FO: Whole Cloth Quilt

Way back when, I planned to blog the process of this project... Oops! When I found out I was pregnant I pulled this quilt out of hibernation and finished it off.

I still think that the whole cloth quilt is a great idea, though I would pick a print with fewer short lines to quilt. I'm also thinking this would be a great technique for practicing my free motion quilting skills. If I ever pull out my sewing machine, I'll give it a try!

For now, I'll just keep playing with this little lady and hoping she starts napping better someday. 

Star Wreath Quilt

Taking a break from my pre-vacation house deep-cleaning and packing to share pics of the finished quilt!



I'm so so so happy with how this turned out. The design is based on this pattern, using bright kid-friendly colors. This was my first real experience with free-motion quilting (aside form a little 12"x12" wall hanging), and I feel like I learned so much during the process! At this angle, you can see the nice texture from the quilting



I decided to do a variety of quilting designs on this quilt, to practice many different ways of free-motion quilting. I started with a basic wobbly meander in the green areas of the wreath



Next, I did a sort-of paisley-ish design in the orange parts



Then I did a pebble stitch in the yellow area. I really love this look, but this stitch seemed to take way longer... maybe also because there's so much yellow.



Next, I did heart echo pattern in the middle of the purple star, and those weird snakey things in the purple star points. I don't really like the weird snake-looking things, but they don't bug me enough to rip them out. :-/



Finally, I did the loopy-meander in the blue sections. This was probably my favorite stitch. Also, it seemed the easiest... maybe because it was the last one.



For the back, I used paper-piecing for my niece's name, Jiya. When I saw that stripe fabric, it was love at first sight--I think it makes a fun back for this quilt.




The binding is a cheery orange with yellow flowers



In lieu of a label, I wrote on the back of the quilt with fine-tipped permanent fabric marker. :)



As with all gift-giving, I know that once I give this away, I need to let it go (as I did with the first blanket I made for her.... which is lost and gone forever in the Indian postal system). I do really hope she likes it, though! I have such fond memories of my blankets as a little kid--I hope this can be that kind of thing for my niece. And this time I'll be hand-delivering it--so I don't have to worry about it getting there in the mail!

Hello Fall

Leaves are turning, the sky is grey. Rain is in the forecast. It's fall! AKA the beginning of wool season.




Thought I'd share a bit about our summer quilt before I pack it away.





Made from two thrifted queen-size sheets, with cotton batting, and fun contrast binding. I quilted this in straight diagonal lines and diamond shapes with three different colors of thread. The quilting was actually done last summer, but I dawdled on the binding, and didn't do that step until early this summer.



I particularly love the binding fabric, "Damask Dot" in pomegranate by Tula Pink. Like pixelated art. Now time to pack this away until next year.

Love this great window spider web at the art store in our 'hood. Just masking tape--what a great idea!

Peer Pressure

I never felt pressured to use drugs, steal, cut school. The only "peer pressure" I felt was to keep my grades up. But that was nothing compared to the baby boom that is happening around me. I'm not sure if it's just specific to my circle, or more generalized to the broad world, but I can count more than 20 people who have had or are having babies this year! Craziness!

I've been working on a few small projects for these small people that are popping up, including this crocheted blanket which I mailed off to my friend Kathleen.



Yarn: Knit Picks Comfy Worsted
Pattern: Improvised (ravelry project page)

My crochet skills were a bit rusty, which resulted in a bit of gauge wonkiness for the first few inches of the blanket (see lower edge curving out in pic below), but hopefully baby won't notice! The pattern was improvised--simple and quick. The yarn seems like it will be a great baby yarn--soft, easy care. I hope that it holds up to multiple washes.



I've got another knit/crochet blanket or two in the works, plus this quilt that I'm making for my niece's 1st birthday. The pattern was adapted from something I saw online, and I'm working on free-motion quilting the top. I'm still climbing the FMQ learning curve, but things are going better and better.



I've also been working on some smaller items, most recently a baby surprise jacket and pebble vest that are each lacking buttons.



yarn: Schoppel-Wolle Crazy Zauberball
pattern: Baby Surprise Jacket (ravelry page)



yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed
pattern: Pebble (ravelry page)

Love the quick gratification of baby garments, especially these two, which don't look bigger than newborn size--seriously, they're so small! Now to find the best buttons for each, and perhaps to make coordinating booties/hats so that I'll have gifts all ready when I need them. :)

Quilting practice

Despite having learned to quilt at the wee age of 8, I still feel like a total novice when it comes to machine quilting. I've done some walking-foot quilting, and a smidgen of (awful) free motion quilting, but this is remains a skill-set that I need to develop. When I was helping my sister pack for her cross-country move last summer, we came across a table runner project that she'd stalled out on after piecing the top. I saw this opportunity to practice my machine quilting and volunteered to finish the table runner for her.



