Halfway to Christmas-Open Line Friday

40 responses to “Halfway to Christmas-Open Line Friday”

1. Our guild is going to have a Christmas in July one-day retreat to make quilted ornaments. OK, I have been waiting for Friday. Lori, have you ever sewn FMQ on fabric that has been starched? I am at the putting- together- the- sandwich stage of a lap quilt. My plan is to do a FMQ motif in each corner. I have sewn the whole top with starched pieces due to there being many diamond and triangle shapes. Starching keeps the bias edges from stretching. My question is: Should I FMQ before or after washing out the starch? Also have you used 100% cotton flannel for the batting in between the top and backing when sewing FMQ? Maybe this has been covered before my time here. Thank you for any advice. I appreciate it.

   1. Starch is great for FMQ!!! Leave it in! It helps the quilt move if its on the backing and it makes the quilting line be more even. Later, when the quilt is washed it will be great! I took a class from Debra Wagner years ago and she starched everything to the point where “if you drop the fabric on the floor it will break!”

      1. Mine doesn’t break but it sure crackles ! Thank you Lori ! Appreciate it. Oh, my Christmas poinsettias are still in pots on the front porch..Their growth sure slowed when the weather got warm/hot.

      2. It’s good to go then, Marta!

2. When you first taught your Poinsettia I was right on time and I got my start on FMQing with it. I made 20 mug-mats and gave them to all my friends during the Christmas season. They loved them so much most of them are still using them today and never put them away until the next Christmas. They still show them to their friends and say how wonderful they are and how great the poinsettia looks. I thank you for designing such beautiful work.

   1. Sounds like you need to make summer versions–try Faye’s Flower or Claire’s Peony!

   2. You just gave me a GREAT idea! Take a big sandwich and quilt an all-over design with variegated threads; then cut them into mug rug sizes and bind to sell at our guild’s quilt show! Thanks for the inspiration!!

      1. I think it was YOU have gave US a GREAT idea! Thank you, Amy!

3. Lori –
   I’ve been working on a Christmas quilt for many months. I’m stuck on a quilting pattern. The pieced quilt is a present pattern (i.e., bow on top of a gift box) with a 2″ sashing around each block. It’s a beautiful quilt, however I’m stuck on how to quilt–it’s been hanging on my design wall for 3 months. I would like to show off the presents with the quilting. I’m just not seeing the big picture on this quilt. Any suggestions would be extremely helpful. Thanks.

   1. Send a photo to my email: lckennedy@hotmail.com

      1. Maybe you could quilt each gift to make it look like wrapping paper…..Christmas trees, Santas, snowmen, ornaments, snowflakes, etc.

4. Beautiful…..but did you have to mention Christmas. I am having trouble getting my Mojo going. I did order your second Craftsy Class. I cut fabric, batting and backing. 18 inches square, Found that it was to big to practice on, so I cut it into 4 sections. Now it goes too fast. LOL!!!! Have to find a happy medium. Papers all over the house for doodling. No Junk mail is safe. I rip the envelopes open and draw on both sides. It is slowly helping. I can see the improvement already. Not so jerky. I just have to limit my time so I don’t start making very jerky motions. Meanwhile I am looking for UFO’s to really sew on. Found some….I keep looking at them. This weekend I will sew one square and make it into a pillow or something small. Could that be my first Christmas gift??? We will see!

   Thank you for teaching you techniques. I may finally be able to meander around my house instead of every quilt.

   Love from Florida
   Aileen Kline

   1. You sound like you are on you way to happy quilting! Doodle-Quilt small-no UFOs–Well done! (Warning–Don’t doodle on the newspaper before your family reads it–they don’t take kindly to it!)

5. Love your poinsettias and all the other wonderful ideas you give us. What I noticed in in Hawaii, I’m also from Minnesota, is that their foliage & flowers are Goliath and Minnesota’s are David! Mary

   1. No kidding! Our growing season is so much shorter!

6. I have a Bernina 820 – Lori if I remember correctly you do too. I made a sampler wall hanging and decided to do sashiko quilting on it but use the machine. Read articles, etc. after a few days of trying to get it right decided to quilt by hand. Using sulky invisible thread on top, red quilting thread on bottom. By upping the tension on the top thread it pulls to the top. Used a stitch that is supposed to look like hand quilting. Never could get it to look right so out comes the stitching in 2 blocks. Any suggestions or ideas to get the machine to cooperate? I do love the machine for FMQ.

