Blogathon Winner and some quilting progress

First I want to talk about my quilting progress. This past weekend I had time to do a few different things. First I made those five 10" blocks. My MQG is making a quilt for the MQG QuiltCon Charity Quilt challenge and these were my assignment. Guild members will assemble the quilt and back this week and then it all comes to me to quilt it. Off to another member to bind, also somewhere in there we need to add the hanging sleeve, then a visit with all our members at our Dec 10 meeting and then in a lovely box on her way to Austin, Texas. I am so excited because I am going to QuiltCon and a quilt made by my guild mates will be hanging there too.



I woke up on Saturday feeling like I was ready to try using a ruler on my APQS Millennium Longarm Quilting Machine. If you are going to use a ruler, you need a ruler base - this one is called a Hartley Base - that slides under the quilt and gives you a flat area to place the ruler on. Also, you need special rulers that are at least 1/4" thick or the hopping foot will hop over them and broken rules, needles, and possibly finger damage can happen.



This small quilt top seemed like a good one for some really straight lines so I set her up to go. These blocks are from a bee I was in some time ago called the Modern Blocks Bee. Well, I tried a few different blocks and ideas and now the ruler and base are back in their bin on a time out. I have some parts of the quilting to pick out - despite my total aversion to doing that and then I will try again. This quilt is on my FAL Q4 list and I am determined to finish it before the end of the year.

Rulers, well really anything that involves a diagonal line, on the long arm seem to be very hard for me. I have to admit that the rulers made stitching in the ditch both fast and really tidy but these radiating lines were not a great idea and mostly look a fright. That photo is the very best block. Maybe I need to find an in person class for some tips.



While I was thinking about my FAL Q4 list, I gave some thought to the fact that November was racing by. My Ocean Waves holiday/winter quilt is both on my FAL list and I want it to cuddle in over the holidays. I need 6 more blocks, which have 12 HSTs each, so I cut the fabric and got started on them. Next step is to trim the HSTs. I need to do that tonight as I really don't like trimming the HSTs so the sooner the better. But I was too tired last night, and I really try not to go near a rotary cutter when I am tired, as I love my fingers a great deal.



After the fiasco of the rulers, I wanted something fast and fun to quilt. This is the back of another little quilt, I will be able to show you the front soon. Quilting these lines freehand took no time at all. I took the quilt off the long arm, turned it and remounted it on the frame to do the cross hatched lines. It is simple to move horizontally on the long arm but really slow to do vertical lines as you need to roll and unroll the quilt. I learned that I can turn and remount a quilt in 15 minutes, so no need to avoid that anymore in future.

By the way, I still adore those fabrics, all of which are from Brambleberry Ridge by Violet Craft. I need to use them to make a quilt for me, and for more quilt backs to.

This morning I used the random number generator to pick the winner of the Blogathon Canada draw for the beautiful Doe bundle sponsored by Sew Sisters Quilt Shop. The lucky winner is Kay, who said, "I live in Vermont (USA), but only 5 miles from the Canadian border, so Montreal is a frequent destination." Congratulations Kay and thank you to Sew Sisters Quilt Shop for sponsoring Blogathon Canada and so many wonderful prizes.

I sure enjoyed hearing about where you are all from and what parts of Canada you know and don't yet know, thank you to everyone who participated. And remember, you can always check out the Blogathon Canada links later to meet more talented Canadian bloggers.

It's after dinner and dark already. I think I will play with some scraps tonight.

Best,

Leanne