Margo,
How did you get the design on her photo?? fabulous....
Jeanine

Teresa, I have no idea how densely you want to quilt this, but if you want feathers, here is a LARGE feather motif that would fill the space nicely. If you want more dense quilting, just sub-divide each space and fill each space with smaller elements!

I love the colors you have added with your HSTs and can't wait to see this finished! Good job!

Lovely Teresa.

I've finished my HST top. I'm pretty sure it is flat but the flannel tablecloth design wall isn't quite large enough to hang it very well. There is a HandiQuilter Educator coming to Bismarck in November for longarm classes and I can bring one top for design ideas so I will take this one. If anyone has design ideas or suggestions for a name for my quilt please let me know. I thought some feather thing in the outside green portion but that's as far as I've gotten. Hope everyone is busy working on their HST projects. Thanks to everyone who worked so hard on this project and Carol and crew for working on the book. The biggest complement to them would be to get our projects finished.

We weaned some calves last night and it's been quite a symphony of sorrowful bellering today that will continue for the next week or so until we're done and the mamas give up and walk away.

Good for you JoJo!! Yes, if you are following a pattern and it gives you the finished size of the project, that is the size BEFORE it is quilted. The amount it shrinks up depends on whether you preswash/preshrink your fabrics, what kind of batting you use and if you preshrink it, how dense the quilting is, and lastly how the project is laundered. So....lots of variables to deal with, and we learn something new with each project.

crocus999 wrote:
Please don't let my experience shy you away from machine quilting or you will end up like me and think about it, study it, but never really do it. And, if you don't go crazy with small quilting, maybe it won't shrink so much. I had to quilt my borders like that because I didn't anchor down all of the sections like I should have before quilting the center. With hand quilting, I start in the middle and work out to each side and then down the quilt and then up the quilt and I thought machine quilting would be the same.

Looking forward to seeing your hand quilted piece. I really love hand quilting and the way it looks. I just need to get faster at it.

I'm looking forward to seeing your finished piece!

I am also learning about the shrinking problem. ( So far, I have only been quilting the table topper, by hand. I'm also nervous about doing the machine thing on the big quilt. I've only taken one course and accompanying homework for that wasn't totally finished Maybe I'll do it the old way, and hand quilt it!

I finished machine quilting my HST table topper yesterday and washed it to remove all of the markings. Normally I would have waited to wash it until I put the binding on but I wanted to take my time with the binding and the Crayola markers had already been on longer than I wanted because I got stuck on how to continue with the quilting and it took me an extra week to get back to it.

First, I want to really give a shout out and thank you to Keith Dommer. Keith took time out of his busy schedule to look at pictures of my quilt and give me suggestions for reigning in the corners that grew during my machine quilting of the center. This really is my first machine quilted piece and I've learned a great deal the hard way on this piece. Keith, if you get a chance to read this, THANK YOU for all of your suggestions. I followed your advice to the tee and was able to get it perfectly squared. My next quilt will go much better now that I know a little more. Although that could be dangerous, huh.

Second, Terry Knott told me that quilting small circles would pull in areas and it really works (not that I doubted you Terry!) However, I was too nervous to try and make circles (seemed like they would have to be too perfect), so I did crooked lines (those I was able to manage). I'm really happy with how it turned out even with my novice-ness. I will post a picture after the binding is on.

BTW -- one other thing that I learned. Guess what, if you quilt the snot out of a section of a quilt, it shrinks -- A LOT. So, my table topper is now about an inch and half shorter than I wanted on all sides. Like I said, I've learned a lot on this piece. I would never have guessed it would shrink that much. It still looks beautiful and I thought (briefly) about trying to add one more border to the already quilted piece, but I think I will just put the binding on and call it finished. Other projects are demanding some attention.

Jan, here is a link to the video tutorial: [url]daily-blog/103-good-advice/14753-margo-turns-hsts-into-pinwheels[/url]

(You can find it by putting "pinwheels" in the search box on the Daily Blog page!)

Margo, do you have a tutorial on doing pinwheels somewhere on here? I need to practice this. Thanks, Jan

Barb, I love your quilt on page 18. It is amazing how few of the quilts are in a pattern from Edyta's book. Thanks, Jan

Luv the new avatar, Debbie!

Margo and Ritzy: some secrets are meant to be shared...especially among sisters! And...Margo, thanx for the great label instructions!

Hugs,
Shirley

NaneeWolf wrote:
Is this another new photo of our very own Debbie Wolf? Love it and seeing the many happy faces of your personality, Debbie! COOL BEANS!

Hugs,
Shirley