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More progress on the big marbles this week. The end is in sight! I'm starting to get the hang of the big marbles. I can use 2 or 3 thread colors to make them more interesting. The circles that visually fall behind other circles are the most challenging. I tie off every place where the design ends against the next circle and that takes a bit of time. Trust me that the thread shows up much better in real life!  Off center, 16 sections. Round 1, skip 5 with straight ruler and 2 sides of long oval. Round 2 skip 5 with 6" circle. Round 3 skip Skip 3 with small circle.  12 segments, skip 5 with 2 ovals on both sides of each.  14 segments, wavy ruler, skip 6 making sure that the ruler is centered in the block  18 segments, rounds 1 &2, straight ruler, skip 5. Round 3, circcle ruler, skip 5  21 segments (if a full circle) - Round 1, skip 2 with the pointy edge of an oval ruler and then go back to quilt the skipped spaces. Round 2, use edge of of oval to scallop around the firs round. Round 3, narrow oval from the center to the inner line of stitching on each segment.
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A few weeks ago I took a break from Lost My Marbles to quilt some veterans quilts and this quilt for Mom.  Mom thought she was going to use up her stash of 2.5" squares. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Seriously, she should know better by now. We know that scraps procreate while we are away. This might have made a dent but I don't think it came close to using up what she had. Still, it's a pretty stunning quilt.  The color in the first photo is way off. This one is a more accurate representation of the color.  The first original quilting plan was a pantograph but I've used pantgraphs a lot and wanted a change. I decided on a mix of ruler work in the narrow sashing and continuous curves in the blocks. But while I was quilting the first block I thought that the outside border needed to be feathers. I wanted feathers somewhere else too so I changed the plan a bit and decided to do alternating blocks in feathered wreaths.  I can quilt small feathers pretty good but I am totally horrible at feathered wreaths simply because I've not done them often. I really, really bad at the centers of the wreaths. I got a little more practice on this quilt!  I dyed a pale green backing for this quilt and you can see the texture of the quilting really well here. There's a 4" feathered border and feathered medallions to go with it. I probably should have feathered every block but I wasn't going to rip out any stitches to start over. This quilt is going to my cousin who will really appreciate having something made by her Aunt but she will not care about, and probably not notice, the quilting. Our policy is that we give people blankets to cuddle with so we don't stress the construction details.  To show you how big this quilt is, here it is draped over the queen guest bed. I think this could also serve on a king size bed.
I'm glad I don't have to bind it. There isn't much actually happening in the studios this week because we are on the last few days of kitchen work! Today should finish everything up so I'll be spending the afternoon and evening putting things back in place. We are very happy with how everything turned out. There have been a couple of bumps but it's all worked out really well. I am taking a little break from Lost My Marbles to work on some veterans quilts but I found some photos of new marbles that I hadn't shared yet. Since there's nothing else to share I was really pleased to find these!  14 segments, skip 4 with oval ruler (Quilter's Apothecary)  21 segments drawn to a 2" circle in the center, quilt straight lines from outside point to center circle one space over, star in the middle skipping 9  9 segments, skip one using Pro-Pebbles (Lisa Calle) ruler but include the neck of the circle to make a point. Not executed perfectly but the effect is great)  15 segments, skip 7 with Lily Lines 2 (Bethanne Nemesch), went around twice on both sides of hopping foot. This is not a favorite.  5 segments off center, our favorite elementary school star using 3 ovals. Love this one. Quilting Lost My Marbles is a slow process. With each new circle I stare for a while to figure out what to do then I have to mark the segments and I'm slow quilting because the ruler angles get awkward moving around the circle. I often make mistakes and have to rip out stitching and start over. It probably takes me close to 20 minutes for each one. That's why I love having zippered leaders. I can work on this one slowly and take breaks to do veterans or other quilts in between. But here are 5 more marbles that I finished this week. I'm coming to the end of the small marbles and then will have 18 big ones to do. You will notice that the contrast is not good in some of them. That is on purpose although they show up a lot more in real life because the thread is shiny. I picked 3 colors of thread (light, medium and dark) for the marbles. I have 3 more light, medium and dark thread for the background quilting. I'm using this quilt as am experiment in value to help me with future quilts. This one isn't meant for show or anything. It's just for me so I've made it into a laboratory for several things.  16 segments, skip 7 spaces with Lily Lines 1 ruler (Bethanne Nemesch)  6 segments, skip one space with the pointy ends of 2 ovals (Quilter's Apothecary)  5 segments, skip 2 spaces with 3 sizes of circle rulers (Quilter's Apothecary)  21 segments, skip 4 spaces with pointy end of 10 x 3 3/4 oval ruler (Quilter's Apothecary)  10 segments set off center, skip 3 spaces with straight ruler set a 5 point star in the center. I'm on a roll and ready to get the small marbles done. I will have 18 large marbles after that. But I'm going to get the small ones done and then take it off to catch up on veterans quilts and then get back to the big marbles. Here are the newest ones. If you want to see all of the marbles so far you can find them here. Thank you for your kind comments on last week's post!  12 segments (should show the Tri-Liner), 5" circle, skip 5 spaces  6 segments, 2" Pro-Pebbles (Lisa Calle), full circle at each point and travel with half circle  9 segments, Lily Lines 1 ruler (Bethanne Nemesch), skip 5 spaces, second round with lines parallel to the first lines  12 segments, 8" Boomerang (Deloa Jones), stitching radiates from 3 points, from each point stitch out and back to the 5 points opposite  15 segments, straight ruler skip 4 for a 5 point star, travel one space with 3.5" circle and stitch another 5 straight line point star, finish the edge with the circle.  