is my last free day to get this quilt DONE...

The Bottom Line is a stacked thread and needs a side delivery coming off the spool.

The Variations is a crosswound thread and needs to come off the top of the cone.

Thread Stand

This thread stand is so perfect for the proper use and delivery of all the different kinds and brands of thread I use.

This post is getting very long.....The quilt was finished by 3:30 today.

I am hand stitching the binding down tonight while watching football with my favorite guy. I will continue this post tomorrow and show you the completed quilt. See You Then!

May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn

To see my New Work CLICK HERE

To see the Thread Shed CLICK HERE

To see my Exhibit Quilts CLICK HERE

To see Tutorials CLICK HERE