   1. I have very little success with invisible thread–I can never get the tension right. I gave up years ago. I’m sorry for that lame answer. I would discuss it with your dealer or online at BERNINA–they have a really great help desk–though it takes a while to get the answer.
      Here’s a link to BERNINA’s support center: https://berninaofamerica.zendesk.com/hc/en-us

   2. Thanks Lori – I took your suggestion and used the website for Bernina customer care. Hopefully get an answer that will help.

7. I give my husband grief when he starts saying, about now, “only six months until Christmas”. He knows it winds me up. ? But I digress.
   I have a pattern for a beautifully pieced batik Christmas tree skirt hanging on the shelving in my sewing room … year three … mayyybe this year.

   1. I hate that too–my husband always announce on the Fourth of July that summer is half way over–buzz kill!

8. Thanks for mentioning me Lori. It’s a project for a blog hop and without the deadline I definitely wouldn’t be that far ahead! Love your blog 🙂

   1. I can’t decide if deadlines are good or bad…but you will be overjoyed at Christmas!

9. I too loved your poinsettia enough to make many mug rugs with it for co-workers. They display them on their walls yet today instead of using as a mug rug. I smile every time I see them and I think of Lori the designer! And I got very good at it. I still have a wall quilt project planned where I will use it again. This Christmas would be a good goal for it.

   1. Make summer mug rugs with Faye’s Flower or Claire’s Peony–perfect and easy!

10. Yikes!!! Did someone say Christmas? I have all the fabric ready for two cute Christmas quilts. But, I keep getting side tracked. It seems like once I see new fabric or a new pattern, my mind starts buzzing with ideas. Then comes the I’ve got to have it, and I start working on that. Needless to say, I have a lot of fabric and a lot of patterns just waiting for me. Fortunately I have a very understanding hubby!

    1. It’s hard to be focused when there is so much gorgeous fabric in the world!

11. When I was lucky enough to live in Hawaii, I had a whole hedge of poinsettias that I would cut back every January and June! I am working on a Christmas quilt made from red and green hawaiian print fabrics collected on my last vacation to Maui. My Mele kalikimaka 🙂

    1. I would love to have a poinsettia hedge! Nice to have that memory!

12. Last year I made a Christmas stack’n’whack quilt from fabric that features pink poinsettias and combined the blocks with a light green background. Then I got brave and stitched your poinsettia design on the background. I was very happy with it and got a lot of compliments. I just wish now that I had used a heavier weight or more contrasting thread so that the quilting showed more. I am getting braver with more practice and have been letting my quilting show a lot more and having a great time doing it! Thanks, Lori!

13. I was also fortunate to be able to live in Hawaii for 8 years, many years ago. A previous owner of our home had planted a white and a red poinsettia very close together; and over the years, they had carefully braided the stems together. We ended up with a 12 foot high red and white poinsettia tree! It was stunning. Poinsettias have had a special place in my heart since then. Thanks for sharing your poinsettia with us. I look forward to making some.

    1. How pretty! I can only imagine a poinsettia tree!

14. I’m looking for a meander with a simple butterfly. I looked at your butterfly motif, but it’s too involved for a background filler. Any ideas?

    1. No Butterfly motif–I will work on one! Great idea!

       1. Oh wonderful about doing a butterfly! Will be looking for it!

15. You have a butterfly motif?? I went through the free tutorials. Is it somewhere else that I missed? If someone knows where is please let me know. thanks!

    1. LOL! I do not have a Butterfly motif! Seems like a motif I should have! I’ll get on it!

       1. Hooray! Flutterbys on the way!! They have been busy courting in our back yard for 2 weeks around the blooming mimosa trees. I had never seen that before. I felt like I should close the blinds ! I couldn’t exactly holler out the back door, “Go get a room!”

       2. LOLOL!

16. We lived in Guam for 3 1/2 years and had huge poinsettia bushes outside our quarters on the Naval Air Station. I was amazed and thrilled when I realized what they were. Huge blossoms!

    1. So cool! There must have been amazing flowers in Guam!