Gidget and Chloe, Secret Life of Pets Panel Quilt - a bit about my process in making this quilt!

Hi!

Thought I would write a bit about the most recent gift quilt I have been working on. It is a Panel quilt, the center panel is "Gidget and Chloe" from "The Secret Life of Pets" Movie. I purchased the panel a while back, with the thought of practicing my free motion quilting on it, and it just makes sense to make it into a quilt too!

Finished Gidget and Chloe quilt top on my design wall.

I'm making this quilt for a young cat lover, so I added some cat embroidery on purple fabrics which coordinate with the center panel. I chose various shades of purple for variety. The embroidery was completed using my Brother SE2000 machine and my Bernette B79 machine. I added the Brother machine to my studio this past June, so I have been trying out its features. I used designs from Bernina and Brother for the embroideries. I also used a Sulky Yarn Ball Cat embroidery on the quilt - it is in the top left and lower right borders. I added text to some of the embroideries and combined flowers and butterfly designs with the cats. The pink border has a small butterfly print on it. 

Sulky Yarn Ball embroidery design on quilt

Quilt detail, rose embroidery

Quilt detail, Cat Face embroideries

Detail on Quilt, Kitty-Cat embroidered block

I purchased a light blue cat print to add to the quilt - I wanted to keep the quilt from becoming a pink and purple only quilt! The light blue print helped me extend the color story of the quilt. I then was able to add fabrics in complimentary colors that go with pink, blue and purple. 

I watched a fabric presentation recently where a quilt designer mentioned that you shouldn't pre-wash your fabric panels, because they can stretch out of shape. I discovered this is true, when I went to work with my panel. I had to trim the panel down, then I added purple strips around the edges to restore the borders.

Tip: I actually used a tip I heard about many years ago - for fabrics, there are always 2 sides. The dark purple fabric I used for the border had a print on one side - I liked the solid reverse side better, so I used it that way! I think this is the first time I have used this tip!

I picked out a lot of my fabrics intuitively - I thought why am I choosing polka-dots from my stash? Then I realized the center panel had a polka-dot pattern in the background - so it made sense! The polka-dot prints are Benartex fabrics I have had in my stash for a while, so I am glad they are finding a new home on this quilt.

This was a fun quilt top to piece together - I started with 6 x7 inch rectangles for the embroidery, and added 6x6 inch squares. When it didn't fit together, I just cut some of the squares to fit and let it go together. A fun, no stress process!

There was a bit of puckering around the embroideries, but when I began to quilt around them, it is disappearing. The quilt is on the frame, and gradually getting finished. It is a fun process!

I hope you enjoy hearing a bit about this quilt! I will share some photos when it is quilted and completed too.

Many Blessings to you!

Denise A. Buchwalter-Losczyk

Fun online quilting challenges - Project Quilting

 I can't seem to resist entering quilt challenges. Lately I've been participating in online challenges. They are a great way to connect with others and help challenge you in your creative process.

Currently I'm participating in Season 13 of Project Quilting. Here is a link where you can read more about the challenge and join in if you like! Project QUILTING (kimlapacek.com)

About every 2 weeks they have a series of quilt challenges. For this season, I missed the first 2, but have managed to enter weeks 3-5. Here are my entries so far:

Week 3 - Kitchen Quilt Challenge, "Lemon Kitchen Quilt" (approximately 6 x 6 inches)

Week 3 was a last hour entry for me. I made this little "quilt as you go" quilt the morning of the last day to enter! I am using it as a mug mat in my studio. This little one inspired some Valentine's day potholders which I made for us to use in our kitchen. My husband had asked for new potholders, which I usually don't want to sew, but they did come out nice! I will share those in a later post with some easy instructions!

Week 4 Challenge - Diamond Composition #1 (approximately 8x8 inches)

Week 4 was a challenge to use diamond shapes. I chose diamond background fabric and played with diamond shaped embroidery stitches on my Bernette B79 Sewing machine. It was a fun way to try out my stitches. I folded the center square origami style, then found a button in my collection which matched the same shape. 

Week 5 Challenge - Rhythm and Repetition - "Winter" (approximately 8 x 8 inches)

Week 5's Challenge was to use Rhythm and Repetition. The requirement was to repeat an element at least 3 times. My mini quilt was inspired by my entry from Week 4. I used the same binding and background fabrics. I played with my metallic threads for quilting the triangle shapes. Triangles seem to turn into trees, and I added some scrap book embellishments I had purchased but not used yet.  I had a little trouble getting the greens to match in the photos, when processing in Photoshop. I've noticed I sometimes have trouble working with greens when designing, my eyes have difficulty matching the differences in the greens a bit.

