Second Finish of 2016

I’m on a roll!

Sort of.

In all fairness, this quilt was like, 70% quilted when I tucked it away, and it’s a small quilt. Still, it’s finished, and I feel better for it!

Neutral Star is a baby quilt, measuring 40.5″ X 40.5″. I started it on a whim in November of 2015, so it’s a very recent start. It’s another riff of the Made in Cherry quilt pattern, which is available for free via the Lecien webpage.

Rather than piece this out of charm squares, I used pre-cut, scrap, 2.5″ squares from my scrap bins. The background and binding fabric is a Cotton & Steel solid called peacock, which I used previously in Spice Garden.

No photos of the backing – I decided to use up two prints that were languishing in my stash. I’m not counting them against my total for the 2016, because I pulled all of the fabrics for this quilt before the new year even started.

It needs a washing – I can’t wait to see it when everything’s all crinkly fresh from the dryer, but I’ll get to see that soon. Laundry day approaches, lol.

See my original list of goals here.

Also linking to Finish It Up Friday and Can I Get a Whoop Whoop.

Finished – High Tea Quilt

Feeling slightly accomplished, though I haven’t done much sewing lately.

Over the course of two sessions at Sandi’s home, I quilted High Tea. I used a loopy meander, feeling like this top needed something to soften its very strong lines.

For the backing, I stuck to using stash, and used up the fabrics you see here. Don’t ask me what they are… I know that the print on the right was a Joann’s print, and that I got the other two fabrics on http://www.fabric.com, but no longer recall any other details. These fabrics were just sitting there, because they’re such large prints. I thought they went very well with the quilt top.

Though you can’t see much of it in the photos, the binding is also a Joann’s print, a black and grey stylized floral. I actually hated this print, quite a bit, until I was digging through my stash and realized that it would be perfect for the binding for this project. Luckily, I had just enough of this print to make the binding.

I have to be honest – the goal was to get it done, and get it on the bed, so I didn’t put a lot of thought into quilting it. It’s large enough for my husband and I to sleep under, though I have the feeling he’s going to wrap himself up like a burrito in it.

I attempted to photograph the quilt yesterday, but it was so bright out that the colors got all washed out. While trying to get a decent photo, my son decided to show how much he enjoys my quilts.

When attaching the binding to this top, I decided to try ladder-stitching it in place on the back, and I’m a convert! It’s so clean looking – I’m never going back to my previous method, which was more of an applique stitch.

Now, I’ve got to decide what I want to work on tomorrow. It’s Stitch ‘N’ Bitch Day at Sandi’s, and I would like to work on some piecing… I really should work on something already in progress, rather than starting a new project.

Linking up to crazy mom quilts for Finish It Up Friday. Also linked to Confessions of a Fabricaholic for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?

Embers – Photographs

I got a chance to take photos of Embers after the end of my shift today.

Details for this quilt:

Measures: 76.5″ X 76.5″ after washing and drying.

Swoon block was re-sized down to 16″, and no yellow, orange or pink fabrics were repeated in the top. Kona Coal was used in the background.

I’d ordered three yards each of the same print in two colors for the backing. However, when I opened the package, I discovered that the red print was in two separate cuts. Rather than mess about with matching the pattern, I opted to insert a yard of the Matilda chevron print in orange.

I attempted to evoke the idea of flames in the quilting. Halfway into the quilting, I realized that it would have worked better if I tried to do a sort of cartoon candle flame – it would have made traveling easier. Regardless, I think the quilting worked out well, and I’m getting more comfortable with machine quilting on the frame. I might be ready to try something more complicated than the all over designs I’ve been working with.

Embers – Finished!

I spent Sunday the 15th quilting up the Embers top at Sandi’s. I’m mostly pleased – the batting proved problematic, and I’m not thrilled, but resolving it would be more work than I want…

I used Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 Black Batting for this top, as I was concerned about bearding through the Kona coal background. One of the first things I noticed about this batting was that it was very clingy. Which wasn’t a problem for the first half of the quilting process…

Then I realized that the batting was pulling more of the backing fabric off the roll than needed. I ended up having to release everything from the bottom rollers and then re-roll the backing fabric to get proper tension again. I thought I managed to avoid any pleats, but I was so, so wrong.

AFTER getting the thing off the frame and back home, I discovered that about two inches of backing fabric had pleated, pretty much in the middle of the quilt.

