Ancient UFOs - the Quilty Kind

What's your oldest UFO?

(That's quilting shorthand for UnFinished Object or quilt.)

Without counting, my guess is that I have around thirty or so ranging in age from just started this week to ones I started in the 1960s.

My grandmother ordered the iron-on pattern for the state flower blocks when Alaska and Hawaii were still territories so that tells you how old it is. I've been working on embroidering it and have 27 done, barely more than half of the blocks. These blocks were with me through my teen years, through marriage and three kids (now grown), and have moved with me from one side of the country to the other and back again. I wonder if I will ever see them finished and sewn into a top.

 

Everything has been kept in a 1950's tin.

It had contained a delicious fruit cake that was a gift from my father's boss in the coal mines.

With all the moves, it's no wonder that poor tin has gotten a bit battered!

 

The embroidery thread has seldom been exposed to light and is still as bright and strong as when I bought it.  Check out the thread photo; some of it only cost five cents a skein.

The pattern is crumbling with age and needs to be scanned and preserved as a pdf or at least photocopied. It's amazing that it's still readable. The red ink is stamping ink and a few years ago I tested it to see if it would still stamp. It did. Amazing!

These are just a few of the blocks I embroidered. I have to wonder if I'll ever get another one done or even the whole quilt. Guess it gives me something to plan to do - sometime.

From time to time we read about a family inheriting such treasures and not knowing what to do with them. Way too often they end up on craigslist or eBay. I'm determined that this won't happen to any of my UFOs or even my fabrics, tools and sewing machines. Everything is in my will so that I know someone will get them who will take care of them and not dump them at a yard sale. I am also making a list of everything to tell my family what to do with it all.

So what is your most ancient UFO? Share your comment below and on our Facebook page where you can include pictures. We want to see them!

Happy quilting!

Betty

PS: Your comment might not appear immediately because we've had to start moderating to weed out all the spam. If you are not a spammer, your comment will be posted.

Finding Free Quilting Patterns

So many beautiful blocks and free quilt patterns are available today it's often hard to choose which one to use in our next quilt. One that I especially love is the Lady of the Lake quilt block. It's a very old and popular quilt block and can easily be found among the many free quilting patterns on the internet. I think my next quilt will be one in red and pale pink and I'll call it the Red Lady.

Note that in the Lady of the Lake quilt block all of the dark pieces

point in one direction and the light pieces point the opposite direction.

There are many variations and those all have (or should have) different names.

"History has it that the Lady of the Lake Quilt Block was named after a poem by Sir Walter Scott, published in 1810. The pioneer men and women loved the heroic tales of Sir Walter Scott, and the women honored him in their most practiced method of artistic expression by naming a patchwork block after the poem. The Lady of the Lake quilt block appeared shortly after publication of the poem, one showing up in Vermont some time before 1820." QuiltingCoach Penny

For the last 100 years or so I’ve been quilting. Well, maybe not quite a hundred, but let’s just say my grandmothers taught me to cut the patterns out of cardboard, trace them onto the fabric with a pencil, then cut the pieces out with scissors. Yes, we had many of the standard sewing implements like needles, thimbles and sewing machines, but marvels like rotary cutters and cutting mats were years away from being invented.

Folks often passed around to each other their own versions of free quilt patterns with handmade cardboard templates. Sometimes they just looked at a quilt, sketched out the design and made their own patterns. It was a rewarding and creative effort to make a quilt for which there were no printed patterns or directions. Today most sewing and quilt shops (including those on the internet) have a large selection of patterns, kits and instruction books for blocks and quilted items. Such convenience!

With another great invention, the internet, finding both new and old quilting patterns has gotten easier than ever. If the name of the block is known, a search often turns up tons of places to find the pattern. I often take a shortcut and check out Marcia Hohn's Quilter's Cache website first because the block I want is probably already there. Another great feature of their website (and there are many!) is the Missing Quilts page.

Use your favorite search engine to find “Lady of the Lake quilt” and hundreds of links will pop up. Of course, you can use any block name in place of Lady of the Lake. Check out the links until you find the block or quilt design you want.

Here are just a few of the hundreds of websites I found when looking for the Lady of the Lake quilt pattern. Check them out!


