Lisa Kay Knits... and Quilts!

How do you start learning to use a long arm? There are so many teaching resources available, it has been a bit of a fire hose, and often hard to choose. I found a resource I really like, specifically aimed at the Gammill Statler, the long arm that I have on order. The Methodist Hill Quilt Studio has a monthly "Skill Builders Club" from Joyce Lundrigan and Joan Knight that includes piecing and quilting instructions, a video link, and digital designs for the quilting. I joined a couple days before the April period ended (the 15th), and so now I have both April and May instructions. Even better, club members can download previous months, and there are six "Jumpstarter" sets from early subscriptions that teach some basics. I have pieced the first three Jumpstarter tops, January 2019 , February 2019 , and March 2019 , which will give me some great learning pieces to do as part of getting acclimated. Here are my pieced tops, and their plain white backings, queued up for ...

Hello after a long hiatus... I have been distracted down a different road, recently, that of quilting. I still knit, also, but quilting seems to be my main passion, lately. I made several last year, even hand quilting two myself, but also having some machine quilted by others (mainly Itchin' To Be Stitchin' in Staunton, IL). I'll include some pictures of last year's quilts at the bottom. It tugs at my "do it yourself" gene to pay someone else to quilt my quilts, but I just haven't been able to manage large quilts on my home sewing machine. I'd really like to get a long arm quilting machine, and I'm looking and scheming, but I'm not quite there. Maybe soon. I'm particularly intrigued by the combination of ruler work and free motion quilting (FMQ) done by Judi Madsen . In addition to her quilting, she and her husband run an on-line shop, Green Fairy Quilts . She's my hero. I've watched all three of her on-line/DVD quilt classes (at ...

I took a detour from butterflies and other projects-in progress-to make a quick gift. My sister-in-law's mom is going through some challenges, and I saw a coloring book that made me think of her. (I have no idea whether or not she will actually like a coloring book.) I also found some clever "twist up" coloring pencils. While I hadn't thought about sewing anything, it struck me to make a little pouch for the book and pencils, and the project kind of took on a life of its own over the weekend. I had started sewing little hexagons on papers while I was on travel last week, thinking to start a "box of hexagons" using scraps. I didn't have a specific project in mind, just to start collecting scrap hexagons. However, I took them out and thought about using some of them. I had 35, which was exactly enough to make five flowers. That seemed kismet, so that's what I did. I sewed them on some fabric charms I had in my stash, added some sashing to make it tal...

I appliqued the butterflies to the background. The rows get further apart going down. I put on the bodies and about three quarters of the antennae. The antennae are two strands of embroidery floss using "whipped reverse chain stitch." Basically, just do a chain stitch (or reverse chain, depending on which direction you like to chain), and then whip through each chain in the link. In this case, I used the same thread for both, but I'm sure you could whip it with a different color for an interesting effect. In the end, it looks like a stem stitch, only thicker. The area at the side where the stacked fabric shows will likely be covered after the embellishing embroidery goes on. In the class example version , the brown bodies were smaller than the base, and the colored base showed all around the brown body piece. However, using the templates in the pattern, the edges were even. Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay Previous Butterfly / Sue Spargo post, here .

Mitchell and I are on a snow day, and I finished appliqueing the background pieces for the Butterfly Sampler. The basic instructions are to use a monochrome background. I thought the "off-white" might be a bit boring, but it helps if you call it, "Champagne." Hah! I made it a little bit bigger than instructed... and my butterflies will be a bit further apart. The example in " Creative Texturing " had two perpendicular rows of blocks, edged with ribbons, and a single circle. I went with three, obviously. Here are a couple in closeup. These will be fund to embellish with embroidery... The book also had three little hexagon flower elements, which I decided to do, as well. I found the " English Paper Piecing " (EPP) unexpectedly fun to do. Now, I suppose I'll end up collecting little hexagons in a box , somewhere... I'm ready to sew on butterflies! Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay Previous Butterfly / Sue Spargo post, here .

Before diving into the butterfly sampler , I made a needlebook. This gives me a way to organize all the various needles for the embellishment, but it also gave me a chance to try Sue Spargo's Creative Stitching and Creative Texturing techniques on a slightly smaller project. The circle design on the cover was modeled after one of Sue's circle samplers . I used a wool felt for the red book base, and then layered quilting cottons, ribbon and rick rack. The closure uses a pony-tail elastic band. Taffeta circle edged with beaded coral stitch using silk ribbon. Batik quilting cotton edged with rosette chain stitch using oriental linen thread. Silk Shantung with chain stitch using Valdani Pearl Cotton #12. Wool fabric edged with bullion knots using DMC Pearl Cotton #5. The pages are craft felt. I printed the labels on printable fabric. There is a closing pocket in the front (with another ponytail elastic) and a non-closing pocket in the back cover. I went ...

As I was making the "Summer in the Park" quilts (previous post), I ordered more jelly rolls (and flat strip packs) to make two quilts for my nephews. For Dane's quilt, I chose red and blue. Those are the same colors I used in Dane's baby quilt . For Reese's quilt, I wasn't sure what colors I wanted to use, and I just looked for batik strips that appealed to me and didn't seem girly. I ended up with earthy colors. I hope it isn't too dark. When it came time to make them, I decided to do something different than Summer in the Park. Dane's quilt uses a simple checkboard which is simple to assemble by sewing four 2.5" strips together lengthwise and then cutting them crosswise 2.5" apart and flipping every other unit before sewing them back together. I kept the sewn blocks in units of four and then alternated the types of blocks for a checkerboard within a checkerboard. The second quilt I decided to make into a log cabin. I had eno...

I made these "his and hers" quilts for my mom and dad. I used jelly rolls in batik prints, a mix of different brands and colors, choosing a half of the jelly rolls in neutrals to get the contrast. The pattern is based on a "Summer in the Park" tutorial I found on Pinterest from Missouri Star Quilt Company. The jelly roll strips get sewn together lengthwise and then cut into squares on a 45 degree angle, turned, and sewn back together. The toughest part is not stretching the bias edges. Tamara Lynn at Itch'n To Be Stitch'n in Staunton, IL, quilted them using a pantograph design with large feathers. I really like how the swirly quilting design contrasts with the geometric lines of the blocks. Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

I gifted six quilts this Christmas. The first one was based on a pattern called, "Cattle Crossing," by Myrna Giesbrecht. It was in a booklet called, " Strip Quilts in a Hurry ," that I purchased back in the last century. (Really. Doesn't that sound funny? It was published in 1994.) "Cattle Crossing" is the cover quilt on the booklet. It used a lot of white for contrast, which I replaced with green, but I used the same cow fabric as the original. (It is likely not available any more. I've had it as long as I've had the booklet!) It was originally a wall hanging, (49" x 57"), but I sized it up for a queen sized bed. After seeing it made up, I understand the wisdom of using white fabric for alternating squares, providing more contrast. I got a little carried away with appliqueing the cows coming out of the blocks... They are fused down and then edged with mono-filament thread. It was quilted by Aubry Dunn in Edwardsville. The co...