{Alora's Quilt is DONE!}

Oh my gosh I'm so excited to show you guys these pictures.  I love this quilt!  It's so fun and soft and warm and smooshy!

fabric: Sunny Day by Connecting Threads 

 pattern: Strawberry Fields by Moda Bake Shop

I did the binding in the perfect shade of pink satin.  OH my gosh it's so soft!  But let me tell you... cutting that stuff was a such a pain in the butt! My ruler kept sliding around and I could not get a straight bias cut to save my life. lol  I don't think you can tell too much in the end though. hehe

Then, you may notice that the quilting is ... minimal.  I decided to do this because where the blocks come together are the only straight lines in the quilt and I don't have a quilting foot.  I keep putting off buying extra feet for my machine because I'm pretty sure I'm going to want an upgraded model soon, and some of the new machines come with those things, so I don't want to be buying stuff twice, ya know?

(as an aside: if someone is selling a used Brother machine, I'd be thrilled if you put me in contact with them!)

I can't wait to get it in the mail!

{Baby Quilt Top}

Continuing with the theme of baby paraphernalia (hehe) : I started a baby quilt!  I've had these precuts from Connecting Threads kicking around for a while with my baby niece in mind; it's called called "Sunny Day". Then I came across this quilting pattern from Moda Bake Shop called Strawberry Fields Forever !  It was a perfect marriage!

I started cutting right away.  Do you know that feeling where you're so excited about a project that you drop everything and become obsessed? I love that feeling. Today, almost 48 hours later, I have this:

Ta Da! Isn't she pretty? These wonky blocks are right up my alley! No measuring! No matching seams! LOL They came together so incredibly fast.  Now, I need to figure out if I want to use some existing fabric that I have, which while the colours work is a flat cotton instead of the flannel, or if I want to order some yardage from this collection instead so it matches perfect.   Then for binding I think I want that silky/ satiny feeling fabric.  What IS that stuff? lol

It's 40" x 40" . Do you think that makes a good sized baby quilt?  I know this way I wont' have to piece the back. :P   I could add borders, I suppose. But I'm kinda digging it. :)

{It's done! It's done!}

The Crossroads quilt is complete! In fact I'm sitting with it wrapped all around me right. now. EEE!  It's the perfect weight for a summer quilt! Breaths easily, but is just heavy enough to feel like you're all wrapped up.  I LERVE it.

Front:

Back:

AS you can see I came to terms with the quilting. In the end I bought a fabric marker and used the width of my long 2' ruler as a guide to make the squares and they came out pretty much perfect and perpendicular. Also, did you notice that little strange square on the back? Yeah... I ran out of backing fabric. hehe  But it's cute and quirky right? please?

OH... and check out what else happened over the weekend:

That's me! On the FRONT PAGE of our local paper!  My friend Josh was nice enough to do a great story on my knitting experience in order to promote the beginner's knitting class I'm teaching a week from today! (eep!)  I'm kinda nervous, but I know it's gonna be great fun too! :D

I've shared this project on Under the Table and Dreaming

{And the Quilting Continues}

Man oh man I've been obsessed with this quilt yesterday, to the huge detriment of my knitting!  I ran to Joann's on friday and bought all the fabric I needed to finish this marathon!

the light gray is the backing, and the dark gray will be for binding. I'm also going to put some long pieces of the pattern fabric on the backing too.

And then Saturday I finished piecing the front!!

Mr. Pie is the excellent model hiding behind the quilt top. hehe  About 20 minutes after this picture the rain and the thunder rolled through .  It was SO cool!  I love thunder storms. :)

I made the back rather quickly Saturday night during the storm, and lept right in to trying to do the actual quilting part  ie: sewing the layers together with the batting.  With my last quilt I sent this part out to have done by a professional.

I did not take pictures of this part because I ended up picking out ALL the quilting lines that I did.  I learned a few important lessons. After a lot of crying.

Number 1:  after sewing all day and when in need of food, do not rush in to attempting a technique that you have never done before.  I didn't even have a fabric marker on hand and was trying to just wing it.  Yeah... not so smart.

Number 2: pin pin pin with every pin you own then go borrow more pins (exaggeration for effect! hehe)  The layers shifted horribly on me and I was sewing in folds and tucks. Not good. So to avoid this problem further...

Number 3:  Begin quilting in the middle. Not at the corner. umm.. duh? This one never occurred to me and I had to look silly in front of the lady at the quilt shop.

and finally, Number 4: mark your lines with a ruler and a washable fabric pen.  I don't know what I was thinking. lol

Final pictures should be soon - I just have to cut the binding and get that on! YAY!

linked to: www.homestoriesatoz.com , tutorial tuesday

{Quilting Part 3}

My Crossroads blocks have all been assembled and made to be (mostly) square at 13 and 1/2 inches. 

Of course, Popeye had to help press them last night. He's so helpful, you know. hehe

In the end I had more than enough to complete the goal of 25 squares (instead of 20) so that my quilt is square instead of rectangle - better for cuddling under I think.  I did run out of the crisp muslin I was using and had to substitute in some lighter, so let's hope it holds up okay. lol

There are lots of strips left so I think I'd like to put together pieced quilt back. I think I'd like a dark grey solid binding , and a slightly lighter shade gray, for the majority of the backing, as seen here:

So I'm auditioning different backing ideas.

Idea 1 and maybe my favorite,  I found on this website here, but she doesn't give a source. 