Quilter's Cache:  http://www.quilterscache.com/L/LadyoftheLakeBlock.html
McCall's Quilting:  http://www.mccallsquilting.com/qb/pattern_502/index.html
Facebook group from Lake City, Florida:  https://www.facebook.com/LadyOfTheLakeQuiltGuild
Pinterest:  http://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=lady%20of%20the%20lake%20quilt

If you chose to visit any of the websites listed here, please pay attention to their copyrights and other permissions before sharing their patterns and instructions with others. By linking to their pages instead of sharing only the pattern or instructions, we are attributing their work to them and that’s important because creators need to be recognized for their efforts. (Before anyone asks, the Lady of the Lake quilt pattern has been around for a very long time and no one can copyright the pattern itself. However, if a person writes or draws the pattern or quilt, those writings and artwork are copyrighted and may not be reproduced without permission.)

So keep on looking until you find that free quilting pattern you want - it's out there!

Happy quilting!

Betty

www.TopAnchorQuilting.com
Disclaimer: Neither TopAnchor Quilting nor Betty Bland is associated with any of the internet sites mentioned above other than for researching and information for personal use.
[Mirror from http://topanchorquilting.com/blogs/bb-s-blog/14959725-finding-free-quilting-patterns]

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How We've Grown!

From our humble beginning with just one template 17 months ago, we are now awaiting the shipment of our newest templates!

After the Baptist Fan template came the Feather Wreath template, followed by Five-point Star templates in two sizes, an Eight-point Star template, a Multishape template, and now the Dahlia template in two sizes. 

 We have videos posted on our website showing how to use these innovative tools to make great designs on your quilts with the least effort!

Here are some of the shapes you can make with them:

(The temporary Dahlia template demonstration is currently only posted on our Facebook page and a better one will be posted with the others soon.) 

We owe our continued success to our supporters, many of whom are repeat customers as each new template comes out. Many thanks to you for telling your friends about our templates and helping to spread the word.

God is good!

Happy Stitching!

Betty
http://TopAnchorQuilting.com

Sitdowns, Midarms & Rotating Templates

Watch the videos at http://topanchorquilting.com/  to see how the rotating templates from TopAnchor Quilting work. Let us know if you have any questions.

Happy Stitching!

Betty

Fudging It!

Sometimes we want these arcs to go exactly where we want them but they are off a little bit. What a pain!
Here is a neat little trick that will help you out a bit.


This is where you want your arc to end. What to do? Never fear!

If you want that arc to end somewhere else, you can fudge it a bit.
This would be the normal placement of the anchor post, but you can move the post
and change where your arcs will end.

Lay the EZ ARC template with the notch over the point where you want your arc to end

and the hole for the anchor post near where it would normally be positioned.





Move the anchor post as necessary to make the end of the arc line up. 
When you stitch the arc, it will end where you want it.

Piece of cake - fudge cake!

Happy Stitching!

Betty

By Request!

 

Several of you have asked for more detailed instructions on how to use the Baptist Fan longarm quilting template.

Here it is! Plus a few more.
http://topanchorquilting.com/pages/videos

Happy Stitching!

Betty





















 http://topanchorquilting.com

The Way the Toes Go!

 

While stitching footprints using the new feather wreath template, I discovered that it makes a huge difference which way you stitch circles for the toes. You can see this difference plainly in the photo above. The line connecting the toes needs to be under the toes (left) and not on the outside (bottom right).  (Smaller stitches will help smooth out the design as well, but that's another subject.)

 

 

Stitching these was so much fun! This is a design I'm sure to use often in baby quilts, as wreaths but mostly just in arcs or even part of an overal freehand pattern. Love those footprints!

 

Feather Wreath Template Update

The graphic artist sent new artwork for the feather wreath template, which I signed and returned. He is sending a prototype for approval, and then next comes pricing and production. How exciting!

 

Create-A-Wreath Contest Update

The contest entries have been coming in and they are amazing! You folks are way beyond creative! I wish I could share them but you will have to wait until the contest is over.

Contest entries are due in another week so keep working on them! Anyone can enter even if you don't have a longarm quilting machine. It's the design that counts; you can send pictures of pen or pencil drawings, or stitched designs.

