Niece's quilt

My mother-in-law made this for her granddaughter (my niece).  I love the colors of it!

In the square parts I quilted more squares.  However, for the outer two squares I echoed the "underneath" square.  Then I put in a square that echoed the "top" square, and lastly echoed the inside white square.  It was more ruler work than I've ever done, but it went better than I expected.  I still need to work on going at a somewhat even speed so that the stitches are about the same size.

Around the outside of the boxes I did a single echo and then some loops.  I sort of did the loops like flower pedals.  If you use some imagination.

I did loops and double loops on the border.  While double loops aren't hard, they weren't as easy as I expected them to be either.

And a view from the back...the quilting shows up rather nicely.

WIP Wednesday

As {almost} always, progress has been made! Probably not as much as normal since a new computer game also showed up recently, but I'm balancing spending time with both.

1) My niece's quilt, which was made by my mother-in-law.  I was asked if I'd have it done by Christmas, and gave a 75% chance of completion.  I then found out that my niece has been asking for it, so I thought I'd try really hard to get it done.  I counted 36 parts, which meant if I did two per day I'd have it done on the 19th.  I'm currently about a day ahead because the white portions go rather quickly and some are small.  It's probably good that I'm a bit ahead because I didn't take into consideration taking it off the frame and checking for thread ends that still need to be buried.

2) Urban cabin is a finished top.  I only had about five long seams left and was getting tired of stepping over it all the time.

3) Metro lattice and pillow.  This quilt is super close to being finished, but I'm getting some nice tags for Christmas and decided to wait to finish the binding.  I also made a coordinating pillow to go with it using the scraps.  It's my first pillow and it turned out pretty well.  (The back is shown here.) (So is my son, giving it a thumbs up.)

Linking up with WIP Wednesday.

WIP Wednesday

I have two things that are WIPs but reached milestones this week.

I finished the green strip for my scrap quilt.  It is much longer than the yellow strip, so we'll see if I end up making the yellow one longer or just go with it.

I also finished the braid in braid top.  I have a lot of scraps, so will probably be making a pieced backing to go with it.  Maybe it'll be reversible.  I'll also cut it to length later.

Linking up with WIP Wednesday.

Skipped stiches

So I'm quilting along and suddenly notice that I'm having some serious skipped stitch issues.  Oh bother.  I change the needle, check everything, oil parts, change the needle again and nothing seems to be helping.

I finally check the stitching on a test piece of fabric, and it works fine.  I am going through large seams some of the time, but it was skipping other places too.  Anyway, I change the brand of thread (from Aurifil to Gutermann, in case you're interested) and everything cleared up right away.  (And it is way past my bedtime.  But it feels so nice to have the problem worked out.)

What do I do with the Aurifil thread now?  It worked on the random fabric, so it might have just been having issues with this quilt.  Save it for further quilting with a warning note?  Use it for piecing?  Trash it?

WIP Wednesday

I've worked on several things over the last two weeks, but only have two pictures to show.

1) Braid in braid.  I have the first braid done - all 202" of it.  Tonight I trimmed it and just started to rebraid it.  I'm curious to see how it turns out.

2) I've been quilting the metro lattice.  Do you like my "rulers"?  I tried doing a quarter inch echo around the pieces, but was way to wiggly.  The cardboard is far from perfect, but it is about the right height for the foot and at least keeps me from having terrible lines.

Linking up with WIP Wednesday.

Fabric Disagreement

My son and I went to the fabric store today.  I have lots of baby quilts coming up and I wanted some grey and maybe something girly, if I saw something I liked.

We agreed on the grey.  For the other one, I saw this one and loved it.

My almost three year old son said, "No.  No.  No.  How about this one?"

I said, "Maybe not."

We went around the store, not seeing anything else that jumped out.  So I said, "how about this one?"

and got the same response.

But I got it anyway because the quilt isn't for him and he isn't sewing with it.  But I love that he has fabric preferences.

What to work on?

I wasn't sure why I wanted to work on this evening and so I chain pieced three projects.  My scrappy strips, space robots, and the braid in a braid.