*sigh*

With the entire thing quilted, I elected to simply call it a learning experience, and attached the binding. I finishing binding the thing three days ago, but finally had a chance to wash it this morning. Very necessary, as the batting is fairly stiff.

It doesn’t seem as if the washer in the building laundry is working properly… The thing came out soaking wet, so I suspect the spin cycle didn’t run for its full time, or didn’t run at all. An hour in the dryer left the quilt still wet, so now it’s hanging over the shower rod in the bathroom until I’m done working today, and can run it through the dryer again.

Proper photos of it tomorrow, I promise!

Linking to a Lovely Year of Finishes, for February!

Also tracking this for the 2015 Finish Along. This makes three of my five goals for the quarter completed!

3xS – Finished!

I’m sort of on a roll!

I finished 3xS (Stars, Squares, and Scraps)!

I’m enjoying the way some of the squares and HSTs disappear into the backing fabric. There’s unexpected depth to the pattern because of that.

I used Sandi’s mid-arm frame again. As I’ve said previously, I’ve given up on the Janome, and after quilting this top, given up on the Little Gracie II frame entirely. It’s just too limited for what I want to do, for what I’m capable of doing.

Anyway, the details! The entire thing was quilted on Saturday, the 24th. I used a pale aqua-ish thread in the top, and the same light grey Bottom Line in the bobbin. Rather than do an all-over meander again, I got brave decided to play a little. This time, I did three leafed clover shapes in varying sizes. Getting braver yet, I set myself a challenge to echo each of the leaves in one of the clovers, and discovered I could do it with a decent amount of accuracy. I then randomly spaced the echoed clovers through the quilting.

I wasn’t sure how the quilting would show up after washing – I experimented and used a wool batting in this quilt. I’d bought the wool batting with the intention of hand-quilting a different project. However, since this was my January goal for finishes, I figured I ought to just use the wool rather than buying more batting. This particular batting required quilting in every four inches – I didn’t see that as a problem, though I expected this top to take me quite a while to finish quilting.

I can’t tell you what any of the prints in the backing are – I didn’t save the selvage for the lovely print on the left. The purple paisley was a scrap cut from Fat Quarter Shop. The purple floral print was something from Joann’s, and the smallest cut of fabric in the backing was something I bought ages ago and cut the selvage off.

To give this a really strong finish, I used up a yard(ish) of a fabric that had been in my stash for ages. I cut 3″ wide strips, and made sure I left half an inch of batting all around the top’s edges when I trimmed down the batting and backing after quilting. As a result, I’ve got a nice wide, and full, binding on this top.

Linking to A Lovely Year of Finishes, for my January finish!

Also marking this for the 2015 Finish Along! My list of goals is here!

Also linking to Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday and Devoted Quilter for Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday.

First Finish of 2015!

I have a completed quilt!

And it feels amazing!

Quilting was done on Sandi’s mid-arm machine – my Janome is being a PITA. I’ve determined I’m just going to sell that beast and invest in an alternate mid-arm machine. The day I was using the frame, Sandi had on hand a medium dark grey for top thread. We dithered a bit on whether or not it would be all right, but I was very much of the mindset that finished was the most important thing.

Once we stepped back and looked at the quilted sandwich (done up in a large, fairly dense meander), we were quite happy. It turned out beautifully!

In keeping with my determination to use up as much stash as possible, this quilt ended up being very scrappy toward the end. For my backing, I used five different prints, three of which were from the same line, Habitat by Jay McCarroll. I had quite a lot of this fabric leftover, due to using it for a swap. I also used two cuts of Urban Garden by Erin McMorris, and a larger cut of a Heather Bailey fabric (Freshcut, I think, but the selvage was long gone).

The binding even proved out to be scrappy. I’d originally been planning on using a strong yellow fabric for the binding. With the backing ending up such a hodgepodge, however, I chose to pull two graphic black and white prints from my stash, and used what was remaining of those two prints to make the binding. It was quite serendipitous, actually. When I’d finished attaching the binding, I only had eight inches left over after. I truly had just enough of those two prints, which was good, because I just eyeballed the yardage I had and said, “Meh, it’ll be enough.”

Our front lawn is chewed up, due to the snow plowing that took place in December, so I couldn’t do my usual overhead shots. I’m sure the neighbors walking their dogs wondered at the crazy lady throwing a quilt over the wood fence.

Marking this for the 2015 Finish Along! My list of goals is here!

