Crazy Pinwheels for #2

This is the quilt top I pieced for #2. It's been finished for awhile, but I'm still working out in my head how I want to quilt it -- and figuring out the logistics of the execution given my rather small Necchi.


Just a few comments on the construction. I did not use a pattern, but started with 5" squares that I made into HST (half-square triangles) and then trimmed to 4.5". The final quilt top measures about 50" x 80".
As you can see from this image below, I did get most (but not all) of the points to align.

Bridal Sampler, Blocks 1 & 2

I've collected so many bits and pieces of fabric that I thought it would be fun to use them in a sampler quilt. I first started a "Dear Jane" quilt, but it turned out to be too challenging for my present skill set. I will post the 9 blocks (out of 250+) I was able to complete. If you google "Dear Jane," you'll find a lot of information out there, but basically it is a reproduction quilt using different 4.5-inch blocks and bordered by triangle blocks. The entire collection of blocks is compiled in a book by Brenda Manges Papadakis. While the book contains a full-size diagram of each block, there are no instructions on how to put the blocks together, which again, was too advanced for me. I still hope to try again someday.

Undaunted, however, I picked up two other books, "The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt," by Laurie Aaron Hird, and "Sylvia's Bridal Sampler from Elm Creek Quilts," by Jennifer Chiaverini. The first is composed of 111 6-inch blocks, and the second is a collection of 140 6-inch blocks.
I chose to try the Bridal Sampler first, primarily because the book contained detailed instructions on putting the blocks together. Plus, depending on the block, you can try your hand out both piecing, foundation paper piecing, and applique-ing (my least favorite). The Farmer's Wife is straight piecing and contains a CD with templates to print out on paper.

So, here is my attempt at the first two blocks from the Bridal Sampler. Of course, I have to make it a little more complicated. I figured if I made each block individually, it wouldn't take me too much more time to make two of each, thereby ending up with two sampler quilts. Further, one I am making out of fabrics from my scrap basket, but again I figured that if I was going to spend so much time (in the aggregate) on a project, I wanted one that used coordinating fabrics. So despite myself, I picked up a FQ pack (Breakfast at Tiffany's by Fig Tree for Moda) from Fabric Depot. The top picture is a scrap blocks, and the following is my Fig Tree block:

Catching up

Wow, the summer passed by so quickly--but, now it's time to play some catch-up. I was somewhat productive but was never able to find the time to photograph and upload any pictures or update this blog. I finished the zig-zag baby quilt, as well as two twin sized quilt tops (including the pinwheels for No. 2). I also started a star quilt as well as a sampler quilt.
I'll slowly try to get the updates on all the above soon, but for now, here is the finished zig-zag baby quilt. It's actually a bit bigger than a baby quilt, but still too small to be considered lap-sized.

Quilting it turned out to be much more challenging than I thought. I decided to follow the zigzag pattern with a double row of stitching. First, my machine is just too small to do any substantially sized quilts that you have to roll up and create bulk. Second, stitching in the ditch with a walking foot attachment is actually much more difficult than I thought it would be. Third, my machine had some problems with keeping an even tension on the bottom bobbin and would sometimes tangle the back thread.

All in all, I still love this quilt, the design and color, but the quilting part is still a steep learning curve for me. This is what I meant when I said stitching in the ditch was difficult, just couldn't stay in the lines:


Corner detail:

Quilt for #2

The fabric has been purchased, and I have a design sketched out in my head for #2's quilt. I decided to make a quilt for #2 first, because #1 has received many hand-made things whereas #2 has not. I don't dare make clothes or pajamas for #2 because he has very particular preferences at the moment.

All fabrics are Robert Kaufman (purchased at Fabric Depot). From left to right, the first three are Caleb Gray Studio's "Groove," the fourth is Vera's Garden, and the fifth and final is "New Traditions."

The second windmill baby quilt is done!

The second windmill quilt is finished and has been packed off for its intended recipient (who is due to arrive any day now). I think I already wrote about the details of this quilt in a previous post. The only piece of information to add is that the free-motion quilting was done with yellow, 100% cotton thread.

Here is a close up of the border and quilting.

