Quilting the Rocqua Rhthym quilt top is taking a very long time and a lot of thread. I chose pink thread as it blends really nicely with all the colors. Ethan, my five-year-old, said “Mommy, the pink thread doesn’t look good on the green color fabric.” But I think it looks really nice.
Here’s a half quilted block:
And now for the Rocqua Rhythm sandwich. It’s pin basted and ready to quilt. But there is no time to quilt this weekend since today is my little princess’ 4th birthday, and we have a weekend of birthday festivities.
This quilt is pretty big measuring in at a 65″ square, so I’m guessing it will take me quite some to quilt this one.
One unexpected surprise from our new earlier mornings since Ethan started kindergarten is that Ellie, who was once phasing naps out, definitely needs a midday rest. What does all this mean? I have found that I now have 1 to 2 hours of time during the day all to myself! And guess what I decided to do with that time? Quilt…shocking I know!
On Wednesday I had the creative itch during this new found time, and I sewed up the back for the Rocqua Rhythm quilt. I designed the back, and I just love it! It’s kind of a large modified log cabin. When I originally bought fabric for the back my intention was to just use the turquoise and the white with pink flowers. After I finished the top and laid out the backing fabric, I felt the back needed some more punch and pizazz. So, I played around with the leftover fabrics from the quilt top and the turquoise and white with pink flowers until I found an arrangement I liked. I really do love how it turned out…in fact, I like the back as much as the front!
The binding is going to be the apples from the quilt top.
I finished hand sewing the binding for the Merry & Bright quilt! **yeah!!!**
Now that this quilt is done (except for the label) I can move on to other projects. I have more quilt tops completed than I’m willing to admit (there are more than I have listed to the right under quilts in progress…not sure if that’s a 🙂 or a 🙁 ), so my goal is to get some of those quilt tops quilted and finished. Instead of starting new projects I’m going to finish some of those quilts in progress…that’s the goal anyway.
I really do get the itch to be creative, and since I’ve been doing pieced backs, that will satisfy the creative itch…I hope anyway! 😉
Ethan had his first day of Kindergarten yesterday!!!! Since we have to be out the door 90 minutes earlier than we did for preschool, I’m finding I too need to go to bed earlier. And since most of my quilting happens in the evenings after the kiddos are in bed, my earlier bedtime means less time to quilt. Bummer, but hopefully I’ll adjust and still work in some good quilting.
In the meantime I’ve been hand sewing the binding to the back of the Merry & Bright quilt.
Last night I made the binding for the Merry & Bright quilt. The fabric is from the same line, and I just love the stripes, as they are on the bias, so I get the effect of bias stripes without having to cut on the bias. I don’t mind cutting on the bias, but if I don’t have to all the better!
Today I put the walking foot on my machine and sewed the binding to the front of the quilt. Now on to the time consuming task of hand sewing the binding to the back of the quilt. But I think that will have to be another day, because there is some good tv on tonight (Burn Notice and Royal Pains). I usually watch tv that doesn’t need my full attention while I sew the binding on…so perhaps tomorrow.
I had a good chunk of time yesterday, so I figured I’d start quilting the Merry & Bright quilt top. That is until I actually tried to quilt, and my machine started acting funny. It just got back from being serviced, so I figured I was doing something wrong. I re-threaded the needle probably 20 times, but still no luck. Then 30 minutes later, as I was about to give up, I checked the needle…it wasn’t inserted all the way. Operator Error!!!
Once I figured out the problem I quilted away, but since it was taking so long I had to put it away and come back to it after the kiddos were in bed. It was taking me so much longer than I thought it would. It took me longer to quilt this 57″ square than Ethan’s 67″ x 71″ quilt. I didn’t think that I was quilting any slower either…in fact I feel like I’ve gotten faster as I’ve gotten more comfortable with quilting. But then I compared the quilting of the 2 quilts and discovered that my stippling has gotten tighter and tighter over time, and therefore, there is far more quilting on the Merry & Bright quilt than on Ethan’s quilt.
Ethan’s quilt: which is more of a meander than stipple
Ethan’s quilt
Merry & Bright: definitely stippled
Merry & Bright back
I’ve got my Merry & Bright quilt top and backing sandwiched together and pin basted. I went to my local quilt shop today and got a cool gold toned (but it’s not shiny or anything like that) thread for the quilting.
Here’s a peak:
Front
Pieced back
Now I just need to find the time to quilt this baby.
I haven’t labeled any quilts yet. I know you are supposed to, but honestly it seems like so much work. But then I found these awesome custom labels from Sweet Water, and thought I’d give them a try. I love them!!! So easy to design and use. They are iron-ons, and after you iron them on, you simply stitch around the edges. I chose the label that gave me the space opportunity to write something in, and it turned out great.
I will definitely be using these on ALL of my quilts!
I finished up the binding for the quilt last night, and then I washed and dried it, and I just love it. Â It’s just so playful and fun!
I posted the pattern here.
Pre-wash dimensions were 59 x 67 and post-wash dimensions are 56 1/2 x 63 1/2.
Pieced back