My First Hand-Quilting Experience

Two weeks ago Ariel and I both mentioned hand-quilting, without any prior conversation.  This is why we have this blog: sometimes we share a brain over two continents.  Freaky.

While I was home due to Hurricane Sandy last week, I started my hand-quilting adventure.  Please note that I did this without following a tutorial or taking a class, so I'm sure what I'm doing is wrong.  Please also don't hold that against me.  I promise I try to follow the rules and am a nice person overall.

I sandwiched and basted the mini quilt as I would have done for machine quilting.  I also grabbed a large hoop (I think it was 12", but it may have been 16") and tried to get that set up.  Well, that took forever, and once it was secure in the hoop, I found that really got in my way more than anything.  Off that went.  Above, you can see the quilt squared up after stitching.

I used DMC embroidery floss, all six strands, for my quilting.  I didn't draw lines or use a ruler; I just kind of went with it while I sat on the couch.  The floss was a pain to get through the needle, so I need to buy beeswax before I ever attempt this again.

All four leaves, all four colors of floss

I backed the quilt with some Lotta Jansdotter I previously used for a blouse.  I love the outline of the leaves on the back.

Unfortunately, I had a smidge of backing that wasn't big enough after I squared up, and even after basting, you could see my batting.  I decided to stick one of my tags over it and call it a day.

I bound with some other Lotta Jansdotter I've used for a blouse.  I have realized I'm terrible at binding.  I don't know why, but I don't get it.  My corners aren't mitered, my ends are a mess, and the stitches aren't straight.  I'm someone who learns by doing, so I'm hoping once I get settled in Charlotte I can take a class somewhere.

Oh, that's right!  We're moving to Charlotte by the end of the month.  Nick and I are starting new jobs in the Queen City.  They do have a few fabric stores in the area, as well as a large Modern Quilt Guild (whom I've already contacted, woohoo!), so I'm excited to get involved in the movement down there.  Maybe someone can teach me binding then!

Have you hand-quilted?  I will say, I didn't hate the process.  I thought I would, because I hate hand-sewing, but I found it a bit meditative and fun.  It got a little clunky holding the quilt in some angles, but I think that's why more serious quilters have a standing hoop.  I won't rule it out in the future, that's for sure.

Pinwheels for Market

Hello again!  Here in D.C. we're awaiting hurricane (tropical storm?  Thunderstorm?) Sandy, which is either really over-hyped or scarily end-of-days.  I guess we'll see!  Either way, I'm stacking up some handwork to have in case we lose power.  As I told Nicholas, I want something to do that won't make me want to blow my brains out.  (Such a dainty lady, I am.  I just like modern conveniences!)

Anyway, I can finally show you the final project I made for Cloud9 Fabrics!  To display their upcoming line "In the Forest," Michelle and Gina asked me to make a simple 30"x40" quilt for the booth.  Michelle designed it with half-square triangles creating pinwheels.  I've had my eye on this line since they announced it, and I loved working with it!

Here are some pictures.  I hope to see it in some of the coverage of Market this weekend!

Helping me pin

Ready to sandwich

I finally got to put those new basting pins to good use.  I used a ton of them because I'm definitely not even an intermediate quilter.  Unfortunately, because the fabric was strike-offs, it wasn't self-healing like most quilting cottons.  I was worried about the pin marks!

Cloud9 asked for simple quilting, so I quilted a line 1/4" away from either side of each line, creating intersections at corners.  I still don't have a walking foot--I've priced them, but they're still a little out of reach--so the pins really helped keep everything straight!

Squaring up...with Puddin'

 Okay, so here's where you get bored.  There was really good light the morning I shipped it out, so I took a lot of pictures.  The funny thing is, at first glance of the fabrics, I thought, what sunny, summery colors!  Now that they've been on the ground with leaves, I'm thinking this line works well with fall too!

I really loved helping out Cloud9 this fall.  I hope they keep me in mind for spring!

In other news, I took a short trip this week, so my sewing time was cut short.  However, I did piece a mini quilt as a present for my mom.  I plan on hand-quilting this--Ariel, are you ready?

Again, I used the Modern Maples pattern from Pretty in Patchwork Holidays.  I can't recommend that book enough.  I chose some fall colors from my stash, but I'm undecided on how to back it.  Any ideas?

Close-ups of the fabrics:

Anna Maria Horner, "Fine Feathered" in Pomegranate, from Field Study

Denyse Schmidt, "Voltage Dot" in Black, from Chicopee

Denyse Schmidt, "Posie" in Gray, from Flea Market Fancy

Lizzy House, "Pearl Bracelet" in Chocolate, from Guising

What were you sewing this weekend?  Should I be more afraid of this storm?  At least it isn't hot this time around, so heat-induced mania will not be a problem if the power goes out.  Don't tell me you don't get cranky when it's hot!

Modern Maples Quilt Top

Hello!  If I seem particularly chipper, I am: this quilt top is very exciting and I'm so happy to share it!

I know many advanced quilters will wonder what the big deal is, but, to me, this quilt is so special.  I used some of my favorite fabrics, I used a pattern I've loved, and I just feel like I got it this time.  Do you know what I mean?  Something clicked and everything made sense.  Every part of sewing this was a dream; never once did I think, "Dear lord, just let this end already!"

Okay, so before the happiness becomes nauseating, let's see some pictures!

First, let's take a look at the blocks.  Each block consists of four HSTs, a solid square, three printed squares, and a stem.  The blocks are about 12" square, once all is said and done.  To make these, I used sixteen fabrics I had in my stash, two DS Quilts prints I picked up from JoAnn's, and white Kona.  Choosing the fabrics was fun but also a little nerve-wracking; I think I went back and forth on them for about a week, editing the stack everyday when I'd come up with a new idea.

