Ayla’s quilt

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Ayla is my newest grandbaby (number two!) and it’s taken me a while to decide on exactly what kind of quilt to make her. Being born at the end of July really helped ease the pressure to produce a quilt right away too. 😉

I finally decided on Brioche and Baguette but the pattern is mail order and I did not want to wait.

So I winged it.

With the general idea of the pattern in mind (I will buy it later), I used a bunch of charm squares, a fat quarter and a bunch of 2.5″ strips – jelly roll sized. I was also of out white fabric with most of it buried in a storage container miles from here, so I also hassled my mom to see what was in her stash. The fabric is from Riley Blake – Apple of my Eye and mostly Pretty Little Things by Dena Designs for Free Spirit

Progress so far:

The white fabric is actually the support panel from a bedskirt. I got a little cutter-happy and wound up cutting waaaaay too many 2.5″ strips, but given how much I love to use white, I’ll use them elsewhere.

By the time I got the the laying out stage, I realized I really did want wider border on the side. I was going to just use the 2.5″ strips all around but for me, I visually did not want a skinny quilt. Unfortunately, there was barely enough white left. I would have liked to have cut the wider side sashing a full 5″ like the charm squares and the strips of fat quarter in the middle, but it was just a wee bit short. I wound up with 4.5″ strips but overall I don’t think it will too noticeable.

Except to maybe other quilters. 😉

For the center area, I really loved the trees fabric and made sure the pattern was matched up where I cut it. I could have cut the fabric shorter to not make the overall quilt so skinny, but I love the fabric so much! I wanted to show as much as I could.

This is going to bite me when I work on the back, but I’ll cover that next post. I only got the white fabric last weekend, and had made my mind up a couple days before that. Sometimes I don’t sew them up this fast, sometimes I just can’t help it.

The only reason I stopped today was because I had to cook supper and eat it. I hate when that happens.

I’m a real cut up

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It’s Saturday and I cleared out my weekend schedule to get to some quilting time. But instead of quilting, I’m hitting my next favorite activity: cutting fabric!

There’s piles of fabric all around my sewing table. I’ve pulled fabric for numerous projects and there they sit. So today, I’ll dig out the cutting board, clear off the dining room table and get to cutting. Oh and Drop Dead Diva marathon on Netflix for company. 😉

I really probably shouldn’t be cutting more quilt tops, given the size of the pile of tops I already have, and the pile of “to quilt” – the ones that have backings (mostly) and are maybe basted… oh yes, I have basting days too.

I’m making two Margo bags – one for my mom and one for my BFF Rebecca. My mom does quilt, but Rebecca is a knitter. Good thing, because if I need knitting done I will trade with her. The only thing I cut wrong so far? I mis calculated for the remaining bit of fusible batting I had. I forgot to leave room for the straps for both purses and cut a chunk off the long end. *sigh* Now it will be back to the fabric store. Or can you piece fusible batting? I really don’t want a seam or broken folded part in the middle of the handle. Maybe a good overlap for extra shoulder padding? We’ll see.

I also cut one queen-sized batting into 4 pieces, 3 of which fit particular baby / lap quilt tops I have waiting to be quilted. The 4th piece has a chunk out of the corner so it won’t fit a couple of lap sized tops I have by just a wee bit. I hate when that happens! 😀 It should fit the baby quilt I have cut out for my second (and newest) granddaughter Ayla.

One of the quilt tops I cut out is inspired by the quilt Neptune in Free-Motion Quilting with Angela Walters. No pattern is given for the quilt itself, so I improvised! I’m using a Tula Pink Parisville jelly roll with a really nice grey solid. I think this is the first time I’ve used a grey instead of the white. This is definitely going to be a practise quilt. So in love with Angela’s quilting!

The other quilt top I cut was for the Fast Forward pattern from Jaybird Quilts. (love her stuff too!) I have a Boys Will Be Boys jelly roll for this, and some solid brown. I was thinking of using a blue from my stash, but I really wanted the brown. I’ll use the blue for the back.

When I get to sewing time, I’ll group the projects together by thread color used. This way I can work on multiple projects and not have to keep changing thread. I probably do that because of all the time I spent at the serger when my kids were little.

What about you? Do you go on cutting sprees, cutting out multiple projects at once?

Jemseg Dahlia

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This is a really old quilt block that I canot even find on the Internet. It’s apparently a local variation, hence the name “Jemseg” Dahlia.

They are big blocks – 18″ square and since there is some hand gathering and hand applique I am making one whole block for a wall hanging.

I’m considering making a pattern if there’s interest.

Click through the images to see notations for each.

