Quilting Woes, among other things

I've had so much time this week to work on my triangle quilt along quilt.  I sat down last night after work and worked on the quilting for about two hours only to flip it over and discover......the dreaded wrinkles.  

The perfectionist in me says: "This is unacceptable.  You must remove everything and start again!  You won't love it if you don't!  That's all you'll ever notice in the quilt!!"

The realist in me says: "Big deal, so there's a wrinkle in the back.  It will take you twice and long to rip them all out and start over.  It is a handmade quilt, there are bound to be some hiccups along the way.  Accept it, learn from it, and move on."

So then the question becomes:  Do I rip out the two hours of sewing I did last night and start over to get the 'perfect' back? Or do I just accept it and move on?  What would you do?

While I was sitting at the computer contemplating my next steps and drowning in a pool of self-pity and doubt for my failure to make the perfect quilt, I had an unexpected visitor.  A bear came right up to the picture window, tore down one of our bird feeders, and proceeded to help itself to a hearty meal of sunflower seeds.  It certainly wasn't the largest bear I've ever seen but I tell you what, it scared the you-know-what out of me!  Ahh... the joys of country living.

Triangle Quilt Along - Making Progress

I finally had some time to work on my Triangle Quilt Along quilt.  Paula has graciously given us slow pokes and overachievers until July 31st for one final link up party and I'll tell you, I'm determined to meet that deadline.  I decided to spray baste this quilt since I've had trouble with pin basting on the last few projects I've done.

getting ready to baste

I picked up this fantastic Homegrown Bicycles on Cream fabric for the backing last time I was over at Keepsake Quilting.  It's the perfect amount of colorful and whimsy.  I had to piece the backing to make it large enough but I think I did a pretty good job of matching up the pattern.  From far away you won't even see the seam.

seam on backing fabric

The spray basting went really well too.  I started out by taping my backing fabric to the floor in our living room with painters tape.  Then I carefully spray basted the batting down to the backing, making sure to smooth out any wrinkles in the batting.  I used a nice, thin cotton batting that will make this quilt perfect for use on the sofa.

I always work from top to bottom in about 6 to 8 inch rows when spray basting.  It allows me to go slowly and correct any mistakes as they happen rather than getting the whole thing down and realizing there's a big wrinkle in the middle of the quilt.

In the past I've had difficulty with the quilt becoming sort of wonky and stretched as I worked but I was very careful with this one to only press and stretch top to bottom.  All those bias edges could have made for a nightmare!

I wasn't sure how I wanted to quilt this one.  Most of the ones I've seen are just following the lines of the blocks to create a diamond or triangle grid.  I wanted to do something a little different though.  I printed some isometric graph paper from this site and started sketching.  This is also where I print all of my graph paper when I want to draw out blocks or quilt patterns to visualize them before I start.  I still prefer good old graph paper over all of the fancy design programs when working out block designs.  I decided to go with some echo quilting, but in what will hopefully be an unexpected way.  

skteching designs

I got some pretty variegated purple and magenta thread to use for the quilting but neglected to capture a photo of it before I started.  It's a Coats & Clark cotton thread called Plum Shadows.  It will blend nicely in the darker ends of the quilt but really pop on top of the white, orange, green, and yellow blocks.  I'm hoping it will be nice.  My goal is to finish this quilt up this week while my husband is away on business.

quilting!

I'm linking up with Stitch by Stich for anything goes mondays.

