Yikes!

It’s been forever since I posted!  I have no good reason why either.   So painful to have to remember what I've been doing and catch you up!  (Have to did deep to find my memory first...)
 
Let's start with the two finishes (yes, only two since September.)  First up is the Granny Square quilt for my mother-in-law (which was supposed to be for Mother's Day, but what's a few month's difference?) 

 

This quilt has been one of THOSE projects right from the start.  Initially, it was supposed to be just a small, one block wide strip to liven up the back of another quilt....then it grew, and grew, and grew.

Front

You can see the unplanned growth in the borders.  First it was just going to be blocks straight to the edge, then I added cream blocks.  Then I added the colored blocks and more cream.  Then the straight scrappy edge, and I finally surrendered, found a cream that matched, and just added a plain border.

With each size increase, I had to unpick the edges, and add on more, and more.  All to make it fit the bed.  And then increase the back size too.
 
Probably should have skipped the straight scrappy edge or cut it off, but oh well. I first added it to try to square up the quilt after picking and unpicking all those bias edges. Probably just should have just added the plain border months ago and been done with it sooner! 

This is a close up so you can see Yvette's lovely quilting.  We used a wool batt which really showed off the quilting designs as it retained just a little puffiness after washing.

It is in the colors (dusty pastels) that my mother-in-law favors--and really hard to find today.  She seems to like it (more or less), although I should have included dusty pinks/mauves for her.  But it is done and after 1 1/2 years, and I'm grateful to not have to see it again!  (Or see some of the fabrics--like that back--that I've had for 20 years!)


I also finished another baby quilt, using the scraps from the previous post's quilt.  This is during the quilting process--just simple, straight lines across each square, marked with a hera marker at first, then I eyeballed it toward the end which seemed just as accurate.  My sewing room really isn't as dark as this makes it seem. 

 
Here's a close up view. 

 I had been unhappy with the waving edges on the baby quilt I finished in the prior post, and had theorized that the rippling was caused when I washed the quilt after it was finished and the batting shrunk, causing the machine stitched binding--which didn't shrink--to ripple. 

So I changed the method with this quilt.  I washed it after it was quilted, but before attaching the binding.  Here it is after the binding was attached.  Notice the awful rippling.  I was pretty bummed about it because it wasn't consistently rippled.  I have no idea why it occurred.

 

 

Since I had glue basted the binding, I had to wash it again before gifting it.  After the 2nd wash, all those ripples were gone and the quilt was perfectly square!  It was amazing!  So amazing, in fact, that I was so anxious to get it to the baby, I wrapped it up without a photo.  You'll just have to trust me that it worked.  (My husband was amazed at the change too--he's my witness!) 

 

Prewashing the quilt before adding a bias binding by machine is going to be my go to method now.  And the quilt is just an extra bit softer from the extra washing, too! 

This is the quilt back before the 2nd washing.  The crosshatching didn't line up perfectly with the squares on the back, but often did (which is just a miracle), and the differences I can live with. 

And those are the only finishes I can show you for the past 6 months.  Sad, I know.  Where does the time go?  Next post, I'll show you what I started--maybe!
 
Happy Quilting, Merry Christmas & Happy New Year too!

Catching Up #1

I promised to catch you up on what I've been doing since March, when I had just finished the Sparkle Punch Scrappy Stars quilt top.  I did piece a back for it (no photo), and planned to get it quilted, but then (as usual) got distracted. 

In pulling fabrics for its back, I realized I had too many light blue fabrics.  So when I saw this quilt here on on Moda Bakeshop

I decided that was just the thing to use my blues, and it looked like it would be simple and quick.  The blues then became blues and greens, and then became Tessa's quilt.  Here's another view of it on the design wall.

Since the goal was to use my stash blues and greens, I decided to piece a back from stash.  Then I saw all the granny afghan blocks being made across blogland.  (For a tutorial see: http://blueelephantstitches.blogspot.com/2012/01/granny-square-quilt-block-tutorial.html and for a granny square quilt along see: http://beeinmybonnetco.blogspot.com/2012/07/great-granny-along-and-giveaway.html 

The granny squares were perfect since I had several leftover green and blue strips to use for the squares.  I decided to piece a row of granny squares to extend my backing fabrics.

But I liked the granny squares so well that back idea grew and grew, and is still in process, but had to come off the design board.  Here's what it looked like when it was last photographed. 

So now I will be needing two blue and green backs!  And this project has been on hold since then.

And finally, Hooray!  I was lucky enough to win a gift certificate on Angela Pingel's blog, Cut to Pieces.  It was hard to decide between all the lovely fabrics that XO Gigi Fabrics had, but these are what I went with--I think  they'll work nicely in another project I've recently started.  You should be sure to check out all the chevron fabrics XO Gigi's got in now--definitely coveting some of them!  Thanks again to Angela and XO Gigi Fabrics! 

That's more than enough for now--stay tuned for Part 2! :)