Book Review: Sew Illustrated

Sew Illustrated has 16 projects in it and is by Minki Kim and Kristin Esser. If you love Minki Kim’s adorable little appliqué sketch creations, you’ll love Sew Illustrated. If you haven’t heard of Minki Kim, where have you been? I adore her small sketches where she uses bits of fabric and black outline stitching to create charming projects.

Photo courtesy of C & T Publishing

All of the designs are included in the back of the book as iron-on transfers, which makes it very easy to put them on your fabric. There are other ways to transfer these designs and Minki explains these other options in the beginning of the book.

Minki’s designs are small, so this is a great book if you have lots of scrap fabrics that you’d like to use up. The projects are a combination of appliqué, hand embroidery and free motion quilting to finish off the appliqué pieces.

You’ll find a variety of projects in the book from mug rugs to pin cushions. Due to the small nature of the projects, they won’t use much fabric and they won’t take a lot of time to complete. Many of these projects would be perfect for quick gifts.

You’ll find a variety of projects in the book from mug rugs to pin cushions. Due to the small nature of the projects, they won’t use much fabric and they won’t take a lot of time to complete. Many of these projects would be perfect for quick gifts.

I like the full-size templates in the book (I really don’t like to enlarge any pieces!) and the complete step-by-step instructions that she provides in Sew Illustrated.

Click on the image below for a more detailed look at Sew Illustrated. If you’d like to add Sew Illustrated to your quilting book library, click here.

Creatively,

P.S. Do you strive to improve your quilting skills? Do you want to have fun doing it? Do you want to meet other quilters in a supportive, safe environment?  If you answered “yes” to these questions, you need to join The Quilter’s Way. The Quilter’s Way is the only quilting membership site that includes both training and an active, supportive online community. It’s not your grandmother’s quilting circle! Don’t wait another day! Join now.

P.P.S. Did you know that you can sign up to receive emails full of FREE quilting goodness? Click here to receive FREE content directly in your email inbox every few weeks from Chatterbox Quilts. I know you'll be glad you did!

P.S. I am an Amazon affiliate and, if you purchase items by clicking through the links in this post, I will receive a small amount of commission. This doesn’t cost you any more $$$, but helps me to continue creating free content for you. Thanks!

Free Motion Quilting Feet for the Janome MC9450

Quilters are always asking me what feet and settings they should be using for free motion quilting on the Janome MC9450. It’s a good question because there are a variety of feet that are included with the Janome MC9450. Let’s take a look at the free motion quilting feet that come with the Janome MC9450 and learn what settings to use for each of them.

Let’s start with the most common free motion quilting foot, the PD-H foot. It’s often called the darning foot, but it works so well for free motion quilting. There are actually two of them included with the Janome MC9450 – a closed-toe foot and an open-toe foot. They both operate the same way and I like to use the open toe foot as it has great visibility. The only thing you need to be careful of when using an open-toe foot, is that you don’t get caught on only loose threads or on appliqué pieces.

PD-H Open-Toe Darning Foot

There are three other free motion quilting feet that you can use with the Janome MC9450: the QO (free motion quilting open-toe foot), the QC (free motion quilting closed-toe foot), and the QV (free motion quilting zigzag foot). These are quite big names for such small feet! The QO and QC feet are, like the PD-H feet, the same except that one is open while the other is closed. Can you guess which is which?

QO Free Motion Quilting Open-Toe Foot

The QV foot works really well for quilting around appliqué pieces as its saucer shape allows you to get really close to those pieces without worrying about getting snagged on them. All of these feet fit on the regular foot holder.

QV Free Motion Quilting Zigzag Foot

The last “free motion quilting” foot that comes with the Janome MC9450 is the QR, ruler foot. I never know whether to consider ruler quilting as free motion quilting, but I consider it the same as the machine is set up the same way as I would have it set up for free motion quilting. The big difference is that you will be using the QR foot with a ruler (make sure you are using one specifically for ruler quilting on your sewing machine; the quilting rulers you use for cutting will not work for this application). The QR foot is already attached to a foot holder and it is easy to distinguish with its high base.

QR Ruler Foot

There are certain settings to use with each of these feet and if you click on the image below, you can watch the video that explains all of the various choices.

 Give the various free motion quilting feet on the Janome MC9450 a try to see which one you like to use for various types of free motion quilting. There’s a free motion quilting foot for every application.

What free motion quilting foot do you like to use on your Janome MC9450? Leave a Comment below to let me know your preference.

 NOTE: If you have upgraded your Janome MC9400, you will also have these feet and the settings will be the same.

Creatively,

P.S. Are you serious about improving your quilting? Do you want to connect with other committed quilters in a supportive, safe environment?  If you answered “yes” to these questions, you need to join The Quilter’s Way. The Quilter’s Way is the only quilting membership site that includes both training and an active, supportive online community. Don’t wait another day! Join now.

P.P.S. Did you know that you can sign up to receive emails full of FREE quilting goodness? Click here to receive FREE content directly in your email inbox every few weeks from Chatterbox Quilts. I know you'll be glad you did!

P.S. I am an Amazon affiliate and, if you purchase items by clicking through the links in this post, I will receive a small amount of commission. This doesn’t cost you any more $$$, but helps me to continue creating free content for you. Thanks!

Book Review: Quilts With An Angle

If you are hesitant about stitching up blocks with 60 degree angles in them, you’ll want to take a look at Quilts with an Angle – a Field Guide by Sheila Christensen and published by C & T Publishing.

Photo courtesy of C & T Publishing

This is an in-depth look at how to create these types of blocks successfully. Quilts with an Angle not only explains how to stitch up blocks with different geometric shapes, all with 60 degree angles, but also talks about the tools you can use to get these degrees.

The book is divided into different sections, with a specific geometric shape, in each section. There are triangles, trapezoids, hexagons (so many quilters love these!), diamonds, and more!

I’ve got to admit that I haven’t made a quilt with 60 degree angles. They just seem to intimidating to me. Quilts with an Angle breaks these 60 degree angle shapes down to the basics and explains in detail how you can successfully create and incorporate them into quilt projects. There are lots of photos in this book to explain the techniques, as well as reference charts to help you.

Photo courtesy of C & T Publishing

Of course, it wouldn’t be much use to learn how to create these blocks without having projects to use them in, would it? No worries, there are projects in each section to demonstrate how you can use those particular shapes in them. By the time you’ve made these projects, you’ll be an expert in cutting a geometric shape with 60 degree angles.

Photo courtesy of C & T Publishing

Click on the image below to see more of Quilts with an Angle – a Field Guide. To get your own copy of Quilts with an Angle, click here.

Do you use 60 degree angles in your projects? Let me know your favourite tool for cutting shapes with 60 degree angles in the Comments below.

Creatively,

P.S. Do you want to improve your quilting skills? Do you want to have fun doing it? Do you want to meet other quilters in a supportive, safe environment?  If you answered “yes” to these questions, you need to join The Quilter’s Way. The Quilter’s Way is the only quilting membership site that includes both training and an active, supportive online community. It’s not your grandmother’s quilting circle! Don’t wait another day! Join now.

P.P.S. Did you know that you can sign up to receive emails full of FREE quilting goodness? Click here to receive FREE content directly in your email inbox every few weeks from Chatterbox Quilts. I know you'll be glad you did!

P.S. I am an Amazon affiliate and, if you purchase items by clicking through the links in this post, I will receive a small amount of commission. This doesn’t cost you any more $$$, but helps me to continue creating free content for you. Thanks!