The Carpenter's Daughter Who Quilts

Tag: ModGears

TGIFF: Mod Gears Harley Inspired Baby Quilt

Welcome to TGIFF! I am Shelley and I blog as The Carpenters Daughter who Quilts. I am excited to share with all of you my Friday finish this week. Today (Friday) is also my 50th birthday and my blog is also celebrating having over 100 postings. I am holding a giveaway contest to celebrate both events.

Let me first share my fun quilt that I made. It is Mod Gears by Elizabeth Dackson (Don’t Call Me Betsy). I made it in similar to Harley Davidson motorcycle colors. This is a quilt for our friend’s first grandson. Both Mom and Dad have their own Harleys. I decided to personalize the back with the little boy’s name, Eli John. He is named after a beloved cousin and his grandfather.

Mod Gears (Harley Inspired)

I decided to add the extra white border and rounded the corners with a dinner plate. I made bias binding in orange that is in the main quilt. I planned to hand sew down the binding but at the last moment and it was after midnight, I decided to sew it down by machine. It is sturdy and should hold up in the wash.

Mod Gears on the clothes line blowing in the wind

I really like how the quilting shows up on the backing. I really enjoy making pieced backs for all my quilts. Many could be reversible.

Appliqued Name block

I design my names or wordings that I applique on my quilts with a simple program called Print Artist. It is software that you can design your own printables like gift cards to business cards. I chose how long I need my words to be and how tall. There are hundreds of fonts to choose from. I print out my names in coloring book format. I cut out all my letters and trace them backwards on to Lite Steam A Seam 2 double layer fusible. I fuse my letters into position and usually stitch close to the edge of the letters in a straight stitch.

Mod Gears hanging out on the garden bench

Mod Gears

I am excited to present this quilt to my friends. I think they should love it ( or hope they do) as much I as I do.

In honor of my 50th birthday and passing the 100th blog post (actually happened in August when we did all the work on our house) I am giving away some of my favorite things. Batik fabrics and my favorite fusible product so that one of you can try your hand at some type of appliquing.

A lovely Bali Crackers layer cake in Rum Raisin.

These prints would look lovely in just about any design.

Two Sided Lite fusible web product

I discovered today that JoAnn’s now is selling this version of the Lite Steam A Seam 2 that I previously have been purchasing. There is 5 (9 x 12inch) sheets. You can create numerous projects.

***To enter this contest, please leave a comment telling me a favorite birthday memory or gift that you have received in the past. If you are a reader follower of my blog, you can have a second entry. Just tell me in a second comment how you follow. I will keep the contest open til Sunday the 18th Midnight (US Central Time zone). I will announce the winner by noon on Monday October 19th. If you think you maybe a non-reply blogger, please include your email so I can get ahold of you. Thanks!***

Contest Has Ended

It’s time to link up your Friday Finishes. Please visit as many of your other linky party neighbors as you can and share your support. Everyone loves comments! Thank you for hanging out with me on my birthday. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Happy Sewing,

Shelley

October 15, 2015
Flying Happy Midweek Progress

Hi, I am just popping in to share what progress I have been making on my Flying Happy quilt this week.

Flying Happy 2 Patches

I am making the largest version of the Flying Happy quilt and it takes 36 blocks. I am using 18 different batiks in the design. These are the two patches that build the center blocks.

First batch of center blocks sewn

I did my best to get a good mix of the combination of batik colors. The pattern cutting instructions has extra of the 4.5 inch center squares. I thought I misplaced or lost the entire set of 36 squares that I set aside to use in my blocks. This was the morning after an unexpected visit by my grandsons and later I discovered that I had all ready sewn those squares in to my blocks. The extras are just extras to be used in another project or in the backing design.

More center blocks pieced

This is the rest of my center block color combinations. Now I need to finish piecing my 288 flying geese blocks. I am attempting to finger press my plain squares and stitching across my blocks by sight. So far so good as I have new light bulbs in my sewing machine. I now have a light in the center of the upper arm of the machine. Yeah..

Here is my quilting buddy, Smokey

Smokey showed up out of nowhere just as I pulled a pile of my squares out of the basket to start piecing my flying geese blocks. Apparently there is just enough room to manuever around the piles of fabric so he can get comfortable.

Mod Gears bound and finished

I finished my Mod Gears quilting and it is bound and finished. I will be sharing more photos tomorrow after I can get better full on photos taken. I made the Executive decision after Midnight to machine stitch my binding down. Crampy tired hands told me that hand sewing was not in the cards. I am expecting this quilt to be well loved and washed often so the binding needs to stay in place.

Smokey loves quilts even with hundreds of safety pins

Apparently Smokey does not care if a quilt has a million safety pins in it. It is a cozy place to escape the wrath of the Aussie puppy. Thankfully Katie did not try to pull the quilt and the cat away from the machine.