Linking to Crazy Mom Quilts, for Finish it Up Friday. Also linking to From Bolt to Beauty, for Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday. Also linking to Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Finally, a Finish

My first completed quilt for this year… I really need to get my tush in gear.

Done almost completely from items in my stash, with the exception of the batting. It was super satisfying to do, though ultimately, I’m not sure this will end up being given as a gift.

All told, I came close to using five yards of yardage between four different fabrics (one background, two in the backing, and one in the binding). This was incredibly satisfying, because it’s so easy to keep adding to the stash, regardless of how much I actually use.

I love that this is a pretty quilt, without being drenched in pastels. It finished up at about 50″ X 50″ inches, almost a lap-sized quilt. This one is so easy to put together – I’d probably make it  again in the future because it came together so quickly.

Linking up with Finish It Up Friday at crazy mom quilts. Also linking to the Whoop Whoop Friday party at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Fun Little Finish

There are days when I just amaze myself with the ways I can find to procrastinate and avoid finishing something – and not for lack of desire for a finish.

My problem is that I suffer from crafty ADD. There’s always a newer, shinier project on the horizon. I can easily abandon something nearly completed to chase the vision of that new project…

I finally went back to one of those older, languishing projects – I first mentioned it here on October 12, 2012. So, yes, it’s been sitting, nearly finished for at least six months. So closed to finished, in fact, that it only took five hours of hand-quilting this week to complete.

I don’t even have a proper title for it – I’m calling it Modern Mini for now:

The quilt measures 27.5″ X 37″, and is made entirely from scraps and stash, with the exception of the Presencia thread purchased for the hand-quilting. I did a combination of machine and hand-quilting on this project. All the machine quilting was in the ditch. Obviously, I went with a scrappy binding – though I only used fabrics that were represented in the scrappy squares in the top. I love the backing fabric – it’s a favorite print from Joann’s. I love those large polka dots!

Hand-quilting was accomplished after the machine quilting was done, and after I’d already affixed the binding. By doing it this way, I was able to hand-quilt in the car to and from work, without wrestling with a hoop. Overall, quite pleased, and this would have been a project that could have been turned around in a couple of weekends, had I stuck with it.

Linking up to crazy mom quilts Finish It Up Friday.

Also linking up to i have to say…’s Show and Tell Tuesday.

Frankenstein – Done Stitching

On Monday evening, I put the last hand-stitches into Frankenstein’s binding! I cannot tell you how psyched I am to finally have a finish in this year. So much of my time has been spent on starts and things in progress – and I know that this is the natural progression of things, in order to get to the finish – but sometimes one just needs to complete something.

Of note – I’m ridiculously pleased with my binding on this baby. It’s nicely full, uses a striped fabric effectively, and in three of the four corners, the mitering is kick-ass. The fourth one just wasn’t happening unless I backtracked and ripped out my stitches and redid about four hours of work. I decided that one slightly less than perfect corner was an acceptable trade-off for retaining that four hours for something else.

Frankenstein

55″ X 55″ – 1.5 yards of solid fabrics, 1 to 1.5 yards of scraps in top

Approximately 2 yards in backing, and 1/4 yard of binding

I went with minimalist quilting on this, choosing to use my walking foot to stitch along the seams. I wanted it to be softer and more snuggly than my usual quilt jobs. As I quilted this one up, I noticed that Bessie isn’t operating optimally with the table – I think I’m moving too fast, and defying the speed at which the walking foot moves. On the other hand, Bessie was NOT happy with trying FMQ – I think I need to reduce drag a bit more yet, and get a Supreme Slider. If Bessie still doesn’t handle FMQ well, I may have to retire her and switch to use my Janome for piecing and quilting.

Now that I’ve had a few years with Bessie, I’m seeing that she was definitely built for garment making, and I wish I’d made a different choice when picking a new machine. However, I don’t have a ton of extra money to drop on a new machine, so I’ll make her work if she can. If she can’t, I at least have an option to try. In the end, honestly, I think that my Janome will be the machine that I use from now on, once I’ve made the adjustment to that machine. I’m reluctant, because I hate the bobbin feed mechanism. It’s side loading, not drop in, and URGH.

But I digress…. My hope is that Frankenstein will be a gift for friends expecting their first little one – if the little one is a boy. If not then, Zebediah is enthralled by it, having already claimed it to sleep under Thursday evening. If the little one proves to be a girl, well then, I’ve an excuse to make another quilt.