I managed to finish the green scrap strip.  Three things in rotation works really well as the braid cannot be chain pieced as an individual project.  I'll probably add in another space robot block.

WIPs

The only small goal I had in October was to finish a few space robot blocks.  Since I technically did that within the first few days, the rest of October was wide open.  I loved having freedom to bounce all over the place!  Usually I really like to have a goal, but there is something exciting to not having a specific goal too.  So here are the things I did, and the things that I didn't do, for October.

Finished:
*Quilt a doll quilt 

*Quilt Baby Boy quilt.

In progress:
1. Aunt's throw. I have quilted the cross part in a wood grain.  (Started April 2013.)

2. Baby quilt - urban cabins I worked on this for two nights and got the sashing on and some of the rows put together. (Started October 2013.)

 

3. scrap quilt. I have started greens.  All the pieces are joined in pairs or quartets.  (Started January 2014.)

4. Space robot quilt.  About a 3/5 of the blocks are finished.  I am just plugging away at them. (Started September 2014.)

5. Metro Lattice I finished the top.  It was just so fun to work on!  I should make more rainbow things.  (Started Sept 2014.)

6. Metro Lattice add-on.  I made something with the left over pieces.  Doll quilt?  Pillow?  TBD.

7. Braid in braid I started the braid.  I have about half of the length made before I can start the second braid. (Started Oct 2014)

No progress:
8.  Pluses quilt.  April 2011.
9. Make the wall hanging for office.  June 2012.
10. Orphan rocket block  July 2013.
11. Pillow for family room.  August 2013.
12. Simply solids bee quilt.  August 2013.
13. Quilt nautical quilt  Nov 2013. 
14. Quilt Christmas quilt  Nov 2013.
15. QST.  Sept 2014
16. Niece's quilt. Oct 2013
17. Orangy quilt.  Oct 2013
18. Jeweled floors.  Not started
19. Lost piece (almost whole cloth quilt).  Not started
20. Winter quilt. Not started
21. Girl quilt.  Not started
22. Boy quilt.  Not started
23. Girl quilt.  Not started
24. Baby quilt.  Not started

Linking up with Fresh Sewing Day.

Baby boy quilt

Last week I finished another quilt for my mother-in-law.  This time it was a cute baby boy quilt.

I quilted meandering stars in the starry background and waves (similar to one of the fabrics) in the columns.

The back shows the quilting nicely too.  I almost did a darker color thread, but decided I didn't want to deal with getting the tension just right so that it didn't show.

Joining up with Link a finish Friday, Whoop-whoop Friday, and Finish it up Friday.

Cross

I finished quilting the cross on my Aunt's quilt.  It went rather quickly and even though this is my first time doing wood grain, I am a huge fan.

There were several times that I thought it looked terrible as I was quilting, but once you take a larger look at it, it looks great!  I did have a wrinkle problem though, and the backing flannel seems to be discolored around the seam.  Of course, I didn't notice that until the cross was all quilted...I think that I'm just going to leave it though.

And a close up...

(I know, terrible pictures.  But the children slept in so I had some time in the pre-dawn to take pictures.  Some pictures are better than no pictures.)

Now onto Metro Lattice...it came together so quickly that I don't have any backing, so today's errand is to go get that!

Joining the party at WIP Wednesday

update:a few people have asked if I'm doing more quilting and the answer is yes!  Next I'm doing some straight lines out from the center, but decided it would be easiest to do with the walking foot, so I took it off the mid-arm frame.

Doll quilt

I finished quilting a doll quilt to go with my niece's quilt.

For reference, here is the large quilt.  The larger octagons have hearts and cupcakes, the squares have rainbows, and the border is feathered.

Here is the doll quilt:

I put hearts in the unicorn squares, stippled the nine patches, and put some feathers in the outer border.  It uses a subset of the same elements as the larger quilt, but in a way that made the doll quilt come together rather quickly.

Partying with Whoop-whoop Friday, Link a finish Friday, and Finish it up Friday

Metro Lattice layout

This past week I worked on my Metro Lattice.  I meant to get back to Space Robots a little sooner, but this one was so cheerful and rainbow-y.  I'm up to the layout.  Do I go with:


#1, which is laid out such that the prints in the ovaly things match the print they're next to (look at the blue with white circles...the little piece is next to the big piece)

or #2, in which I moved all the ovaly parts around so that they're next to a different print? (If you look at the big blue with white circles piece, the is a different print next to it in the small piece.)

