on round robin quilts (and, finished: indian summer baby quilt)

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indian summer baby quilt, quilting, round robin quilt

Awhile back I posted about a group project my guild is doing using a donated bundle of Sarah Watson’s lovely fabric line Indian Summer. Sarah Watson herself donated the Indian Summer, and Peg of Sew Fresh donated some perfectly coordinating Konas. We decided as a guild that we will donate our quilts to babies and mommas in need in Moore, OK.

I took some lame iPhone photos of my started project just to post to my guild’s Flickr group, and then quickly passed the project on to Amy‘s mom Judy. Judy added to the front, pieced the back, and Amy quilted, bound, and photographed the quilt. PLEASE NOTE: all photos in this post are borrowed from the talented Amy of During Quiet Time, with her permission.

Judy riffed on the outdoor-summer-camp theme I borrowed from the fabric in the center: she added a border of trees, with animal faces peeking out. 

And she added a bottom border with the blue mosaic print and two solids: a river!

Judy also pieced a back using every last bit of scrap from the bundle we had. I love use-it-all-up backs. This one looks so good it really could be a quilt front.

For the quilting, Amy borrowed from the river motif, quilting the quilt in a soft wavy FMQ pattern. Because Judy and I between us managed to use every bit of fabric we were given, Amy pulled a binding from her stash. It is a DS Quilts print from Joann Fabrics.

How do I feel about my first collaborative quilt project? I am busting with excitement. I was lucky to be able to start the quilt, to set a creative direction for it. It was fun to see what Judy did with the rest of it–I was able to pass it on when I got stuck for ideas, and she took over and added much more creative piecing than I would have been able to come up with. Then Amy gave the quilt the professional quilting and photography treatment.

Now, I’m trying to decide who to con into doing another round-robin style quilt with me. 🙂 Any takers? Have you ever done a collaborative or round-robin quilt? Did you have a good experience?

(PS: If you asked me before what the Kona colors were, and I flakily told you I didn’t know, I do now: that center blue is Glacier, the peach is Ice Peach, and the light grey is Ash.)

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finished: liberty geese quilt

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liberty geese quilt, quilting, quilts

Here’s what I did when I wasn’t here for a week (!):

Waaay too much this.

Not enough this.

I spent four naptimes densely straight-line quilting my Liberty geese quilt, and the fifth tacking down the binding.

Thread tangent: I went to Joann’s three. times. for thread. Coats and Clark, I know, I know, but the Old Linen shade perfectly matched the Moda Dove background fabric. I told my husband that while I don’t like to cheap out on fabric-thread-yarn, I really felt like the poly C&C performed much better than any of the other threads I’ve used for machine quilting so far. Next month I may give Aurifil a shot, though it’d have to be pretty awesome to beat the ease of C&C.

Bear with me through some awful photos. The weather was appalling for the third weekend in a row, and I didn’t want to take my prized Liberty quilt out in winter mix for photographing.

You can see a peek of the backing in the very first photo, where it’s crammed in the throat of my machine. I backed it in a piece of the “Catherine” print that I bought to make myself another Tova. (Ha!) And then I pieced the last scraps of the background, and two colorways of the Charles print, and quilt back. The binding is the “Dorothy” print in navy.

Was I successful in making flying geese my own? Eh. I don’t know. I tried my hand at making something different happen in that one vertical strip, wanting the geese to look like they were rising up as a flock. You know, geese flying = order; geese taking off = chaos. I find myself not particularly caring, having wanted for so long to make a flying geese quilt. I’m also pleased with this use of my precious Liberty fabrics. (Though, shhh, I bought a FQ bundle of the brown colorway and have other plans for it.)

Linking up with the Let’s Get Acquainted Blog Hop, this week over at Better Off Thread! 

wrinkles

Tags

liberty flying geese quilt, liberty geese, quilting, quilts

1) I’m tired of February. Aren’t you? Snow (only 2”, but RIGHT AT THE WRONG TIME) canceled another one of my fun mom-day-out weekend plans.

2) So now I’m extra February-crabby.

3) And basting is SUCH a chore. So many wrinkles to smooth out!

4) And I’m not sure that having added the two blue solids to this quilt top is working for me. It’s sure enough different, but do I like it?

 

I keep squinting at the layout like I’m trying to make it work, or figure it out. The top is together now, and I’m not likely to unpick, and I’m really feeling the need to just SEW SOME LONG STRAIGHT SEAMS. So I’ll pin, put the walking foot on my machine (another hate chore!) and sew sew sew.

