Krissi is pleased that no new fabric came in this week, but 9 1/2 yards went out as I finished the Yellow and Gray quilt. We’re both spending more time outside, now that the weather is getting better.
This week: +0 yards, -9.5 yards
YTD: +52.75 yards, -78.5 yards
Net stash used 2014: -25.75 yards
I’m linking up to Sunday Stash Report at Patchwork Times.
This week I finished this twin-sized quilt in colors I love. It began with the scraps from one of the Construction Baby Quilts, supplemented with squares from my 3 1/2″ bin. Then I added a bit from yardage to fill it out and have enough for the diagonal effect. I’m very happy with the result.
To my surprise, when I searched for backing fabric, I found a print on gray from the same line as the original fabric (“Under Construction” by Kanvas Color), and on sale!
The quilting is in the ditch between every square, and then some diagonals across the quilt. Yes, there is a bit of Mirror Ball Dot!
Also, I found the perfect fabric for binding in my stash, orange with yellow stripes. This reminds me that I’ve wanted to mention when I solve my quilt design problems: as I go to sleep at night! In this case, I planned to bind the quilt in a solid orange, but it was getting dark in my studio, so I thought I would wait for morning to choose the right fabric. Then, as I was falling asleep, I remembered the perfect fabric for the binding. Extraordinarily bright, I had passed it up many times on other projects. Now, was it in the Orange drawer or the Stripes drawer? The Orange, I thought. And, in the morning, there it was! Often when I find myself at a crossroads on a quilt (or a brick wall), I consciously think about it as I fall asleep. More often than not, answers become clear to me, and they are usually the ones that make it into the quilts. When do you do your best design work?
Here’s my finish from last week. The red, white, and black construction baby quilt caught the attention of a customer on Etsy, who special ordered one in solid navy. It did turn out very nautical, didn’t it? I quilted it all over with navy Bottom Line. That meant that the thin dark thread also went over areas of red, white, and light blue. I thought for a while about the thread color. Other than possibly using smoke Monopoly, I couldn’t come up with anything I liked better. I’m very happy with the way it came out, so I guess navy was fine.
With all that navy, I had to be very diligent with a lint roller and careful to keep it away from everything until I could get it safely packaged to mail. Whew!
See more finishes at Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.
I finished up these four pillow covers Monday (two of each). The tops are made from a great vintage tablecloth. I don’t have any idea of the age, maybe 1960’s? Help me out if you know.
It was in nearly perfect shape, except for a permanent stain near the center. This allowed my to cut four 18″ tops from the four corners, two of each design.
Without any flaws or thin spots, I didn’t stabilize it with anything, I just treated it like new home dec fabric.
I layered the tops with cotton batting and white cotton fabric, and did a little curvy quilting on each with variegated pink Sulky rayon.
The backs are a gray Kona, envelope style with a single dot of Velcro to keep them closed. I machine bound them with Carnation pink Kona. These are listed in my Etsy shop, but if they don’t sell soon, they may end of on my sofa!
Hope you are making progress on your projects.
I’m linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.
The Stash this week: Nothing in and nothing out. I felt like I had a finish when I completed the gray and yellow top (140 3″ squares), but I won’t count it until I quilt it. Good news: I found the perfect backing for it on sale at Fabric Shack. Bad news: It wasn’t the only thing I ordered. This new biweekly fabric ordering needs to stop, but I needed some navy for a commission…Yeah.
This week: +0 yards, -0 yards
YTD: +44.25 yards, -65 yards
Net stash used 2014: -20.75 yards
March Goals
1. Assemble Disappearing Pinwheels top.
2. Quilt DP quilt. Finished, and mailed off for Oso, WA.
3. Make baby quilt for Etsy shop. Hey, I got on a roll and made three! Chevron Strings, and the Construction Quilts.
4. Make floral quilt for Etsy shop. Nope. But I’ll be finished with four pillow covers before the month is over, so that’s something.
April Goals
1. Quilt gray and yellow quilt.
2. Make commissioned baby quilt in navy.
3. Make a floral quilt.
4. Design a block for my Slow Quilt. I’m collecting the fabrics.
Also, I found this book at Half Price Books this week. When I said, “curves”, I was thinking of something simple like Drunkard’s Path (and that’s in here, but fancy). This is very advanced. Right now, I think I’m most interested in the bias curves, but the paper pieced stuff is interesting to consider.
How did you do in March?
I’m linking up to Sunday Stash Report at Patchwork Times.
Late last week I finished up my baby-sized string quilt. Then one day I dashed out between the snow and the sleet to take a few pictures.
