My New Favorite Color is Red

I don't have much to show, but I have been sewing--a bit anyway.  Last week I took five tops to be quilted.  Don't be impressed by the number five.  Four are baby quilts, and most of them were already finished, just waiting for their day of quilting.

Since you've seen a couple of them in prior posts, and I won't show them again until they are completely done, but here's one of the few photos I took of two of them (only one photo because they're identical quilts).  It was at the point of choosing the borders.  I eventually decided the black was too severe for a baby, and went with an orange fabric, but got distracted at this point (back in February 2012), so it's nice to finally have them put together, and almost done.

The fifth quilt is a full size quilt I made around 1993, but never finished.  (Do you sense a theme?)  It is a quilt from the book, Star Gazing by Jackie Robinson, called Star SA-lute  I thought I bought a backing for it back then, but when I measured the piece that I had saved for all those years, it was much, much too small.  So a hunt for a back that would match entailed.  Note to self:  Buy a back when your colors are still available! 

I thought rust would be easy to find.  Not so much.  The fabric I decided to use really doesn't match it, but it looks like it does and was on sale--I didn't take a photo, so you'll have to wait for that "excitement". :)

I snapped this photo quickly without even unfolding the top all the way--I was just excited to get it finished.  Note to self:  When taking a quilt to be quilted that's been stored away for many years, look at it--on BOTH sides! 

When I got to the quilter, and took it out, we looked at it.  This is what we both saw at the same time:

 

See a little problem in that block near the bottom center?  So the top came back home to be fixed.  When I brought it home, I unfolded it to find the problem block, and low and behold, look what else I saw on that same side:

 

 

One block had the wrong background color.  How did I miss that?  And that jogged a memory.  When I put this top together, I came up short one of the outer blocks.  Note to Self:  Don't assume you miscut or miscounted.  Look!

 

Fortunately I'd saved the leftovers in with the top, so I could put together the correct blocks.  It didn't go smoothly.  My first try:

 

 

Notice how the left row is turned upside down from how it should be.  (it looks like it isn't square, but it is)   Note to self:  Don't sew with a migraine.  

 

All is fixed now, and the top is ready to be quilted--I hope!  

 

And, our big news (saving the best for last) is that we are adopting a new family member!  

 

 

For now we are calling her "Red" because of her collar color.  I hope Red likes to patiently watch me quilt.  I'm guessing the odds of that are slim.  She'll get to come home in a week or two.  Meanwhile, we're busy puppy proofing our lives!  If the photo is any indication, she may be named Shark.

 

Happy quilting!

Building "Block" Fun

When you realize your sewing room is jam packed with close to a million unfinished projects, you catch the flu, feel thoroughly depressed, and have lost your quilting mojo, what do you do?

 

You start something new, of course!  Something low stress and colorful and just for fun! 

romanianquiltstudio.com

  In January, I decided as a personal pick-me-up I'd make a “quick” little project, and sew a baby quilt for a neighbor's first grandbaby.  

 

I had previously purchased the pattern, Building Fun, from Geta who blogs at Geta's Quilt Studio.  Bright and cheerful, it was the perfect project!   (I borrowed this photo from Pinterest--my pattern copy is a bit mutilated)

 
The instructions were clear, the blocks went together easily, and it was fun picking the fabrics for each block.  I decided to use only fabric from stash, and finally used a few pieces by Keiko Goko that I have been hoarding.  I chose black/white polka dots for the border, but I think it would have been fun to use a bit smaller polka dot for the backgrounds (didn't think of that until it was done).

 

 

The pattern calls for machine appliqué of the circles/centers, but I didn’t want to worry about colors showing through the white, so I sewed them using reverse appliqué, which worked really well.   I’d definitely recommend the pattern. (and I'm not connected in any way)

 

Even though the pattern went together well, the backing proved to be a challenge for my stash.  The top was too large for one width of the fabric to cover it.  Every piece of baby suitable fabric that I had was either too small, the wrong colors, or directional so it couldn’t be turned sideways.  Very irritating!  If I’d been thinking, I would have bought some Minkie and been done. 

But instead, since I had leftover strips from the blocks and leftover triangles from piecing the buildings, I decided I would piece of few of the fabrics together for a back.  Simple, right?  Ummm, NO.

The back was going fine until I measured and cut everything the wrong length--way, WAY short.  I had been going to run the piecing up and down, but that wasn't going to work with the short pieces.  So a new design and more piecing was necessary.  And more unpicking. 

 

I didn’t think to take photos during the process, but it’s a good thing you couldn’t hear what I said when I realized that I had cut everything too short.  Here’s what I finally ended up with:

 

 

The little bear fabric in the center is about 20+ years old, so it's nice to finally use some of it.  I like the way it eventually turned out, but when I look at it, it says “girl” to me--just too much pink.  And, the neighbor’s baby is going to be a boy.   After I thought about it awhile, I decided that my neighbor's grandbaby is going to absolutely love to read—books make good baby gifts, right? 

 

And feeling guilty for starting something new, (and on a roll piecing backs), I pulled out one of my many UFO tops (French General Reine des Abeilles), and started piecing a back for it with a few of the leftover hexagons.  (I needed something to join the two widths of fabric for the back.) 

 

 

(And here's where I have to admit that while these hexagons were up on the design wall, I started ANOTHER quilt right over them.  More on this one in the next post!)

I did manage to finally finish the French General hexagon back last night, and it's all bundled up with the quilt, ready to go to the quilter.  (And, yes, I forgot to photograph it, so you'll just have to wait for the big finish--which could be awhile, but at least progress has been made!)

And last post, I showed photos of the great snow we got two weeks ago, when our world looked like this:

 

Now this is all that is left of the snowman family.

 

 

So if you're on the east coast of the USA, don't despair--a bit warmer weather is heading your way!
 
Happy Stitching!