Big plus, little plus (what begins with plus?)

After about five years, "Big Plus, Little Plus"* is finally finished

 

It'll be for a little boy due any day now...I'm rather excited that I finished before the baby came!

 

This time I took pictures at my parents' cottage.  I took them just as the sun was setting, which was rather bad for coloring but great for background.

The quilt is made of a bunch of strips; it was the easiest way to get all of the little pluses in correctly.  I started the design by putting in the big plus and then added the little pluses until I had them scattered about nicely.  

I then made a crazy spreadsheet with the color/size in of each piece in it's location.  Instead of just working on a strip or two at a time I first pieced the top two pieces of each row, then added the third piece, etc.  It was a rather silly way of doing it and I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what strip I had.  I'm going to chalk up the foolishness to still being a rather new quilter when I started, as it is quilt number 7.  (To put it in perspective, I just started working on quilt 62.  They aren't all done, but I do have more experience now.)

The photo above is my favorite.  The one below is the silliest...I think the quilt looks like it is trying to play hide and seek and hide by the logs.

For quilting I used my plus design and a lightly variegated white/grey thread.  

There are whales in minky on the back; I couldn't believe how well the colors matched!  And it is bound in red sateen as normal.

*It took me until I was editing the photos to realize that this shape is not really a plus.  That's a long time of getting the shape wrong, so I'm going to stick with the name to remind me to actually look at what I'm doing.

Finishing this was my goal for July.  I'm also linking up with Finish It Up Friday and Sew Cute Tuesday.

Binding

I found an additional use for the knee-lifter!  A binding holder.  I wrapped the binding around an Aurifil spool and put it on the lifter.  I did have to use a clip so that the binding didn't all come off at once, but that was easy to deal with.

New ironing board

I finally made a new ironing board!  The old one was small, had a cut in it when I missed the cutting board that I had placed on it, and wobbly because one of the leg stoppers was missing.  Oh, and now that I look at the picture it also had a bunch of stains.

I more or less used this tutorial.  My dad had some extra wood, so I got just the perfect size for the desk I'm using.  Not only is it nice and big, it was a great project to do with my young sons!  They especially loved using a staple gun.

I did make the back differently than the tutorial though, mainly because I wanted to use materials that I had on hand and to use more staples.  (staple gun!)  I ended up using that no-slide stuff that you put in drawers.  It helps the board not slide and when you staple it down the staples they go down far enough that they won't scrap the desk.  (Although if I make it again, I'd probably do the back first and cover it with the front.

Recap of June

1.  Pluses quilt for Baby boy.  Finishing this up is my July goal.  I need to bury some thread ends and bind.  The baby is due late July, so hopefully it'll be all ready by the time he arrives.  (This is my oldest work in progress - started over four years ago.)

2. Wedding quilt.  The middle blocks are almost done, along with some of the outside blocks.  This is my main piecing project at the moment, but once the blocks are done I'm going to move to something else for a bit.

3. bee hive scrap something. Everything is all trimmed up!  I know that my layout needs to be 20x27ish...next step is to figure out a layout.

4. Baby quilt (boy).  I'm going to use the Stash Bee blocks I get from this month to make this.  The baby was just born, but hopefully I can get this out quickly once the blocks are in.

5. QDAD challenge piece.  I have a layout and the fabric.  This is the next main piecing project.

6. The bee hive quilt. I just put this on the quilter.  I am putting loops on it...a nice fast motif, and the loops remind me of wind.  It's appropriate since the block is called spin wheel.

Other items still waiting around.  
7. scrap quilt #2.
8. Aunt's quilt. 
9. Scrap quilt. 
10. Sunset wall hanging.  
11. Simply solids bee quilt.     
12. Rainbow log cabin.  
13. Orphan rocket block.  
14. Quilt nautical quilt.   
15. Jeweled floors.  
16. Lost piece (almost whole cloth quilt).  
17. Winter quilt.  
18. fabric from Christmas.  
19. Kids' quilt.   
20. A pillow with green/purple fabric. 


I'm down one item from last month...but I have hopes of getting at least two things completed this month!  We'll see how it goes.

Finished - Rainbow diamonds

Rainbow diamonds is done!  In time for my June goal and in time to give to the baby the first time we see her.

I made this out of HSTs, although now that I look at it I'm not sure why I didn't do log cabin type blocks.  Probably because I was playing around with HSTs and this is what happened.

My youngest and I went for a walk to get pictures while the oldest was in a class.  I saw a park on the map, so thought I'd check it out.  It turned out to be a rather large cemetery.  We walked around for about ten minutes before we found the unused portion of the cemetery where I could take some pictures.

I really like the colors on this one.  Bright and cheery.  Besides the white and two of the colors, I was able to find the rest of the colors in the fabric I already had.  They include Kona white, Evening, Citrus, Corn, Sour Apple, Pomagranate, Mulberry, Ochre, Lagoon, Water, Grasshopper, Camellia, Primrose, and a few others from before I labeled carefully.

I used a minky on the back and sateen for binding.  I really like this backing...it's soft and cute, with butterflies and Eiffel towers.

For the quilting I used a swirly pantograph.  It's been a while since I've used a pantograph, so I wanted to do it again.  It definitely went better than in the past...I've learned that the flow of the machine is more important than staying right on the line.  It quilted up very quickly, although the edges were a pain; I kept getting them mangled.  I'm sure I'll use pantos again, but still like free-motion better.

On our way back we came across a fountain and I couldn't resist just one more picture.

Also linking up with Finish It Up Friday, TGIFF, Fabric Tuesday and Sew Cute Tuesday.

Scraps

541.

I finished trimming all the extra HSTs from the bee hive quilt.  Now to figure out what to do with them...

edit: I think I want to do a layout of 20x27.  I was trying to remember my elementary math to put the right search term into Google.  Turns out "Factors of 540" is what I needed, but it took a conversation with my husband to get the right term.

progress during May

1. Baby quilt (girl).  I just finished the quilting on this one.  I decided to go with a pantograph for quilting since its been a while since I've done one.  The baby was just born, so I'd like to get this finished!  It's my June goal - I finally choose a reasonable one.

2. scrap quilt #2. This was my May goal.  But then I decided I wanted more quilting in the colored areas and to block it.  Blocking intimidates me so I stopped working on it.  I'm slowly working on burying threads, so there's still progress...but it isn't finished as hoped.

3.  Pluses quilt for Baby boy.  All pieced!  This is my oldest incomplete project.  And all the back and front threads have been tidied up.  I'm not sure why if there were so many thread ends on it because I didn't cut it well four years ago or if it's been moved so much that they frayed.  

4. Wedding quilt.  Two, almost three blocks are done!

5. bee hive scrap something. I trimmed up about 20 more HSTs.  That counts as progress, right?  The ones in the upper right are the ones that still need trimming.

6. Aunt's quilt.  No actual progress, but I think I understand what she's looking for and I'm mulling all sorts of ideas in my head.

Other items still waiting around.  
7. Scrap quilt.
8. The bee hive quilt.   
9. Sunset wall hanging.  
10. Simply solids bee quilt.     
11. Rainbow log cabin.  
12. Orphan rocket block.  
13. Quilt nautical quilt.   
14. Jeweled floors.  
15. Lost piece (almost whole cloth quilt).  
16. Winter quilt.  
17. fabric from Christmas.  
18. Kids' quilt.   
19. A pillow with green/purple fabric. 
20. Baby quilt (unknown)
21. QDAD challenge piece?