Spring to Finish – finish

I’ve got one done. The Moda Urban Couture quilt I designed that I’m calling “Going My Way”. As mentioned in my last post, my first freemotion quilting was anything but a success. And yes, luckily for me, the crinkles after washing do hide a lot.

This will live on a well used couch and I’m sure after a few chocolate milk spills, all will be fine.

If you are the first to find my Amish mistake in this quilt top, I’ll send you a fun fat quarter and some other goodies. Leave me a comment.

Scrap-tastic

I started some of these little babies the other day. They are the smallest blocks for my scrap quilt. I especially like the one in the upper left with the Kaffe Fassett circle in the center and the lower right with the Tina Givens bee. A little I Spy in the quilt.

I have also ventured into the free motion quilting of this one. I practiced on several twelve inch squares, adjusted tension, tried out different speeds. Eventually I thought I just had to do it with the real thing to get the feel of the weight and movement of a whole quilt. The results can best be described as tragic with flashes of mediocrity. I used a light grey thread which disappears nicely on most colors except the brown. There you can see every jerky movement and half-inch long stitch. I’m hoping that it will be so stippled after washing that a multitude of quilting sins will be hidden in the crinkles. I am planning to Spring to Finish this one so we’ll know by Thursday.

Finished Wonky Squares

Thanks to all who visited and commented from the Bloggers Quilt Festival. It’s been such a blast. I’m still working my way through the hundreds of entries. Thanks for sharing.

I finished the quilt top for my sister in law and dropped it off at the machine quilter this week. Since I won’t get it back for a few weeks, I technically won’t be able to count this towards Spring to Finish. Drat. But I do have the Urban Couture quilt basted and ready to quilt. I’m going to give my first try to free motion quilting. Yikes! So I have to practice (lots!) and quilt a 60 x 60 in one week. That’s not too much to handle, right?

Perhaps I shouldn’t be so confident since I, once again, made a hugely stupid blunder on this quilt back, which is gorgeous by the way. I got a lousy photo on a rainy day but will post when it is completed. Alas, I’ve shared my share of quilting mistakes here but I’m just embarrased by this one. If you leave a comment, I’ll email you the story. It’s a wonder they let me play with scissors, let alone a rotary cutter.

Bloggers Quilt Festival

Amy at Park City Girl has organized an online quilt festival for all those of us who can’t make it to Quilt Market. I can’t wait to visit all the other bloggers.

My quilt story is about my latest, the Blooming Nine Patch featuring some Kaffe Fassett fabrics. Cathy, my machine quilter, had done this pattern and I loved how fluid the design looked, especially since it is so geometric (every cut is a square). It was an interesting contrast between linear pattern and flowing effect. I knew I had to try it. I’ve always been a fan of Kaffe Fassett fabrics and they seemed perfect for the color transitions that the pattern makes. I picked my first fabrics at the Lowell Quilt Festival last year.

The entire quilt consists of small nine patches and squares alternately. For a large queen sized quilt, that’s a lot of rote sewing. Fortunately for me, I began the project on my quilting getaway weekend last fall. I cut as many strips as I could before we left and began with lots of time to sew and great company to do it. It totally relieved the tedium of sewing strips and nine patches endlessly. The second benefit was that I was far enough into the quilt to not let it become a UFO when I returned home. I really wanted to see it done.

The other cool thing about this quilt was seeing how it changed every time I added a new row of color. It’s not exactly what I had envisioned but it’s quite probably better. It was a great learning experience that turned out beautiful. That’s win-win in my book. Thanks for visiting!

Scrap Happy

I’ve picked up this project from last summer to participate in the Nothing But Scraps challenge. It’s funny how your scrap bag is a picture of a moment in time. It’s a walk down memory lane. Oh, this if from that quilt. My scraps now are nothing like the ones I started out with. I’m trying not to think of the blocks I finished last year as the ugly stepsisters. I really don’t like some of that fabric now. I’m trying my best to focus on the whole of the quilt as being more than the sum of its parts.

Happy Easter!

Spring to Finish

The incomparable Jacquie from Tallgrass Prairie Studios has lain down the gauntlet once again… Spring to Finish… complete as many UFOs in the month of April as you can. I’m hoping that since I finished the binding on the Blooming Nine Patch on April 1st that I get to count that one. I also completed a quilt top over the weekend, the pattern I designed for the Urban Couture fabric.

I’m planning to quilt this one myself so I hope it doesn’t get stalled by my inexperience and impatience. A challenge is a challenge so I’m going for it.

Blooming Nine Patch Complete

(I will definitely post a better picture when I can. It’s been cloudy and hard to photograph.)

I picked up the blooming nine patch from the machine quilter last Sunday. So exciting. The pantograph Cathy used is called ‘popcorn’ and it has soft cloudy lines. I really think it brings it all together.

I felt the quilt really needed a blue binding to bring the colors full circle. I settled on the Kaffe Fassett “Wood Ear” fabric for the backing and binding. I used to hate to hand sew the binding but since I learned this cool (and nearly invisible) blind stitch, I find it very relaxing and missed not having it to work on the next day. Maybe I should really learn to knit, it might give me the same effect.

Next up, I’m nearly finished with the Urban Couture top and will begin sashing the completed blocks for my sister-in-law’s quilt.

An Eye for Animals

This is what happens when the big boy gets a hold of the camera. The last one is a cut out rainbow fish that has faded in the window.