Until I’m not crabby anymore, or until it’s not February anymore, whichever comes first!

home, buddies

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liberty flying geese quilt, liberty geese, quilting, rikke hat, snow

I was supposed to be in Phoenix visiting dear friends this weekend. On my first overnight trip away from this one, in her almost two years.

Thanks to the 26” of snow she’s enjoying there, my flight was cancelled and I’m home, buddy.

So there was lots of quilt nest time, and some Rikke hat knitting (Tosh Nassau Blue, on Merino DK, if ONLY the color could get me closer to warmer climes). And yeah, I’ll confess, there was quite a bit of bad attitude on my part.

But I did add to my flock of Liberty geese. I finished cutting and marking the background today (for sure the most tedious part of this project) and hope to make even more this afternoon. As we left the apartment on Friday morning, to go to Joann’s like crazies before the snow, Lucy and I heard honking overhead. Geese! Two dozen or so, flying in three perfect small V’s to beat the storm. We stopped to look up, and were glad.

And I guess I am glad to be home with my buddies in the snow excitement, too.

finished: twister baby quilt

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finished quilts, quilting, twister baby quilt

 

Yeah, so, I’ve been on a roll.

But I’m done now. I promise. (Until I finish my Rikke hat. Heh.)

This little lovely came together so quickly with the help of a Twister ruler, and Aimee of Salt Marsh Designs, who taught the Seacoast Modern Quilt guild how to use a Twister or a Mini Twister at our February 2 meeting.

I spent longer digging in my fabric pile than I did piecing this.

It’s quite a small quilt, 30”x38” or something. (So I didn’t have to piece that Kaffe spot backing, one yard of which was just waiting in my stash for this exact quilt.)

It’s my second FMQ quilt. It went poorly, in general. Some spots were great:

and some totally gnarly.

But I’m still pleased with this little project. I love the colors. This deep into winter, I start craving bright colors that I can almost taste.

It is a baby-less baby quilt. I don’t have any friends who are pregnant right now, which is a little weird. I’ll put it in my pile and wait for someone to need it, or else I’ll donate it after it’s hung around for a few months. This project was so quick and fun, that there may be more Twister quilts in my future!

february challenge: make geese fly.

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february challenge, liberty flying geese quilt, quilting

I didn’t do one of those 2013 quilt goal posts. Because frankly, my 2013 goal for January was “don’t die.”

But when The Girl Who Quilts (whom I recently started following; a good quilty choice to add to your Reader!) posted a link-up about her FEBRUARY quilt goal? Well. Resolutions and goals that start in February are something I can totally get behind, because I am perpetually behind.

Here’s my February goal: make a quilt without a pattern, and without a photo “inspiration” mined from flickr/Pinterest/blogland.

I find originality the hardest part of quiltmaking. I’m not an artistic or creative person. In fact, I’m drawn to quilting because I’m drawn to order. (If you’ve seen my apartment please don’t laugh.) I’ve assumed that an ability to be original would come with quilt experience, but it’s been three years this month, and I’m still struggling not to copy other quilters’ quilts. Lately I’ve been conscience-stricken, and I know I can do better about making designs that are mine.

So, with originality in mind, and making strides in the “cut your good stuff” department, I started my next quilt yesterday. I know! Flying Geese! So original!

BUT I’ve wanted to make a FG quilt since I first started quilting, and since I saw Alison Bechdel’s drawing of a childhood FG quilt in her memoir Fun Home. The same quilt shows up again in Are You My Mother?. Time to make some geese fly.

I have some ideas for making this my own, so I think it qualifies as not just copying Bechdel’s drawing. We’ll see if we all agree that I’ve succeeded at originality!

PS Using this tutorial to make 4 at once. They’re turning out great, just look at those points (gloat) and I don’t want to die just yet.

PPS hit that Girl Who Quilts button up there, stop by her blog, and check out the other February challenge participants!

finished: scrappy TAL quilt

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finished quilts, quilting, scrappy TAL quilt

Surprise! I don’t think I’ve even mentioned this quilt here on the blog.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned it anywhere: quilt guild, to my mom, etc. You see, it’s an unloved. A sick-day quilt–you know, the one your mom lets you cuddle under on the couch when you’re home sick, because she doesn’t mind if you barf on it? The one you use when you have to sleep on the hide-a-bed with Fuller? (My big nerdy family says this re: the displaced person sleeping on the loft floor at Christmas.)

