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Sunday, July 26, 2015

Housekeeping

Last night I took two hours (more or less) to make binding and bind a quilt that has been sitting around, quilted and untrimmed for at least six months. (And I finished it in April of 2014, apparently. eep). Here's a post about the construction on the Pink Castle Fabrics website. It hung in the shop as a sample top for a bit before being sent out to be quilted by Kathy of Thread Bear Quilting. You can't really see the quilting here, but it's really cute, bird and swirls.


Once the line was out of the shop it came home to me, and needed binding. For months. One reason this stalled was that I bought the right navy solid for the binding and lost it. Yesterday, I decided enough is enough, and I had to have something that would be fine. I used Kona Kumquat to bring out the center of the daisies. 

I machine bound it because no one has time to hand stitch binding on quilts that aren't for show.

Because I have spent the last week basting seven quilts for quilting.


Because... the dire truth is that this quilt planning board is wrong:


And while this is closer to the truth:


I suspect a few things may still be outstanding.

The thing is that I have been trying to clear the board before I start new projects, but I had been under reporting to myself the number of projects that are ongoing. So, maybe it's not just a summer project, to finish up the old things. But, I still have to take it one quilt at a time.

Sunday, July 19, 2015

English Paper Piecing Peacock Pillow

Last night, I basted and quilted and assembled this pillowcover:


I actually finished piecing it in the car last weekend, which is nice because it started as a car project. I had stalled on my endless red hexagon quilt project, and Easter was coming, and we were traveling to see relatives. So, I pulled out some half hexagons I'd gotten from PaperPieces.com and some fabric chosen quickly from my stash and went.


Here is an on the road picture of my progress.


By the time I got here, it was not much of a car project anymore. Because of the symmetry, I wasn't comfortable working when it could not be spread out before me.


Then I added some pink because it needed something. I started carrying it around with this square of fabric I'd cut to the ideal size (the size to fit the only unused pillow form in my stash) for the pillow so I'd know how many pieces I'd need to add. And it stayed by my elbow for awhile, until only a few pieces remained to be pieced, then I finished it up on the drive to Chicago last weekend.

I basted it by fusing (so easy!) it to fusible fleece, then did some free motion quilting in the cogs, and echoed that in the background hexagons. I used a warm gold color for the thread.



Then I put it together with a simple envelope closure. I used the mustard yellow print from Glamping as the backing because it's a sweet print in one of my favorite colors. Also, it matches my couch. Which is important for a pillow, right?

I've been working on a third English Paper Piecing project while being a passenger on a road trip (road trips! it's sort of a theme this summer, apparently), which I finished up today, and pulled the pieces out of! Yesterday, I cut its replacement, because if there is going to be time for me to sit around in a car, I want to be ready! I'm very excited for these, and can't wait to share them! And as always, you can see sneaky peeks on Instagram.

So, anyway, with that finish, I have seven projects to baste, and that needs to start happening now. It's not my favorite step, but I can only track six projects, after all!

Sunday, July 12, 2015

And I'm done (for now!)

I'm sending my oldest child off to camp (for a while) so I had to do a lot of hemming and mending and making, and I broke a double needle hemming pants, and that was really exciting, though luckily I had a spare, so it didn't break my stride.

And I've used the serger more this month than anytime previously, I think, making shorts with twills and oxfords, hemming terry cloth pants (or whatever they are? They're seriously sheddy.)

But, anyway, what I made:

1. pair of white jersey pants, not pictured because they are boring. But horrible to make! Because the snowblindness, and having to study it to decide what is the right or wrong side of the material. Though knit pants are super simple to put together at least.

2. pair of shorts, with birds.


Oh, I can't help thinking these would be better if the flowers were at the bottom and not the top. These were a huge mess of fabric placement problems, starting with the fact that the fabric is printed across the grain instead of with it, which meant there wasn't enough fabric for the waistband, and it had to be done in pieces. And I would have preferred birds there, but didn't have the yardage to choose. I really still think the fabric is cute, but I would buy more fabric and think harder about how to cut it, if I was doing this again.

The pockets are from the new Anna Maria Horner woven line, Loominus. That fabric is super soft, though this colorway is a bit eye-stabby on the bolt, it's nice in small doses.

That is an important note, isn't it? Most of the time we can get by with 3/4 of a yard, but sometimes the design of the fabric stands in the way.

3. Cat shorts:


Oh, this fabric is my favorite. No complaints on these shorts! The repeat is nice and big and varied (and runs in the right direction), and nothing went wrong.

The pockets are pandas eating donuts. So fun!

4. Fox shorts:


I also love this fabric. No problems for the same reasons as the cat shorts.

The pockets are left over from a project I made last summer, so unavailable currently. But an old Monoluna print from Raaja, I think?

And now, I can get back to quilting. At last!

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Warped Double Wedding Ring, part 2


I finally got this quilt back (I say finally, but it's totally my fault for forgetting to pick it up!) so I took a picture:


The Ann Arbor Modern Quilt Guild has a Pie Making Day challenge at the end of this month and this is my entry. The fabric was designed by my friend Brenda, and is available for purchase at Pink Castle Fabrics, and I really love the yellows and greens in this line best, and then I didn't use them, because, art is all about leaving things out, isn't it? (Is it? I really don't know...) Actually, this was a four color design, and I wanted to use a different green, and then the yellow didn't work.

For quilting, I made each area different. The orange parts are quilted with orange thread with sort of a flower (not pictured). The green is contrast quilted with a ring. It's based on this Leah Day design, the Daisy Echo, but without the daisies so that it would be suggestive of rings, because rings... Anyway, when you can't think of how to quilt something, just browse Leah Day's amazing Free Motion Quilting Project) and be completely inspired.


The red violet pieces are quilted in semicircles, with orange thread. The blue petals are my favorite, quilted with another of Leah Day's designs, Matrix, in green thread. I love this one so much! It's super easy and looks awesome, and I want to use it on everything.

I tried to just outline the red violet bits in red violet thread, but I need to cram my free motion quilting in, or else it looks not done to me, so, I went back and added.

This was put together quite a while ago, but looking at the pictures today, I'm all inspired, and thinking about how much I love quilting! Which is good, because I certainly have a stack of tops to quilt! (And baste, which, uh, I do not love so well.)