And here's a whole flickr group with just backs of quilt ideas.  I never know how people will feel about me using their photos, so go there and see if there's any you super like. Or if you have other ideas of how I could use up all these fabrics for a back, I'd be more than grateful! :)

It's coming along!

{Quilting Continued}

I've continued to be gripped by this quilt, and I'm enjoying it very much!  It's quite a mess in our office when there's an in progress quilt so I feel like I need to hurry up and at least get the top put together so there aren't all these pieces laying around. hehe

Would you like to see my quilting space all set up??

 I finally have it all figured out!  Now when I sit at my stool everything important is right in arm's reach! Huzzah!

And here were my finished blocks part of the way through the morning.  I started the day with 8 squares, there are 10 in this photo, and now I have 16! Only 4 more to go before the amount the pattern calls for, but I'm thinking I'll have enough fabrics for another row of 5 to make a big square quilt, so that's my goal.

Oh! And today is Mr. Pie's Birthday! Happy Birthday, Baby!  I've got steaks marinating and waiting for the grill and Chocolate cup cakes baking in the oven, soon to be receiving some cream cheese icing.  Off to the kitchen I go!

How is your memorial day going?

{The Quilting Problem Solved!!}

Oh my gosh! Okay... I'll start at the beginning.

So you guys remember my recent quilting disaster, right? (It was outlined here, but I don't suggest you read it. It's kinda depressing. lol)  I was talkin' it over with my new knitty, quilty, overseas friend named Laura Jane, and SHE suggested that I go check out The Moda Bakeshop.  I had NEVER heard of this before and O.M.G. It's the best thing ever! I have been searching for inspiration for my Christmas tree quilt that uses both my triangles and my squares and WHAM! Here it is!  It's perfect!

 from ModaBakeShop.com

YAY!! Now I'm SUPER excited!  I'm going to go and buy some white fabric (or off white at least) at the quilt shop soon and then I'm going to get started! YAY!  My more contemporary turnovers will be in the center for the tree and I'll use the squares for borders so no clashing or cutting!  Plus, the green fabrics that I already bought will be able to be used for other borders and such.  It's SO. PERFECT I want to SCREAM.

Thanks Laura Jane!!

{Quilt Progress Continued}

I've got the long strips of my quilt sewn together now, just no borders yet.  I decided to go without sashing because I don't have any solid colour fabric on hand and I was getting antsy to work on it. lol Plus, it's long enough already, so the sashing would have just made it longer.

What do you think? :)

{Fat Quarter bundle Pack?}

Hey my sewing friends out there (do I have many of those yet? hehe)  I found this cool blog called FatQuarterBonanza.com.  They happen to be having a sale on Mystery Bundles of fat quarters.  12 of them for $15 to be precise.  Is that a good price? Shipping is about $5 more.  What if I get all ugly fabrics that I don't like?  I'll feel stupid for having wasted $20. 

I'm on the fence about this one.  What do you guys think?

{Taking the Plunge}

Yesterday on our big trip in to the City of Roanoke we make a stop at Michaels and a stop at Joann's.  I had two 50% off coupons for Michaels and bought a 24"x18" cutting mat as well as a 6" by 24" acrylic ruler for measuring and cutting fabric.  Then the next stop was Joann's to pick out the patterns for my VERY FIRST QUILT!

This is what I came home with:

This is 1/2 yard of each of 6 fabrics.  I was pretty pleased with the over all look of the fabrics together.  When I got home I immediately started searching for a pattern to use.  I know I probably should have done that first.  I've learned my lesson. lol

I wanted a pattern that would be pretty quick and easy just so I could get a feeling for the very very basics of quilting - sewing that 1/4" seam, the rhythm of pressing, measuring, matching, sewing, and pressing again, not to mention the actual cuts.  Also, I didn't buy a rotary cutter this time because I only had two coupons and they weren't on sale or anything, so I didn't want a pattern that would require the utmost precision.

This is the pattern I found here:  August Fields Duvet by Amy Butler.  It's a super duper simple, BIG, pattern but looks smart.  A few alterations were necessary, firstly because she calls for **19** different patterns (!!) and because  like I didn't want a duvet, just a blanket.  Also, I didn't want it to be that big so I made the blocks 6 inches wide instead of 8 inches, then took 2 inches off all the other lengths she specifies.

Okay, ya still with me?  I've been sewing all day and now I'm at a crossroads.  Do I want the quilt to have a big wide strip of solid colour between the blocks? Maybe one that's less wide? Or none at all?  Here are a few photos to help you see what I'm seeing.

 The colour is really bad on these photos because I didn't drag all the fabric outside to photograph again.  The strips across the width are sewn but they aren't sewn together so they would have blown around a lot. lol

Okay so this is what I'm envisioning if there are no solid colour strips in between each patten strip.  I will definitely do a couple different borders if this is how I go.

Or maybe I'll use a skinny strip of solid between each patterned strip? Or maybe I'll do an equal width like the pattern uses?

White muslin is the only solid colour cotton I have on hand (only solid colour anything, actually) and I happen to have enough of it to do strips and the backing if I'd like. (Can you even USE muslin in quilting? Is it too thin?)  Anyway... I wasn't sure I even liked the white.  Maybe a moss green to help achieve a more earthy feel and a better balance of colours and patterns?

Alrighty, what do you guys think?  I also have about 1/3 of the fabric I bought left over so I think I might put some fun squares together for the back so it's kinda two sided.  Or I could use it for the edging/binding.  I'm having fun playing, even if I have no idea what I'm doing. :)