I bound the quilt with the same Monaluna for Robert Kaufman fabric as I used for the border. The mitered corners turned out very nicely. As with the previous quilt, the border was firts machine-sewed on and then hand-stitched on the back with invisible stitches.

Next up for quilting is the zigzag quilt. This might be my favorite one yet...

Last Month's FOs and WIPs

I had a busy month as you can see.

First, I finished the quilt for Baby Bea. I quilted it using a taupe cotton thread, because I wanted to be able to see the quilting without it overpowering the block design. Anyhow, the quilting was not perfect, but for my first attempt, I was rather pleased with the results. The funny thing was that free-motion quilting was addictive. I found myself thinking about it all the time and just itching to get back to my machine to do more.


The backing and binding is Kona cotton. The binding is machine attached on the front and then hand-stitched using a blind stitch in the back. I have to say I was tickled with how well the mitered corners turned out. Once finished, I washed the quilt and the quilting looked so much better -- everything sort of poofed out.

The second project was my own Birdie Sling. I used about one yard each of fabric from Amy Butler's Lotus line for the main bag and contrast handles. I have a lot of left over fat quarters, though.



Here's my new label, too.


My current project is a zig-zag baby quilt using a charm pack from Moda's Botony line. My first attempt was less than pleasing. I just could not get all the points aligned. So I ripped out everything I had pieced, and started over by first trueing up each square to 4 1/2 inches. It was painstaking, but helped immensely in achieving mostly aligned triangle tips.



The final project is another windmill baby quilt, this time for some friends' as yet unnamed baby boy. I need to pin it (which I will do next time the kitchen floor is sparkly clean), then quilt and bind, hopefully all before June.

You can see this time my corners are much better. The green, yellow, and red polka dots are from Amy Butler's Belle line. The red and white polka dots are by Monaluna for Robert Kaufman, and the solid yellow is again Kona cotton.

So far, so good -- my first foray into free motion quilting

I am so pleased with myself right now! Here is my test piece for free motion quilting:





The first image is of the front side, the second image is of the back side of the piece. Theoretically, there aren't supposed to be any sharp points or crossed lines, but hey, this was my first attempt.

There are quite a few good resources out there about free motion quilting. I actually checked out a book from the public library about machine quilting. I can't for the life of me remember the title or author, but it was pretty good. Elizabeth Hartman's blog, Oh Fransson at ohfransson.com, also has a very good tutorial on quilt-making basics, including making a quilt sandwich (discussed below) and free motion quilting.

I am glad to know that one does not need a fancy sewing machine to do this. I have a basic electric Necchi Royal Series that I bought on e-bay that did the job wonderfully. Without going into too much detail (which you can read at ohfransson.com), the technique requires use of a darning foot and dropping the feed dogs on your sewing machine. This allows the work to be moved from side to side, as well as up and down, because there is no tension or foot on the work itself holding it in place. This means that the work never needs to be turned. The trick, I think, is to keep a steady rhythm so that your stitch length is somewhat even. I know there are fancier sewing machines out there that have functions that will regulate the stitch length for you, but unless you look closely, I don't think my test piece was too bad. Like anything, I'm sure it will require some practice.

Other thoughts, the literature I read indicated that free motion quilting requires a slightly higher tension, but I did not adjust the tension on my machine any, and the back did not come out too loopy. Also, I guess it takes quite a bit of thread, and 100% cotton is recommended, so it's off to the fabric store for me to buy more thread.

Which leads me to this: the quilt for Baby Bea is sandwiched and ready to be quilted.



Making the quilt sandwich was not quite as tedious as I thought it would be. The process requires that the backing be cut about 4 inches bigger than the quilt top, and the batting just slightly smaller than the backing. The backing is then stretched slightly (or pulled taut, I guess) and taped down to the floor. The batting and quilt top are then laid on top and smoothed out.

You then pin the quilt with safety pins at regular intervals (I read that the space between each pin should be no bigger than the width of your closed fist). Anyhow, I used these little bent safety pins, which made the process a lot easier. One last thought, make sure you use a surface that can take a little beating, because the safety pins will scratch softer surfaces as you have to make sure you are pinning all the layers. I had to wait until Tuesday to do my pinning, because that is the day when the kitchen floor is cleanest!