Triangle Quilt Along - (almost) Finished Top

I know I've been pretty flaky with posting the last two weeks.  Sorry!  Things have been very busy at work and I'm starting some new training so it's going to be even more hectic.  Read: Not much energy for sewing.  I do have a partial finish to share with you.  I've been steadily plugging away at my triangle quilt top at night; averaging one row a day.  I'm not going to finish in time for the big link-up party but I'm still really happy with what I've got so far and can't wait to get the whole thing finished.   Sorry in advance for the low quality pictures courtesy of my phone and instagram.

finally sewing rows together

I got to sewing the rows together this weekend and once I got the hang of it, it went pretty quickly.  It did still take me all of Saturday (and a glass of sangria) to finish sewing them together.  I am not a "pinner".  Instead I usually try to choose patterns that don't have any points to match! Is that cheating?  This quilt, however, required LOTS of pins: one at each intersection and one in the middle of each intersection for stability.  I did manage to only stab myself a handful of times!  Yay for the small wins.

nearly done

I laid the finished quilt top out on our queen size bed (the only surface in our house large enough) once I had it all complete.  I'm in love with the overall effect!  The only thing I'm not loving right now is that it's very long and skinny; longer than our bed but just barely wider than the top.  I'm thinking I'll remove 4 of the green/yellow rows and move them to the back of the quilt to help even out the odd dimensions.

(nearly) finished quilt top.

Originally I was thinking I would leave the pointed edges along the sides but at some point I realized that the rows point the same direction.  In other words I did an even number of blocks per row instead of a odd number.  So the ends of one row both angle the same direction.  I have a feeling this is going to drive me a little bit crazy so now I'm thinking I'll just trim them square.

spring flowers

This color palette has really been on my mind recently too.  I didn't realize until I got home that I purchased flowers in the same colors as my quilt top.  I'm linking up with this weeks WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced.

Machine Quilters Exposition 2014 - Part 2

I've been slowly plugging away at my triangle quilt this week, averaging about one row per night.  I'm on row 9 of 19 at the moment so I am making good progress.  I'm really hoping I can spend a day sewing this weekend and get the whole top pulled together.

I'm also so excited because Jeni Baker from In Color Order, featured my very own yet to be named triangle quilt in her weekly favorites round up!  Ahh! Pinch me!  See there it is in position #3  (Thanks so much Jeni!).  I feel so validated and honored to be included in with these very talented ladies!

As promised, I'm back with Part 2 of our visit to the Machine Quilters Exposition (MQX) this past weekend.

This year was the first time that MQX organizers included a specifically Modern Quilting category.  There weren't many submissions this year, but I'd be willing to bet money on the fact that it's going to grow pretty quickly.

I didn't happen to catch the name of this quilt but I really loved the design and construction of it.  It looks very complicated, but in reality, they are just wonky string blocks, squared up and stitched together.  I really loved how the careful color placement made the blocks look even wonkier than the really are too, even causing some of them to break through the border.  I think this is a method of "modern improv" I could get behind.

And the close up details were fantastic.  Each block was hand quilted along with some detailed machine quilting in the border as well.

Of course I LOVED this Purple and Gold quilt.  If you're wondering why, those are the colors of Saint Michael's College, where I spent four very happy years of my life!  And you know what?  I DO Like Saint Mikes!

I liked the simple pattern of this quilt (in fact, I think I may have picked it up during Vermont Shop Hop weekend).  I also have a nice pile of these same fabrics at home that I've been waiting to cut into.  Originally I was leaning towards some crazy flying geese but I may change my mind now.

This one was called "Cold Front Meets High Pressure".  I think the maker did a wonderful job of causing the two colors to clash into one another.  Very fun and dynamic.  It's also made with mostly batiks, which I think the modern quilting world tends to shy away from as being too traditional or something, opting instead for bright solids and geometric prints.  But I think this is proof that batiks work just as well for our modern quilts.  What are your thoughts on that subject?

There was some beautiful detailed bead work on this one as well.

I'll leave you with this for now.  There are a few other things from MQX that I wanted to share with you as well.  Stay tuned & Happy Quilting!

Triangle Quilt Along - Time to Sew

It's week three of the Triangle Quilt Along, hosted by the Sassy Quilter and time to start sewing!  I spent yesterday at a Sit & Sew day with some ladies from my local quilt guild and took advantage of the time (and excessive amounts of floor space) to lay out my blocks.

