Rush Order! Free as a Bird Baby Quilt

My younger sister asked me if I could make a baby quilt for a friend. I said sure. She said it didn't have to be ready to the end of October. I said great, that's plenty of time!

Last night she told me that it needed to be done by September 20th instead!

Based on accessories already purchased for the baby's room, we decided that the Free as a Bird quilt I shared here previously would be perfect. I drafted a slightly smaller baby-sized version last night, and decided that this bundle of Tanya Whelan fabrics from her Sugar Hill collection would be perfect.

So now the pressure's on! Will I be able to complete this in 22 days? I foresee some late nights hunched over the sewing machine in my future...

Friday Finish: Log Cabin Beads

Log Cabin Beads is finished! I'm very proud of this quilt, mostly just because I love the colors so much. I made it entirely out of scraps and pieces from my fabric stash, and that makes me feel especially good: "No New Fabric Was Purchased For the Making of this Quilt!".

My Doodling Loops turned out OK - the stitch quality of my free motion quilting has steadily improved, but I need to become more creative with my designs. I'm a fan of all-over quilting designs, just for the convenience of it. Time to get out of my rut, and start showcasing the quilting as a design element vs. just something to hold the quilt together.

But enough critical feedback - look at the pretty colors! Look at how nice and big it is! I never dreamed I'd be able to quilt a queen size quilt with such ease, but thanks to my Juki, it's a piece of cake.

I chose a scrappy binding for this, just to fit in with the overall scrappiness of the design and fabric choices.

I'd love to do another version of this quilt sometime - Log Cabin's are so easy and fun to piece together, and wouldn't this be stunning with a gray or navy background and other bead colors?

From the Archives: Free as a Bird

I wanted to share some of my favorite quilts I've made before I started blogging, and first up is one I finished earlier this spring. This was for a well-loved family member who has a thing for birds. After searching google for "Bird Quilts", I discovered this pattern, from Abbey Lane Quilts that seemed just right.

The pattern was easy to follow with clear instructions. It was also fat-quarter friendly, and I was able to pull most of the fabric needed from my stash. The only thing I did differently was to use bias tape instead of the rick-rack for the branches. I tried the rick-rack and just didn't like the way it looked. The bias tape seemed cleaner and more sophisticated.

Selections of fabrics

I quilted it in an all-over spiral, and this was the first time I tried that design. Now I love it and am in danger of using it for everything!

Appliqued birds, branches, and leaves

The Abbey Lane designers asked me to send them a picture of the quilt once it was finished, and it was so fun to be able to do that - I'm sure it's cool for them to see people making their designs, but it was also cool for me to hear words of praise from the designers as well! Even more importantly, the receiver of this quilt seems to love it, which is most gratifying.

Wednesday WIP: Raincheck

I've been working on a Raincheck quilt for awhile now, and thought I'd share my progress. This is a Thimble Blossoms pattern by Camille Roskelley, and I thought it was the cutest thing ever. When I spotted the Rainy Day collection from Connecting Threads, I knew it was the perfect fabric for the pattern, so I bought both of them and dove in.

So far, I have cut out the background blocks, and am about 1/2 way through with appliqueing the umbrella pieces. I'm doing my sew-on-the-lines interfacing applique method, which is working well. BTW, does it seem like everything I'm doing lately is interface applique? It feels like it to me!

I didn't have any template plastic, so I cut up an old plastic accordion file folder and am using that instead. Works great!

My next challenge will be the umbrella handles. The pattern suggests doing raw edge applique, but I have an unfounded and perhaps irrational dislike for raw edge applique, so I have to figure something else out. Interface applique won't work, because the pieces are so small and narrow. Perhaps narrow bias tape will work? I'll try it out and report-back...

Moda Trifle Dish Sew-Along: Layer Three

The third layer in the Trifle Dish Sew-Along is called "Pinwheels", and what are the blocks made entirely from? My nemesis - half-square triangles! There are numerous ways to make these, and this pattern used the method of layering two squares together, sewing all around the outside edges, and then cutting them apart on the diagonal, thus making four units at once.

