Fab Little Quilt Swap completed

I got quite a bit of feedback on the different possibilities for backgrounds on this little mini, and of course the opinions varied as much as they possibly could. I think this is a good sign that my instincts are generally good, since all of them could have led to nice results, albeit all quite different in their overall effect.

In the end, I went back to my partner's profile and tried to get a holistic sense of what she would like. She wasn't very involved in commenting on the photos or in the discussion threads, but from her description of her likes and dislikes, I finally went with the Nicey Jane yellow fabric.  I used a narrowish zigzag to quilt the segments of the flower, and I think it looks nice.

Just to recap, I used Johanna's Royal Bloom tutorial for this flower, but instead of English paper piecing, I used raw edge applique and added a couple of die-cut flowers for the centre motif. It was relatively quick and easy, and the impact is all bang for the buck. I think I'll have to try this one again, for myself this time!

Fab little quilt

I've never made a mini quilt for myself, although I've been involved in quite a few swaps. It's a fun format to work in, it doesn't take too long and you get to do things that would be prohibitive in a larger quilt. Currently, I'm completing one for the Fab Little Quilt Swap on Flickr. I used the pattern pieces that Joanna kindly made available, but while she used hers for EPP (in a gorgeous pillow that I have to make for myself one of these days), I chose to fuse them to use for raw edge applique. I fused the petals to a fat quarter of pale pink Art Gallery oval elements, and then trimmed off the excess and left an edging of the pink.

The aqua petals didn't come together perfectly in the middle, so I used my Sizzix dies to make a couple of flowers to place over the centre.

I set my machine to a narrow zigzag to applique the pieces down.  It was fairly tedious!

I auditioned a number of different backgrounds, and it was interesting to see how the effect of the central motif altered as a function of background colour.
I really liked this red one.

And I also liked this blue one - although my husband hated it.

I liked the idea of this print with the pale aqua text, but I felt like I lost the pale pink border entirely.

Then there was this gold one, which is from Tula Pink's Parisville line, but I ended up going for the one at the top of the post. It's a Nicey Jane print, and the little purple dots just make it perfect, I feel.

Again, I have a partner that is pretty silent on the discussion boards and doesn't make comments on the photos, so all I have to go on is the few words about her likes and dislikes that she wrote when she signed up. She likes purple and bright colours, so I hope she likes this!

Some things are worth waiting for

In the summer of 2010 (if I recall correctly), I was looking for a hand piecing project. I had never done any significant hand sewing but I wanted something I could work on while watching television in the evenings. Jessica suggested I try English paper piecing, and on her blog I saw some of her spectacular quilts made with this technique.  I decided to try it - I was particularly happy with the way it could use up some of my tiniest scraps. Here's what I produced the first month.

Several people have said that EPP is addictive. It certainly was in my case! I was surprised at how quickly the little stars went together. I assembled them the way Jessica showed in a little video that was on her blog, and like her, I used the plastic Quilt Patis templates. I made every star out of the same print, but used many different light diamonds for the  background. I really like how I was able to use some of the oldest fabrics from the early  '90s in my stash.  Here are a few progress shots over the course of the 14 months it took me to make the quilt.  A couple of the photos of the completed quilt top have been widely Pinned; if only they could see it now!










Jessica is such an EPP maven who has made so many beautiful quilts that it's no surprise that she was asked to write a book on EPP for Quarto Press. What was a surprise was that she asked me to share my quilt in the book, as well. After I finished piecing the top, it had been sitting around for several months. This gave me the impetus to get it finally sewn up. This was also the first quilt I had professionally quilted; it was done by the so-talented Shannon Baker. When it came home, I nearly fell over. I couldn't stop touching it! I took some photos, but I knew it had to keep a low profile. I do get annoyed when people say "I've been working on something top secret that I can't tell you about". I put one picture up on Flickr but didn't say much about it. Jess has made the announcement about the book so I can now show off my quilt! I admit it's been hard to keep quiet about it! These are some of my photos.















It was agonizing to send the quilt off to London to be photographed for the book! So far away and so many possibilities for going astray!  They kept it for ages, but when they sent it back, they included some high res photos on a CD for me. I had made a little label using the alphabet letters on my machine, and they seemed to like this a lot. There must have been six or seven shots of the label alone. It wasn't even well done - my machine didn't seem to like the word "Ontario". Never mind. I'm including it here so you can see the Kaffe Fassett fabric I chose for the back. These are the photos taken by Quarto's photographer (I'm sorry, I don't know his or her name); the photo at the top of the post is theirs, too.













Edited to add: Sharp-eyed Jess noticed this little purple bit on the lower left corner in the photo above and wondered about it. When I was straightening up the edges before binding the quilt, the edges on the left and right had to be trimmed (e.g., whole hexagons cut in half), but the top and bottom had a more or less straight edge right from the paper piecing. However, I had forgotten to add the last little light triangle on that side, so I just used some of the binding fabric to cover the bit of batting that was peeking through.



If you want to learn EPP and how to make a quilt like this and many other things using this portable and addictive technique, be on the lookout for Jess's book Quilting on the Go. Published by Potter Craft, it will be available in June (if you are in the UK/Europe, look for it earlier and published by Search Press)!

