Finish One, Finish Two!

I have not one, but TWO finishes this week! (Actually, I have three, but the third will get its own post next week--it is that awesome.) Both were overdue projects that I finally finished.

Dirty Bubblegum

This is a terrible name for a baby quilt, but once it popped into my head, I couldn't think of it any other way, so "Dirty Bubblegum" it is. I made this for a friend of mine who had a baby this summer, and who came back to visit a couple weeks ago, forcing me to finally finish it!

This might be my least favorite quilt I've made. I love the herringbone design (mine was inspired by Erica at Crafty Blossom) but I didn't end up digging the pink and gray. I based the color choice on the nursery of the recipient, but I just didn't love it. I think it would look nice with some white in it, but that just didn't work with this design.

Not sure why this looks so neon--it isn't!

I was happy with my idea to add the monogram (based on Amy Smart's tutorial). The nice thing about the quilt being late is that I knew the baby's name and could actually do this. :) I think it adds a bit more interest to the quilt, as well as personalization. My satin stitching could use improvement, but so it goes.

The backing is a print from Aneela Hoey's "Posy" line. I've seen the quilt pop up in numerous facebook pictures of the recipient, so I think it was well-loved, even if it wasn't my most favorite quilt of all time! And that's what ultimately matters.

Covet my apartment carpet, I know.

Joy to the Squares

I started this quilt for my brother and sister-in-law last Christmas. Then I didn't get it done. So I tried again this year, with success. They're as into Christmas as anyone I've ever met, so I wanted to get it done well in advance of Christmas so that they could enjoy it for several months. :)

I bought a layer cake of Kate Spain's "Joy" line last  year, and cut it into charm squares. This is half of the layer cake (I'll get around to making my own Christmas quilt out of the rest... someday.) The border fabric is some I found from Joann's that has blue glitter on it. I'm not sure how well it will hold up, but for a seasonal quilt, I thought it would be fine. Blue glitter sparkles fit my sister-in-law to a T, so I knew it was the perfect choice! I also love the red and aqua swirl fabric on the back--I believe it's Laurie Wisbrun's "Perfectly Perched."

I photographed this quilt on two different occasions, and got bad pics each time. Sorry!

Though it's a very simple design, I tried a few new things on this quilt. I did a dogwood quilting design in the squares, and I have to say, I loved it! Many of them are pretty wonky, but the overall effect is so cool. I also decided to go with rounded corners to spice up the squareness a bit, and really love how it looks! Consequently, this was also my first bias binding--it made doing the corners a dream! I'll definitely keep this in mind again.

My one frustration with this quilt came in the border--I used a variegated blue thread I got at my LQS, a 50 wt cotton, I believe. I just did simple loops (meant to evoke snow), but I had SO MUCH thread breakage! It was really frustrating. I tried all the usual fixes, to no avail. I think my machine just must prefer Aurifil for FMQ.

Linking up with Finish it Up Friday!

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Christmastime is here...

Well, maybe not quite yet. But I did whip up this pillow this week for a silent auction/homebrew tasting/football watching/s'more eating fundraiser at my church this weekend. Sounds like quite the event. :)

I used the very easy tutorial from From the Blue Chair to make the pillow. It's 20"x 20" and has an envelope closure. My binding was leftover from a quilt I haven't shown on my blog yet, and the backing is from Maude Asbury's "Tinsel" line--I got a couple yards for a steal somewhere last year, and I love its retro vibe. I did notice that Joann's is carrying a really similar knock-off this year. They seem to do that a lot.

Apologies for the terrible phone pics again. I finally bought a new camera card, so my photography may marginally improve soon. :) Pin It

Ronquilt Quilting

Ronquilt is all quilted and ready for his binding! I'm pretty excited. :)

The paisley quilting was a new one for me. I really, really, really like it, although it was a bit tricky given that I had to fill some odd square spaces. Ron's head is done in simple meandering, which worked well for filling odd spaces and matching thread colors. Pin It

A Cute and Quick Clutch

I whipped this up last night, ostensibly for part of my Halloween costume tonight (you can tell you're getting old when your Halloween parties are no longer on Halloween night, but instead on the closest weekend night), but I hoped it would be cute enough for future use, and it is!

The nails are for Halloween too, I don't usually go so overtly Cruella. :)

I used this tutorial and it was really quick and easy (took me about two hours, including cutting the pieces--but I'm not the fastest sewer in the land.) I was a little nervous about the zipper, since I only remember putting in zippers for garments in 4-H, and I recall them being hellacious experiences, but apparently, they're not too difficult in a clutch.

I used a teal linen from Joann's, and the lining was some "Notting Hill" by Joel Dewberry that I had on hand.

