Do you remember the Aurifil 2014 BOM? I had a lot of fun with it but never got past making the top. It's been in a drawer since that December.
It had to go on my list for 2017.
I tried to step up my quilting game on this quilt. Every block is done differently, the sashing has ribbon candy in it and there is some very dense quilting in the white triangles. I like how it looks, but it sure increases the amount of time it takes to finish!
Reason: I drew my sister Cheryl's name in the Christmas draw. I've known for years that she has wanted a cream coloured low contrast / low volume quilt.
Fabrics / Best Buys: For once I dipped into my stash. Usually I quilt with scraps, but obviously that wasn't going to work for this quilt. Half to three quarters was out of my own stock, the rest I went out for in two trips. In an unrelated note, I'm short on creams in my stash. Must go shopping.
I also completely used up the last of the 10 yards of white I bought last year. I couldn't have cut another 1.5" strip if the quilt depended on it.
Thoughts: My husband came up with the a.k.a. - it's from the Oceans 11 remake.
I really enjoyed this pattern it was super easy to put together. The whole quilt was finished in three weeks.
Pinning this quilt was an absolute must to make sure that all sashing lines lined up. Mine didn't in a couple places, but overall I am pleased.
The binding is made from random leftover strips. I love it.
Lessons Learned / Lessons to Learn: I quilted this with my walking foot. Even though I thought I sandwiched it very well, I still got some puckers were perpendicular seams met. This frustrates me and I wish I knew what I was doing incorrectly. Perhaps I need to find a walking foot quilting course. Is it possible to use a walking foot incorrectly??
Reason: My goal is to make 6 baby quilts for the Pregnancy Care Centre in January.
Fabrics: A friend gave me finished and unfinished blocks as well as random pieces of the same fabric. I used the previously made units to make blocks and made additional blocks from the fabric.
The bindings were end scraps from various bindings that various people have given me - four pieces in all. (I am a magnet for other people's unfinished projects and scraps and for the most part, I LOVE it).
Thoughts: Usually I would get out the walking foot to quilt something like this but because I'm doing the Building Blocks Quilt Along with Leah Day, I figured I should suck it up and so these straight lines are entirely done FREE MOTION. Obviously I need more practice, but still - pretty excited that it worked at all. I found that rather than doing straight lines left to right or right to left, I preferred to move the quilt back as if I'm sewing a seam.
There is a heart stitched onto the back because I accidentally ripped the fabric after I had quilted most of it. Yeah. Winner.
The small prints were so dizzyingly busy together, a white sash was necessary just for a little separation and relief.
Reason: A friend had a similar wall hanging called "Smittens". It was just so cute :)
Fabrics: Nope. Way too long ago to remember.
Lessons: If you make a block and it doesn't work, don't put it in. It's okay to start again. The unused block(s) can go in an "orphan quilt" at a later time.
Thoughts: Another UFO bites the dust. A friend on Facebook claimed this as her own.
Machine quilted in free motion and a with a walking foot.
Pattern Location: Australian Patchwork and Quilting Annual 2004 and Vol 12 No 6
Size: 70 x 70
Date: November 2007 - December 2013
Inspiration: As a new quilter, I saw this pattern and fell in love.
Special Fabrics: Grandma gave me a box of scraps. Many of these made it into this quilt. I collected fall colours for a long time. Aunt Sandie found the perfect backing.
Lessons Learned:
* Buy quality fabric. Loose weave is the pits
* Cut carefully
* Use heat 'in bond for applique
* Cut away extra layers when sewing triangles into corners. The extra layers are really hard to quilt through.
* Watch beginnings and ends of seams - I have a tendencey to flare out.
Thoughts:
This turned into a Christmas gift for my parents-in-law.
The original medallion was out by over half an inch - I unsewed it and made it into a wall hanging.
This quilt was machine quilted. Some was with a walking foot, the rest was using Leah Day's techniques.
Reason: Mum and Dad painted their bunkhouse and made it so pretty inside. I wanted to contribute to it so I made this for them for Christmas. I chose these colours to match the bedding.
Best deals: This was made entirely from scraps. My friend Gloria gave me a bag of leftovers. The border is from that bag.
Thoughts: I didn't use a pattern for this and it was the first time I did anything "on point" it's far from perfect.
I started making 6½" squares when my scrap drawers got too full. I also used blocks like this in The Colour Garden.
It was a ton of fun to use blue and yellow DMC floss to stitch around the seams. I tried my best to use a different stitch for every line. It was very challenging and required some research.
Mother thought this was too nice to put in the bunkhouse :)
Reason: The boss of the place I was working wanted a quilt to commemorate the different shirts that the business had designed over the years. This is my first commissioned piece.