I've always like this method the best, because it's so speedy, however it's also known to be the method with the most risk for distorting your blocks, because of all the bias edges. I proceeded with caution, handling the fabric as little as possible, pressing without steam (PRESSING, not RUBBING), and all seemed to turn out well. The units were sized pretty large, so I trimmed them all down to size using a ruler I sub-divided with a marker.

The first unit, I pressed all seams to the side, which I typically like to do. It takes less time for one thing, and there is also much discussion/controversy over whether seams pressed open are as durable.

First block turned out OK, but seams were a little bulky...

After completing it, I wasn't pleased with the bulky seam joins though, so I tried pressing all seams open on the next one. Much better! Open it is then. Only 6 more to go, and then I'm done with this layer.

Second block with seams pressed open...much smoother!

Friday Finish: Polka Dot Square

This was a quick bow tie quilt that is earmarked for my friend's soon-to-arrive baby. Baby quilts are fun! Because they're small, they come together quickly, which is satisfying for sewists like myself who have short attention spans.

I got this as a kit  from Craftsy. The fabric and pattern are all from Riley Blake, and I thought the dots were fun and modern looking. It only took me a few hours to cut out and piece together. Craftsy seems very generous in their fabric allowances, and I had enough leftover to make extra blocks to use for a strip of backing, which I think is a fun surprise.

The bow tie quilt is a pretty traditional pattern, and usually the square in the middle (or the knot part of the bow) is made by sewing a triangle on the two corners of the block. This pattern, by a Riley Blake designer, called for raw-edge appliquéing the squares onto the quilt. Since I figured baby quilts might get washed fairly often, I didn't like the idea of raw edge appliqué, so I did my trusty interface appliqué instead, and that seemed to work just fine. I think if I would make this pattern again, I would just do the traditional block construction with the triangles.

I quilted it in an all over free-form spiral, which I call my Triple Goddess spiral, because it looks like the Celtic symbol (sometimes, not always...because I'm not fussy about stuff like that!).

The pattern is called Polka Dot Square, and it's available  as a free download from the Riley Blake website.

I Went Fabric Shopping!

The need to accumulate fabric is a deep and ever-present compulsion for most quilters, and I'm no exception. It seems like there are lots of bloggers out there who lament about crabby husbands, budget-conscious boyfriends, or other things that get in the way of their purchasing habits. I have no such barriers, and am free to buy at will. So I do. I'm also a cheapskate, which helps me not feel bad about it. I use what I buy, which also assuages any guilt I might feel (I usually don't).

SR Harris is a fabric outlet about 20 minutes from my house. It's a very dangerous place for sewers, and especially quilters. There are thousands and thousands of bolts of fabric, most of it designer. Everything is 50% off the marked prices, which means that quilting-shop quality fabric is all $6 a yard or less. 

The downside? It looks like this:

Rows and rows of thousands of bolts, all jumbled together with no organization whatsoever. You have to dig, roam, peruse, crane your neck, and then if you actually want to take a bolt out to look at the fabric? That requires lots of yanking, pulling, rearranging the other 15 bolts on top of the one you want, and then hoping the fabric is actually worth all that effort, because trying to shove it back in the stack is often just as difficult. Customer service is non-existent, you cut all the fabric yourself, and there are always people wandering aimlessly around like zombies, too overwhelmed by the whole thing.

If you are persistent, the treasures are plentiful. Amy Butler, Kaffe Fasset, Anna Maria Horner, Joel Dewberry, Heather Bailey....they're all there waiting!

They always have a big rack of bolts that have been reduced down to $2.99 a yard, and that's where I scored this time. I have a lot of quilts on the verge of being finished, and I needed some snazzy backings. Here's my haul:

Joel Dewberry, from his "Deer Valley" collection

More Joel Dewberry

Wendy Bently, for Timeless Treasures

Martha Negley for Rowan

Wednesday Work-in-Progress: Log Cabin Beads

I started quilting the Log Cabin Beads quilt yesterday. I really love this quilt, and I think I actually might keep this one for myself. The pattern was from the Spring/Summer 2014 issue of Quilt Sampler magazine. I was drawn to it right away, mainly because of the vibrant color scheme.

I'm actually not very good with colors and blending them together. When I looked at the Log Cabin Beads quilt, I knew right away that I could have probably put the green, teal, and purple together without much of a problem. But the the coral? I never would have thrown the coral in there, and that of course is what makes this quilt so divine. So pattern designers? I really like those people. It seems like most successful quilters don't just make quilts, they also design their own patterns and fabric lines. I'm happy to mooch off the talent of those people for now.

