Muddling my way through.

I've been machine quilting like a madwoman.  It's time for a cup of tea and a blogging break.  Please allow me just to ramble a bit.

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  Although I only intended to stitch-in-the-ditch around all the squares in this quilt top, but after seeing the result, it seemed like the bigger squares looked too  plain, so I decided to add a quilted circle to the center of each.  I didn't have to go too far to find something to use for a template to make my circles.  I just picked what was handy.
  
  
  
  
  

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  I am having a love/hate relationship with the batting I'm using. I bought an 80/20 cotton blend batting which specifically states on the package that it has a "wonderful drape", and it certainly does.  It's also fairly easy to push through and around the throat space during quilting.  But, the soft drape is likely due to the fact that there is no scrim to this batting, so it is slightly fragile and also VERY linty.  So much lint that my black fabrics look grey.  Thankfully, a quick brush with the lint brush removes the problem, but seriously, look at this picture of Before and After the lint brushing.
  
  
  

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  Would I use this batting again?  Yes.  I do love the way it allows for the quilt to drape.  After the quilt is bound, and a good lint brushing is done, the lint will be gone and the resulting quilt will be very cuddly.  I'm glad I bought a second package to use for the Coral Reef quilt I'll be quilting next.  I just won't be wearing the black turtleneck this time when I quilt it.
  
  
  

• I divided this top into four sections that I  quilted separately, and I'm in the process of working out how to attach them all together in a single quilt.  There seem to be many schools of thought on exactly how to do this.  I'm taking them all into consideration, and forging my own way.  Is it a lot of extra work?  Yes!  However, I think the big difference is that it is not a struggle.  If I had sewn all four pieces of the top together and then quilted it as a whole, I would have been struggling the whole way.

• When working with these larger pieces, quilter's pins are invaluable.  The smaller common pins just wouldn't hack it.

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  I have a problem with tensing my shoulders when I machine quilt.  In the past, a long session of quilting would have resulted in really sore muscles the next day, but this time?  Not so much.  It turns out that throwing a ball sixty million times to a dog who wants to play non-stop Fetch is good for building up the shoulders. 
  
  
  

•  Trying to make a post using bullets is a lot harder than it looks.  Please ignore any inconsistencies. It's all about content, really, right?

Now back to quilting...

A Tale of a Whale

I’ve made progress on the first UFO on my list.

First, a little background: This quilt began as a fabric panel of an undersea scene, called Coral Reef. I selected various parts of the fabric to highlight and fussy cut them. Then I added narrow borders to each scene, and surrounded them with simple 2 inch squares of “ocean-ey” fabric.



I wanted the effect to be like you were looking into an aquarium. I showed what the original wall hanging looked like in my last post.









Here’s what the Coral Reef quilt top looks like now:

I added another row of checkerboard squares to the top and bottom, and expanded the navy blue sashing to contain them. Then I added an additional 3 inch border all the way around the top. I It’s not the wall-hanging size I had originally planned, but that’s how it goes. Sometimes quilts take on a life of their own. What used to be a 46 inch square top, now measures 54 X 74.

I didn’t have a piece of fabric big enough for a backing for this sea monster, so I ended up creating one by piecing what I had leftover from the front. Here’s what the back looks like:

(You didn’t really think I could go much longer without posting a picture of Toby, did you?)

I’m pretty happy to get going again on this quilt. Now it’s time to get out the big table and start basting.

3 UFO's for the Challenge

As I mentioned in my previous post, I've joined a UFO Challenge over at Finn's blog.  The challenge is open ended so that each quilter chooses how many projects she/he wants to finish before New Year's Eve.  I've committed myself to 3 projects, but there is one ambitious lady who has given herself the task of finishing 19!  I'll be rooting for her.

Here are the 3 projects I've decided on.  The first is my "Coral Reef" quilt:

Anyone who was reading my blog last year might remember this quilt top that I gave  to my husband for Christmas.  It started out as a wallhanging, but it had gotten so large in the process of designing it, that it was practially lap quilt size.  I waited until my husband opened it on Christmas morning to ask him if he would prefer a lap quilt, and he said that would be nice. (To his credit, he said a wallhanging would be nice too.)

I think it's time to get this top turned into a real quilt don't you?  Hopefully in time for THIS Christmas.



My second project will be to finish this quilt:

This is a twin size quilt that I am making for my daughter's boyfriend, who is a martial arts instructor.  He's currently in China right now, studying and training.  I'd like to have this one done to give him for Christmas when he returns.
 
The pattern is called "Ring Around". Right now it is pieced into four subsections which I plan to quilt separately, and then sew together afterwards, sort of a very large "quilt-as-you-go" project.

I'm waffling a bit on which project to choose as my third one, but I've settled on this one:

This green and purple Card Trick quilt top is intended to be a couch quilt for our family room.  I finished the top a long while ago, and later, in a burst of guilt-driven motivation to get it quilted I got it pin basted and ready to machine quilt, and that is how it has been for almost a year now.  (I know!)

I need to get this one actually quilted before the basting pins rust, or the couch wears out and it won't match anymore. 

So, thank you Finn, for hosting this UFO Challenge, and Good Luck to everyone else who is participating.  I hope to get all 3 of these tops quilted, and out there being used and loved, instead of sitting on top of the fabric stash.