 

Don't forget you have until

midnight on January 31 to enter the

Create-a-Wreath Contest!

http://topanchorquilting.blogspot.com/p/create-wreath-contest.html

 

Happy Stitching!

 

Betty

One Step Closer!

It's been one month and one week since the EZ Arc quilting template was first offered to the public. Seems like a year!

 

It's been great, though. Our first order from the manufacturer has almost sold out and more are on order. The EZ Arc tool and all the others to be introduced in the coming months (including the feather wreath shown below) use the same TopAnchor system, which allows the template to rotate around a stationary post fastened directly to the top of the quilt in the stitching area in front of the machine.

 

 

Great News!

The artwork for our new feather wreath template arrived from the manufacturer today for approval. What do you think? The pink will be a much lighter pink when screened onto the acrylic and will help make the guidelines more visible.

Complete instructions will come with the template, but basically you stitch around one teardrop section, rotate the template and stitch the next section. After completing that part of the wreath, tie off the thread and start in the other section and repeat all the way around again. Piece of cake!

I am the furthest from a precision longarmer as you can find, and this new tool makes even my work look good! Here are some samples:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TopAnchorQuiltingTools/photos/album/2016458195/pic/list

I can't wait until it is available to share with you all. I'm still shooting for the end of this month, but we'll have to see what happens.

Don't forget you have until

midnight on January 31 to enter the

 

Create-a-Wreath Contest!

 

http://topanchorquilting.blogspot.com/p/create-wreath-contest.html

Happy Stitching!

Betty

Small Necessities Close at Hand

How could I keep track of so many little thingies?

Spending almost as much time looking for a small tool or part as I spend on quilting can be very frustrating! 

 

Some things as so important I just had to have some way of keeping them close at hand. It's frustrating to go looking for some small thing that I need and can't for the life of me find!  "But I just had the darn thing!" Sound familiar?

 

The solution was actually quite simple and only took a couple of pieces of self-stick velcro and two small disposable plastic lunch containers.

 

 

The top of my longarm machine is flat and these containers fit perfectly. The one in front holds markers, allen wrenches, tiny screw drivers, snippers, check spring, pack of new needles, and any other tiny thing that is needed often.

 

The container in back serves as a tiny waste basket for all those short thread tails and other small pieces of rubbish. Having it close at hand saves taking extra steps to reach the large waste basket on the other side of the room or (like I saw one person do) throw all those thread tails on the floor to be swept up later.

 

The velcro pieces are mounted on the top of my longarm machine and the corresponding part of the velcro tape is mounted to the bottoms of the containers. The containers can easily be removed, and easily pushed back into place as needed.

 

This was very easy to install, easy to use, and best of all - really cheap!

 

 

Happy Stitching!

 

Betty

Magnets to the Rescue

What a surprise and what a pain where you sit when you are in the middle of binding a quilt and discover that you missed some of the quilting stitches. What to do now?

I had several options:  stitch by hand (wouldn't match), sew on domestic sewing machine (stitching too different), or remount in the quilting frame. The last was my best option because the longarm was still had the same top and bobbin thread, as well as the same stitching length.

The 18" bar magnets were my lifesaver. These magnets are very strong and held the quilt in place on both bars long enough for me to finishing the quilting. This is a baby quilt, but the magnets also work with all other sized quilts.

Stitching is missing from the two squares behind and on either side of the hopping foot
The powder on the hopping foot is chalk from the stencil pouncer

 

This is the strong side that is put against the metal bar. The opposite side (without markings) has no magnetic pull.

 

 

One end of the quilt was wrapped under the belly bar and behind/over the top bar, and was held in place with one magnet.

 

The front end of the quilt was simply laid over the front bar and held in place with another magnet. The magnets can be moved as needed and hold long enough for me to finish the quilting.

These magnets are great for holding the top in place to float it. They're meant to be screwed to a wall to hold metal tools. I heard about them from another quilter, and it just so happened that Harbor Freight had them on sale super cheap. I'm sure they are also available in other places. I have five magnets now, but plan on ordering more because they are so darned handy.

Be careful with the magnets and keep them away from your electronics. Mine stay on the bars and are usually only lifted off the bars when I move them. The bars are so strong it's almost impossible to lift one straight up off the bars, so I give it a 1/4 turn to make a cross and that breaks most of the magnetic hold.

