{Quilts in Progress}

     Quilting! Sewing! I'm so excited that I'm finally going to get the chance to experiment with free-motion quilting today.  I'm going to start super duper basic, using this video here by lcvday for instruction.  She's got a TON of  videos, each progressively harder and they totally make me believe I can do this - so I'm excited!

     I got to go to the local quilt shop called Sew Many Quilts to pick out backing fabric today. Here's what I came up with:

     This is a quilt that will belong to a very special little girl.  This is the first of two for a set of twin girls.  I thought I would make them very different from typical frilly girly and then also very different from each other too.  Avoid all the stereotypes!

        The quilt is made out of a collection of fabrics from ConnectingThreads.com, which is sort of like the Knit Picks of fabrics: very cheap but usable.  I figured out why they're so cheap, though.  The thread count isn't as high as some of the nicer cottons.  In fact, I think you can see the difference in the sheen on the backing fabric versus the top I made there.  Also, when you buy their precuts (which they don't charge extra for!) you don't get a very good mix of fabrics.  You get a lot of solids and a lot of weird prints you that don't necessarily "balance" a quilt, if you know what I mean.  I didn't end up using but half of the fabric I'd say.  So does that still make it cheaper if you have to buy twice as many precut packs?  Yes, but not by as much as you'd think.  

     This is the table runner that I showed you here.  It's been done for a while, but I hadn't decided what to back it with.  Isn't this fabric PERFECT???  Even the theme of the fabric, that swoopy leafy feathery design, is very similar to most of the motifs in the fabrics of the runner.  I'm pretty much in love with this times 100, but it's promised to my mom.  Maybe I'll have to make her another so she'll trade me back. :P

    So I've already spray adhesived the quilt sandwich together and I'm experimenting on a scrap with the free motion stuff.  I'm going to have so much fun!  I'll let you guys know how it goes. :)

    What are you working on this weekend?