It is my turn to host the TGIFF (Thank God It’s Finished Friday) linky party tomorrow. I will be revealing Mod Gear’s finish, and a possible Flying Happy flimsy finish. It is my 50th birthday on Friday and I have passed my 100th blog post anniversary so I will be giving away some lovely fabrics to celebrate both milestones. I hope you will all come back tomorrow to check it out.

I am linking up this progress with various mid week linky parties. You can find the links on my linky page at top of the blog.

Thanks for stopping by my blog.

Happy Sewing,
Shelley

October 15, 2015
Wed. QIP: Mod Gears

Hi, I thought I would give a quick peek at the quilting I started today on my Mod Gears quilt top. Mod Gears is a pattern by Elizabeth Dackson (Don’t Call Me Betsey). I am making it as a baby quilt for a special little boy whose parents love Harley Davidson motorcycles.

Mod Gears

This version of the quilt is to be approximately 56.5 inches square. I chose to add a white border and then I rounded the corners with a dinner plate. With my added borders, my quilt top is approximately 62 inches square.

Close up of a Mod Gears block quilted

I am quilting inside each churn dash and cross section with coordinating thread colors.

Backside of the quilting

I am using white in the bobbin for simplicity and it does set of the overall quilting design nicely. I do not want additional colors taking away from my center name applique work.

Full back view of Mod Gears

My basted backing is smoother than this photo looks. Picking it up and flipping around causes wrinkles. I did get the top centered so the top and bottom last black rows will likely be cut off when finished. I will be making bias binding out of the orange colored grunge fabric used in the cross blocks on the front. I will be hand stitching to finish this binding which is the first I have done in ages. I will be using the Wonder Clips that I won from Scraptastic Tuesday.

I can see that the quilting will take a little longer on this quilt with working around all the churn dashes. It should be neat in the end.

I am linking up this post with WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced.

Thank you for stopping by my blog.

Happy Sewing,

Shelley

October 7, 2015
Mod Gears Update

Hi, I thought I would give a quick update on my progress with my Mod Gears quilt top.

I have added borders that were not called for in the pattern to add size and interest as I rounded the corners.

I cut 4 inch white strips for my borders and then used a dinner plate to round the corners.

I am going to use the orange fabric as my bias binding. I have not used a bias binding in ages and I certainly have not hand sewn a binding in as many ages. I won the Scraptastic Tuesday’s monthly drawing and have a shipment of 100 Wonder Clips coming in the mail from Massdrop as my prize. They should arrive in time to help with attaching my binding.

This is my striped backing for the quilt. I used all the fabrics from the front except the orange for binding. I appliqued the little boy’s name, Eli John on the back as well. I chose to use a smaller lowercase letter this time around. I remembered seeing a baby quilt online with the name Eli or Elliot on it that was done in the lowercase and it turned out pretty cute.

I use Lite Steam-A-Seam 2 for my appliques. It stays soft and flexible and with it’s two glue layers you can temporarily finger press your pieces down and remove them and move around before you do your final pressing. I just straight stitched close to the edge of the letters.

I am still deciding on how I want to quilt this top. A possible organic wavy serpentine stitch or follow around each churn dash and plus with a 1/4 inch inside borders of blocks??? Either way I hope to get started doing some quilting yet today.

I am linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced, Let’s Bee Social , Needle and Thread Thursday and Crazy Mom Quilts.

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Sewing,

Shelley

May 28, 2015
Mod Gears Baby Flimsy

Hi, I am sharing today my completed Mod Gears quilt top. It is made from the Mod Gears by Elizabeth Dackson, Don’t Call Me Betsy quilt pattern. It is made for a friend’s new grandson. Both parents ride Harley motorcycles, so I thought the theme and color of the quilt was quite fitting.

It finished at 56 inches square. I am thinking of adding a white border of say 4 inches all around and then rounding the corners. I have seen a quilt on a Pinterest that gave me that idea. I would then need to make a bias binding. I have quite a bit of the orange and red left that can go towards binding and as part of the back design.

I am wanting to applique the baby’s name Eli John to the back as well. I am thinking in a lowercase letters to add interest.

I had no trouble creating these half square triangles. I am still trimming up the batch for the Sea Stars quilt.

I am still learning how to use my new camera. It was pretty slick transferring photos from the camera to the computer by wifi sending them direct to my email accounts. It was great not having to fight with usb cords as this camera only came with a 12 inch cord.

I will be linking up my quilt top finish with Needle and Thread Thursday and Finish It Friday at Crazy Mom’s Quilts.

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Sewing,

Shelley

May 21, 2015