Blogger's Quilt Festival

It's time for the Blogger's Quilt Festival again!  Thanks to Amy at Amy's Creative Side for putting this together.

This time I'm showing my Tetris quilt.

It was the first QAL that I've done (with Happy Quilting) and I had such a fun time making it!  I also met several new friends while along the way.  The border is made of the pieces that I used in the quilt, in order.  Since they're not on the top or bottom I think it gives the quilt a downward feel, like Tetris.

The back is how my Tetris game would have played out if rows were deleted like an actual game of Tetris

I quilted a double echo around all of the Tetris pieces in matching thread, which had the wonderful effect of giving them a slightly 3D look.  The grey border was left unquilted, and the outer boarder was quilted only on the black part with squares and rectangles.

The back shows the quilting a little better, although you might need to enlarge the picture.

And finally, here is the quilt trying to climb a tree.  (Curious about why?  Check out the original story.)

Needless to say, quilts can't climb trees very well.

Blogger’s Quilt Festival Stats
Linky number: 161

Finished quilt measures : 94″x 65″ (long twin)

Quilted by : Amanda Hilldore (myself)

Best Category : Bed Quilt, Group Quilt (if QALs count), Home machine quilted

Finished Tetris!

My quilt played video games all day.

So I kicked it outside to play.  Of course, it brought out a video game book to read.

But the quilt got bored reading it and so begrudinly let me do a photo shoot with it.

Front:

Front close up.  I did a double echo around all the pieces and FMQ squares and rectangles on the black part outside border.  I left the grey box and small border pieces unquilted.

Back.  I really like how the quilting came through.  I was a little worried that it would be a poor match for the back or wouldn't be square.  But it matched well and is square.  I worked really hard to get everything lined up, so I feel pretty proud of myself for that.  (The yellow pieces don't look great because of the wind.  It is an "organic" echo, but looks better than the picture portrays.)

(Here's a closeup of the back.)

Then the quilt wanted to go back inside, but I said it needed to spend a little more time outside.  It tried to climb a tree, but it turns out that quilts aren't very good at climbing.

It wanted to go swimming, but I said no because it didn't have a swimsuit.  It turned its back on me.

I finally relented and let it go back inside, where the first thing it did was go back to the video games.

Thanks to Melissa at Happy Quilting for hosting this QAL!  It was my first one and I loved it.

Linking up with Freemotion By The River, Quilt Story, Whoop-whoop Friday, TGIFF, Sew & Tell, LAFF, Plum and June, and Sew Modern Monday

Problems

Problems.  Ugg.  Today I'm describing two that I've had in the last 24 hours.

1) The heart block.  I'm halfway through making these and still don't have the paper piecing template correct.  Most of them I've just fudged and deemed the corners close enough.  But with my latest change I managed to make the bottom points off by about 3/8"...it's really obvious when looking at it.  (I put it in a red box below.)  I'm ok with trial and error, but I don't know exactly what my problem is and I get so excited for each new revision only to have it let me down. 

2) I didn't cut a long enough piece of batting for my Tetris quilt.  I was looking at it this morning coming off the rollers and realized I was about 5" short.  How in the world did that happen?!?  After contemplating that for a bit I started coming up with ideas on how to fix it...take the whole quilt off (yuck), hand sew batting on (I'm terrible at hand sewing), put my other machine on the back table and work it across (maybe), or just put another piece of batting in and hope for the best (sounds good in theory).  None of these sounded great, so I went with the most feasible...put my other machine on the back and walk it across.

I didn't have enough batting left to roll it over to the table, so I also had to get a box.  In the end, this was a really good option.  The box slid well and I had enough slack in the batting that I could do quite a bit without having the move the machine.  Although I wouldn't recommend cutting your batting too short, I would recommend this method if it does happen to you.  This also had the added bonus of letting me re-pin the top as it was getting wonky on one side.  I'm not sure if it helped yet or not.  The whole process only took a little over an hour, so it was annoying but not really a huge deal.  Hurray?

Tetris, giveaway

First of all, thanks to everyone that entered my giveaway!  The random number generator chose RobbieJoy and Bethstrand.  I'm excited to work on their quilts!  Also, thank you for making my husband feel good.  :)  He really is a great guy, but he also really enjoyed reading all your comments.

Secondly...I'm quilting the Tetris quilt!  I need to get three rows done per day to hopefully finish on time.  I came into today a half row behind, but I'll be ending the day on pace or maybe a little ahead.  We'll see how the rest of the night goes. 

I'm doing a double echo in a coordinating color thread for each piece.  Let's just say I'll be really good at starting thread by the time this is done.  I've been enjoying watching it come over the take-up rail as all you see right now are colorful thread on black fabric.

Tetris

I finished piecing my Tetris quilt today!  I'm trying really hard to get it into the Tetris parade on the 11th, but I'm not sure that I'm that fast at quilting.  Hopefully.

The front (sorry about the weird angle).  The pieces on the border correlate to the order that I put them on the grid (until I didn't need anymore little pieces).  So the one that's folded over (blue square) was first.  The green piece was second, ect.

Here's the back.  I played an actual Tetris game with the pieces.

I guess that, technically, the piecing isn't completed.  I put one of the sides on the back on upside-down.  The good news is that I can just take out that small section and resew.  But it's still annoying.