I'm quilting this in what I call "Doodling Loops". It's slow going, but I'm about 1/3 of the way done.

Worst Quilt Ever!

Sometimes I have quilting failures. I'm prone to cutting corners, not planning things all the way through, or rushing past some important piece of direction. My edges can be wonky, my free-motion stitches uneven, my points not perfect. However, usually these are smaller errors that seem to disappear in the overall beauty of the quilt once it's finished. But this one? This one I want to throw out and never speak of again. What the hell happened here?

In theory, it all should have worked. It began with a jelly roll. Aren't jelly rolls supposed to coordinate together and take the guess-work out of fabric selection? Aren't you pretty much guaranteed that your quilt will look put-together if you use a jelly roll? No, apparently. Not so much.

Then, the pattern. It seemed like a classic key-hole pattern would be a good fit for the jelly role strips. I just had to cut them in the appropriate lengths, and sew them together. It took all of two hours to put the blocks together, and i was still blissfully unaware of the hideousness developing right under my nose.

Finally, it was time to figure out the layout, and that's when things started to become clear. It didn't matter how I arranged the blocks, my quilt was ugly. There wasn't enough contrast in color tones, the blue strips stuck out like sore thumbs, the design was all muddled.

It seems like with every quilt I make, there's a moment where self-doubt starts rearing it's ugly head and I question all my design and fabric choices. Usually, all turns out well in the end, and I figured it would be the same with the Key Hole Monstrosity. So, I forged on and started sewing it all together. Guess what? Still horrible! So then I figured, maybe a border would help. So I threw a border on there. No change.

So here we are. Yesterday, I had just about decided to baste it, quilt it, call it a charity quilt, and be done with it. But then I thought about the poor unsuspecting soul who might be given such a quilt, and decided that acts of charity should not be used as a way to rid oneself of ugly projects gone wrong.  So I'm still stuck with the damn thing. Do I throw it out? Do I take it apart and re-purpose the material? Do I cut the blocks into something else? Do I baste it, quilt it, and keep it as a dog blanket or picnic quilt?

Right now it's hanging over my banister, reminding me of the folly of trusting blindly in jelly rolls

Moda Trifle Dish Sew-Along: Layer Two

Layer Two in the Moda Bakeshop Trifle Dish Sew-Along is called Orange Peel. I actually wanted to do an entire orange peel quilt previously, so this was a good chance for me to try it out on a smaller scale before I commit to an entire quilt. So far, I'm hooked!

I went a little rogue with the instructions, as I'm notorious for doing. Instead of making 4 separate blocks for each peel section, and then joining them together, I just cut the fabric into one large block and then appliqued the peels directly on it. I'm all about saving steps and time!

I know exactly one applicque technique, and that's what I use for everything. I don't like the idea of raw edge applique fraying, and I'm too impatient to do needle-turn, so I'm sticking with my sew-on-the-line fusible interfacing method for now. I sewed the peels down with a straight stitch (my Juki sewing machine is straight stitch only), and that was that - another layer done!

Moda Trifle Dish Sew-Along: Layer One

The Moda Bakeshop website provides a constant source of inspiration and new projects to add to my to-do list. When the Trifle Dish sew-along appeared there early this summer, it immediately moved to the top of my wish list. I get bored with making the same quilt block over and over again, so I liked the idea of each row (or layer in Trifle Dish speak) being something different.

I decided to use a bundle of Amy Butler fat quarters from her Soul Blossom collection. I love Amy Butler so much, it's hard for me to actually cut into the fabric and use it in a project, which is a common among quilters and their favorite fabrics! I got this bundle on clearance for only $20, so that helps me feel a little more carefree about using it.

The first layer is called Cherry Spools, and it's made mostly out of half-square triangles, which I struggle with. It seems like the bias edges always get distorted, I think mostly because I'm not very careful with my pressing - I tend to pile on the steam, and iron back and forth, which is pretty much the opposite of what you're supposed to do! True to form, my blocks are a little wavy and wonky. Am I deterred? Not in the slightest.