When I first pulled my fabrics for this quilt I thought I'd go with a random color layout.  When I posted my picture to the Flickr pool someone suggested doing a gradient, from one color to the next and I was like "yeah, that could be kind of cool."  So I tried it.

I started with a blend of my greens and yellows in the middle then slowly radiating out into orange, pink, and finally purple on the outside.  And I love it!

One of the ladies at the Sit & Sew said it reminded her of rainbow sherbet.  I have to say, I kind of agree!

I was able to get all of my rows laid out - 19 in total with 24 pieces per row.  I might add a few more blocks to the width of the strips to square it out but that really depends on how I feel about the dimensions once I get all my rows sewn together.

The sewing was so much easier than I was expecting too.  I was so pleasantly surprised! They went quick once I had a rhythm.  I pieced the blocks into sets of two along the row, then pressed all the seams open.  Then I went back and joined the sets into one long row.  Easy-Peasy.  The hardest part was making sure I was paying attention to which direction the blocks went.  I got 4 rows done and can't wait to finish up the rest later.

I won't be doing any sewing this weekend as the annual Machine Quilters Exposition (MQX) is in town and I've managed to convince my husband that spending the day with me at a quilt show will be a perfect date.  If you're in New England, I definitely recommend this show.  It's amazing!

I'm linking up with this weeks WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced.

Happy Quilting!

Triangle Quilt Along - Time to Cut

Thank you so much for the feedback about my two color pulls for the Triangle Quilt Along, hosted by the Sassy Quilter.  I ultimately decided to go with pull #1, adding in some more purples to help round the palette out.  Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the final fabric pull before I dove into cutting triangles.  I'm using some of my absolute favorite and longest horded fabrics in this quilt.  Particularly some cherished fat quarters of Heather Ross, Mendocino (that's the mermaid fabric that is nearly impossible to find anymore).

Paula put together a great tutorial on how to use these fancy 60 degree rulers.  I've had one on my sewing table for ages (no idea where it came from) but have never used it!  But fear not, you don't need to run out and buy one of these right away to make a triangle quilt.  Paula also showed us how to cut them using the 60 degree line on a regular ruler too.  This was also my first time using starch on my fabrics before cutting, as Paula recommended.  My opinion on the stuff is not yet decided.

diving right in

stack of green triangles

To make a quilt the same size as Paula's I needed to cut 204 triangles.  At first I was like, "wow, that is going to take forever!", then I started cutting and before I knew it I'd cut 419 triangles.  Whoops.  I guess it will be a little bit bigger!

progression of colors

Now the question is: what will I do with all these scraps?  I'm thinking wonky stars!

I'm linking up with this weeks WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced.

Happy Quilting!

Triangle Quilt Along - Choosing Fabrics

Have you met Paula, The Sassy Quilter?  No?  Oh you should!  She's got some serious sass and some very cool quilts too!  She's also leading her very first Triangle Quilt Along!

We will all be joining her in making an equilateral triangle quilt (where the sides of the triangle are all the same length!) There will be some great prizes along the way too from Cotton Bliss, Fort Worth Fabric Studio, and Pink Chalk Fabrics.  Way to go Paula for rounding some great sponsors!

Well yesterday was the official kick off party and our chance to share our fabric selections.  I had pulled a really lovely bundle of oranges and yellows and greens and purples inspired by this photograph.

It's fun right?  I pulled some of my favorite Heather Ross and Japanese fabrics as well as some nice blenders.  But for some reason I wasn't absolutely itching to make a quilt with it.  So I played with the fabrics some more, took some colors out add some colors in and came up with this palette of emerald, yellows, pinks, purples and some black and white.  Also really fun!  But I'm still not sure.....

So I need your help.  Which one do YOU like better?  Let me know in the comments by voting for #1 (the first pull above) or #2 (the second pull)!  And be sure to check out Paula, The Sassy Quilter's fun new QAL adventure on Flickr and her Blog!

Happy Quilting!

Linking up with Caroline at Sew Can She for Show off Saturday.