Stash Bee 2018

I finished the quilt from Stash Bee this year!

I love how it turned out.  It is bright and colorful and just what I had in mind.  I got the idea from Love Laugh Quilt.  It worked well for a bee quilt because there were barely any points that needed to be lined up.  The blocks I got were all mostly the same size, but it was still super easy to deal with the slight variations in size.  (Also, I love seeing what scraps other quilters send over.)

I thought I was sending the quilt over to the baby with plenty of time to spare.  However, I think the quilt arrived the same day the baby came home from the hospital.  I received a picture; the baby is less than two blocks tall of the quilt...and the quilt isn't that big. :)

I did a scrappy sateen binding.  It seemed like a good fit for a scrappy quilt.

For the quilting, I did Square-Centric (from 180 Doodle Quilting Designs) in the white borders.  It worked out lovely.

 

Hmm, with the white thread you can't see it very well.  You can see it slightly better on the minky.

A few last pictures, because I ended up with a bunch of pictures that I loved this time.  We went to the local college, and the outside spaces were beautiful.

Dealing with a fabric bleed

Yay!!  My quilt was finished!  It was finished before the baby had arrived with a few weeks to spare.  And then...I took it out of the washing machine.

There was a fabric bleed.  This was from a bee block so I don't know where the fabric originated from, but let's be honest...I don't prewash my reds either so such a thing was bound to happen eventually.  I looked on the internet and found these two sources: from SuzyQuilts and Quilts of Love.  They both follow similar methods.

I filled up the tub, added some boiling water, and put a color catcher on the quilt.  I put the quilt in the tub, making sure the whole thing was under the water level, and waited.

When I checked it after...maybe four hours...the bleed was gone!  Yay!  However, there was a new color on the quilt. 

Do you see it by the third safety pin?  I think it was the pin that did it, but I'm not 100% sure.  (I would like to note that having the color catcher on top of the offending fabric was a good idea as it did bleed more.)  Anyway, after beating myself up a little bit for not being able to see the future, I tried putting it back in the washing machine with stain stick.  No luck.  I tried white vinegar + salt + sun.  No luck.  I finally decided to just add another piece of fabric on top of it and call it good, since this isn't a show quilt.

When I took the pin out, there was a small hole in the red part.  The applique blends in very well...I appliqued it on and then copied the quilting to secure the piece and to hide it better.  As for the hole in the red...I'm not going to do anything.  Since it is on the red part it doesn't stand out too much, and I'll take safety pins out of things prior to washing if they aren't needed.  Lesson learned.

Progress from May

May was surprisingly productive!  I'm not sure why: maybe I just worked on more projects than normal so it felt more productive or maybe I was close to milestones for several quilts and that's what made it productive.  In any case, I'll take it!

1. Robot quilt: Finished and in use!  I just need to get some 'official' pictures.

2. Bee blocks 2018 (HDD): I received the last of these yesterday, and quickly got them put together.  I was looking for something to get on the quilter soon, so this will be perfect.

3. Meshing solid HSTs: I've been excited about this one for a while, but other things have taken priority.  I need a bit more grey to finish up the background.

4.  Scrap bee blocks 2017.  I got started on these, but they're probably going to go back on the back-burner next month.  It was nice to make some progress though.

 
5. Baby unknown quilt (CKJ): Done, I just need to get the 'official' pictures of this one too.

6. Wedding quilt (JEM): I have 100/525 HSTs finished.  It's going to be huge and I'm not feeling as confident with the design as I often do. 

Things I haven't worked on recently (or haven't started yet):

7. Temperature quilt. 
8. Rainbow Log Cabin
9. Scrap quilt #2
10. Jeweled floors
11. Lost piece
12. Winter quilt
13. Fabric from Christmas
14. Pillow with green/purple fabric
15. Trying to fit in - left over triangles
16. Black scrap quilt.
17. Quilt Halloween quilt
18. Baby boy quilt (ZJN)
19. Joshua robot pillowcase

May progress

Hey, I got this done in a timely manner!!  I've been having a hard time getting blog posts actually written, but my youngest is supposed to be cleaning his room (and isn't) and so I found a bit of time. :)


Things I've worked on recently:
1. Robot quilt:  Three-quarters of the way quilted.  I'm not super happy with the quilting, but by the time I realized that it was too late.  There are two quilting motifs, mixed together.  The curves of the meandering starts don't mesh well with the angles of circuit board.

2. Bee blocks 2018:  I'm still waiting on several of these, but I know to whom the quilt will go.  This makes it so much more likely that I'll actually finish it in a reasonable amount of time.

3. Baby girl quilt (BHS):  Done - needs a post.  In the meantime, here is an outtake.  It is too shadowy...the photo shoot didn't go nearly as well as I had been hoping.

4. Baby unknown quilt (CKJ):  This is going to be a modified rainbow: orange through blue.  The baby is now here, and is a girl, so I need to get moving on this.

Things I haven't worked on recently (or haven't started yet):
3. Post pictures of Grandma's robot quilt. I should probably take a few more pictures.
2. Temperature quilt. Needs quilting
6. Meshing solid HSTs
7. Rainbow Log Cabin
8. Scrap quilt #2
9. Jeweled floors
10. Lost piece
11. Winter quilt
12. Fabric from Christmas
13. Pillow with green/purple fabric
14. Trying to fit in - left over triangles
15. Black scrap quilt.
16. Quilt Halloween quilt
17.  Scrap bee blocks 2017.
18. Baby boy quilt (HDD)
19. Baby unknown quilt (ZJN)