Still with the feathers

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I am almost done Kaytlyn’s quilt. At least the quilting part. I ran out of yellow thread *again*. That’s two spools if you are counting, plus a spool each of pink, purple and orange that still have lots left, but I need the yellow for the back. This quilt is using a LOT of thread.

I read another tutorial from Diane Gaudynski, and I swear this is the one I was looking for before, but someone forgot I read it. This time I clicked. Diane Gaudynski “Echo Feather Plume”

Here’s what I did the other day.

This was the third block I did, nice and relaxed and happy with the results. I’m not quite done the quilting because as I said above, I ran out of thread! And my local quilt shop is moving so it has been closed for a few days.

Here’s a nice shot showing how the quilt will look when done.

I need to find where I put the rest of the hot pink fabric so I can use it for the binding. One more row of feathers to go and two more of loops.

And just so Kaytlyn is not the only person I am tormenting with quilting previews, I did some work on a wall hanging for my mom. Mom has picked out a panel to hang in her stairwell, and since I am now her quilter, this is my first project and she said to do whatever I liked.

If you think that looks good, wait till you see the front. 😉 Some days I wish I had the whole day to quilt. So far, I have to keep stopping for one reason or another.

More quilting progress and how to get out of a boo boo

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So I’ve worked on Kaytlyn’s quilt a few more times, after I unpicked the last screw up and worked on something else instead. Here’s what that same block looks like now, all done properly.

I went swimmingly, until I flipped the quilt over and realized I made yet another boo boo. But this one was more recoverable and did not involved taking out stitches. It turns out if you are near the edge and don’t pay attention to the backing fabric, you get this:

It flips over and you wind up quilting it. Uh-oh. But then you just find your tiny scissors, turns on some bright lights, get comfy and snip the fabric off from around the stitching. Like this:

Any of those stray threads will wash right out. I always try and wash my quilts before I send them off. This way I know they will hold up for the user and if anything comes undone (it happens) then I have a chance to fix it.

I also figured out how to quilts the skinny blocks and thanks to some advice from Angela Walters, decided *not* to quilt the hot pink sashing. It looks SO much better leaving it unquilted. It really does help frame the blocks, don’t you think?

Here’s the back, where you can see the effect really well.

In the skinnier blocks I decided to do a loop-de-loo, or a bunch of Laverne L’s. Sometimes when doing these bits I hummed the Laverne and Shirley theme song because I am a dork like that.

Two more big rows to go! I have to draw out the feathers on these ones, since I’m doing them all in the same direction and they are basically upside down because of the way I have to feed it through my machine.

A goof up and a quick break

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I had a migraine yesterday. It woke me up, that;s how it hurt. I think it was from sleeping hard in the same position for hours.

So I muddled through as best I could,and after the second round of strong tea and Advil, plus protein, it lessened enough I could move my head. I set aside my laptop (one can still do minimal support when one’s head is settled amongst pillows) and shuffled down the hall to go play with fabric.

Face it – I needed the break anyway. 😀

I tried to quilt a bit and screwed up two feather blocks. Well, screwed up one and tried a different method on another. I’m not doing each block exactly the same, trying out a few different things every so often.

But the orange thread on the plain pink square? Upside down? Post-migraine?

Yeah. Not a good idea.

I did, however, take pictures for you to point and laugh at. Today I attacked it with a seam ripper.

Also shown: I did a small disappearing 9 patch baby quilt and laid out another, all from the same line of “Giddy” fabric. Nice and springy and Valentine’s in one.

Feather quilting

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Since I’ve finished up Meaghan’s quilt I moved on to Kaytlyn’s, getting it all layered and basted this weekend. I also had a chance to quilt three of the large blocks.

I had always planned to do big feather plumes in these blocks, as it just screamed at me to do so. Problem was when I started the quilt, I’d never done them. So I drew and I practised and I did some samples.

Today I actually dug out all the thread and took the plunge. I’m using yellow thread on the back and in some places on the front will be changing thread colors. This not only blends in better (to hide potential goofs 😛 ) it also helps me use up much of my half-empty spools of thread. OF which there are plenty.

I’ll do all the large blocks on this quilt first and yes – I am stopping and starting on each block, snipping the thread entirely and not stitching over to the next one. I also did not draw on most of the quilt top for a template. Some I just drew the spine, some blocks nothing at all. They will be almost entirely freehand.

I’ve also been picking up some tips from Diane Gaudynski and her upcoming free motion quilt along. The topic for February? Feather plumes! 😀 Mine don’t look near as nice as hers, but like she says – just keep on practising!

By the time I get to the last block, I should be pretty good. They are fun to do, if maddening in parts. I definitely like the look of going back and outlining the whole thing until the block fills. It definitely hides my turn backs.

I also chose poly batting because of the loft, and to see how my Bernina handles it. So far, I still don’t like working with it.