Sick-day quilts are my favorite kind, though. They’re the ones you grow up with. The ones you use and use. The ones your mom lets you build forts with, and put your feet on, and maybe barf on, because she didn’t slave over it and it’s just scraps anyway and let’s face it it’s kinda ugly. Here is Nate, already disrespecting it. Perfect.

I don’t have much to say about making the quilt that others haven’t already said. I’d bet there’ll be 500 more of these in the world after this month than there were in December. It was super-fun. I chose to use fabric uglies, instead of choosing scraps of my very-best. (Have you seen the one someone did in all Denyse? Or the one in all Lizzy House? Bananas. In an awesome way.)

Best part is the backing. I chose to use Sketch Flannel in Yellow. It’s so warm and soft, and because I chose to quilt only simple squares (like, one line every four 2” squares, so it’s just 4” square quilting) it’s heavy and drapey. I cut the backing too short width-wise, so had to resourcefully piece extra strips down the length to cover my ass. It all worked out OK though. I had extra backing too! I just cut it too short. Binding is Sketch in Lipstick, quickly becoming my fabric obsession.

One final note on the flannel: I never pre-wash anything anytime for any reason. And I also did not prewash the flannel. I was scared spitless to wash this quilt but it came out perfect. I bought high-quality flannel, though, and would likely have fared less well if I had bought cheaper.

Here are Lucy’s “friends” enjoying the quilt. Happy trip-a-long, to all of you finishing up your versions!

PS if you don’t know what I’m talking about, here’s the original tutorial, and here’s the flickr pool.

PPS edited to add: linking up over at Plum and June’s Let’s Get Acquainted Monday Blog Hop! My first (of what I hope will be many) Plum and June Monday link up, yay! 🙂

desperately trying to finish Friday?

Tags

bargain basement quilt, quilting

I’m sure I’m not the only one who rushes around like a crazy on Fridays, trying desperately to finish something for Finish it Up Friday.

Failed again! See those little doodads on three of the sides? I gotta date with my seam ripper after Lu goes to bed. It’s all going to work out though, and I am SO RELIEVED to have gotten this thing this far today.

Lucy says it is “so pretty,” “orange,” and “triangles.” Yep, that it is, kid.

More on this one very. soon.

on the road

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madrona road challenge, quilting

Two weeks without a post!? Turns out that last productive day I had two weeks ago was like a foreboding, a sign that things were fixing to get real and ugly and fast. We won’t talk bad news but the good news is I’m finally feeling well enough to take the cover off my sewing machine again.

I did start knitting a super-ugly sock while I was parked on the sofa. Maybe I’m sewing today just so I don’t have to look at the sock?

And I’m working under deadline for my Madrona Road SMQG challenge pillow. Had plenty of ugly-sock-knitting-pillow-scheming time. Here’s the fabric, we have the blues and grays and yellows. Seasonal. I love Madrona Road, it surprises me every time I sit and actually look at the fabric.

Wash your hands, folks, and no flu for you. L&L out.

a tale of two totes

Tags

patchwork totes, quilting, sewing

It’s Christmas!

The season of…multiples.

 

A quick post about these two quilted totes I whipped up using this tutorial by Plum and June for Sew Mama Sew. Okay, number one, they’re TO DIE and I want one for myself, badly. (Does anyone else suspect they’ll spend January frantically making up zippouchesmakeuprollstotebagsquiltstovatops JUST FOR THEMSELVES? Just me?) Number two, this is an excellent tutorial, so you should grab your string scrap bag and get on it, if you find yourself with three or so spare hours over the holiday week.

 

Having never made a bag before my Stamped tote, I was a little spooked about the lining. Lined bags = easy peasy. I used two prints from The Simple Life by Tacha Noel for Riley Blake. I think they are quite appropriate for my grandmothers, both of whom love to sew. (One is a lifelong quilter, one is an experienced garment sewist who MADE MY WEDDING DRESS.)

 

One note if you do grab your scrap bin and go for it: for the first tote bag, I used the suggested strap length of 36”. Maybe I’m short (I am a little) but I found those straps much too long for my comfort. I think for an 18” x 14” tote bag, I’m much happier with 27”-ish straps. I made the second one with 27” straps and it’s exactly perfect for my 5’4” frame. Otherwise! I think this tutorial is perfect, and it’s one I’ll revisit a bunch in the future.

And with that, we’re off to the South! It’ll be quiet here until after the new year, but I can’t wait to write about all the for-me things I’ll be making in January. Happy New Year’s, all!