Category Archives: Quilting

If posting about a finished quilt three months after I finish it is somehow wrong…well, then I just don’t want to be right.

So, then.

Back in March, my nephew Vaughn, turned one. Ben made him a beautiful, cherry wood toy box, and I wanted to make him a small quilt to go along with it. I had picked up this Riley Blake fabric earlier in the year, but at the time, I had no idea what to do with it. It was just too cute to pass up.

It’s certainly nothing fancy. Strip quilts are about my least favorite kind of quilt–they seem like such a cop out, but I just really wanted to make something so that the fabric would really show. There’s a couple of big prints in the bunch, and I wanted to make sure that Vaughn could really pick out the cars. So, strip quilt it was.

The one thing I was please about was my second real attempt at free motion quilting. It’s still not perfect, by any means, but I think I did even better than on my Log Cabins In the Snow quilt. It felt more natural while I was sewing it, and I certainly wasn’t as stressed out about making mistakes this time. It makes the whole process a lot more enjoyable.

I’m back to working on my 9 Patch quilt top, and I’m having a lot of trouble making up my mind with how I really want to finish it.

After last week’s debate over whether or not to add more blocks, I’ve finally decided that I’d be upset with myself if I left it as is, and have begun making more blocks. I’m happy enough with the way the blocks are turning out, but I just feel like I could be doing more with this design.

I’m considering making the top a little more in-depth by adding more white lines and simple blocks in the centers of sashings. As much as I think it could look neat, I’m just not sold on it. If I add too much I feel as though it could look messy and cluttered instead of sleek. BUT, if I leave the top as is, I know it would look fine. My concern is that I will always be thinking that I could have done something more with it to make it different and more unique. I’m just frustrated with it.

I’ll continue to weigh out my options after I finish the rest of the blocks. Feel free to input with your suggestions and ideas.

I’m not sure how I managed to do it, but I’ve somehow finished my second quilt in one week. I ended up having impeccable timing in putting both pieces into the state of finishing at the same time–I don’t expect for this to happen again anytime soon.

I know it seems like I polished this quilt off quickly, but it’s been in my progress pile for really, many years. I first started working on these blocks around 2005 after being (obviously) inspired by Denyse Schmidt for the first time. As blocks, they sat in a pile for a loooong time, until I finally pulled it out again last spring and completed the top. I don’t know why I seem to do this with projects, but its a case of distance making the heart growing fonder. I grow more in love with what I make when I put it away for a while.

So last April or May I started the hand quilting. And then, yet again, I stopped. The quilt sat patiently for me on the back of the couch for about 6 months–until after my holiday craft show blitz ended last month. Slowly, I picked it back up again during quiet evenings on the couch, and stitched the last of my squares at the beginning of the week.

I know that I can’t keep up the pace of finishing two quilts a week, but I’m invigorated by all of this productivity. It feels like a race where I’m only competing with myself and I don’t have to be skinny to win. I just have to have a speedy sewing machine and a lighting fast rotary cutter.

No time to rest, there are other projects that need finishing.

I wish I always could feel the swift kick of momentum to keep me going like I felt today. The feeling of waking up from underneath a new quilt really shot me into action, and I felt like sewing from the moment I woke up today. First up, is to make some progress on these 9 patch blocks that I started this past summer.

I’ve got lots of feelings towards this project. Overwhelmingly, I think my biggest feeling is to ignore other thoughts I’m having about and to finish it just like I had originally planned back in June.

I’m trying to deny that I’m going to be bummed once I finish it and only end up with a lap size quilt, but I really think I’ll be kicking myself if I do just that. The way that I have it set up here (and how I’m currently planning on finishing it as) is in rows of 7 by 8. If I want to make it fit a twin bed, I’m going to need to add some more blocks. It’s not a huge deal but when I started it last summer, I ended up having some difficulties with liking the arrangement and block placements.

I’ll end up making a decision, and either way, I’m sure I’ll end up kicking myself over it. I like how it’s going so far though, and I’m excited to make some more progress. (Says the slowest quilt-top-piecer in the world. You’ll be laughing at me when I’m still working on putting this together in 2014.)

It’s my first completed project of 2011!

I can’t even begin to talk about how happy I am to have this quilt finished off. First of all, it’s one project that’s been sitting in pieces in the sewing room for almost two years, and I’m glad to have one less thing on my desk.

The quilting though, has to be my biggest accomplishment with this quilt. It took me a long time to get up the guts to tackle free motion quilting, and I’m so pleased with this as a first effort. I fully expected to wreck a quilt in the process of learning how to free motion quilt, and this is by no means that. There’s areas that I know I need to continue to work on, but I think with time, I’ll be able to get the hang of it a little better.

I also just wanted to add that I’m grateful for all of the suggestions and support that came my way about this quilt over the last month or so. I really appreciate it all! Thanks to this project, I’m looking forward to really keeping up my momentum with my machine. I think it’s going to be a productive year.

But stay tuned this week….there’s a nearly finished hand quilting project that will be popping up shortly!