Sister's Choice Quilts

My interests are quilting, reading, cooking, family, decorating, and matters of style. I post regular quilting tutorials and book reviews of current fiction.

A Little Table Topper

001 
I had some leftover blocks from my Simple Abundance/MoJo quilt, which I called the Ridiculously Cute Basket Quilt.  Sara thought they would make an adorable little table topper, and combined them with some of my leftover scraps.  How cute is this?

No waste=a free table topper!

She let me practice my machine quilting on it, which I appreciated, since I have a topper of my own I would like to get quilted.   I need to remind myself over and over again to S.L.O.W D.O.W.N when I am machine quilting.  I feel so out of control when I rush! 

I did Stitch in the Ditch around the baskets, and a free motion loopy design for the borders.  Going too fast when stitching in the ditch results in stitching that is not in the ditch, but rather in the general vicinity of the ditch, which is not satisfactory  Going too fast when making loops results in weird shaped loops with varying stitch lengths.   I managed to hit just about every example of what not to do in this project, but I also managed to get it right some of the time.  Guess I need more practice…

My next machine quilting project will involve straight line stitching.  No ditches, no free motion.  I just need to follow diagonal lines across the quilt top.  I can do that, right?  This sort of machine quilting is supposed to be right up a beginner's alley, so wish me luck.

By the way, if you would like to see an amazing project, go over to Thelma's blog Cupcakes 'n' Daisies and have a look at her Red and White Tribute Quilt.  You will not believe how creative and imaginative she is.  Thelma managed to make a quilt that evokes the experience of being at the recent Infinite Variety Three Centuries of Red and White Quilts Show in New York City.  Truly, this quilt deserves to be in magazines.  It is one of the most stunningly innovative and inspired quilts I have ever seen.

30 responses to “A Little Table Topper”

  1. Good morning, Nicole! I think your table topper (or Sara’s) is sweet and you gotta start somewhere, right! With the beautiful quilts you create, you should be able to pick up machine quilting in no time.
    Hey, I picked up a couple books that you have mentioned in your blog (or did quilts from them, I think)Rummy and Kitchen Sink were the quilts – books are awesome! Thanks for the posting earlier this summer (I thank you, the wallet – not so much…being on medical leave and now feeling better is hard on the wallet. Gotta stay out of fabric, book and needlework stores)!
    Love your pic of the clean baby – nothing like the smell and cuddle of a little one who is freshly bathed. One of my favorite times with my son when he was a baby…can’t believe he’s 18 now.
    Have a great day!

  2. Good morning, Nicole! I think your table topper (or Sara’s) is sweet and you gotta start somewhere, right! With the beautiful quilts you create, you should be able to pick up machine quilting in no time.
    Hey, I picked up a couple books that you have mentioned in your blog (or did quilts from them, I think)Rummy and Kitchen Sink were the quilts – books are awesome! Thanks for the posting earlier this summer (I thank you, the wallet – not so much…being on medical leave and now feeling better is hard on the wallet. Gotta stay out of fabric, book and needlework stores)!
    Love your pic of the clean baby – nothing like the smell and cuddle of a little one who is freshly bathed. One of my favorite times with my son when he was a baby…can’t believe he’s 18 now.
    Have a great day!

  9. Love the table topper and its subtle 4 patches in the border corners. Cool binding, too.
    Way to go with the machine quilting. I need to be brave and learn to do that, too. So far, I’m rubbish at it.
    You’ve no doubt heard we in Virginia had a 5.9 earthquake yesterday. YIKES!!! I’d been in a couple of little tremors in the past but this was LOUD and really shook nearly forever (or so it felt). The house seems okay, but I’d like to vote for no more earthquakes ever anywhere.
    Hugs!

  10. Love the table topper and its subtle 4 patches in the border corners. Cool binding, too.
    Way to go with the machine quilting. I need to be brave and learn to do that, too. So far, I’m rubbish at it.
    You’ve no doubt heard we in Virginia had a 5.9 earthquake yesterday. YIKES!!! I’d been in a couple of little tremors in the past but this was LOUD and really shook nearly forever (or so it felt). The house seems okay, but I’d like to vote for no more earthquakes ever anywhere.
    Hugs!