Does anyone even remember this quilt? I made it as part of the Crossing The Drunkard's Path quilt along that I did a long time ago. I pulled every brown or brownish hand dyed fabric that I had top make this quilt. I started quilting it last March and am using this quilt to practice Spirograph motifs in quilting. I have a category link on the sidebar so you can see all of the motifs that have been quilted so far. I paused working on it when I injured my arm in May. I couldn't do ruler work for a few months and then other things happened and the next thing you know it's January and the quilt has been languishing for 7 months. I got caught up on veterans quilts so I decided it was time to get back to one of my quilts. Here are the 5 newest marbles that I completed this weekend.  This one is divided into 16 sections and uses the Lily Lines ruler from Bethanne Nemesch. I went around twice with the ruler on both sides of the hopping foot. I traveled by skipping 7 spaces. This will be a good time to note that I use the brilliant marking tools from Sue Heinz to get the even divisions on my circles. That doesn't mean that the circles are ABSOLUTELY perfect. After all, I pieced them. But the are close enough if you don't stick your nose right up to the quilt.  7 sections, Lily Lines ruler using the inside hook, skipping 3 spaces, traveled around twice to quilt the hook shape on both sides of the hopping foot.  8 sections using this odd ruler that I bought over a decade ago and have never used, traveled space to space with the flatter edge of the spiral ruler.  For the next one I first want to show you how I marked it. It's divided into 10 sections and there's a 1" circle marked in the center, also with 10 sections that line up with the marks on the edge.  In every point on the circle I used the narrow edge of this oval ruler to stitch from the edge to the center mark and back and then traveled to the next point with the flatter side of the oval ruler (from Quilters Apothecary).  Divided into 14 sections and placed off center. Skipped 5 sections and made 2 trips around using 5.5 and 6.5 circles. I'm actually well over halfway done with all of the small circles but they take a bit of time to think about and then quilt. I am seriously running out of unique ideas! But I'm really happy to be working on it again.
If I could make myself focus on one project at a time this one would be done already. But that's not my nature. My fabric business keeps me really busy (and I like that) but I try to set aside an an hour every day to do something and I let my mood decide what that that thing is. The marbles quilting requires me to be "on". I can do mosaic a bit tired and I can applique in front of the TV but the marbles have to be done when I'm able to focus. That's why they are a bit slow coming along but I am just fine with that. Someone asked last week if I plan these out. I wish! I think we all know by now that I'm not good at planning my quilting. So with these I do keep track of what I've done but I don't really plan them. Maybe that's one reason they are taking so long to do! Here are the latest 6.  8 segments, skip 3 with a wavy ruler  10 segments, skip 1 with 1.5" circle  9 sections, skip 2 with straight edge for the outside frame. use the intersection points to do the inside with the pointy end of an oval, also skipping 2  15 segments, skip 2 with 2" circle  Oh my gosh, I love this one! 7 sections, drafting ruler, skip 3 using the ruler on both sides of the hopping foot  5 sections, skip 1 with 3.5" circle  Time for a few more marbles! The thing about this quilt is that it's turning into a wonderful "class" for me. By making myself do something different in each of the 100+ circles I'm having to explore some things that I might not otherwise. Like this heart template that I've had in my collection "forever" and possibly have never used. It turns out that it's a pretty good ruler!  21 sections, skip 8 using the soft curve side of the heart.  12 sections, skip 5 using the deeper curved side of the heart ruler  15 sections, skip 2 using the deep side of a narrow oval ruler  4 sections, skip 1 using both the soft and deep curve sides of oval rulers  21 sections, off center, skip 5 with 2 circles  9 sections, skip 2 with a circle and oval  Here's a peek at how they are looking on the quilt. I'm in love!
Let's sneak in a few more marbles this week! These 6 make me 46% done with the small circles.  10 segments. I worked this one from opposite sides of the circle connecting the side point to 7 other points using a flat oval.  Seriously, this is one of my favorites so far. The center is offset and there are 9 segments. Using 3 circles skip 5 spaces.  8 segments, skip 3 using 3 different circles  16 segments and mark the lines through the block, skip 5 with the oval and then do the center star skipping 7 spaces  This is a repeat of a motif I did earlier except this one is done with more segments: 14. Using a 2" ruler making sure the ruler line is lined up with the mark on the outside and the center seam point. You have to travel along a previously stitched line to travel over to the next segment line.  5 segments skipping 1 using 2 rulers. One is the 2" circle and the other is the tip end of an oval  This shows how the 2" ruler was used on this motif. Yes, I have a second post of marbles this week! I have 90 small marbles and 19 large marbles. With this 6 I have 36 of the 90 small marbles done or 40% of the small marbles. Let's get to it.  18 segments, 7" ruler, skip 7 counterclockwise  8 segments, wide oval ruler on both edges (fat edge and skinny edge) going around twice and finish off with scalloped border  14 spaces, use pointy end of a narrow oval ruler skipping 2 spaces  18 segments set off center, skip 5 spaces with a circle ruler  15 segments, 2 rulers, skip 5 spaces and travel to the next space with the scalloped edge  7 segments, skip 2 with 2 different oval rulers |
About Vicki
I'm Vicki Welsh and I've been making things as long as I can remember. I used to be a garment maker but transitioned to quilts about 20 years ago. Currently I'm into fabric dyeing, quilting, Zentangle, fabric postcards, fused glass and mosaic. I document my adventures here. Categories
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