This is one of my all-time favorite quilt patterns. It’s versatile, it’s cool, it’s historic.
I’ve always wanted to build and live in a log cabin. But, since I don’t have the ability to do that in my life right now, I guess I’ll have to settle for making log cabin quilts instead.
I’m also really liking the black binding. I think I’ll have to use that more. It adds definition to the quilt and frames it nicely, I do believe.
I recently finished up Scrap Vomit! This was a really fun quilt to work on. After chopping up a bunch of scraps into 2.5″ squares, this became my leader/ender project for most of the winter. It was surprisingly fast to put together.
The quilting, however, was pretty slow going. I did a cross-hatch pattern through the entire thing, with an “X” in the center of every square. With over 1,300 squares, it took a while.
My scrap pile is definitely smaller these days and that’s a good thing.
I used this tutorial from I’m a Ginger Monkey and I’m toying around with the idea of making another similar one after my scrap bin recuperates.
I recently completed this quilt using the Miscellany collection by Julia Rothman. It’s such a cool line, with awesome colors and such fun and funky prints. I’m not quite sure it’s the most traditional quilt for a baby, but whatever. I believe in fostering a love of modern fabrics in young humans. I also believe that breaking out of traditional ideas is a good thing, so, without further ado….here it is:
I made up the pattern to get the most use of the fat quarter set I had and also to let the prints and the collection stand by themselves. I wanted to feature the prints as much as possible. If I ever work with these prints in the future, I believe I will consider the use of sashing to frame the individual prints a little more. They way it is now, it feels like a run-on sentence.
I had yards and yards of this funky dot print in my stash, so I used that for the backing.
I must also review a product. I used a fusible batting in this quilt. The way that works is that you sandwich your quilt then iron the living daylights out of it. It works like basting spray, with magic and stickiness and no pins! However, the only downfall, is that it is pretty hard to iron the three quilt layers together without puckers and wrinkles and I found it difficult, even on this small quilt. It also makes the quilt very, very stiff. I haven’t washed this quilt yet, so even though the label says the fusable-ness will wash out, I haven’t tested that statement myself.
Since I am big on DIY, I’m still searching the interwebs for a way to make my own basting spray. I have yet to find anything that I think will work. If I ever do try it out, I’ll be sure to let the blog know.
While I was sick in bed this past week, I managed to finish up the binding on this baby. I also watched about 8 movies and two seasons of Arrested Development.
Here’s a close-up of my two favorite blocks:
I made this quilt using the Prince Charming line from Tula Pink. There are some really awesome prints, and while the colors are sort of out of my normal comfort zone, I think they worked great for this type of quilt block.
I have to thank Tia at Camp Follower Bags and Quilts for the inspiration and encouragement!
Over the weekend, I worked on sewing these blocks together from a fat quarter set of Miscellany fabrics. (What a cool line, by the way…I like the funky prints).
Not sure if this is the final layout or not. I may add sashing and I even had the wild idea to possibly set these on point. I only have a tiny bit of each print left, maybe I can incorporate them somehow.
I’m linking up to Design Wall Monday. Click here to see what other quilters are working on.
Once again, long time no post. But, this time, I have finished quilts to show off.
First up: This zig zag quilt. I started this a loooooong time ago. Then, I quilted it a looong time ago. Last week, I finally sewed the binding on.
Then, I quilted my 3-D Flying Geese quilt. This one has languished in my closet for probably a year, at the least. I mean, I really liked it and everything, but how do you quilt 3-D Flying Geese? Luckily, my mom came to rescue with the completely logical suggestion of stitch in the ditch. So, that’s what I did.
I wish I could remember where I found the tutorial on how to make these blocks. They were super easy to put together and the end result is pretty cool, too.
And the last finish…LogMansion.
This quilt was super fast and really fun and gratifying to put together. I had to let it sit for a week-ish, though, because I was having a hard time deciding how to quilt it. I went with the spiral. My other idea was to quilt straight lines randomly throughout it, but I think I like the symmetry the spiral gives it. And, I definitely love the neutral fabrics.
In other news – I have a design wall!
The blocks that are up there now, are just up there because I was very excited to finally have batting duck taped to the wall (thanks Mom!) that I couldn’t resist putting something pretty up there. Those are Ohio Star blocks made out of leftovers from another project. As well as a giant star block. Not sure what to do with those. There’s a lot of pink. I’m thinking of doing some sort of improv/off center/wacky setting. I just haven’t come up with it yet.
The strips on the left are the beginnings of a bargello quilt that I promised Boyfriend two months ago. That’s as far as I’ve gotten with it. whoops…
I started this quilt, probably, two years ago. I finished it up in December, and here we are.