It has been a fun challenge so far! I will try to keep up as much as I can.

There are random prizes given out each week of the challenge, which does help motivate you to enter. It is also fun to see the projects other quilters create.

Happy quilting and creating,

Blessings,

Denise A. Buchwalter-Losczyk 

#31DayBlogChallenge2020 - What day is it? Also, project recently completed

I am having difficulty keeping up with the daily blog! I've decided to go weekly, instead of daily for my blog and commit to doing that throughout next year. 

I don't have a business to promote right now, but I do like to share my creations and enjoy writing - so I will continue the blog! 

On that note, here is a little machine embroidered quilt I created for a recent Quilting Arts Reader Challenge: Art as Inspiration Challenge. It wasn't chosen for publication this time, but it did give me an outlet for creating this little memory quilt.

The challenge was to create a Postage Stamp Quilt honoring or in the style of another artist. I chose to commemorate my Video Art Teacher and friend, Shigeko Kubota.

She was one of the first women video artists. I studied video art with her while she was a visiting artist at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1984. She mainly resided in New York City, so I was very fortunate to be able to study with her in Chicago. We wrote to each other over the years, and I still miss her very much. She passed away in 2015. I remember she liked the way her name sounded like "Chicago". So, here is my little quilt, in memory of her and those Chicago days, it is titled: "Love to Shigeko". It is 4 inches by 4 inches in size, I imagined the design and then created the embroidery in my Embird Embroidery software. It was stitched out on my Bernette B79 machine. I also used some hand stitching on the top of the quilt.

Mini Quilt created in response to Quilting Arts Reader Challenge, title: "Love to Shigeko"

Hope you enjoy seeing my little quilt!

 - Denise Buchwalter-Losczyk

Day 3 and 4 - 31 Day Blog Challenge 2020 - My Machine and Favorite Tools

 I've decided to combine Day 3 and 4 of the #31DayBlogChallenge2020. I have a new sewing machine to write about, which is currently my new favorite tool.

I do have more than one machine - some have their own purpose, so they are not used all of the time: Elna Needle felting machine, Brother Serger, Brother PQ1500 Straight Stitch machine, Qnique 14+ Mid Arm Quilting Machine, and Pfaff 2134 Sewing and Embroidery machine.

Late last year my Pfaff machine had trouble with its top tension. It is an electronic machine, so I needed to take it to an authorized dealer to repair the top tension. 

It is a bit of a drive to the nearest authorized dealer(s), and you have to drive over the mountains. We planned to go in February, but the weather was rainy, and we decided to wait. Then the pandemic came, and we are waiting longer.  In the meantime, I realized my embroidery machine software needed to transfer designs to the machine doesn't work with Windows 10. So...I decided to look for a sewing/embroidery machine that I can use now.

I decided on the Bernette B79, after looking at all the great features of the machine. It has all the features of my older Pfaff machine and my Brother PQ1500 straight stitch machine combined! Also, I found you could open the machine and clean and oil it yourself, following instructions in the manual. No need for frequent trips to maintain the machine! It also came with many added accessories, some that I had to pay extra for years ago with my older machine. 

Here are the features that are like my other machines (combined):

More space under the needle for sewing - about 9 inches
Knee lift
Built in IDT (Integrated Dual Feed Technology) - like having a built in walking foot
Included table for expanding the sewing space.

The machine also has features that are like the more expensive Bernina machines.

Different features that I noticed from the expensive machine was a top loading bobbin, rather than a bottom loading bobbin. I actually like that feature! My other machines have the bottom bobbin, which would be nice for bobbin embroidery, but the top one is nice, easy to adjust just the top tension, and I now use an 80 weight thread (Wonderfil DecoBob thread) in the bobbin, which works very nicely. It takes Class 15 bobbins, and I was able to order some pre-wound bobbins that are excellent.

A nice assortment of feet are included - I did purchase an extra set of feet, it was very economically priced compared to my older Pfaff machine. The feet are a very high quality also and work with the Dual Feed Technology (IDT).

Instead of going on about the great features - here is a link to the Sewing Machines Plus store where I bought my machine. I was able to order it on line, they also have excellent customer service. Also, a link to the Bernette site where you can read about the machine.

Bernette B79 Sewing and Embroidery Machine (sewingmachinesplus.com)

bernette 79

So that is it! My new machine, and current favorite tool!

Denise A. Buchwalter-Losczyk