Monday, January 19, 2015

Practice, Practice, Practice!

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This weekend I wanted to finish up some place mats for my table.  My original plan was to use this Blueberry Bali Pop to make place mats using a Judy Niemeyer pattern called Cappuccino  but realized after making one block that I had no patience for that pattern.  Since all the fabrics were already cut into 2 1/2” x14” strips I just sewed nine together to make a mat and made six mats in total.    I quilted them with my favourite design from the Pajama Quilter called Dwirlling.  It is a super easy and fast quilting design that looks really good, I highly recommend her DVDs.
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Once I had the place mats done I thought it would be a good idea to do some practicing!    One design that I don’t feel I really have in my head yet is McTavishing.  I think it is absolutely beautiful but I have never been asked to do it on a quilt so I thought I would give it a go so I’m ready for the day that request comes in!  It’s good to be prepared.
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McTavishing is like handwriting, every longarmer’s looks different and I had no idea what I was doing so I just went for it!     I started by trying the more traditional McTavishing but kept adding the shell shape into it.  Then I tried doing it around large swirls and I really like how that turned out.  Basically a mix of swirls and shells with a lot of echoing, I like the texture it creates.
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I just loaded a beautiful New York Beauty quilt on my machine and it will probably take me all week or more to get that one done as there is a lot of ditch stitching to do.
Here is a peek at the quilt top.
ulrike

13 comments:

  1. I love your version of McTavishing. I need to give it a try. I do have a question. You mentioned you have a lot of stitch in the ditch to do. Do you stitch in ditch for all pieces or just larger sections/blocks of a quilt. I've read one quilter adheres to stitching around all pieces and others I can see that they haven't stitched around hardly any pieces. Thanks

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  2. Love your style of McTavishing! Everyone develops their own signature and yours is great! it took me several attempts before i got it down.

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  3. Beautiful quilting! I have the pattern Cappuccino and haven't made it yet either. When you do all of your stitch in the ditch do you use the same color through out?

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  4. Love the placemats and the quilting on them. I'm so glad you said every quilter's McTavishing is different! Mine looks..... not like Karen's! Can't wait to see that New York Beauty when you're done with it. That's a quilt that is on my Must Do Someday list. Some day hasn't arrived yet.

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  5. Beautiful placemats! And your McTavishing looks gourgeous :) One question: where you SID a piece like this New Your Beauty?

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  6. Wow - you've been busy! Lovely placemats, especially nice with that panto. And can't wait to see what you do with the New York Beauty.

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  7. Sweet New York Beauty! Learning to McTavish is also on my list...love your practice and how it evolved.

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  8. Your McTamaracking looks fantastic. You've got that mailed! Can't wait to see how the NewYork beauty turns out.

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  9. Yes your practice looks great. I'm taking a class from her at MQX and I can't wait.

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  10. I like your practice mctavishing especially the top part with the long curls. I can appreciate how long that New York beauty will take. Sometimes I think I take too long to quilt these types of quilts so it is reassuring to read other quilters also take that much time. I am sure it will be lovely when you are done with it.

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  11. Beautiful McTavishing and have fun on the NYB.

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  12. Love that New York Beauty! I am interested to know your quilting plan. You mentioned quilting in the ditch -- are you going to ditch around all the points? I have a big Niemeyer quilt in the works (still far from done). and I am collecting quilting ideas for it. Thanks!

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