It was made with a charm pack of Blossom by Urban Chicks for Moda. It was probably one of the first charm packs I ever bought. I used linen for the sashing, so it will be interesting to see how this quilt holds up. Keeping it square was quite the challenge.
I backed it in voile.
While I wouldn’t want to piece an entire top out of voile, it made a sweet backing. Something I’ll probably do again. It also finishes at the perfect couch-throw size. So, having a backing in super soft voile, is even better.
In other news: My hexagon pile is growing. Slowly but surely. I get about one done a day. Still have no idea what I’m going to do with them, but they sure are pretty!
And these two are the prettiest ones I’ve done so far:
Swoon is finished! I believe this is my biggest completed project for 2011. Hopefully next year will be a bit more productive in the finish-it-up department.
Pardon the weird, indoor lighting scenario here. I haven’t seen the sun in a month and I’m not a big fan of laying down quilts in my mudhole of a yard.
Here’s a close-up of my favorite block:
While 2011 wasn’t that great of a year for quilting, I did lots of other cool stuff, so all in all, I had a great year.
And now, I’ve started a new project:
A hexagon quilt! That’s a quarter for scale. They’re two inch hexagons and they go together suprising quick. Not sure what I’m going to do with them, but I’m having fun making them.
I might be really into quilts with lots of seams these days. Case in point:
First block of Swoon is completed. Now, technically, this isn’t the first block I actually sewed, but it is the first that will go on the front of the quilt. I sewed a test block, but alas, have no photo of that, so you’ll just have to trust me. I’ll probably piece it into the back of the quilt, so perhaps one day it will make it onto the blog. Each block, from start to finish, takes me quite awhile. I usually like to sew in stages for quilts. You know, sew step A for every block, then move onto step B, etc, etc. But, this time, I decided I would work on one block at a time, then move onto the next. I even have all the pieces for each block in their own little baggie, neatly stacked next to my sewing machine. I’m not sure why I decided to assemble the blocks this way. I think, though, it was a good call. It’s keeping me from getting overwhelmed with this quilt. I can complete whole steps for one block when I only have 15 minutes or so to sit down and feel really accomplished and productive. Large blocks of quilting time are not to be found in my schedule right now, so feeling like I’m getting something done when I do get to sit down, is really important for my sanity. And, I know there is all sorts of talk about creative process and taking your time and enjoying the process, and maybe one day I’ll write a post about that in more detail, but for right now, I just want to COMPLETE something. And, I always have a huge list of things I can’t wait to work on, so as soon one quilt moves off my table, I get to be excited and jump into a new one. Which, is one of my favorite parts of this hobby/obsession.
And the second example of quilts full of seams would be my leader ender project.
Which is this project – Technicolour Yawn aka Scrap Vomit quilt. Which, I’m so cool, I totally missed the quilt-a-long and am just now getting around to sewing it. If you aren’t familiar with the leader-ender technique- click here (and scroll down a bit). It’s a fun system. And makes me feel like I’m sooo productive.
Well, these days, quilting time is rather limited. In fact, I really haven’t quilted much in the past year, aside from piecing one quilt top of my own design. Photos of that as soon as I locate it in one of the random boxes currently holding all of my quilting goodies. It’s going to be such a relief to have all of my quilting things in one spot. It’s also going to feel a little like Christmas when I finally get to unpack everything and find everything I’ve forgotten I’ve owned. Moving twice, then remodeling a house tends to scatter ones belongings to the far corners of the world. Or rather, to your parent’s basement.
But, I’m slowly getting back into the swing of things. I finished a quilt-as-you-go baby quilt last week. And I tried spray basting for the first time ever. It worked great. I really struggle with basting, but I might be a convert to the spray basting. I want to try it on a larger quilt before I become a total convert. I really like the re-usability of pins (and the fact that they don’t come in an aerosol can is a plus), but I can never seem to keep my layers from shifting no matter how much I pin it. And I always get annoyed at having to stop/re-start free motion quilting just to take pins out. So, I will try the spray basting on a larger quilt and see how it goes.
I’ll also take some photos of the baby quilt and possibly explain how I did it. I say possibly, because I’ll only have photos of the finished quilt so you might have to deal with some awesome Paint-drawn illustrations. I’m not too great at actually remembering that I have a blog, let alone taking pictures of something IN PROGRESS to do a tutorial. Although, it is a good idea. Tutorials, that is. Because I do love to read them on other people’s blogs.
And, because no post is complete without a photo, here is one. My newest work in progress. Don’t worry, I won’t be changing my M.O. and taking any photos of it in progress. But, I do have a test block cut out and hopefully, I can sew it up this evening while my apple butter cooks down on the stove. Because I’m all domestic and multitask-y like that.
