Placemats on the frame

It was a couple weeks ago that I did the quilting on these placemats for a friend.  I had been waiting for the opportunity to try doing this.  I use zipper leaders, so the actual placemats I pinned to the leader because the 4 placemats are the equivalent to the quilt top.  The backing is sewn on both ends to the leaders, the top is pinned to its leader.  After I had these loaded on the frame I stitched all of the edges down, rolling up a little to get to the bottom edges.  After I had them all stitched down, I rolled the top back into position to start quilting.

When I did the actual quilting I treated these like it was one whole quilt top.  I did not stop and start on each placemat.  This was a way cool technique that I used.  I know lots of other quilters do this all the time, but this was my first, so I kind of winged it and figured it as I went along. The end result turned out great.

I'm not sure where I found the suggestion to setup my end clamps like this (might be Sharon Schambers) but the fabric extensions make it so much nicer.  No more clamps getting in the way. Using corsage pins gives me good solid connection and I use 7 pins on each end. The material I used was a heavier denim weight fabric that was hanging out in my stash.  I made a sleeve to slide a dowel in for the clamps to grab onto, and a wide seam on the pin edge making it a half inch wide, 4 layer edge for the pins.  After I used these extensions for a while, I found the dowel would slide so I had my husband put a staple in the middle.

Train quilt started

 

I have not been very good about new posts lately.  As usual there is always alot going on.  We just returned from a trip to Ohio and getting back into the swing of normal daily activities is coming back slowly.  We did go to San Antonio today as we do on our normal Fridays.  Nothing exciting, but I did buy some fabric sheets that will go through the printer.  I'm working on a hand applique quilt that will be a very long term project.  I'm not sure I want to use printed images of trains, but that is what the instructions advise.  I think it will take away from the ambiance of the whole scene.  I bought the printer fabric just in case I decide it is a good option.  I will post a picture of my first block when I get it done.  The pattern for this quilt is from Piecemakers Calendar Quilts.

On one of my newsletter messages that I received today was a link to a quilt blog that had some information regarding QR codes.  I have seen them before and never really gave them much thought.  It seems that you can scan the codes with your phone or iPad or BlackBerry or whatever, and if you can connect to the internet, it will take you right to the site.  I downloaded a QR reader this morning, then when we were at Sam's, I found a box with a QR code and sure enough it took me right to the item's website.

When I got home I thought I would do some playing and I created a QR code for my blog.  When that appeared to work, I decided I would just make one with my phone number and email address.  So one code will take you to my blog site, but the other is just text that displays.  There are probably lots of uses for these codes, but on the 'just text side', you could create a label for your quilts.  When your in the store and you see something you like, but you are not ready to buy just then, you might forget about it.  If you click the scan button on your phone, you can check it out when you have more time, or have the opportunity to do some comparing.

You can try scanning either of these codes and they should display my information.  Should you decide you want to give it a try there is alot of information if you Google it.  I put QR code in my search.
I did not have a reader on my iPad, but I was able to find a reader in the AppStore.  The one I downloaded was not a free one, but it only cost 99 cents.  There were Free ones available, but the one I chose had better feedback.  Anyhow it is working fine so far.  The code generator was free from one of the links that came up in my Google search.

I'm going to try to get back to posting more frequently than I have in the past couple of months.