Yuwa (left) and DS Quilts (right) blocks.  I bought the Yuwa on Etsy.

Whoops!  As soon as I took this picture, I realized my mistake in the lower left.  After I fixed it, this block became one of my favorites.

 Eleanor and Puddin' were there every step of the way for me, as usual.  One of the hard parts about having such a small apartment (and, therefore, a small sewing space) is there's nowhere to hide.  The cats always find me!

This is a Timeless Treasures print, I think...it's at least a few years old, and my mom gave it to me when she weeded out her stash.

Laying out all eighteen blocks.  The cats are inspecting every inch for quality control.

Looking at the photo above, I realize my mistake in the fifth row--one of the blocks should be in space two instead of space five.  Ah well.  It's something I didn't catch in time, but it didn't affect anything in the long run.

It's a bit of a random layout, which is fine.  I knew I wanted my favorite blocks to form the center column, which is the only column without a white block.  From there, I tried to balance the amount of orange and gray in the upper and lower halves, so one wouldn't look super heavy over the other.

From the top left: Timeless Treasures, Lizzy House Guising, Flea Market Fancy, Cloud9 Monsterz, MoMo Half-Moon Modern, Yuwa, Flea Market Fancy, Far Far Away III, Guising (two prints next to each other), Guising, Far Far Away III, Monsterz, DS Quilts, Flea Market Fancy, DS Quilts, Guising, Far Far Away III.

This was not a particularly taxing quilt, which maybe led me to have more fun with it.  Everything fit together, I was happy with the layout and I worked with some of my favorite fabrics and fabric lines.

We've had such wonderful weather lately--the temperatures this morning were in the 40s and 50s, but it was sunny.  Perfect for taking pictures!  Unfortunately, it was a little muddy, so I worried about that, but I think it turned out okay.

I would like to note that the DS Quilts fabric is incredibly high-quality--a nice surprise for something from JoAnn's.

So there it is--my fall quilt!  Horror of horrors, I think I'm going to quilt and bind this one myself.  I am terrified.  However, thanks to no money, I can delay it a few weeks until I can buy backing and binding.  Do you have any suggestions?  I'd like to back it in something orange and bind in navy--Hope Valley comes to mind, but I may be offbase there.

What did you make over the weekend?  Also, as you know, Ariel is on holiday in Greece (boo hiss) (just kidding, but seriously, I'm at work and she's in Greece!), so I'll be back Wednesday with another post!  See you then.

Small Patchwork Projects

After finishing my quilt top last week, I immediately wanted to get started on another quilt, but I'm lacking some of the materials to get going.  Don't get me wrong, I have plenty of fabric (too much), but I never buy solids for background and I don't have a lot that "goes" together.  I like to make things from the same lines, too, and the easiest way to do that is buy bundles or precuts.  None of which I have!

I didn't want to get behind on patchwork though, so I made a couple small projects.  The first was this drawstring bag from Pretty in Patchwork Holidays.  The tutorial was made available on Sew Mama Sew! last holiday season, but I found the book at Barnes and Noble last week and it won me over!  There are a ton of really cute projects in here, and most are small enough to finish in a weekend.

Again, I never buy solids, so the red and white Swiss Cross bag, as much as I loved it, was not an option!  But last month I won six yards of Denyse Schmidt's Chicopee line from Pink Chalk Fabrics, so I thought I'd use some of that to make a log cabin/cross patchwork design.  I love that design and think it's one of the best mixes of traditional and modern when done in contemporary fabrics.

The bag was so simple and I used three of the prints from the line, though I had a ton of fabric left over (I received six one-yard cuts).  I stuffed my finished quilt top inside to keep it safe from flying cat hair...not that Eleanor ever joins me at the sewing machine.

Right.

I also had a chance to work on our Christmas stockings.  For these, I used Creative Thursday's Santa Claus is Coming to Town and Thimble Blossom's "Merry" pattern.  I bought fat quarters and had pretty sizable scraps!

While using the same line, I didn't want matching stockings, so Nicholas chose the four fabrics he wanted and I chose my four.  Mine are blue; his are the green and red.

Nicholas chose the chevron design for his stocking and I chose the pinwheel, but both gave me the chance to try my hand at half-square triangles.  At first glance, this technique was way over my head, but I did some Googling and looked for tutorials and it made sense.  The hardest thing for me was ensuring all squares were exactly the same size.  Which, of course, they were not.  I should've made a template!

I was able to cut, piece and sew Nick's stocking front yesterday.  I guess I should have paid more attention to the direction of the design?!  Oh well, Nick likes it and I kind of like how crazy it is too.  While the pattern says to use a print and a neutral, I liked the look of two prints.  The chevron isn't lost in the faux-ric-rac or the trees.  There are definitely some mess-ups and my points aren't perfect!  But once it's quilted I'm sure it'll be fine.

I'm trying to only focus on quilting and patchwork during the week, as I mentioned in an earlier post, so over the weekend I like to shift back to clothing.  I'll admit, though, the shift is a little difficult!  Since learning these basic patchwork skills, I've noticed I'm not as drawn to buying yardage of quilting cottons or using them for garments, though I've always used them.  Maybe I'm starting to realize there are different ways to use different fabrics?  I wouldn't call it off completely, but my thought process is different than it was even a month ago.  

Did you work on anything over the weekend?  Next week I hope to have two stockings for you!