Machine Quilting - free motion - first client quilt

I just finished my first free motion machine quilted client quilt - and I think it turned out great.  My very first client, Shirley, was so thrilled she gave me several more to do.   She was happy with the quilting design and ecstatic about the super low quilting fee.  She was happy to benefit from my "practice" pricing.

I have been quilting for 25 years and machine quilting for just about as long, but this has been my first time machine quilting on a frame.  There is a definite learning curve.  But I love it!

I did the sewing on a domestic Singer sewing machine, but I have ordered off Ebay a Pfaff Expression 2.0 with a 10" throat space.  Right now the Singer only has a 7" throat space from the right of the needle.  I think this will help a lot.




The quilt pattern is Dresden Plate and was pieced nicely, so it layed nice and flat.  That made it nice to quilt.

I stippled around the applique dresden plates and on all the borders I did a free style free motion heart pattern.

Random Reflections quilt block tutorial

Random Reflections was posted free on Moda Bake Shop's blog and I love the design possibilities and the ease of the sewing on this block.

I cut strips 1 1/2" of different scraps and of solid white material.

I constructed it two different ways - the one way is to do one block at a time by sewing a scrap strip to a white strip - the second was is to make the strips longer and sew a white strip on each end of the scrap strip - and then  cut down the middle and you have made 2 blocks at one time.  

Both methods go together very quickly.

You then sew 6 of the strips together and trim to 6 1/2" square

Here are some of the combinations you can lay them out

This one would make a great bookshelf style quilt

99 Modern Quilt Blocks - Megan's Star Tutorial

Lauralei's (Megan's) Star Tutorial


here are the cutting instructions:

Center
4 3/4" x 4 3/4" fussy cut on the diagonal

Center triangles

cut 2 squares 4" - cut on the diagonal to make 4 triangles

Star points
cut 8 squares 2 1/2"

Bacground
cut 4 rectangles 1 1/2" x 3 1/2 "
cut 8 rectangles 3 1/2" x 4 1/2 "

Corner triangles
cut 4 squares 2 1/2"

I chose to do a fussy cut on the diagonal for the center block

I also added the (optional) black strip to make the tiger stand out more.
sew triangles to the center block

right sides together, put a star square on corner of 3 1/2" x 4 1/2 " rectangle

You can draw a line on the diagonal or I just sewed across without the line by lining

up with a line on my machine plate

trim corner excess fabric

sew other corners till you have 4 sections 

** for the 4 corner triangles on the other 3 1/2" x 4 1/2 " rectangles

make sure you do 2 on one side and 2 on the opposite 

I lined them up so that faced the correct direction when you lay them out

sew the small strip to both side of the star rectangles

lay out all the pieces

Diamond Ripples Quilt Block Tutorial

Diamond Ripples Quilt Block Tutorial

from the book 99 Quilt Blocks - Modern Blocks

by Susanne Woods

This makes a 12.5" unfinished block

Cut 18 - 3" squares from background fabric (book says 2 7/8")

Cut 3 - 3' squares from 6 different fabrics - total of 18 squares

Draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of each background square.

With right sides together sew on both sides of the line - in one continuous line - do one side and the without cutting threads, do the other side - it makes one big circle and goes pretty fast this way

cut on the draw line in between your stitching

arrange the blocks near your sewing machine

I started on one side and flipped a block onto the block on the side of it and kept them in order and went down the line - or you could sew one by one - just keep them in the correct order

I sewed each column leaving the threads attached to maintain the correct order.

Then sewed the top two together, middle two, bottom two.

Then sewed top to middle, middle to bottom, etc

The I sewed the rows together.

other examples I found

Wonky Star Quilt Block Tutorial

Here is a simply tutorial on how to make a 12.5" wonky star block.  The finished size is 12.5"

Cut 13 squares of fabric each cut 4.5" square.
       8 will be for the background         
       4 any color or pattern you choose for the star points - or all  different for a scrappy effect    
       1 any color or pattern you choose for  the center of the star     

Stack the 4 star point squares and slice in half diagonally

Select 4 of the background squares and 4 of the star point triangles.  

Stitch one triangle to the right side of each background square. Changing the angle of the triangles will help create the wonkiness of the star. 

      

Press - cut off excess background fabric on corner.

Sew the remaining 4 triangles to the left side of these 4 background blocks.

press
Cut off all excess fabric on corners - trim  to make 4.5" square.

stitch a completed star point square to both the left and right side as shown 




sew a plain background square to both the left and right sides to the star point squares






Line up the seams, stitch the top row to the middle row. Repeat with the bottom row.

This technique was first devised by Gwen Marston and shown in her  book Liberated Quiltmaking.  I also saw it in Modern Blocks: 99 Quilt Blocks from Your Favorite Designers by Susanne Woods

Be sure to join up in the Flickr group here:  Happy Scrap Quilt block Swap