Long Arm Quilting

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

A Texas quilt

 Do you ever look at flags and think to yourself "Wow...that would make a great quilt." Well, I sure do. I bet you do too, because sewing is awesome! Since I now have another super power (the ability to quilt just about any size quilt in no time flat) I decided to whip out a Texas flag and then quilt it! It took me about 20 minutes to piece the top and that includes the time to figure out how to make a star really big with power point (the computer program) and then make it even bigger to make a template for the big white star. Which in the end turned out really easy.

 I am pretty happy with how this quilt turned out. It will be my go to baby gift for all babies (of friends) born in Texas. After all I can't make quilts for all babies in Texas. My super power is not that strong.

 I bet Betsy Ross was a quilter.
 I had a great time quilting this quilt. Quilting the quilt was the only reason I made it you see. I was out of junk quilts to experiment on, so I whipped this out. I am happy I experimented on this one because my Gammill HATES the blue thread I used. I had about 15 thread breaks. I finally just advanced the quilt to the part I could go back to the whitish thread. That thread was like butter, but the super fancy Prescencia was totally destroyed with my machine (well both of my sewing machines hate it now. Maybe it got old, because I have used it int he past with not too much drama). Who knew thread could make machines (and the women who operate them) so angry?

 The fabric I used in this quilt was just kona cottons. So overall this was a really inexpensive quilt.

 If you want to make a quilt like this one, just cut a 20 x 44 (selvage to selvage) piece of blue, and a 22 x 44 inch piece of both the red and white. The hardest part will be the star. But you will overcome that quickly by using power point to print out the biggest star you can, then make it 2.5 inches bigger with your straight edge. I just raw edge appliqued the star onto the blue fabric and quilted the heck out of it once the quilt was stacked. Too easy. Give all the Texas babies you know a Texas quilt!

 My wonderful Bernina 820 is kaput. I am so sad. It is going really really slow then speeds up of a second then gets really slow. It just doesn't feel good and needs to have a servicing. Now, I live in the middle of no where and I have to take it to the big city of Killeen to have it worked on. I never thought I would ever think Killeen was the big city when I lived there! Ha...

 So she is sitting down here until it is time for her appointment next week.

For now I will use my other sweet Bernina. She likes to feel special and important too!

Have a great evening folks!

Tia

7 comments:

  1. love the texas quilt! makes me homesick! texan born and raised! i actually met my hubby at ft. hood and lived not far from killeen.

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  2. You should make yourself a Texas flag quilt! So easy. It will make you feel right at home!

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  3. oh man... you know that thread can make this woman mad!! you got to hear about bits of the last quilt i did and the thread nightmare. come to think of it, i'm pretty sure that thread (which wasn't cheap either) messed up my machine a bit - like the self threader no longer threads the needle and it sounds sluggish too.

    so, your bernina and my brother both need a little out-of-service time it looks like. yuck!

    the flag quilt looks awesome though!

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  4. Thanks so much for the pattern. Looks so easy. Think I will try this on my days off from building our new home. We now live in Bastrop and so proud to call Texas home.

    P.S. Thank your husband for his service to our great country, and thank you also My husband served 29 years. Not always easy on the family, but Military life is fantastic. Thanks again.

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  5. I am in the process of making a Texas Flag wall hanging. Each color is 12" wide and 24" wide. I am using an 8" Star. Once I get it all together, I will cut it into several pieces top to bottom and then stagger them so they look like the flag is waving. I have made many American Flags with way and they are a huge hit. Now that I live in Texas, I have to have a Texas Flag.

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  6. I love this quilt! Ive been trying to find a pattern all day.

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Thanks for commenting! I read each one. I will either respond via email or here in the comments. xo - Tia