What a night!

I started sewing the binding onto the Baby Blues quilt, and I got to about 10 inches from the end and looked at the back of the quilt and this is what I saw:

I gasped!  That stitching line closest to the edge of the fabric was the stitching line for the binding and at it’s narrowest spot is less than 1/8 of inch…certainly not enough to hold the seam for the binding.  How could I have made such an error?  The backing wasn’t big enough!!!!!  All I can figure was that when I sandwiched it together I forgot that the batting was wider than the backing and I centered the top on the batting instead of the backing.  Luckily it was just this one spot that was the problem.  So I ripped out the binding and was thankful that the quilting was straightline and that I didn’t quilt up to the edge of the quilt top, then I added some extra backing and then reassembled (it took a few tries and I ripped out seams 3 or 4 times).  Had I done my usual meander quilting this error could’ve been disastrous!!!!

The backing is flannel.  It’s the first time I’ve used flannel, and while it feels nice and cozy, it was really difficult to work with.  It’s pretty bulky, and even with a walking foot I had a hard time with it.  I especially had a hard time getting the sandwich underneath the walking foot.  Not sure how much flannel I’m going to be using in the future.  Time will tell.

I put the Black, White, & Red All Over quilt aside (for now), and started on a baby quilt.  My friend is due the beginning of June, and she’ll likely deliver sooner, so I wanted to be sure and get this done quickly.  She requested a blue and brown quilt, and never haven worked with those colors before I was excited….I love that color combination!!!!

I used the boy pattern of the Baby Mine pattern, and I got the whole thing pieced. It took me a few days to figure out how I wanted to quilt it.  Usually quilts “speak” to me and tell me what what I should do, but not this time.  Bah!

I’ve never marked a quilt top for quilting before, but I tried it this time.  I wanted to do some straight line kind of stuff.  I’m still kind of on the fence about marking, and while I really like how some straight line quilting turns out, by and large I’m an all over meander quilting kind of gal.

I’ll show pictures of the quilting soon.

I can’t believe it’s April already!

Over the weekend I put the Black, White & Red All Over sandwich together and pin basted it.

Then last night I got totally stressed out when I realized we are in April and I have to finish this quilt for a summer wedding, I have to start and finish a baby quilt for a friend’s baby due in June, and I have to start and finish another quilt before the end of June.  All this and I’m about to get super busy at work.  Needless to say I was a bit of a stress basket case last night, especially when I looked over at my newly pin basted Black, White & Red All Over quilt in which I used all of my pins to baste it.  So now, I certainly need to quilt that quilt, so that I can have the pins handy to do the other 2 quilts that need to get completed before the Black, White & Red All Over (and I most certainly was not about to take out all those pins!!!!).

Luckily today was a nice day and my daughter was outside playing with her friend, which meant I had some time to just quilt, and quilt I did!  The whole quilt is now quilted, yay!

Now I’m going to put this quilt aside so I can work on the other more pressing quilts.  I generally like to finish a quilt before I start another one, but I’m going to have to make an exception.  The binding and label will have to wait for another day.

I’ve always thought that the black, white, and red colorway was so striking.  But those colors aren’t very me in the sense that I wouldn’t really make a quilt for myself with those colors, but still, I’m always drawn to quilts with those colors.  So I decided to go ahead and make a quilt with these colors.  I’m really loving it, although this quilt isn’t for us; however, I’m certain that the recipients will love it too.

Here’s the layout.  The top is sewn together, but I don’t have a picture of the quilt top.  Hopefully I can get this sandwiched soon, because I’m excited to see the finished project!

This quilt turned out better than I had hoped!

Does anyone get nervous when they put the quilt in washer for the first time?  I always hold my breath when I open the washer and hope and pray that when I open the lid the quilt is still in one piece.  Never before had I hoped and prayed as hard as I did when I washed this quilt, because it was such a labor of love, and from start to finish took well over 40 hours to complete.  It was such a relief when everything was intact!

The prewash measurements were 95 x 95.  The post wash measurement is 88.5 x 88.5.

Here it is in all its glory (it’s a queen size quilt shown on a king size bed).