 

Couldn't resist the temptation to show you my 9 month old beagle Dixie. Batting Eater. Bad doggie!

 

Don't forget you have until

midnight on January 31 to enter the

Create-a-Wreath Contest!

http://topanchorquilting.blogspot.com/p/create-wreath-contest.html

 

Happy Stitching!

 

Betty

Top Down or Bottom Up?

What is the best direction to stitch a Baptist Fan pattern when using the EZ Arc quilting tool?

 

 

Way back in the last century, I learned the Baptist Fan pattern when I first did hand quilting with experienced quilters.

To draw the first fan, a string was pinned to the bottom right corner and a pencil on the other end of the string was moved in a wide arc to mark different sized arcs. The pin/pencil/string was then moved to the bottom of the outside line and the arcs of another fan were drawn. With fans drawn completely across the quilt, several of us could quilt at the same time.

We sat in front of the frame with one hand under the quilt and the other hand on top with the needle and thread. We buried our knot at the one end of a line, stitched the arc, and tied the knot at the other end, then cut the thread and started again on the next line, continuing until a fan was completed.  We stitched one row, and then rolled the quilt and stitched another row above the first.

Sewing from upper right and down to the left is the natural sweep of the arm for right-handed folks (the opposite is true for lefties), so that pattern was very easy for me to do right to left, and that is still the most comfortable movement for me today.

We worked from the bottom of the quilt up to the top, which is the normal way of stitching most of the quilts rolled on these handmade frames.  With a longarm, my favorite way to quilt is to work from the top down, and that is completely different from what I was used to doing for the Baptist Fan. No problem! 
 

You can easily start at the top with the fans swinging down because the EZ Arc quilting tool lets you stitch in any direction. In fact, you could start at the top right and work to the left if you want. Use the method that has the most natural movement for you.

What I usually do is load the fabric, batting and quilt top and sew across the top, then baste lines about 8" apart with large stitches back and forth across the quilt all the way down to the bottom, rolling the quilt on the back or upper bar as I go. I start stitching the Baptist Fan pattern at the bottom and work my way back up the quilt the way we always did when hand quilting in a frame, removing the basting stitches before quilting the fans. 

That's what works best for me even with the EZ Arc quilting tool, and you will find what works best for you as you continue to use the tool.

The EZ Arc tool can be fastened anywhere on your quilt and the fans stitched in any direction you want. Practice moving the tool to see which way is more comfortable and works best for you.


With this new tool, we are no longer limited by the swing of the arm the way we were when hand quilting, so just try different positions and movements until you find your favorite, then stitch away.

The answer to the question, 'Top Down or Bottom Up?' is 'Any Direction!'

Whatever works, I say. No problem!

Happy Stitching!

Betty

PS - remember to watch for Feather Wreath Contest details on January 15!

 
 

SOON!

 

Three lucky people will win a free

10" FEATHER WREATH LONGARM TEMPLATE

Watch for contest details January 15, 2013

Happy Stitching!

Betty

  http://TopAnchorQuilting.com

How Many Ways Can You Quilt A Baptist Fan?

Baptist Fans are one of the most popular and traditional ways to quilt, both by hand and machine. It's the first pattern I learned to quilt way back in my younger years while sitting at a handmade quilting frame with female relatives.

Most of us were right handed and sewing from the upper right to the lower left is a natural movement of the arm and quilting hand. These arcs are easy to stitch, and when sewing concentric circles, they naturally become the Baptist Fan pattern. It's fast, it's easy, and when close stitching was needed to secure the batting, it was the ideal pattern to stitch. We always worked from the right across to the left, and bottom to top. After each row, we rolled the quilt forward and started at the right with a new row.

Batting available today can often be safely quilted up to 10" apart, but 'way back when' folks used carded wool or cotton, or even cotton batting (often still containing the cotton seeds), close stitching was necessary to keep it from separating and migrating to other areas inside the quilt. Very old well-used quilts will often still have little balls or bunches of batting in between the close stitching, but I like to think those are just indications of the age of such a treasure.

Below is a link to Bonnie Hunter's post on hand quilting Baptist Fans with lots of great information. http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2010/05/questions-on-fans.html  Bonnie's method uses a hoop, quilting the fan all around the outside of the top and then filling in the center with fans.

