Panel Quilting

Good morning, my friends. Happily, I have a day at home today. There isn't a whole lot on the agenda, and so there should be plenty of time for sewing. When I arrived home from yesterday's outing, I had some lunch, and then went to work on the Cats in Pajamas block. Smitty was very concerned about the half cat living in the sewing room. 

He wondered if he should call 911.

We went straight to work. With his help, I finished off January's cat in green pajamas.

Next, I wanted to get started on the Dot-to-Dot free motion quilting challenge. I was tired after the day's activities, but decided I could at least get the sewing machine set up for quilting. So I used this "silver" Bottom Line thread in my bobbin. Already, I had a partially bobbin wound, which makes it seem like a requirement.

I like the Bottom Line threads, although my first experience with them had a less than desirable outcome. They're a lightweight thread, and getting the tension right was difficult until I started using the TOWA bobbin tension gauge. 

On top, I'm using one of the Coats & Clark Star variegated threads. I believe this is a 40 weight thread, but there's no label on this spool any more. I don't know anything about it except that it's from a discontinued line. (Sad face.)

Angela Walters has different kinds of stencils and pencils she uses for marking. I like my Hera markers. I decided I'd at least quilt one of each of the two designs we were shown in this week's video. First was the diamond design. I marked the lines I'd aim for with my dot-to-dot quilting.

And then I stitched this pattern. For this, I used a ruler.

Here's how it looks from the back.

And then, I wanted to try the Starburst design. For that I drew lines from corner to corner, and then half way between each.

Then, I stitched this design free hand.

Here's how that looks from the back.

I was having fun, and so I decided to stitch the two oddly-shaped sections on either side of the square.

Here's how that looks from the back.

Too late, I noticed I was supposed to have left those areas open, according to the diagram included in the pdf "handout."

Oh well. I'll wait and see what happens in the areas where that shape repeats. Possibly, I'll take it out. Or maybe I'll go rogue and do my own thing in those sections. One can never tell during the month of January. January is my wild month, when I'm feeling all spunky about the clean slate of a year before me. When I've wrecked any chances I have at redemption, I become more compliant. 

So then...feeling all roguish...I decided to finish out my sewing day by quilting one of the smaller diamonds with the Diamond design. This one was stitched free-hand.

Then I left the panel needle-down, turned everything off, and headed downstairs to see what the other residents of the Three Cats Ranch were up to. Passing through the door, I found Smitty hard at work guarding the stairs against intruders who might try to interrupt my quilting. He was still concerned about how we ended up with a half cat in the sewing room.

So today I'm hoping to finish up the assigned section of the quilting panel, and then I'll continue on with my list of WIPs. Next up will be to make another vertical row for the Painted Ladies quilt.

We're going to be visiting the Point Bonita Lighthouse on our trip south this spring. I've wanted to see the lighthouse for years, but something always stands in the way of our visiting. This year, we're determined to see it, weather permitting. Here's a picture of the lighthouse.

(image credit: "Point Bonita Lighthouse" by Jane Angch is licensed under CC BY 2.0.)

The bridge is what makes it unusual and special. I mentioned to Mike a few nights ago that while we're there, I'd like to visit Steiner Street in San Francisco, which was the inspiration for the Painted Ladies quilt. The houses on Steiner Street are known as the "Painted Ladies." Of course, my suggestion was dependent on how difficult it would be to drive our dually truck on San Francisco streets, and how far it was from the lighthouse. So, just now I looked it up. As it turns out, it's an easy drive. 

Yay! I believe that will be a "go" for our trip. If the weather is good, I think we'll do it. Besides, it's been a long time since we've crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, and this is a highly desirable and scenic part of San Francisco. Our trip is still several weeks away, but this kind of stuff makes me excited to go.

All right. That's all I have for you today. Time for breakfast and then I'll get on with my sewing...both fast and slow.