Plus Plus finish

Plus Plus is finished!

I won the pattern last year through ALYoF from Meadow Mist Designs.  It took a while before finding just the right reason to make it up; an old friend was having another baby.  We didn't find out about the baby until just a few months before he was born, so I was looking for something that would go together pretty quickly.  Not only did it go together well, the pattern was also excellently written.

I started with the same fabrics as Matrix and then sort of changed everything.  I added yellow.  The colors got changed to solids.  I decided to use the greys that I already had on hand for the rest of the pluses.  So while the overall color feel is similar, there ended up being many changes too.

I took the pictures in the middle of a snowstorm.  So even though some of the fabrics might looked speckled with white, they're actually all solids.  The snow was coming down quickly.

I used my normal minky with sateen binding.  I love the combo.

For the quilting, I used Plus Quilting.  (There's a tutorial here.)  I love how it turned out and how it echoes the pieced design.  And it is an all-over pattern, so it quilted up pretty quickly too.

This was my February goal for One Monthly Goal.  I'll also be linking up with Sew Cute Tuesday and Finish it Up Friday.

Plus quilting

In advance of the upcoming Plus quilt finish, I thought I'd share with you how I did the quilting.  I like it since it matches the quilt piecing design so well.

1.  I'm showing the steps after doing a few pluses, but it would work at the beginning too.  For the example, we want to go to the left.  I apologize for my paint skills...who would have thought that I'd be better at quilting perpendicular lines than drawing them on the computer?  I left it as is though, because I didn't want to make it too perfect.

 2.  Go a little bit past where you want to turn (the red line).

 3. Travel back on the line you just made and then when you reach the place where you want to make the turn go the opposite way of where you want to go.  (Blue line)

 4.  Travel back on the blue line and continue on in the way you wanted to turn. (Purple line)  Continue as desired to fill the space.

 A. Sometimes you get a little stuck, but you can just add an extra cross. (Green line)

 B. Travel back on your original line and turn off, making one of the legs.  (Red line)

 C.  Travel back on that leg, going beyond the main line.   Then travel back on that little leg to the main line, turn onto it and travel back down it. (Blue line)

 D. Once you reach a place to "escape", turn and go the wrong way, then travel back on that leg and go the correct way.  Continue on as desired. (Brown line.)

Matrix - finished

My new nephew arrived last month and I'll finally get to meet him next week.  So I finally took pictures of his quilt.

The pattern is Matrix by Anne from SpringLeaf Studios.  She has a beautiful rainbow version, so I thought I'd try it with some gender neutral-ish colors.  As a side note, this pattern was excellently written.  I don't use patterns all that often, but this was worth it.  It is more than a pattern - there is also some theory about how the quilt works, a coloring page, and several different color examples.

Earlier I mentioned that I wished I had spent more time with the color layout, but now that it is all quilted and bound I really, really like it.  I'm glad that it all worked out. :D

I backed it, as normal, with minky and bound it in blue sateen.    I did a square stipple / maze.  (Update: it is called circuit board.)  I'm sure it has an official name, but I don't know what it is.  I used a varigated dark grey - white thread.  It worked well with the colors that were already in the quilt.

Oh, the other thing I was going to mention is that I used two layers of batting.  Not for extra heft but for practical reasons - so that the orange from the minky didn't pull through to the front.

Linking up with Sew Cute Tuesday and Finish It Up Friday.

February rollover

It's a new month!  I like these monthly updates because I'm not always very good at updating progress on my projects but this helps keep some record.

1. A baby quilt - plus plus.  This is my goal for February.  I need to finish the quilting and put the binding on...once the baby is born.  The gender is still unknown. 

2. Baby quilt - matrix I just need to take pictures.  This month has been a bit busy.

3. The bee hive quilt. I like my throw quilts to be bigger than 3x4 squares that you receive in a bee, so I've been making a bunch more.  So far I have most of subunits done.  I'm trying to decide if I need to put them on a design floor now or if I can wait until they're in full blocks.

4. scrap quilt #2. I've been enjoying working on this.  I still really like it.  I was defending the top from two children while trying to take a picture, and didn't get a good look.  Now that I see in in the picture, I like it even more!

Other items still waiting around:

My goal for the year is to get down to 15 projects.  But then a baby boom was recently announced.  :)  I'm still hopeful though...especially if I could get a few of the small projects done.
5. Sunset wall hanging.

6. Scrap quilt.

7. Simply solids bee quilt.   

8. A triangle baby quilt.

9. Rainbow log cabin.

10.  Pluses quilt.
11. Orphan rocket block.
12. Quilt nautical quilt. 
13. Jeweled floors.

14. Lost piece (almost whole cloth quilt).  
15. Winter quilt.  
16. fabric from Christmas.  
17. Kids' quilt.  
18. A pillow with green/purple fabric.  
19. Baby quilt (girl)
20. Baby quilt (unknown)
21. Baby quilt (TBD)
22. Space robot pillow