The Big Reveal!

The post title makes me smile! It was suggested by Kelsey of Everyday Fray, and sounds like pom poms and a marching band to me. Cake and balloons. Stop! I'm just getting carried away.

I'm very happy to announce the finish of my gi-normous Swoon quilt.

Here's another view from a different angle:

It was quite a challenge, but now it's finished, I love it!

It measures 100" x 105". The FMQ was a bit of a struggle, even though the quilt was in thirds at that point. It's still not my biggest quilt. That honour goes to my DD#1's king size. That quilt is being longarmed, believe me!

The back was fun because I backed some of my QAYG blocks with the Gypsy Bandanna fabric I had left.

Then they got moved around as I changed the layout, so I had no real idea of how it would look.

I also backed some of the sashing strips that way too.

The binding is narrow, machine stitched both sides, it's a diagonal rainbow stripe that might have been waiting for this quilt. I love how it stands out from all the white.

The blocks were all straight line quilted, and then I tried out my new feathers skills on everything white more than an inch wide. There were some learning problems, but I don't think I'll be afraid to quilt this densely again. Try Angela Walters' class on Craftsy, I'm impressed!

Now, on to a few new projects!

Till next time,

Sue

Linking to: 

WIP, UFO, OMG!

Add a few more groups of 3 letters to that blog title!  I'm inspired by the Swoon 2013 group to pull out my quilt and make a huge effort to get it finished.

Here it is at present, still in thirds while being quilted.

There are three 24" blocks, twelve 16" blocks, and six 12" blocks.

So what was my plan 18 months ago when I started this monster? I wanted an alternative to the pattern layout of 3 x 3, (or 4 x 4 to make my size). I thought different size blocks would be interesting to look at. I also thought that QAYG would suit these blocks. Though you can't see it in this picture, each block is quilted in matching thread. I planned to have one of the large blocks in the centre, one top left, and one bottom right.

I got held up trying to put the sections together. Let's face it, I was scared of the process! So many strips of white, all different sizes. A big jig saw puzzle, really. So I procrastinated.

Finally I got it all out, and started measuring and sewing pieces together. Here's what I learned:

When trying to fit together different size blocks, it helps if the numbers divide into each other evenly. 12 and 24 was good, 16 was a headache.

When working with white, make careful note which one it is. They are not the same! All my dividing strips are Kona White, and in some of the blocks. Others are in either Bella White or Bella Snow, I'm not even sure. Big difference!

Also, you can see any coloured thread that strayed onto the batting through the white.

I don't need to be afraid of QAYG, it's working out fine. I'm using the method that Mari of The Quilting Edge shows on her blog.

And importantly, I still love the fabrics and the blocks!

Now I have some larger sections of white between the blocks to quilt. The widest of these is 8 inches. I signed up for the Craftsy class taught by Angela Walters for Quilting Feathers. I only have a domestic machine, it's a Brother with a wider throat. Each of my quilt sections is now 35" x 98", so it is possible to wrestle it all through. I'm nervous, I admit. All that work, not to mention expense. There have been some problems, to be honest. One section was taken out twice, and that's not easy. I had to change the needle and the thread. I hope I'm on top of it now. Here's some of my progress so far:

I'm pretty happy with how this looks. Hope the rest goes smoothly!

Till next time

Sue 

Linking to: 

Truckin'

I've been working on a special quilt for a young friend who is just moving into his "big boy" bed.
He loves trucks and construction vehicles, so that is the theme of his redecorated room.

I wanted to be able to showcase some of the fabric with fussy cutting, so we chose a Disappearing Nine Patch to make the quilt.

It measures 66" X 89", so it will fit a twin bed.

There are 7 different truck fabrics in the quilt, 5 of them were fussy cut.

The backing is flannel, soft and warm. I think I found the perfect print.

  

Till next time,

Sue

Linking to:

The Unusual Bee Blocks

No, our quilting bee is not called The Unusual Bee, though that would be a good name for it! It's called Stars in their Eyes, another good name. We met while making star blocks in another online bee and decided to stick together.

The first month was Lisa's. She chose the Japanese x and + block with a scrappy look, but with the colours more organized. I already loved this block and had been in two block swaps using it.
Here are my blocks:

This is the quilt Lisa made. Cute!!!



June was Sam's month. She chose the Union Jack Block. She asked for a Laura Ashley look to the block.
I was a bit worried, since my stash is mainly novelty prints or bold, or both together! I dug deep.

I love this! Now I was really getting into it. Here is my second block:

Here is a pic of Sam's blocks. Won't it make a fantastic quilt?

This month is Linda's turn. She chose Anna Maria Horner's feather block.
This pattern uses templates which I find challenging, but Linda has posted some useful suggestions on her blog.
My first attempt came out beautifully and I was happy until I discovered that the measurements were not right, too small. Further inquiry showed a tiny box on the "Print" page that says "fit to page".  In my excitement to start, I hadn't noticed it defaults to checked. Curses. I still love it though, so it will probably go on the back of another quilt.
Now I was wary about the printing, so I set it all up again, and here is my first successful feather:

Success! On to the next block:

And here they are together with their reject cousin:

August is my month in the bee, more about that in another post.

