Springtime Riot {do. Good Stitches August Quilt}

The August quilt from the Nurture Circle of do. Good Stitches is done!  I am so impressed with the ladies this month for getting their blocks done so quickly and making such fantastic blocks!!  My work schedule looks pretty nasty for the next month and a half, but since everyone was so on the ball I was able to take advantage of my last long weekend to get this baby done.

You can see the tutorial I asked the ladies to follow here.  I asked for two-tone string blocks of blue/yellow/grey and low volume fabrics.  Everyone did such a good job of picking lovely, modern, fun fabrics for their blocks.  It's no secret that I love a scrappy quilt and this one is just exceptionally nice.  I enjoyed finding new favorite fabrics in every block as I was quilting it.

I decided to stipple the quilt because I felt like it needed some curvy, free motion quilting to not compete with the straight lines of the strings.  It also needed something fairly dense to reinforce all those seams and tame the seam allowances.

My FMQ has come a long way since it was my New Years Resolution 9 months ago (9? Seriously, where does the time go?!).  I still have plenty to learn, of course.  Some of my curves are not as smooth as I would like, and I had to cross over myself in a few places.

I decided to go low-volume for the binding.  I had the perfect blue and yellow polka dot fabric in my stash already. I didn't have quite enough, so I made up the difference with another soft white and blue fabric.  I machine sewed both sides of the binding for strength and speed.

As you know I like to name my quilts. This one was a little stubborn.  The colors and patterns together are so riotous, so I was thinking about String Riot.  From there I got to Springtime Riot, because of the spring-y colors.

I used Hobbs Heirloom Natural cotton batting.  I love that batting, it keeps the quilt very light and with a nice drape even with such heavy quilting.  I had this IKEA fabric in my stash, which made the perfect backing.  Added a label under the binding and this quilt is ready to go to a new home.  We send our quilts to "My Very Own Blanket" a charity which gives quilts to children in foster care.

With (20) 12.5" blocks the quilt finished at 48"x60" before washing.  I'm sure it's a bit smaller now since it crinkled up so nicely after a wash and dry.  I'll be getting this little quilt in the mail to its new home soon, where it will be on to the arms of a child.  I admit, it's more difficult than usual to let this one go :) It's become a personal favorite.

Thanks you Nurture Circle ladies!! You made another wonderful quilt. 

I'm linking up to Finish it Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts.

Fractal-ing

I have been wanting to do a fractal quilt for a while and finally started it on a whim. I wanted to use some of my batik scraps.

Those are 60 degree triangles, the smallest of which were 2.5" on a side unfinished.  It's going to make a small baby quilt.

I have it layered and just barely started quilting.

Love these fabrics :)

One more WIP was exactly what I needed, right? 

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Progress!

I think I've finally gotten a handle on my problem with sleeping the weekends away. Wilson, of course, continued as per usual :)

I made great progress on the NURTURE circle of do. Good Stitches August quilt this weekend. You can expect and finish post on Friday about that one :)

Based on a suggestion I read online somewhere I tried wrapping my binding around a spare spool and sticking it on the bobbing winding peg on top of my machine. Worked like a charm! Much better than my usual method of stringing binding across the floor to keep it from tangling :)

I also got September's blocks done for do. Good Stitches.  These scrappy stash-buster blocks used (136) 1.5" squares but somehow hardly made a dent in my crumbs jar!  They were a lot of fun to make, anyway.  Maybe this is how I can use up all those crumbs one of these days.

Close up of one of the blocks. These tiny square finish at 1", so fun to fussy cut!  I feel like that owl is disapproving of the monkey.

On the design wall, the improv monkey quilt continues to grow.  Up to 5 blocks done out of 12.  This one is so much fun.  Each 16" block is like a mini quilt to plan and sew.  Keeping the cuts of fabric large is making it go pretty quickly.  Looking forward to getting it finished.

Last but certainly not least, my door prize from The 2013 Pets on Quilts Show  arrived!!  40 delicious 10" batik squares. Thanks so so much to Hoffman fabrics and Snoodlz at Lily Pad Quilting.  You can see my entry to the show here
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Whew! Finally, a productive weekend!  I'm linking up to design wall Monday at Patchwork Times. Be sure to see what everyone else has going on there.

Wednesday WIPs

I was hoping for a finish during this break, but some progress will have to do.  I quilted some more on the bird houses quilt but it's no much to look at, so no pictures.  Hopefully I will have that one done soon. It's so small, there's really no excuse not to!  Well, there is this adorable face who is always snoozing in my bed.  Makes it that much harder to not just throw in the towel and take a nap.

I started a new top using my old, coveted sock monkey fabrics. I need a dozen 16" square blocks.  One block down, eleven to go!  I am piecing these together improv style with no particular pattern. I am planning to stick to 90 degree corners and bright, child-friendly fabrics.

Major props to the girls of the Nurture circle at do. Good Stitches for getting all their August blocks to me in record time! I am missing one person's blocks, but since two people made extra I have all the blocks I need to start putting the top together. 

Linking up to WIP Wednesday.

Expanding Makeup Bag

I slept away most of my days off again.  I hate to lose the time to sew, but it's just so tempting to get back in the nice, warm bed with a snuggly kitty.

I did finally get up around 1 (pm) today and spent the rest of the day doing laundry and generally being productive. I made this expanding makeup bag for my mom to take on trips.

Buttons to keep the top closed.

The middle piece is quilted with a loose stipple and the whole bag is lined.

Wires in the straight sides keep them stiff while a fabric string threaded though button holes in the ends allows the bag to expand.  The string doubles as a carrying handle when the bag is closed

I put pockets on the inside to hold small items.

Pockets for makeup brushes

Not much to show for two days off, but at least it's something. Tomorrow it's back to work :)

Linking to Finish it Friday!