I considered doing some free-motion quilting in this project, but in the end I chose the easier option--straight lines. It's fun to practice on projects that you plan to give away.... so that you won't be looking at the mistakes for the rest of your life. :)

I still need to practice free-motion quilting, but no plans for that right now.

FO: LOVE wallhanging

I put the finishing touches on the LOVE wallhanging a couple weeks ago and it is currently winging its way to western Africa.



You can see the quilting better in that above shot. This below shot shows the color a bit truer.



(Maybe I would get better pictures if I took them someplace besides the guest room shower...)

My second real foray into free motion quilting, and I'm moderately pleased with the result, though I still feel like I'm at the bottom of the learning curve. I did include a bit of a hidden message:



Can you see it there? KH + MD :)

Let me say, what I lack in free motion quilting skills, I think I make up for in binding skillz. I should have taken some pics, but I used black binding, and it probably wouldn't have photographed well. Just take my word for it.

2009 Recap

Before I start sharing some finished objects from 2010, I wanted to do a little recap post of the things I made in 2009.

1. Hoppin' shoppin' bag, 2. Heart shawl, 3. Yellow-Brown Hat, 4. Traveler's Stockings, 5. Purple cardi, 6. Flaming Nuts, 7. surprise--it's a baby jacket!, 8. Hey Buttercup, 9. IMG_2330, 10. Spring Ruffle Top, 11. Eunice socks, 12. Lemon leaves socks, 13. Purple Pangea Shawl, 14. Placemat and napkin, 15. Minty Cowl, 16. School Spirit Hat, 17. IMG_1315, 18. IMG_2992, 19. Natura Paraphernalia, 20. IMG_2331, 21. IMG_1304, 22. Wee socks, 23. St Patty's Day Socks, 24. Red sixteen-point tee, 25. Melisa's b-day mits, 26. Kiddo PJ pants, 27. Noro sweater--all done!, 28. IMG_1309, 29. Bee Fields Shawl, 30. IMG_1312, 31. Blue cardi all done!, 32. vests, 33. Baby Sweater of Many Colors, 34. Greenery hat, 35. Pouches, 36. Slippers

That's a random sampling of the things I made this past year. I accomplished some things I'm proud of--learned machine quilting, tried steeking for the first time, knit some sweaters I'll actually wear (and some I won't), further developed my love for lace knitting, worked a fair aisle project. I don't have any specific goals for 2010. I just hope to further develop my skills and enjoy the process.

Something blue...

The Sea Blue Sea quilt is all done! I quilted it in waves using free motion quilting and I'm pleased with how it came out. You can see the waves in this pre-wash pic, with the blue water-sol marker still on the quilt.

Things I like about this quilt: 1) It's the perfect snuggle-on-the-couch size; 2) The back is pieced for added interest; 3) The binding is a mixture of all the fabrics used in the squares. Things I'm not too pleased with: 1) My free-motion quilting skillz, or lack thereof; 2) The amount of time it took to sew on the binding on the back of the quilt.

This is going to a 1 year anniversary gift for a special blue-loving couple. The quilting went pretty quickly: 2 episodes of Radio Lab (60 min each), all of Radiohead's In Rainbows and most of The Shins' Wincing the Night Away (appropriate since I was finishing it up around 10:30pm). In that pic above you can kinda see a little yellow thing in the top right corner of the quilt--that's a pin marking a small hole in the fabric that I spied while sewing on the binding. No idea where this hole came from, but I'm going to cover it up with the label (which I have yet to make).

In other sewing news, I whipped up a little headband just now.

After seeing this type of headband popping up on other blogs, I decided to make one. People have been using the pattern in Weekend Sewing, but I kind of improvised mine. The main piece is a rectangle 17x4.25", the elastic casing is a rectangle 8x1.5" and the elastic was about 5" long, but sewn with about .5" seam allowance on both sides.

No knitting news--I have a slew of things in progress, but hopefully I'll finish some of them in the near future so I can share them with you.