Fabrics: I used my own denim stash and the shirts that she gave me. The dark blue corduroy that I used for the back was from the local warehouse.
Lessons: This was early in my quilting life: PREWASH FABRICS! (It seems basic now). The darker denims discoloured some of the tshirt fabics.
At the time, the walking foot was what I used for quilting. It helped ease the way across stretch fabrics (i use a darning foot now).
Use thinner batting for a denim quilt.
Thoughts: Remember to take a picture at the end!!!
Reason: I took some pretty pinks from the blocks my grandma gave me because I knew they would make a cute baby quilt.
Fabrics: Scraps from my stash, my grandma's blocks and a baby blanket of my daughter's.
Lessons: My machine quilting is getting better! Although I'm not doing Leah Day's tutorials per se, most of my quilting information comes from her blog: http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.com. She has oodles of videos. My opinion of machine quilting went from "pshh, not happening" when I saw her first video to "I could try it once" to "wheeeeee" after my first quilt.
On the half square triangle centre, I did a loopy style of stippling to hopefully emulate the flight of the butterflies that are appliqued in the centre.
Thoughts: I still need to learn what I am doing wrong or how to fix my wavy edges. Is it a quilting issue? Am I a bad measurer? Do I need to square my quilts better? Probably it's all of the above.
I used a baby blanket we no longer needed. I kept the 'satin' binding from the blanket to use on the quilt.
Special Fabrics: Bought fabric at a local warehouse.
Lessons Learned: Watch the weave of fabric! The flannels I was getting such a deal on had a very loose weave!
Even if the instructions say not to prewash, do it anyway! The black fabric faded my yellow out to grey so after the whole quilt was done, new yellow was stitched over top.
Inspiration / Reason: When I saw this pattern in 2005, I instantly thought of a good friend and decided to make it for their next baby. It was done (mostly) in time for their son who arrived late in 2008.
Special Fabrics / Best Buys: I won some of the fabric at a quilt show. I also won a gift certificate to a quilt shop. That took care of the back. When a friend found out I was doing this quilt, she gave me all her scraps from when she made the same quilt! I also received $30 in gift certificates when I participated in a clothing drive. That helped quite a bit.
Lessons Learned: As this was my first quilt, everything was a lesson. Little Bits of Comfort taught me everything I needed to know as I needed to know it.
Everything can feel right in theory, but be wrong when it goes together. Several colours meant for the quilt did not fit once the rest was cut. last minute adjustments were necessary which meant I have "orphan blocks" - pieces cut but not used. I think I should keep a record of these pieces so they are not forgotten.
Thoughts: I could also add to lessons learned: friendship. I had great help all along the way. Some people for fabric, LBCQ for instruction. Another friend loaned me her sewing machine for the whole summer. I borrowed a lot of supplies from another friend for the duration of the quilt. I think that God's hand has been in this quilt. Too many things happened for it not to be: Free and gifted fabric, coupons and other things just all add up to divine influence. I just wonder: why?
This quilt is made up of 121 4½ inch blocks, one 1½" black border and one 5" border.
Each block is made up of (4) 4½ x 1½ strips for a finished block size of 4". This is a total of 484 strips. Strips are put together within the block from dark to light.
You will need the following quantities of blocks:
1- Black or very dark violet block
2- Dark Purple Blue
3- Purple
4- Lighter purple
5- Light purple with blue tones
6- Medium/Dark Blue
7- Blue
8- Light Blue
9- Medium greeny-blues
10- Dark Green with blue tones
11- Dark Green with yellow tones
10- Medium Green with yellow tones
9- Light yellowy greens (army tones)
8- Light yellows (perhaps with a little green)
7- Strong yellows
6- Golds
5- Orange
4- Pumpkin
3- Reds w/ orange tones
2- Deep reds
1- Burgundy
Sew your strips together dark to light, four strip to one block. I found it necessary to lay all the blocks out so I could arrange and rearrange until I was happy with how they looked.
Cut your black strips: 2 at 44½, 2 at 46½ and attach.
I used two different batiques for my outer borders to mimic the rainbow and I mitred them to continue the diagonal feel of the quilt.
Since this is the first time I've ever mitred a corner, I'm not going to try to tell you how to do that. This is the video I used to learn the technique. After that all that's left is to quilt and bind the quilt as you see fit.
Best Buys: My Aunt chose the backing fabric, a cute purple wavy stripe with a gold tinge. It was on sale at Fabricland for $5/meter! The rest of the fabric was gifted to me. Yay for shoeboxes full of scraps!
Lessons Learned / To Learn: My edges are wavy and I'm not sure why. I'd love to figure out what went wrong so I can avoid this for the future. I haven't decided if I am going to wash this quilt. I'm planning to hang it.