Bee Blocks on the Design Wall

Hello Monday :)  Here's a quick look at what's on my design wall.  Blocks from the August do. Good Stitches Nurture circle continue to arrive!

The blocks so far. I am aiming for a 4x5 layout

I love that text fabric with the curving words

That grey and teal fabric with the birds may be my favorite in quilt so far

Linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.

He Loves Me... He Loves Me Not... {A Finish and a Tutorial}

This week's finish is a wall hanging for my mom's school room.  I've been thinking about this design and wanting to do it for a while as a baby girl quilt. But, with no baby girls on the way (ALL the boys! Geez, what is in the water?!) I decided to do v1.0 as a wall hanging instead.  Mom picked out the fabrics and I got to choose the design :)

 

I was originally inspired by this quilt at Little Island Quilting, which got me thinking about treating Dresden Plates as flowers and doing a quilt based on that game little girls play, "He love me... he loves me not." So I did a series of incomplete, partially "plucked" Dresdens with some "petals" drifting toward the bottom of the quilt.

When I make this again (and I definitely will be making this design again) I plan to make it a lot larger so that I have more room to play with the theme and have more petals gathered at the bottom.

Going along with the idea of "He loves me, He loves me not," one yes and one no, I knew that I wanted to make the quilt double sided.  As long as you're going to be doing applique anyway, it's hardly any more work to make reverse applique on the back.

So, the quilt is reversible.  One side is more traditional while the other side is soft and worn.  This also gives the chance to do two completely different color schemes!  I used regular cottons this time, but when I make this again I'll be using flannel for the back so it will ravel nicely in the wash.

I took pictures all through the process of making this, so if you want to make your own you can follow along :)

First off you need to cut your fan blades from the fabrics that will make up the Dresdens on the front of your quilt. I used the Easy Dresden Ruler, which was on sale at Hancocks, but here's the great thing about this design: since we won't be making any complete Dresden Plates, you don't have to stress about getting the angles perfect so that they will circle right!  It take the stress out of Dresdens :) So, feel free to print any old template off the internet or make your own.

If you want to completely plan out your quilt design ahead of time you could figure out exactly how many fan blades you will need, but for me it was easier to just cut a stack at a time and cut more later if I needed them.

Next you'll fold the wide end of the blades together and sew along the top. Be sure to clip the corner, but don't get into your seam.

Then fold the blade right side out and press.

Next start assembling your fans into sections.  Line up the peaked (folded) ends and sew from there. Don't worry if the narrower ends don't line up perfectly, they'll be covered by the center circle anyway.

Again, you could plan the whole thing out or just have a loose idea of where you are going. I knew that I wanted to have 3 Dresdens and for one of them to be more complete than the others. I sewed one large group and then several groups of 2s, 3s, and 4s. Remember to leave some fans as singles to serve as the fallen "petals".

Press your seams and remember to press any outside edges with a 1/4" seam allowance. Also press your single fans with a seam allowance on all unfinished sides.

Now you're ready to lay out and settle on a design. I suggest taking pictures as your are going to have to reconstruct this later.  With your Dresdens laid out use a compass (shown above, like from geometry) to figure out how big the center circle needs to be. Give yourself a good half inch of leeway. Part of that will go into seam allowance and part into making sure you can completely cover the base of all the fans.  If you have a circle cutter (above, right) that's going to come in handy, too.

You'll need to cut a circle of cardboard exactly the size you want your finished center circle to be and a circle of fabric at least a half inch larger in diameter than that.  Using the longest stitch your machine has baste all the way around the fabric circle close to the edge.

Pull on the loose ends of the stitches to draw the circle of fabric in over the piece of cardboard.

Then press and carefully remove the cardboard form.  I find it helps to tie the loose ends of thread together to help the circle keep its shape.

Now for for the tricky part.   We need to put in place the pieces of fabric that will show through on the reverse applique. Measure your Dresden sections that you've decided on and cut corresponding pieces of fabric for the back.  Be sure to give yourself plenty of extra lee way by cutting the pieces oversize. (You could save yourself quite a bit of trouble by doing all the reverse applique from the same fabric and just cutting one piece large enough to cover the whole back.)

Lay your backing fabric out face down and lay out the pieces of reverse applique fabrics also face down in an arrangement that mirrors the one you've settled on for your Dresdens.  Set your machine to its longest stitch length and baste everything in place.

Layer and pin your quilt as you normally would, leaving your Dresdens to the side.  Then, begin to pin your Dresdens in place.  As you place them keep checking with one hand under the quilt to make sure you are inside of the lines of basting stitches, meaning that your Dresden is over one of the pieces of reverse applique fabric inside the backing.

When your are satisfied with placement, begin to sew the Dresdens down.  You'll need to sew not just across the peaked tops, but also down and back up between each fan blade to make the reverse applique work.

This is a shot of the back of one of the loose petals which has been sewn down. See how the smaller stitches of the applique fall well within the long basting stitches on all sides? That is what you want to see. That means we are centered right over the reverse applique fabrics with plenty of seam allowance.

After sewing down all the Dresdens you can being to unveil the reverse applique. Carefully use your seam ripper to make a hole in only the top layer of backing fabric inside each fan. Slip your scissors in the hole and cut out the backing fabric leaving a 1/4" around the edges.

At this point, you can bind your quilt and be done!  Or, you may want to slide your scissors inbetween the layers and carefully remove some of the reverse applique fabric that did not fall under a Dresden plate. (Good for scrap hoarders, also, in case the fabric is showing through the backing).

You can also do more quilting before finishing out. I was planning to do echo quilting around everything but ultimately decided against it.  Either way, the hard part is done.  When it's finished throw your quilt in the wash to get the perfect raw-edge ravel and enjoy!

Linking up to Finish it Friday.