In this center vertical row there are 3 blocks where I decided not to quilt over the painted flower, because I didn’t want the quilting to take away from the flower.  I thought that darker fabrics with the darker painted flowers needed to stand out and I thought the quilting would obviously compete with the flowers.  So the brown painted flower on brown fabric framed with cream, as well 2 and 3 blocks above this block are the ones I left the flowers unquilted.

I arranged the blocks so that on the diagonal starting from the top left all of the blocks are the same color…can you see that?  It might be more visible in the second picture.

Jen asked me to make her a throw pillow that coordinates with the Urban Nature quilt, and I happily obliged.  I loved having the creative freedom to design something unique.  She asked me to make 1, but I am a lover of throw pillows, so I couldn’t resist, and I made 3.

Pillow 1 – my favorite! Measures 18 x 18 with straight line quilting on the solid cream

Another view of pillow 1

Pillow 2  is sage green- Measures 14 x14 with straight line cross over quilting

Pillow 3 – Measures 12 x 16 pieced with no quilting

All 3 pillows together – love them!

Spring Flowers is done!   And I LOVE it!!!!!!  For starters I used Camille’s Baby Mine pattern.  The pattern is a great deal because you get 2 patterns for the price of 1–a girl quilt and a boy quilt.  I wasn’t 100% sold on the flower applique pieces that go with the girl quilt.  So I hunted through my library of patterns and found one that I love…it’s called French Roses by Heather French.  Some day I’m going to make an entire quilt of French Roses (I even have the fabric for it), but since that’s down the road I figured I give the French Roses a whirl by substituting these flowers for the ones that came with the Baby Mine pattern.

The French Roses pattern  uses the soft edge applique technique, which I thought is perfect for a baby girl’s quilt.  I’m certainly in love with soft edge applique!

I’m so glad I made this modification.  I think the French Roses flowers are softer, more feminine, and just downright adorable.

The quilt measured 40 x 50 prior to washing and measures 37 1/2 x 47 1/2 after washing…perfect size for a baby.

Front

Back

Polka dot binding matches the inner border

Label: I used a piece of muslin, cut the edges with pinking shears, wrote on it, then soft edge appliqued it to the quilt

Fabric: Butterfly Fling by Me & My Sisters Design for Moda, the white is a white on white design with butterflies, the polka dots and some of the fabrics in the flowers are from my stash.

Side note: I started working on an improv project tonight.  I got everything out and set up (machine, ironing board, started cutting fabric etc.), then went to sew, and my sewing machine won’t sew! Grrrrrrr!  So I’m bringing it in tomorrow to get serviced, because one can’t have a non working sewing machine when one NEEDS to sew!

I haven’t posted much about the Spring Flowers quilt, but it’s now pieced, quilted, and bound.  I had a date with the quilt tonight to finish the binding, and I had success!  It’s such a great feeling to finish the binding!  I still have to bury all the threads, then label it, then wash it, and then I can send it to its new home.

The colors in this quilt certainly remind me of spring, and I can’t wait for the new mama to open up this quilt for her baby girl!

When I finish this quilt up I’ll post about the changes I made to the pattern.

My next project is a baby quilt for my cousin’s first baby.  She’s having a girl and is due Feb. 11.  I’m so excited to work on a baby quilt!  I’ve been working on such big quilts lately that it’s going to be nice to work with one that is relatively small…quick to piece, quick to quilt, and quick to finish.  Baby quilts are so satisfying!

One of my favorite fabric lines is Butterfly Fling by Me & My Sisters Design for Moda.  This is the line I made my very first quilt (other than the wall hanging I made in my beginning quilting class).  This fabric is so fun and cute and it’s not babyish.

The pattern is Baby Mine by Camille Roskelley.  This pattern is a great deal because you get 2 patterns…one for a girl quilt and one for a boy quilt.

I finally finished quilting and binding the Bowl o f Cherries quilt.  I really do like the way this quilt came out, and I sure hope my Aunt Ann likes it.

See the cherries

Instead of using a separate label, I decided to simply write on the back of the quilt.  I’m really liking this idea….it’s simple, it’s easy, and it’s permanent.