WIP Wednesday

I am really enjoying the whole "solids" idea in quilts.  After seeing the Kona cottons lookbook, and then winning a charm pack of their newest colors and seeing how fabulous the colors are in person I have become a HUGE fan.  On top of the purity of color that you get in an all solids quilt, you then have all this open space to show off your free-motion quilting!  Yes, I find that appealing.  I can also see how that could be very intimidating.  I am trying to continue to challenge myself so I know I'm still growing as an artist.  Although, there are some days when I find I need to get back to basics.  And it doesn't get much more basic than solid colors does it?

 

These four colors just happened to fall next to each other, and I find the combination highly attractive.

 

These were next to each other in the charm pack, and I am a big fan of blues and greens together, the purple is OK, I'm not a huge fan of purple, but I realize you need a "pop" color and this makes for a nice cool palette.  And I mean cool as in opposite of warm FYI.  You could throw an orange in there for contrast in place of the purple and that would be interesting too, although I'd probably be more inclined to go the hot pink route.

 

These half-square triangles made for the prettiest scrap piles :)

 

Parade of color!

 

I am making the Moda Love pattern which is available as a pdf file here.  I took my charm pack and cut it in half, then one of the halves in half.  I haven't decided if I will make 4 of these mini quilts or just 2, but in case I am done after two, I have some 2.5"x5" rectangles to do something fun with.  The plan with this particular one is to quilt it with a puzzle quilting motif such as Lori did here and give it to my Great-Grandma for Mother's Day this weekend.  She's been really into puzzles lately, and expressed interest in my quilting so I thought she'd enjoy something like this.  She doesn't need a full size quilt, but I hope she will use this as maybe a placemat or something.  It should finish at 12"x12".  I'll be sure to share a finish photo when it gets to that stage!

 

I also got my Snapshots quilt block finished for April recently, and since we have 2 cats I changed the puppy block to a kitty.

 

When I shared my block on the Facebook page I had a lot of positive response, a few people even asked for directions on how I made the cat!  I was able to give them measurements, but really all I did was not make the puppy ears and barely changed the shape of the head.  Sometimes I don't realize that the concept of figuring the measurements may not be as easy for others as it is for me.  Thus I shared what I knew.  :)

 

 

 

Here are my gratuitous cat photos from this last week, they are so excited about Spring being here that they're acting like total goofballs!

 

 

 

Have a lovely day!

~Brandy

My April Finish

It's official, I need to start using the calendar in my sewing room.  I went thru the piles and discovered I have over 12 UFO projects, and some of them definitely need to be finished.  Like the two that were supposed to be my sister's Christmas present...

 

I do have a finish to share however!  I had hoped to enter it in the 2015 Pantone Quilt Challenge but missed the deadline.  Thus, need to use that calendar!

 

Remember the quilt my grandma asked me to finish for my cousin Kendra?  Well I made it happen, and in two weeks!  Kendra turned 13 at the end of March, and my mom asked me if I might be able to finish by Easter Sunday as my aunt would be able to take it to her.

I wooshed through those 25 patch blocks.

 

 

When I had enough to make the quilt a size I knew I could fit in my machine, there were plenty of leftover 2.5 inch squares so I started using them as leaders and enders and have decided I will assemble a 4-patch for Kendra's sister Haley.  Eventually.  :)

 

I enjoy progress pictures, it's fun to step back and see how much I've done and how good it looks.  I was concerned initially when putting the 2.5 inch squares together that the larger blocks wouldn't be the same size, but it worked out fine.  I had the concern because some of the little squares are actually rectangles...

 

Belle helped by keeping my ironing board in one place for me.

 

Top assembled!

 

I also made a pillowcase to match, which doubles as a protective carrying case.

 

Thomas decided to help with the quilting by holding the quilt still for me (he's about 13 pounds by now, what a fatty!)

 

John was nice enough to let me take over the living room for a week so I could quilt with space.  I would really like to get a table that my machine sets into, that will really help with future quilts.

 

Belle is inspecting my quilting motif.

 

I went with an all over flower and leaf pattern, all free motion quilting, and no set repeat.  I pretty much stayed in the rows but if the pattern overlapped into the next one I went with it, which I feel lent itself to an overall feeling.

 

On the last row I decided I needed to add in an extra something special.

 

This is only half the quilt, I really didn't want to drag it in the dirt. :)

I don't know that I can express how very glad I was to finish this quilt, and I look forward to hearing how Kendra likes it.  I love the texture it gained after I washed it, and with two layers of batting it is very cozy.

 

John got this marvelous photo of me, great job honey!

 

 

Lessons learned:

-Spray basting works best on smaller pieces.  I ended up with a number of places on the back that folded over itself as I was quilting which drives me nuts, but the wrinkles helped a lot in hiding them after I washed it

-Basting would be a lot easier and more successful if I had one huge table and another couple hundred basting pins

 

 

And for future reference, this quilt finished at 70" by 90" and probably had ~80 hours put into it.

 

Have a wonderful day, thank you for stopping by!

~Brandy

Elephant Parade table topper

*UPDATE* I am entering this as my 2nd entry in the Animals on Quilts for the Pets on Quilts Show 2015.  People in India have elephants as pets, right?  LOL

I'm so happy to tell you, I completed my elephant table topper today!
You can find the instructions for the blocks on Lorna's site at
http://sewfreshquilts.blogspot.com/p/elephant-parade.html

 

I had assistance while quilting last night, Thomas made sure to sleep while I stayed awake, so I leeched energy off him.

Trusty Bernina is working like a charm!  I used my Clover Wonder Clips to help keep the fabric rolled up as I quilted, it worked just fine and didn't leave any lasting marks.

You can see the quilting from the front pretty well in this photo.

Here is Belle, helping me sew the binding on by chewing on the clips.  Thanks little one!

 

This is the first time she's experienced hand sewing, and the first time I've tried to do so with a cat on my lap.  I'll get it figured to where it won't feel all twisted like a pretzel.

 

 

Thomas is wondering why I'm outside in my pajamas...

 

 

I quilted around the heart with red thread on top and bottom after I took this photo

 

This little guy finished at 22" x 12.5"

 

Things I learned:

-use 2 layers of batting if you're going to FMQ, it will make it poof out in a nicer way.  I did not do so in this, and I remember saying the same thing when I worked on my dresden flower

-I left the ears with no quilting on them, and I love how they feel when I run my hand over the top, very soft and silky

-I need to not quilt after 8pm, I tend to get into "hurry up" mode and my quilting does not look as nice

-I should probably add a sleeve or hanging corners to ALL my pieces, whether I think they'll hang or not (I'm planning on entering this at our quilt festival later this year, pretty sure I'll need a sleeve)

-this would make a really cute wall hanging for a nursery, I see some more in my future for baby shower gifts

 

Also, from now on, when someone compliments my work, I will say "thank you" and not point out all the flaws I know exist.  And I will work on not running through the flaws in my head either.  I noticed myself doing this on Saturday, and it's a bad habit I do not want around, so I'm taking steps to make it better.  Do any of you find yourself doing this too?  How do you help keep yourself from going down that path?

 

Thank you for visiting, I hope you'll be inspired to make one of your own, and please feel free to leave some comment love!

 

~Brandy