The blocks are 9 inches, pieced on paper. The sherbet colors are all strings from my bins, but the cream floral was yardage. It was a good use for an older piece of fabric, and I had just enough.
This was inspired by the batik backing I had left over from Disappearing Pinwheels.
I stitched between all the blocks with the walking foot. Then I flipped it over and quilted all the dragonflies, using white Sulky rayon in the bobbin. (Well, I skipped the side-view dragonflies, because I found they didn’t look like anything identifiable from the front.) The Sulky isn’t very heavy, so the design on the front is subtle, but I like it that way. It’s there if you look for it.
I used a green with a variegated stripe for the binding. No new techniques this time, except for a different layout for the string blocks.
Hope you are enjoying the satisfaction of finishing things this week.
I’m linking up with TGIFF and Whoop Whoop Friday. (Please DO NOT go over to Confessions of a Fabric Addict, because *I* want to win her great giveaway!)
March is winding down, so I wanted to file my report for March-A-Long, #marchalong, hosted by Darla at The Scientific Quilter. I’m pleased to say that I’ve done very well this year at sewing daily. The cold weather may deserve some of the credit. Staying in to sew was most inviting. So far, I’ve only missed sewing one day, and I did put out a quilty blog post that day, so that counts.
These pillow cover tops are cut from a vintage tablecloth. I was waiting for backing fabric, which has arrived, so I should get them made.
While waiting, I cut up my scraps from one of the construction baby quilts into 3 1/2″ squares and pulled many more from my scrap bins. This was my first layout. It felt harsh, and like a checkerboard.
I cut some more squares from Kona Ash and some pale yellow prints to soften it up. The finished quilt will be twin sized, but this gives the idea. I like this much better.
Hope you are doing something quilty every day.
I’m linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced, and March-A-Long at The Scientific Quilter.
Some new fabric was added this week, but can you blame me? I need these luscious solids from Fabric Shack! Actually, I did need a gray for a project, and it’s silly to pay for shipping on two yards of fabric, right? Even though they have really low shipping.
And I finished another baby quilt, all from stash.
This week: +11 yards, -2.5 yards
YTD: +44.25 yards, -65 yards
Net stash used 2014: -20.75 yards
Hope you’re sewing your stash. I’m linking up to Sunday Stash Report at Patchwork Times.
Between Christmas and New Years I found three pieces of great kids’ construction fabric on deep sale at eQuilter, and I couldn’t resist. I kept the patchwork to a minimum so I wouldn’t spoil these wonderful prints.
Here’s one:
The very orange accent quilting was with Superior’s New Brites (30wt.)
And this is the other:
The new thing I learned to do on these was to make a binding with a flange, all one piece, finished by machine. It was easy to do, and I love the effect. It took about twice as long as a regular binding, but was a lot quicker than finishing by hand (as if I do that!). I thought these simple quilts could use the extra detail. I lost the link that was shared on Twitter, but here’s one very similar. Nadine of DreamWeavers Quilts shared a link to a tutorial at Fresh Off the Frame. I cut my accent strip 1 3/4″ wide. I also had better results trimming the seam allowance after I joined the two colors together. It pressed and handled better for me. By the second one I felt like a pro. I’ll definitely use this again.
I had a lot of fun with these two little quilts. They’re for sale in my Etsy shop.
Hope you’re enjoying your finishes! I’m linking up to TGIFF.
This week I finished two construction-themed baby quilts (pictures coming!), and started a project making throw pillow covers from a vintage tablecloth. That stalled because I didn’t have the fabric I wanted for the backs, so I ordered some (sorry, Stash!). While waiting for that, I started some string blocks using the trimmings of dragonfly batik from the back of the Pinwheels. Yes, some of the pansy fabric got in there, too. This will be another baby quilt, with the blocks set to make zig zags. I have enough of the batik left for the backing, too. Yum!
Hope your projects are progressing nicely.
I’m linking up with WIP Wednesday http://www.freshlypieced.com/2014/03/wip-wednesday-stacking-cutting-stitching.html?m=1 at Freshly Pieced.
It was a good week for the Stash numbers. I used 9.5 yards (all from stash!) on the Disappearing Pinwheel quilt, and no fabric was purchased.
This week: +0 yards, -9.5 yards
YTD: +30.25 yards, -62.5 yards
Net stash used 2014: -32.25 yards
Hope you were able to sew yesterday for National Quilting Day, and that your Stash is diminishing nicely.
I’m linking up with Sunday Stash Report at Patchwork Times.
Evening in the Garden Quilts 