Till next time,

Sue

Linking to:

Reversible Car Seat Cosy - Tutorial

I had a request from my DD for a car seat cover that would double as a blanket, and as a screen for keeping the sun from baby R's sensitive eyes.

I took inspiration from the  Sophie Car Seat Quilt,

You need :

1 Charm pack   - I used Bungle Jungle by Tim and Beck for Moda

10 additional 5 inch squares in coordinating colours, I used assorted Kona solids

1 yd fabric for sashing and binding  - I used Kona Aqua

batting, approx 30 inches square

Lay out charm squares into rows, 5 squares wide and 5 squares long.

Cut strip of sashing, 1.25 inches wide  x WOF. You need 3 of these.

Subcut into 5 inch lengths x 20

Sew sashing between squares and then sew the squares together into rows.

Now cut sashing 1.25 inches wide x 26 inches. Cut 6 strips like this. Join a sashing strip to the bottom edge of rows 1 - 4, and then sew all the rows together.

Take the last two strips of sashing and sew them to the top of Row 1, and the bottom of Row 5.

The quilt top is finished!

 Next you will make the back exactly the same way as the front. I wanted the quilt to be reversible, so that the fold over at the top has my cute charm squares showing. If you don't want to do this, use a piece of fabric 28 inches x 30 inches for the back.

Sandwich quilt top, batting and quilt back, matching edges as closely as possible so that the squares on the front and back match up. Since some of my squares are directional I sewed the back on upside down, so that when folded to the front the squares are the right way up. See the elephants in the last picture?  Pin in place.

Quilt through all 3 layers. I used a wavy free motion design.

Trim edges and put on the binding. I used 2.25 inch wide folded in half. You need WOF x 3.

Next are ties to hold the quilt on the car seat. You could use Velcro or elastic. I like the look of the ties. I used scraps of my 1.25 inch cuts, and I made 2 ties, 34 inches long each.  Iron the strip in half, open it out, and fold the outside edges in to the middle. Then iron it all closed with the two long folded edges together.

Sew it closed.

I placed the ties 8 inches from the top of the quilt and 5.25 inches in from the edge. I sewed the tie in place in the middle of the tie. 

Here is the finished quilt with both ties in place.

Now tie it in place in the car seat.

Flip the top of the quilt up and onto the car seat hood to keep out bright sun. 

Lastly slide the ties up the handle and flip the bottom edge onto the hood to get the baby in and out.

Here is the car seat cosy in use!

Till next time,

Sue

Linking to:

T-shirt quilt - finished!

At last, another finish in 2013. We are half way through the year, and although there haven't been as many finishes as I had hoped, I'm still happy with my progress.

These T shirts are very precious to my DS, and I was nervous cutting them up for my first ever T shirt quilt.
I asked for advice, watched Youtube, and finally took the plunge and cut. Have I mentioned that my usual mistakes are related to cutting? I had been told to fuse and then cut to size. Instead I cut, fused and then trimmed to size. Luckily there were no disasters.

I was also advised to cut all the blocks the same size.




 You can see how well I take advice!  I pieced the centre and then placed blocks around that.
Here's a look at my calculations, they make me smile! There's probably a computer way to figure this out (EQ7?), but I like a diagram.




Then, not content with this headache, I did the same thing on the back!




All those numbers just to evenly place 5 blocks of 3 different sizes.
Here's how it looks:




I usually try to quilt all my own quilts, but in this case I took it to the longarmer, and I love the result!
I think it really adds to the quilt without overwhelming it. It's also just the pattern I had in mind.

Till next time,

Sue

Retreat Production

I'm just back from a wonderful quilt retreat at a lodge on the Bow River. Four nights and four full days, wonderful food and lots of laughs with  a great group of quilters. It's amazing how much you can accomplish when your only responsibility is to sew an accurate 1/4 inch seam!

I took one new project, a quilt top for my DD. I would have finished the top, except I ran short of one of the fabrics. By only a few inches, grrr! So I'm a row of blocks shorter than I planned until we get a bit more.

This is a poor picture of the block, taken while ordering from the quilt store.  Framed boxes - the focus fabric is above, a very pretty swirl. I ran short of the background of the lower box.

I took several UFOs with me. My Swoon quilt has been sitting around waiting for me to finish it. This is the month to do it! I handed myself a couple of real challenges with this quilt. Not content with the Swoon block, I resized it into small, medium and large blocks, without thinking how hard that would be to put together. I also chose this as my first (and only, so far) attempt at Quilt As You Go.

                                      

These are the blocks I worked on, four medium and three small. All sandwiched and quilted. Next they have to be squared up and joined together. A  task for another day!

I'll save the rest of my sewing for another post.

Till next time,

Sue