Linking up with Finish it up Friday!

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WIP Wednesday: Ron's Glorious Back and the Resurrected BOM

I started the Skill Builder BOM at Pile O' Fabric back in January. I completed those blocks right on time and then... didn't do any more. Not sure BOMs are a great fit for me. ;)

However, this week, I decided that I'm going to try to catch up a little bit. I didn't really have a place for this finished quilt (it's almost a queen size), but I've decided to put it in the room where I stay at my mom's newly purchased house (this is relevant, I promise!) That room has orange carpet. Yes. Orange. In fact, that orange carpet is all over the basement, so replacing it isn't really an option due to cost. So, I thought maybe I could tie in some orange to this quilt so it would look like it belonged there.

But I don't know that I'm loving it. It's not quite as neon as it looks in this photo, but it definitely stands out (it's a rich red-orange, really). So I haven't put the borders on that block, because I think there is a chance I rip it apart and put in something less jarring. I know that a quilt in all blues and greens will look nice--it's a safe choice. And it will look much better in the orange bedroom than whatever is there now (a light blue and yellow comforter--gorgeous!) ;) The full layout looks like this, and theoretically, I could put the dark orange wherever there is white in Alyssa's mockup:

Thoughts?

I've also fully discovered the danger of late-night piecing:

Haha, oops. How is it that those things go totally unnoticed until the whole block is together?

Ron quilt is also proceeding rather nicely. Both the front and back are fully pieced, and I'm hoping to get it basted today (it's fellowship application season, however, which is both extremely sucky and extremely time-consuming... so things aren't going as quickly in the sewing realm as I'd like.) However, here is a preview of the back. I'm pretty dang proud of it. :)

Hope the rest of your Wednesday is grand!

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Blogger's Quilt Festival Fall 2013: Love on Nantucket

If you regularly read my blog, you're sick of this quilt, but no apologies, because I "love" it and it's my entry for the Blogger's Quilt Festival this fall!

This quilt was made for a good friend's wedding last month in Nantucket. Her wedding colors were navy and "Nantucket Red," a salmon color I was decidedly unenthusiastic about using. But then I made the quilt, and I've since decided that the combination of the two is really dynamite and I need to set my color skepticism aside more often.

My favorite part of the quilt is that I managed to find a camera print fabric in salmon, which was just perfect, as the groom is a photographer. It was the kind of happy coincidence that thrills me to no end. :)

My apologies for the somewhat poor photographs--I traveled to Nantucket for two weeks and forgot my camera, so I had to use my phone for all of these. But that's why they're not entered in the quilt photography category. ;)

Quilt Stats

Pattern:  LOVE by Tula Pink

Finished Size:  Approximately 50" x 60"

Fabric: Kona White and an unidentified navy. Then bits and pieces of salmon and navy fabrics from the stash, including 2wenty Thr3e, Les Amis, and Echo.

Backing: Gridlock in White Navy by Dear Stella

Binding: Unidentified navy stripe

Pieced and quilted by: Me, on my Bernina 930

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Memories of Now: Ron Swanson Lives

I'm pretty excited about this one. :)

He's Ron F***ing Swanson. :)

Ever since I saw Monica's "Swansonalong" last year, I've known that I needed a 100% cotton Ron of my very own. And now that is tantalizingly close to coming true. Bully for me. :)

1200 2.5" squares is no laughing matter, so I was pretty thrilled to finish the blocks last night. You know, I used an AccuQuilt cutter for the squares, because I thought it would be nice to have them perfectly accurate (my mom had bought the cutter on sale, so I got to take it for a test run.) I wasn't... overwhelmed by it, to be honest. (I know that's practically blasphemy in the quilting community!) For starters, the squares weren't always perfect. I assume that was in part because I started with too many layers of fabric (six seems to be the absolute max) and that threw the cutting off. So that was disappointing. Honestly, if one is just cutting squares or rectangles, I think cutting with a rotary cutter is just as fast as aligning your scraps of fabric in the cutter and rolling it through, and with a lot less waste. That said, I'd be willing to give it another shot for non-square shapes, because I think it could save time and effort with those.

My grade: B-   For the price, I don't think it's worth it, especially as it did seem to have some accuracy issues (possibly user error, however.) That said, if I were doing a quilt with circles or other applications with more finicky shapes, I would probably love it a lot more!

In other news, I'm also sewing the binding on a Christmas quilt from last year (oops) and trying to finish a baby quilt for a baby who is now three months old (oops again) and who is coming to visit this weekend. I'll post pics of those when I'm finished!

Linking up with WIP Wednesday. Pin It