Best prize

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Just received this wonderful book as a giveaway prize by Krista at Poppyprint. It's a knockout! And look! It's autographed! I want to make just about every quilt in here. Thanks, Krista!

Bloglovin' bandwagon!

What about Google Reader, eh? Like many of you, I was gobsmacked to hear it was going to disappear. It seems like many people are moving over to Bloglovin', so I've added a button the the sidebar of my blog. I have a lot of chutzpah, jumping on the Bloglovin' bandwagon, since I've not had a blog post this long age. I've been trying to limit my sewing in order to accomplish some of the necessary things to do with Real Job. I feel guilty if I give into my "want tos" at the expense of my "need tos" too often. I've not been totally idle, though. I cut a big whack of purple and blue FQs, and this fantastic Inkwell background, to make a Winding Ways quilt. I used the Accuquilt die on my Sizzix BigShot Pro.

I sewed a few blocks together just to get a look at how they are going to shape up. I think I'm in love! I started this for someone else, but after I had everything cut out I found out this person doesn't like purple for home decor. So I will keep it. You mustn't think I planned it that way - sometimes fortune favours us when we are trying to do a good deed for someone else. Never mind, I have started cutting for a different project for the would-be recipient.

My main activity has been working on this Rose Star EPP project. I wasn't sure how many of the star blocks I would need to make to make the quilt a reasonable size. When I got to 31 stars, I began to piece them together, and it looked like I would need another five blocks to make it complete. I'm using a print from the Ghastlies line for the 5" equilateral background triangles.  Here's the current status of this project:  the 31 stars are pieced together and I have made three of the remaining five stars. So I am really very, very close to the end of this project! I'll probably sew a border on it in order to even up the edges. It's going to look great, I think. As for my next hand project, I am just about ready to take the plunge into applique. That will be a whole 'nother kettle of fish!

The one where I broke up with AMH (A Monstrous Headache)

I present to you, dear readers, the most difficult thing I have ever made. It is a quilt with velveteen hexagons on the front, bamboo batting, and flannel on the back.  It looks pretty, I grant, but it is a monster. It took me nearly the entire weekend to quilt it, and I am still feeling it in my shoulder blades!

The top wasn't too bad to put together.The velveteen frays like mad, and I should probably have gone with a 1/3" or even a 1/2" seam allowance. But I went ahead with the quilter's quarter inch.

Afterwards, I seemed to remember that I had read a blogpost by Anna Maria Horner that warned of this - where are these insights when you really need them?

To ensure that the seams held secure during the normal usage of a quilt, I decided to stitch in the ditch using a wide zigzag. I was particularly concerned about the joins of the y-seams. I used a yellow Aurifil 28 wt thread for this.  Upon scrutiny post-wash and dry, the seams seem to have held up well.

I do like the way the zigzags show up outlining the hexagons on the back.

Oh my word! Muscling this through the quilting on my little Pfaff was something else! Hercules and his labours had nothing on what I went through. I really thought it was going to send me back to physio - my shoulders and back were on fire with the weight of it. I took a break after each row to stand upright and swing my arms.

The hexagons are 9" across (I used the Marti Michel template to cut them) so I needed something to secure the centres. I thought about tying them, but decided to go with a decorative machine stitch. You can see if it you look closely in the centre of this hex.

This quilting makes a nice and loose quilt, kind of floppy.  It is a very strange shape, though. It's about 80" long and 50-odd inches wide (I have hung it sideways on the line in these photos).

The velveteen, flannel and cotton binding are all from Anna Maria Horner, who happens to share the monogram of this quilt, A Monstrous Headache!

Truly, by the end of the weekend, I was ready to divorce this quilt. I had mentally projected all my ill will onto it and even once it was finally washed and dried, all fluffed up, I was still feeling hard done by.

I was cranky about its odd shape and wondering what in the world had possessed a woman who is experiencing her own personal summer in the depths of Canadian winter to construct a quilt that weighs about 20 lbs. and heats up like a blast furnace!

However, I am starting to come around. Even though I swore that we broke up on the weekend, I am beginning to feel that we were only "on a break". I think we might have a chance to be happy together, after all!

Pinqua star finished

What is "pinqua", you ask? Clearly, it is pink + aqua! I'm so happy to have this baby quilt finished - it's 48" square, which is pretty big for a baby quilt, I guess. I quilted it with Aurifil 50 wt in big looping swirls so that it would be soft and floppy.

And I backed it with pink minky, so it is very luxe! I'd never used minky before, but it was fine. The best part was that it comes in 60" width, so I didn't have to piece the back at all. I found it a bit heavy to maneuver through the quilting process, but overall, no problem.

I used the leftovers from the FQs to make a pieced binding. Each strip averaged about a foot long - what are the odds that at least one of those joins would end up on a corner? But the binding gods were smiling, and I dodged the bullet.

I do love the soft, washed effect of these HSTs. It is far from a colour combo that I would choose, but I think it's lovely for a new baby girl. My doc student and I made this quilt for another doc student in our program. Her baby is lovely - I get all broody for grandchildren when I hold her. Fortunately it doesn't last long after I return the little one to her mother, since my daughter is only 19 and a second year student at uni. I think I'm going to have to wait awhile. (I love this last shot, with my able assistant peeking out - it reminds me of that old cartoon "Kilroy was here".)