Cutout rulers for the win!!

This week I have been continuing with Angela Walters’ Ruler Quilting challenge and was learning about cutout rulers. These are the ones that have an enclosed shape such as her Taj ruler….

The first thing that we did was use the inside shape as a filler pattern…..

This is okay but honestly, I would rather freehand a similar pattern rather than go to this trouble!!

Next, we used the ruler to quilt a narrow border. I really liked this!!

When I had tried using rulers for borders before I had always had a panic about how to turn the corner. As usual, Angela gently explained some basic rules and then reminded us that It isn’t really going to matter if the corners don’t work out perfectly!!

Finally, we used the cutout to make a motif design. Now, this is a lot like the Westalee Spin-E-Fex rulers that I have talked about before…..

….so using the cutout to make a motif wasn’t that big of a deal…..

What I did learn was to look at the block that I am quilting and see if I can change the motifs up so that they add more interest. In this case, we quilted some straight lines to split the plain block up into a smaller area and then do a partial motif in each corner…..

I would probably have put one motif in the middle and let that be it but this design has SO much more interest!!!

Hopefully, I can remember this when I get ready to quilt a large block!!

Another challenge….this time with rulers!!!

Since I have had so much fun working on Angela Walters Flora and Foliage challenge AND because I learned SO much from it, I have been excited to start one of her older challenges. This one uses rulers and I am looking forward to learning more about my rulers and find new ways to use them!!!

The first week features straight edge rulers and using them to quilt line designs. The first design looked complicated but was amazingly simple to do.

It is worked in sections but ends up looking like a cohesive unit.

I quilted it using Angela’s “Slim” ruler…..

I will say that this design is fairly time-consuming and I would have to REALLY love someone to do this in a large area!!!

Secondly, we did a swirl design…..

I did cheat a bit on this one because I have done it before!! It was one of the first designs that I tried when I bought my rulers this time last year. I posted some fairly detailed instructions for this design and you can check it out HERE.

One of the things that Angela encouraged us to do was to quilt several lines along the edge of the blocks to make the square a bit smaller and easier to work on. I chose to add 1/2 inch of quilting on two sides of the square…..

Getting back to quilting

Now that we are home, it is time for me to focus on MY pursuits for a while!!! There are so many fun, quilty things coming up in the next 3 months and I am excitedly making plans!!

The first order of business is to get back to my free-motion quilting practice.

I have almost finished the Angela Walters quilt-a-long……

I am really struggling with the last two designs….the elongated swirl and the swirl chain. Hopefully, I can do some practice this weekend and finish up this piece.

This challenge has been fun to work on and have learned so much from it. As a matter of fact, I have enjoyed it so much that I have purchased two other of her challenges!!

The first one that I am going to work on is the “Free Motion Quilting with Rulers” challenge…….

It will be a great way to learn more about all of those rulers that I bought last summer!!

I have also been hearing a lot about “Glide” thread and purchased the matching threads so I can give them a try…..

Next, I will work on the “Echos and Curves” challenge……

….and here is the thread pack for it……

I want to work on these between some other planned projects!!

Stay tuned for lots of quilting!!

I’m QUILTING AGAIN!!!

Hooray!!!

After 5 months of income tax season and 3+ weeks in Africa, I am back home and getting to spend time in my studio. It is SUCH a wonderful feeling!!

The first order of business is to quilt the first of two baby quilts that I need to get into the mail. I made the tops at our guild retreat back in May (you can read about it HERE)

I knew that I wanted to keep the quilting fairly simple and I also wanted it to be FAST. But, I was concerned about how to fill in ALL of that space and keep it interesting!!

Somewhere along the line, I got the idea to use some of my Westalee “Spin-E-Fex” rulers to quilt some large-ish designs first and then fill in with other quilting.

So, the first step was to decide on placement of those designs and get them quilted!!

I chose to add a few half-designs to some of the edges as well……

I used several different rulers in the Westalee Spin-E-Fex series, including #11, 15 & 16.

I have previously posted reviews, videos and information on each of these rulers and you can check them out here…..

Spin-E-Fex #11

Spin-E-Fex #15

Spin-E-Fex #16

Now that the ruler work is done, it is time to move on to the filler quilting!! Come back tomorrow for more…..

Westalee Spinning Wheel #21

I have one last Westalee ruler to demonstrate so today let’s have a gander at the Spinning Wheel #21…..

This ruler is a bit different in that the stitching doesn’t always return to the center of the “wreath”. Instead you stitch from Point A to Point B and then shift the ruler.

Have a look at this video to how easy it is to use…..

I love the design that it produces…..

I hope that you enjoy using this fun pattern!!