 

Linking up with WIP Wednesday.

quilt show

My mother-in-law and I bravely took my two boys and went to the West Michigan quilt show.  It was larger than I expected, and there were lots of wonderful quilts.  Here are some of my favorites...

 Interlocking stars by Susan Hooker

 Light and Shadows by Nancy McCormick

 54-40 or Flight and ShooFly by Susan Hooker  (I just realized I have two in my favorites by her!)

 Modern Art in Quilt Form (partial image) by Sue Cortese

 Modern Art in Quilt Form (close up) by Sue Cortese.  The quilting made this my favorite of them all.  I probably could have looked at it for a while longer, but with two small boys that didn't seem practical.

 Modern Art in Quilt Form (close up) by Sue Cortese

Modern Art in Quilt Form (close up) by Sue Cortese

Goals

I've managed to add all sorts of projects since two months ago!!  However, to switch it up, I decided to put them in order of approximate start date as I was curious as to how long things are staying around.  I'm actually pretty proud of myself - there are only two items that have been around for more than a year and a half.

I know these posts might not be the most interesting to read, but I actually refer back to them quite a bit...it helps me keep track of what I'm doing and what I should be doing.

1.  Pluses quilt.  This one has been hiding in the closet for almost three years.  I'm not sure why I stopped; I like the quilt.  I decided it was time to get it on the list.  Currently all the pieces are cut out and rows are being put together.  It looks neat, but I have a feeling it might be a bit difficult to figure out exactly what goes where.  April 2011.

2. Make the wall hanging for office.  I won this bundle a (long) while ago but since it's for me it doesn't always get priority.  The purple matches the office perfectly though, so I still want to get it done. June 2012.

3. Aunt's throw. The top is finished!  Now I just need to quilt it.  April 2013.

4. Orphan rocket block  This would probably take less than an hour to finish, but I have no real motivation to work on it. July 2013.

5. Pillow for family room.  I ran out of scraps before it was big enough for the pillow.  So now I either need to make scraps which seems ridiculous or wait until I use the fabrics again or something.  It's been a leader-ender project that I periodically plug away at.  August 2013.

6. Simply solids bee quilt.  I still love this layout and want to get it finished, but since I only sort of have an idea of whom to give it to it has stayed on the back burner. August 2013.

7. Baby quilt - urban cabins I was so close to finishing and ran out of blue.  Then I decided it was more of a boy quilt than a girl quilt.  (I had been hoping the navy would act as a neutral but might not be dark enough.)  So I got fabric but now it is just sitting again as there is no person to give it to at this point. October 2013.

8. Quilt a doll quilt   Currently on the quilter and about 2/3 of the way finished.  It's been going pretty quickly when I actually quilt.  Nov 2013.

9. Quilt nautical quilt  All ready just needs to be quilted. Nov 2013.

10. Quilt Christmas quilt  All ready just needs to be quilted. :) Nov 2013.

11. scrap quilt. I have the red, orange, and yellow strips done.  Although I don't have a very big yellow strip so I might need to go back to it.  I also have all the green pieces cut out.  January 2014.

12. Space robot quilt.  About a quarter of the blocks are finished.  They're not too bad, but I've been mixing them up with other projects too so I don't get burned out. September 2014.

13. Baby Boy quilt. Just needs to be quilted. Sept 2014

14. QST.  Just need to quilt. Sept 2014

15. Metro Lattice I made one of the blocks to test it out.  It went together very nicely!  (It's on a white background which is hard to see.  I didn't realize that until well after I had taken the picture.) Sept 2014

16. Jeweled floors.  I have some of the fabric for this, but it's been put on the back burner.  Not started.
17. Lost piece (almost whole cloth quilt).  I've thought about this a lot but haven't done anything. Not started
18. Winter quilt.  I have all the fabric and an idea on the layout. Not started
19. Braid in braid The fabric has been ordered, but officially it hasn't started.