June ALYOF

For June ALYOF (#16), I said that I wanted to finish piecing the sunset wall hanging and get ready for hand quilting.  It didn't take too long, but it still took most of the month.  I didn't like the first version of the wall hanging and the advice I received was to add grey and to add a horizon.  I also added one more orange color to mix up the colors more.  And I really, really like how it is turning out now.

I also have a tentative quilting plan and supplies.  Western Michigan has been having a cool summer so there haven't been many warm nights to sit outside, but assorted vacations are coming up and I might try and start then.

Spools and bobbins

The other day I bought one little spool of thread.  I wasn't sure it would be enough, but I thought that I could get two bobbins out of it and still have enough for the top thread.  So I wound my two bobbins.

So yeah, not even close to enough thread left over for the top.  I feel like I do this all the time, so here is my equation, extrapolated from the above picture.  It will help me know how many bobbins I can wind from a spool and still have enough left for the top.  This is mainly for Gutermann; I don't know how it would translate to other types of thread.

Number of bobbins = meters of thread / 100

So in the example above, I had a 100m spool of thread.  I should have just made one bobbin to have a roughly equal amount on the spool and amount on the bobbin(s).  It's even an easy equation to remember!  But we'll see if I actually remember it in the future or not...

Duplo quilt

My son wanted to play duplos, so I worked on the layout of a quilt.  I don't think the layout will look the same since the palette isn't even close to the fabric colors, but I think I worked out the color placement enough.

Scrap quilt

So a long time ago (in a galaxy far, far away) I started a scrap quilt.  I couldn't decide on a layout, so I decided to just make long strips and mull over what I wanted to do.  I played around with several different layouts in the QDAD facebook group.

Then, suddenly, all the strips were made!

All those pretty colors.  The volume of all of them seemed quite different, so I unrolled them to get a better look.

But, there is one problem.  The strips are way, way bigger than I expected.  Below, the white backdrop is pretty long...probably a bit longer than a queen quilt.  I thought that green was going to be my biggest roll, but it just goes a bit past the far wall.  The blue roll goes to the far wall, back to the start, and then half way up the back drop again.  I was hoping that the longest one would be about the length of the yellow one. 

So now I need to decide...do I still go with one of the designs above and have left overs to make another quilt?  Do I start designing again to use most of the pieces, albeit in shorter strips?

And lastly, what leader-ender project do I work on now?

Questions, questions.

Linking up with Sew Cute Tuesday and Scraptastic Tuesday.

Sunset help

I finished piecing the top of my sunset piece yesterday and I'm not in love with it.  Something seems off...maybe the light colors and the dark colors don't mix well enough??

I could add a few more rows to mix them more.  I'm not completely sure of the best way to do that though.  Any thoughts?

Month rollover

1. Sunset wall hanging.  For my June ALYOF, I would like to get the piecing finished and get ready for hand quilting.  This will be the first time doing any real hand quilting, so I need to read a bit about technique and get the proper needles and thread.  Last summer it was nice to have some handwork to do outside while my son played, so that's what this will be for this summer.  Luckily, I also found my instructions.

Other things I did this past month...
2. scrap quilt. I finished all the strips.  I have way longer strips than anticipated...but that is for another post.

3. Baby quilt, girl.  The top is pieced and quilting has started.

4. Baby blessing quilt.  I cut out some squares for people at a baby shower to write blessings on.  I've thought about layout but haven't made a final choice yet; it will probably depend on how many squares with writing come back.
5. Simply solids bee quilt.  I have the bee blocks put together and the strips for in between the bee blocks attached to one side.  I'm not sure exactly how I want to go from here.  I think I also need more blue fabric.  I know where I bought it and that it is a moda solid, so I'm hoping it is still there.

6. map wall hanging.  I bought the fabric.  I really don't need to do much with this as I don't think I'm going to quilt it. It just needs to be hemmed and hung.
7. Stack and whack.  I bought fabric and a triangle ruler.  Because I obviously needed another project. :)  I expect this won't get worked on for a while. :(

Other items on which I didn't make progress this month...
8. QST.
9. Baby boy quilt - using Urban Cabins.  I'd like to finish by July.
10. Baby quilt, boy.  I'd like to finish by August.
11. Baby quilt, gender TBD.  I'd like to finish by December

12. Space robot quilt.

13.  Pluses quilt. 
14. Orphan rocket block 
15. Pillow for family room. 
16. Quilt nautical quilt   
17. Quilt Christmas quilt 
18. Jeweled floors. 
19. Lost piece (almost whole cloth quilt). 
20. Winter quilt.