Check out the other Tetris tops at Happy Quilting!
Also linking up with Whoop whoop Friday.

Tetris, AQS quilt show

Here is my last Tetris block!  I really wanted to get one of the long ones to go sideways, but it just would not work.  Once I removed that block things came together much better.

I went to the AQS show in Grand Rapids yesterday!  Unfortunately, I also read their photography policy which requests that I not post any pictures from the show.  There were lots of beautiful quilts!  We got there at the opening and I'm really glad that we did...by the time we left it was packed.  I didn't buy much...partially because I don't have a project in mind and partially because there were so many cool fabrics that I didn't know where to start.  I did get one panel though that I think I'll turn into a book.

Tetris, Block 5

There's only one week left!  Here is block 5.  It isn't as bright as some of the other blocks, but I still like it.

In case you're wondering, if this had been a real game of Tetris where lines disappeared as you filled them up, this is what my grid would look like.

I'm also linking up with Whoop-whoop Friday.

Tetris: week 4

So here I was at my sewing machine last night, chain sewing my Tetris blocks together.  I get ready to cut them apart only to realize that the bottom bobbin ran out of thread.  And that the middle two rows weren't sewn together.  Nor were the top two rows.  In fact, I had only managed to sew the first block in the bottom two rows together.  :(  There should be a warning beep when the bobbin is gone.

But after rewinding some bobbins, I got the block done!  I think this is my favorite one so far.

I laid everything out.  I'm excited about how it's turning out.

Linking up with WIP Wednesday and Tetris QAL.

July accomplishments, August goals

Happy August!

Here was the list for July:
1. Finish the mending.  Done!  Hurray! 

2. Make leaders for the quilter.  Done!
3. Practice with the quilter.  Done!


And...I finished all of these within the first half of July.  Which meant I had plenty of time to work on some of the other things that I wanted to do.

4. work on the heart quilt. I am currently working on the red hearts, so 7/21 hearts are finished.
5. participate in the Tetris quilt-a-long.  I am staying up-to-date.  This has been a really fun QAL.  Here is my lastest block:

6. finish the coasters I found some batting that is the right size.  Does that count as progress?
7. start an I-spy quilt I started cutting out pieces for this.  I laid them out this morning to see how many more I needed.  (I wasn't looking for actual order, so I don't like the placement of most of them.)  And I already have too many...with lots of fabrics left to cut!  So I need to either 1) have fewer fabrics in the quilt, 2) add a border of novelty fabrics instead of a solid border or 3) make another maze on the back.

8. quilt the baby quilt  Done!  It doubled as quilting practice, so I was able to cross off two things with one item.

9. come up with a design for the fabric I won - still thinking
10. Make a pattern for the heart block - I think the templates are ready, but I want to put together one or two more first. Then add some instructions.

So my top three for next month:
1. Stay up-to-date with the Tetris blocks
2. Finish the coasters
3. Practice with the quilter.

And the other things on my list:
4. work on the heart quilt
5. work on the I-spy quilt
6. Come up with a design for the fabric I won
7. Make a pattern for the heart block
8. Quilt my MILs quilt.
9.  Shower curtian

My list is getting shorter!

Linking up with the Fresh Sewing Day and Small Blog Meet, Just Three with Traceyjay Quilts.

Tetris, I-spy, helping

The next tetris block is together!  I'll admit...I had a hard time with this layout.  Since I'm using the same color for all similar pieces, I don't want them to be touching and becoming a blob of color.  There were so many of the same piece in this set though that I had to become a little creative.  I moved the block location within the quilt, skipped one or two pieces, added the last piece from week 1 that I didn't use last time, and allowed myself empty space.  This last part was probably the hardest since everyone knows that in Tetris, empty squares are bad!

I took a vacation and since I didn't have a sewing machine I started fussy cutting some of the fabrics for the I-spy/matching/maze quilt.  There are two of each, although it is hard to tell from the photo.

Finally, my mother-in-law started making her first quilt!  I'm super excited about it.  We picked out fabric together at her LQS.  (I could seriously spend a fortune in there.  I love pretty much everything that they have!  But I made it out of that trip without buying anything.)  She got some really cute fabrics.  She is cutting and piecing it in a different city, so we've been exchanging a few emails and phone calls.  This is her first block...look at how well the center lines up!

Joining WIP Wednesday.

WIP

Happy Wednesday!

1) I started a Tetris quilt-along at Happy Quilting.  This is my first quilt along and I'm sure excited about it.  It's been so cool to see the other blocks that people have posted so far.  Mine is a little different as I'm using a black background and keeping the various shapes the same color.  (I.e., the squares will always be dark blue.)

2) I started making red hearts for the heart quilt.

3) I am almost done quilting a baby quilt!  It's been super fun and has gone really fast.  I started it on...Saturday I think and have only done a little bit each day.  It is a FMQ with squares and rectangles.  My lines aren't perfectly straight, but overall I'm happy with it.

I'm joining WIP Wednesday.

Tetris

Happy Quilting is hosting a Tetris Quilt-a-long.  I've never done a quilt-a-long before, but this one sounded like a lot of fun.

I got my fabrics.  I'll have some time apart from my sewing machine next week, so I thought it would be a good time to start cutting.  You'll notice that these are very similar to my heart quilt colors.  I'm in a bright solid phase and just going with it.