OK – while it doesn’t really seem possible, June is here. School is on its last legs and summer is around the corner. So crazy. Julia graduates from 8th grade (though this year the administration has quite vehmently changed the terminology from ‘graduation’ to ‘promotion’). Whatever it is called, it is a big change and she will move on to high school in August!
We spent Saturday and Sunday in San Francisco. Even though it is a quick 140 miles from home, we rarely go. This weekend was my daughter-in-law, Naomi’s, graduation from medical school. She is officially a doctor and we couldn’t possibly be more proud of her. She has worked so very hard over the past four years.
The ceremony was touching and, with about 100+ graduates, small enough that we could reallyt enjoy and see everything. Naomi will be starting her residency in Diagnostic Radiology in a few weeks. This will take them to Burlington, Vermont for a good four or five years. I haven’t been to Vermont so this will be a good excuse to visit.
I didn’t accomplish a whole lot in the sewing room last week. I made sure to do a bit of FMQ practice. I am trying hard to fit at least a little practice session in each week. This round was just a quick rectangle (7″x 8″) with a loopy figure eight running side to side. I used a tutorial by Rachel over at Stitched in Color.
This side looks reasonable. I purposely quilted with a light gray thread against the blue so i could see my results clearly. A bit uneven but not too terrible. The other side shows a bit of pulling or uneven speed, whatever it is that gives that “eyelash” effect on the curves. I put an Insul Bright scrap in the middle and bound it off to be used as a hot pad. I even machine stitched both sides of the binding, very quick.
Being the first of June, it is time to link up to Sew Bittersweet Designs for ALYOF. I have one last quilt top to finish up so that is the goal for the month. I made a batik nine patch back in August of last year. (Posted about it here.) I love this top and was sort of waiting until my quilting abilities improved before I put it together. Enough waiting. I am going to finish it this month!! The plan is to free motion it with some sort of all-over pattern.
While that is the main goal, I have others. (Of course I do!) I will make the row for June for my Classic Stitches row quilt. The color is light to medium blue for RSC15 which should be fine. I have quite a lot of blue scrap. Hopefully, I can continue to do a bit of FMQ each week, though quilting the batik quilt will probably make up a few of my practice sessions. Finally, I have a quilt idea that will use some of the 1940’s vintage fabrics that I recently received. I want to use this as a donation quilt for an event in mid-October. At minimum, I need to get the cutting done for that (hopefully I will get some of it pieced though.)
OK, that’s it for me – what’s on your list for June???
Linking to Freemotion Mavericks, ALYOF, Sew Cute Tuesday and Freemotion by the River.
I really like your batik quilt. Good luck with a smashing finish!
Thanks so much! Hopefully it will finish out well. It is one of my favorites thus far.
Glad you stopped by!
Regards,
Bernie
What a beautiful DIL! That is an amazing accomplishment. I hope you get to travel to Vermont! I think your FMQ quilting gets better and better. 🙂
She is beautiful! We just love her and are so proud. As far as the FMQ goes, practice is the only thing that works. I have a ways to go. I wish I could improve the back side. It is really hard to find the perfect rhythm to avoid the pulling on stitches.
Take care Linda!
B.
Congrats on the graduations in your family! And do try to visit Vermont. I think you will love it. We went in October 2013 to celebrate our anniversary. We stayed in a little (modern) log cabin in the Green Mountains and made day trips to the surrounding area, including Burlington. absolutely loved it. Your FMQ is looking good! I’m looking forward to seeing it on your batik quilt, and I can’t wait to see what you do with the vintage fabric.
Thank you Janine. We will definitely get to Vermont. My DIL has to do a year of general residency in Delaware (which is where they are currently living) and will move to VT next summer. A trip to Vermont is definitely on the plan. I just pressed the backing fabric for the batik quilt and hope to get that pin basted today. Yay for finishing up my last quilt top!!
Congratulations to your very impressive daughter-in-law! Doagnostic radiology–wow. They–and you– will love Vermont. It’s not like California, but it’s beautiful. I’m jealous of your quilting. It looks terrific! Great idea to make up the practice pieces into something useful. Happy June!
She impresses me that’s for sure. 🙂 They are really looking forward to VT. They spent the last weekend there looking around at the areas near and in Burlington. She has to finish a year of general residency in Delaware and then will move there next summer.
As for the FMQ, how many hot pads does a person need!! 😉 I think I need to pull an ugly piece of fabric and just practice and throw it away.
Have a good day Mari!
Hello Bernie,
Congratulations to Naomi! It sounds as though you have all had a great week. I’m amazed you managed any quilting practice at all, especially when you have the prospect of travelling such an enormous distance to visit your son and daughter in law.
The quilting is great, really regular. The eyelash effect might be cured by tightening up the top tension a tiny bit. For some reason the tension can be right for straight stitch but need an adjustment for doing FMQ.
Thank you for linking up with Free Motion Mavericks!
Love, Muv
Hello Muv:
Thanks for taking the time to send this hint over my way. I will do some playing with my machine and see if I might be able to tighten the top tension. I know how to play with the bobbin tension but I don’t know how to deal with the top. (I sew on a Janome 6500P.) But I will take a look. Again, I appreciate your help.
Take care,
Bernie