I have always thought that machine quilting this pattern would be a bit more difficult so I've never tried it. Some folks mark the entire quilt and freehand over the lines as with any pattern, or use different machine quilting techniques and have beautiful results. My hat is off to them.

Longarmers are blessed in that we have many tools available to help quilt Baptist Fans. Folks lucky enough to have a computer guided system can just tell their computer and longarm machine what to stitch. Some devices work from behind the machine, such as an apparatus to make circles, grooved boards used with a stylus to guide the machine, and pantographs that can be followed with a laser. Many rulers and templates are available that can help in the spacing and formation of the Baptist Fan arcs, and these have the advantage that they are used at the front of the machine.

The newest device on the market that can help make beautiful Baptist Fans is our own Baptist Fan quilting template pictured above. The anchor post fastens to the top of the quilt in the work area, and the notched template fits over and rotates back and forth with the hopping foot to create arcs for designs. At the end of each row, 'walk' over previous stitching up to the next row.

No matter what technique or tool you use, our rotating Baptist Fan template can help make your quilt a wonderful work of art.

Happy Stitching!

Betty
http://TopAnchorQuilting.com

What IS That!?

Watch for our new feature What IS That!?

We love to look for old and new sewing/quilting-related items and share them here, many of which you will recognize, some that might have you scratching your head. Some items will be sewing machines, some will be attachments, some will be tools, some will be supplies. Ya never know!

Today's post is about my current favorite sewing machine 'Martha' and why I prefer that 60 yr old very heavy metal beauty over any other.

Many 'old' metal machines still exist today as any collector will tell you (and happily show you their herd). It just so happens that my Martha is a Singer 201-2.

There were as many companies making them as there were brands of cars.

It's very sad that so many of these wonderful old machines are only being used for tables and stands, or worse yet, thrown away.






My much loved and often used Singer 201-2, 'born' in the late 1940's, is a workhorse of a sewing machine. (Please don't tell her she's considered to be an antique - she thinks she's still a young chick!) To me, she's worth her weight in gold. She has a horizontal bobbin that just drops into the built-in bobbin case, and sews forward and reverse. That's it, nothing fancy. ;D

But that doesn't mean that this machine only does a straight stitch - oh no, it does much, much more.

Singer and other companies made sure that the home seamstresses had all the help they needed to make their machines do everything they wanted:  darning, embroidery, hems, join seams, lace edging, tucks, bindings, zigzags, ruffles, gathers, decorative cords and braids, buttonholes, zippers, even quilting. Yes, these babies were - and still are - very versatile. The good news is that the attachments needed to do all this are still available.

These machines were meant to last a lifetime, and many have lasted several lifetimes. How many generations might have used a machine made in the late 1800's?

'Martha' sews a perfect seam and has enough power to sew through practically anything you can get under the presser foot. I've sewn as many as eight layers of denim before she bogged down and groaned. Try that with one of the new plastic machines! Can't do it! But she also has a light touch when needed to sew those delicate fabrics. She can sew practically anything and do a great job at it.

Like most other old metal sewing machines, this one is very basic and easy to maintain. Give her a good cleaning (mostly just removing lint with a small paint brush), add a few drops of oil and she is ready to start humming away again. In the 15 plus years I've been using this Singer 201-2, she has never had to go to the shop for anything. I've had to replace the light bulb once ($6.95) and the bobbin winder tire ($.30) once, both of which were very easy to do. That's it!

Check with your Mom or Grandma to see if they still have and might be willing to part with their old machines. You just might strike gold! But please don't thrown them away! If you are desperate to get rid of one, there are tons of collectors that will take them off your hands!

Happy Stitching!

Betty
http://TopAnchorQuilting.com

Happy New Year! and a Sneak Peek!

New Year, New Beginnings, New Everything. Goodbye 2012!

I'm hoping your new 2013 will be everything you hope for.

It's a new year and lots of great new experiences to look forward to!

To celebrate this new year, I'm giving you a sneak peek at the new feather wreath template that will be available later this month. Not the actual template, but a few things I've done with it.

First up is an actual feather wreath! LOL!

There are actually several wreaths in this photo intertwined with tons of different kinds of background fill. Don’t look too closely or you will see all my mistakes, but yeah, the template works pretty well.

