Dogwood Log Cabin

I saw this quilt a last week on pinterest and said to myself, "I have large scraps of that fabric.  I think I'll go make a quilt top!"  It didn't matter that I have 3 quilts in various stages and scraps out that I was in the process of cutting.  I had seen this pattern before in different fabrics, but it wasn't cute enough to make me stop what I was doing.  I changed the center on my quilt and added an extra row to make it a rectangle.  I used a 6.5 inch center and 4.5 inch strips of whatever length I had.

I added the dark pink and the solid looking pink because I didn't have enough different fabrics.  I know that dark pink kinda stands out, but I did try to spread it out evenly.  There wasn't anything else in my stash that went.  Sometimes you just gotta go with it.

I would like to ask you this - does this look like a baby quilt or a lap quilt for an adult?  My daughter and I are on opposite sides of this and we need another opinion.

Linking with Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Come See My New Sewing Room

We moved some rooms around in our house. (To those of you who know me, that is nothing new!) The baby is finally out of the closet and in a room with her littlest big sister.  Yep, you read that right.  Her crib was in the extra closet in my bathroom.  We have 2 closets and not so many clothes. It was the quietest place in the house and closest to my bed for feeding at night.  We're done feeding and she sleeps all night.  It was time for a change!

We moved all the kids to new rooms.  Some were happier than others.  I got a different room to sew in and I am loving it.  Come have a look around if you like!  Here is the link to the new page or you can click on the tab up top.

Stained Glass Quilt

Oh, I love this quilt!  It reminds me of stained glass with all it's beautiful batiks.  I also added a hand dyed navy that I had on hand too.  There are 2 blocks 5x4 and 6x3 which when you add a 1 inch black black to 2 sides makes them the same size.  

I used an invisible smoke thread to quilt this to keep the quilting from distracting from the fabrics. You can read more about that here.  I gave some tips on using monopoly thread.  It's not so bad as I thought!

For the back, I used the remaining pieces of fabrics from the front. It's like a puzzle trying to make it big enough to cover the quilt, but there is always a solution.  It looks so much more stunning in person, but then it always does!

Linking with Needle and Thread Thursday

Using MonoPoly (Invisible) Thread

Monopoly thread is an almost invisible thread that comes in 2 colors - white and smoke.  I bought mine at Superior Threads.  In the photo above it has a net cover to keep the thread from falling of - it comes with this so you don't need to purchase any.

There are lots of times when you might want to use this kind of thread  If you have light and dark colored fabric in a quilt top and you don't want to see dark quilting on the light or light quilting on the dark then this thread would be perfect.  You might also use this thread to SID between a dark and light fabric if you have trouble staying in the ditch like I do.  

I have a blue and purple batik quilt top that I want to quilt. It also has black around the rectangles and I didn't want to cover up the batik fabric with black thread.  I also didn't want to see blue or purple thread on the black fabric. So I chose the smoke monopoly to quilt with.  

I was worried I would ruin my beloved quilt top so I got a little practice fabric out and loaded it on the machine.  

I quilted with smoke on top and bottom.  The top fabric is white and the bottom is navy.  The thread seems to take on the color of the fabric.  I would use the white monopoly if I was quilting on light colored fabric.  I used smoke just for practice.

Looks great on the navy fabric.  All you really see is the texture of the quilting.

Sneak peak of my next quilt!  I put this photo in so you can see that the thread has a bit of sparkle to it.  I think once the quilt gets washed and crinkly it will sink into the fabric and no be so noticeable.

Some tips to help you get started:

1.  If you are winding bobbins on a longarm and you have a separate bobbin winder - use the bobbin winder on your longarm.  I can wind without quilting.  Set the speed for the bobbin winder to 30 (it's medium slow).  Also make sure your tension on your winder is not too tight.

2.  Wind your bobbin half way.  This thread is so thin, there will still be lots of thread on the bobbin. (I don't know why, this was on a post somewhere when I was researching this thread).

3.  Use a #14 needle for longarmers or a 70/10 for domestic machines.  I used a #16 on my longarm because I didn't have a 14 and it seemed to work good.

4.  Quilt slowly!  This is hard for me - my brain gets excited and wants to go fast.  If your tension is too tight when you wind your bobbins, your thread will break when you quilt.

5.  Loosen the top thread tension.  I loosened 2 full circles CCW on my longarm.

6.  This thread is so thin, it is hard to see when you are threading the needle (or rethreading the machine).  I used a flashlight so I could see the sparkle or reflection on the thread. This helped a lot!

7.  Nap time is a good time to practice something new!  No interruptions when you are learning or you will get frustrated! :)

Pictures of the finished quilt will be coming soon!  Then we will be able to see what it looks like after washing.  Until then...linking with Free Motion by the River