  11. Hi Nicole, I love the table topper!!! I just wanted to share a link with you that gives you some really good tips on free motion quilting. I bought books to learn, and watched lots of tutorials, but this one helped me the most because of two tips she gave that I hadn’t seen on other tuts. One was to always bring the bobbin thread up to the top of your project before you start, the other was about wearing special gripping gloves. Since I have problems with my hands anyway, the gloves made a huge difference for me. There are also silicone sprays for you table that are made especially for helping the fabric slide easily that I haven’t checked out yet. Anyway, this little gal, Leah Day, has a grundel of helpful tutorial on free motion for us. I’ve watched many of them. So here is the link to the first Leah Day tutorial I watched, it helped me out more than I can say. Hope it is helpful for you. Hugs….
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=6-d_cLN-ayE

  12. Hi Nicole, I love the table topper!!! I just wanted to share a link with you that gives you some really good tips on free motion quilting. I bought books to learn, and watched lots of tutorials, but this one helped me the most because of two tips she gave that I hadn’t seen on other tuts. One was to always bring the bobbin thread up to the top of your project before you start, the other was about wearing special gripping gloves. Since I have problems with my hands anyway, the gloves made a huge difference for me. There are also silicone sprays for you table that are made especially for helping the fabric slide easily that I haven’t checked out yet. Anyway, this little gal, Leah Day, has a grundel of helpful tutorial on free motion for us. I’ve watched many of them. So here is the link to the first Leah Day tutorial I watched, it helped me out more than I can say. Hope it is helpful for you. Hugs….
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=6-d_cLN-ayE

  13. Oh…meant to tell you that in the tutorial, Leah also talks about the speed you should run your machine to do free motion and THAT turned out to be the biggest mistake I was making. I was trying to creep along to be careful…well, she talks about that and cured my biggest problem, except I still grind my teeth when I quilt, LOL. Hugs…

  14. Oh…meant to tell you that in the tutorial, Leah also talks about the speed you should run your machine to do free motion and THAT turned out to be the biggest mistake I was making. I was trying to creep along to be careful…well, she talks about that and cured my biggest problem, except I still grind my teeth when I quilt, LOL. Hugs…

  15. This is a very nice table topper. Love those baskets. No need to waste them. Eva is adorable by the way..

  16. This is a very nice table topper. Love those baskets. No need to waste them. Eva is adorable by the way..

  17. Beautiful! Love the 4patches in the corners too. Slowing down is a good thing, I agree, when FMQ’ing. You gotta find the rhythm that works!

  18. Beautiful! Love the 4patches in the corners too. Slowing down is a good thing, I agree, when FMQ’ing. You gotta find the rhythm that works!

  19. I had the pleasure of taking a machine quilting class from Don Linn a number of years back. He said we were going to learn to stitch in the ditch with our feed dogs down. In other words, free motion. We were all skeptical but darned if it wasn’t easier! If you came to an intersection that wasn’t quite “right” you could slow down and just move over a stitch and go on your way.
    I went over and saw Themma’s quilt. OMG!!!She is truly in a league of her own.

  20. I had the pleasure of taking a machine quilting class from Don Linn a number of years back. He said we were going to learn to stitch in the ditch with our feed dogs down. In other words, free motion. We were all skeptical but darned if it wasn’t easier! If you came to an intersection that wasn’t quite “right” you could slow down and just move over a stitch and go on your way.
    I went over and saw Themma’s quilt. OMG!!!She is truly in a league of her own.

  23. The only way to get better at quilting is to quilt projects. Make some small donation quilts and practice on them. Watch videos, take classes and P,P,P. Oh, and a glass of wine usually helps too!
    R & W is spectacular, I felt like I was right back in NYC when I saw her post yesterday.

  24. The only way to get better at quilting is to quilt projects. Make some small donation quilts and practice on them. Watch videos, take classes and P,P,P. Oh, and a glass of wine usually helps too!
    R & W is spectacular, I felt like I was right back in NYC when I saw her post yesterday.

  27. Ha ha! I have to tell myself to s.l.o.w.d.o.w.n all the time too. Makes all the difference, doesn’t it?!
    And I agree … ridiculously cute. 😉

  28. Ha ha! I have to tell myself to s.l.o.w.d.o.w.n all the time too. Makes all the difference, doesn’t it?!
    And I agree … ridiculously cute. 😉