Up next we have the work of a happy gal at play. Wondering what kinds of designs I could make in the individual sections, I decided on scroll loops. Yeah, they are horribly uneven and not at all uniform, but you get the picture.

To get the facing patterns, I simply stitched half the wreath, then flipped the template over and stitched the other half. One of my friends says this is her favorite of all my wreaths.

Can you tell yet how much fun I’m having? LOL!

And the last I’ll show you today is another play design that has great possibilities. I think it looks like a sunflower or chrysanthemum. However, a sunflower would have alternating petals, not stacked ones. Back to the drawing board!

 

Happy New Year, Everybody!

Betty

 http://TopAnchorQuilting.com

Out With the Old

The clock is ticking away the last few hours of 2012, and there's nothing we can do about what has happened this year.

In wondering what I could do differently next year to improve my life, I thought about something I probably should have done long ago.

In the new year of 2013, I want to get rid of thoughts and concepts that just haven't worked for me in the past.

In quilting, this means I need to quit being so picky about my own work.

It’s good to be your best and always strive to do better, but at some point you have to say that the work is done and you don’t have to go any further so stop fussing with it.

If you always think there’s something else that you should do to make it better, that means you don’t think your work is finished yet, that it’s not good enough.  That’s not a good feeling, and it sometimes keeps me from starting new projects or even trying to complete old ones.

There are many great quilters that I admire, and they produce some of the most beautiful and perfect quilts anyone can possibly imagine. I could look at those quilts all day long. I seriously doubt that my own work will ever come close to what they do, and that's just fine. My quilts are meant to be used to keep people warm and comfortable, not to be put on display in competitions or museums.

My customers like my work and they are the ones whose opinions count. I like most of my work as well. That doesn't mean that I won't try to get better at quilting, it just means that I'll quit being quite so hard on myself if every square inch of my stitching isn't perfect or if a design doesn’t turn out like I imagined it would.

 There's an old saying, "My house is clean enough to be healthy, and dirty enough to be happy." I think I'll adapt that to say, "My quilting is precise enough to be pretty and 'off' enough to be comfortable."

Happy New Year, everyone!

Happy stitching!

Betty
http://TopAnchorQuilting.com

Baptist Fans on First Try

Today's spotlight is on another new EZ Arc longarm quilting tool user, Joyce Fratini. On her very first try, she was able to quilt these beautiful Baptist Fans.

The TopAnchor system allows you to move the templates around

and conveniently put your arcs anywhere you want them.

Joyce started at the top left and worked her way to the right. Great results, wouldn't you say!

Joyce also bravely stitched a complete circle using the EZ Arc tool, and did quite well for the first try!

Circles take a lot of practice because you have to control the circular motion of the tool with one hand while moving the hopping foot completely around it. It's almost like rubbing your head and patting your tummy at the same time - you can do it, but it takes practice and concentration. ;D

Thanks for sharing your work with us, Joyce.

Happy Stitching!

Betty 

http://TopAnchorQuilting.com

Accents and Interest

Combining different styles and designs can add movement and interest to quilts. One way to accomplish this is to vary the pattern you are quilting. The pictures below show a few examples.

Freehand feathers give a soft edge to these Baptist Fans and add to the beauty of the design.

Feathers inside a Baptist Fan are easy to make and give a welcome rest from stitching the same patern repeatedly.

Notice the area in center top - this is where I attempted to make birds but that will take some work to make it look the way I want it. Maybe someone else can figure it out and show me how!  The same type of technique could easily be used for bows as well. Gotta work on that!

Happy Stitching!

Betty

http://TopAnchorQuilting.com

Doodles gone wild!

Take a look at the work of Joyce Bowers unleashed.

This was her first time using the EZ Arc longarm quilting tool.

 
She just had a ball making arcs on this practice piece and adding in whatever designs came to mind. What fun!

Feathers, clamshells, loops, scrolls, pebbles, anything!
 Don't you just love the look of the clamshells inside the feather arc. Stunning!

Can you imagine these designs fanned across an entire quilt like that. Beautiful.

Thanks, Joyce, for showing us how easy it is to get great results when you set your imagination free, you wild thing!

Find us at http://topanchorquilting.com