A Quilt Designer is Born

Prepare for lots of pictures.  (You can click on any of the images to see it larger).

This quilt finish is #3 in the Year of the Log Cabin Quilt series. It's also Sarah's first official quilt design. Sarah was involved in the project almost from the beginning because the quilt is a donation project for her school auction which is this Friday, March 7.

So I was thinking we would do something like one of these designs:

When Sarah came in and said, "can I move some, Mom?"

So I said, "sure," this being one reason I take lots of pictures during the process. We can easily change things and use the pictures to go back to a design that was better.

After crawling on the quilt for a while and moving around just a few blocks she says, "I'm gonna have to change the whole thing, Mom." Again, that was ok with me. I literally sat on the couch and watched.

She picked up all of the blocks except for the ones in the corner that she wanted to start with.

And after two tries, she ended up deciding she liked this one best.

I realized she was right. It was better than my design and since the quilt is for her school event, she should get to pick. I think a tradition is born.

There wasn't time to do the actual sewing together of all the blocks on the day we first designed it, so I had her do it again for me (below) before she went to school on sewing day.

And I sewed and I sewed while she was at school.

And here's the finished product.

Along with the official quilt label.

She's pretty proud of herself.

We like the back, too.

I'm really super nervous about how much it will fetch in the auction. If it does great, I'll edit the post to let you know. If not, well, back to the drawing board for next year, I guess.

Edit March 7: the quilt sold tonight for $250 at the auction. Sarah was beyond thrilled that someone actually bought what we made!

God Bless Baby Quilts

Year of the Log Cabin Quilt #2

(Yes, I managed to finish quilt #2 before I finished quilt #1.)

God bless baby quilts for providing instant(ish) gratification. I've been working on Log Cabin Quilt #1 and I have all the parts ready (top, batting, back), but I just don't want to do the required basting so that I can can get the quilting done. 

Basting. It's not my favorite.

So, I made the next quilt on the list which just happened to be a baby quilt for our brand spanking new nephew, Cody. In less than 24 hours I managed to put this one together. I'm quite pleased with that fact. As I write, it's in the washing machine getting it's first spin. 

The finished size is a whopping 36" x 36". Just perfect for playing on the floor, covering up in a stroller, or clutching for security. I hope that Cody and his mom and dad will love it.

It's definitely time for me to get over the whole sorting by colors for opposite sides thing and start sorting more by value. Obviously, this quilt would have looked even better if I'd switched the browns and the greens. I need to learn to spend more time on planning and not be so anxious to just get to the quilting already. 

Also, all of the supplies for this quilt came from the supply closet, even the batting. The fabrics were all left over from the Stripes for Charlotte quilt. So, if those two little ones ever have a chance to hang out together, they'll have coordinating quilts to play on.

I'm not sure if I'll ever hand sew another binding. I'm just a really big fan of knowing that binding is going to stay secure, especially on a quilt made for a kid. I fully expect this quilt to be washed many, many times.

And I went ahead and just labeled it directly on the backing. We'll see how it holds up to the first washing and maybe I'll embroider it if it looks like it's going to fade too quickly. 

So there it is. The first finish for 2014 and first finish in the Year of the Log Cabin Quilts series. Hopefully it won't take too long to get to the second finish, quilt #1, of course.

Start Less, Finish More

Waaay back on May 21st of last year, I made a list of unfinished projects that needed some attention. Here's what's left to do:

1. Pink/White class quilt binding
2. Bee hexagon quilt
3. Buttercup quilt - need to cut more strips

Strips cut for the Buttercup Quilt

4. Broken Blues quilt - Very first quilt top I ever pieced.
5. Red/Brown squares quilt
6. Welcome Home cross stitch
7. Tomato Crate Label cross stitch - which is farther along than I remember!

Tomato Crate Label

8. Sublime Stitching ABC
9. Emily's yellow rug - I really will finish them some day, Emily.
10. Emily's blue rug
11. Blue table runner - needs quilting and binding
12. Red/White/Blue table runner - top is finished


All of the above projects are in some stage of completion, as you can see from the photos.

These projects were actually finished:

1. Art Beat Yarn Bomb

Mine wasn't her favorite, but she was nice enough to pose by mine anyway.

2. Sarah's purple and green quilt binding
3. Practice piece binding
4. Nana book bag
5. Hand Made Gift Exchange pin cushion
6. Jessica and Nick beach glass heart

I must really like them to give away my beach glass.

7. Charlotte's Strip and Flip Quilt
8. "Sarah" pillow


And these projects have been abandoned for various reasons:

1. Sarah's purple sweater
2. Sublime Stitching frame for Jessica and Nick
3. Julie cuff bracelet for myself
4. Snake amigurumi

And of course, more projects have been added to the list for finishing:

1. Aidan's birthday gift - finished 1/19/13
2. Tara's birthday gift
3. Fruit Punch afghan

As hard as I try, I know I will start more projects. It's just what I do. But, the plan is to finish what I have, and use supplies I already own to make any new projects that do pop up.

Well, that's the plan anyway...

Free Motion Quilting

Are you even kidding me?! This stuff is difficult.

The good news is, it can only get better from here, right? 

Goodness I sure hope so because if it gets worse I should probably just turn in my sewing machine.

I'm going to keep on trying and hopefully I'll have some finished projects to share soon.