I Finished!

On Easter Sunday I finished sewing the binding on my Under The Stars quilt.

I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

Some quilting close ups of the borders. I used the snowflakes I used on my HO, HO, HO quilt and added some loop-de-loops in between to join them together.

Around the squares in the centre I went horizontally and vertically row by row, and I went around each gold star.

In the dark blue band at the top I did a simple loop-de-loop again. I also quilted around the snowmen shapes and the big parts of their faces. Without that, they poofed up too much. With quilting the parts, there is much better definition to their faces.

I put a round label on the back that says: "Made by me, for me, then my name and the date".

I'm not sure I'd make this quilt again, or if I'll do another flannel top and bottom. I did like the mix of hand applique and sewn piecing. And the colours grew on my over time. On my current machine, quilting through two layers of flannel and batting was a bit tricky.

I've put this quilt away until next year when I'll bring it out for the couch. I refuse to accept that we have enough winter left that I still need a flannel quilt.

Quilting Update

I've been working away at quilting my Under the Stars quilt (sort of). It's not going quite as fast as I'd like - I think because it's been a bit tricky to quilt with the walking foot because it is so thick that it doesn't feed quite right.

The weather is warming up so I want to get it finished - I likely won't use it until next winter. And I refuse to start my next quilt, which I really want to get going on , before this one is finished.

So far, there is a grid quilted in all the squares and the stars are outlined. I free-motioned around the applique snowmen and did a loop-de-loop in the sky. In the green I want to do snowflakes (in grey) with swirly connectors between them - not too heavy quilting, but enough that it holds together nicely.

The light is really bad - but I'm not complaining, because it's pouring in through my sliding glass doors into the kitchen.

Snowman Update

My Under the Stars quilt is basted and I`ve started quilting. It`s going fine, but I`m not enjoying the quilting as much as I did on the last quilt I made. I think it`s because this one is really thick, with a flannel top and bottom and it doesn`t slide very easily under my presser foot. I get a bit of puckering, even using the walking foot.  It`s coming along though, so no complaints.

Right now I`m doing sid in the squares. I leave a big box around the star blocks and will stitch around the stars.

Snowman Update

There is no snow on the ground here in my part of Ontario. We've had a very mild winter, which has been kind of nice since I don't have to shovel mild weather.

The only snowmen around here are the ones on my design wall. I need to add two borders to this (that's what came in the kit), then get it basted and quilted. I'm still not sure how much I love it, but I am enjoying sewing it.

I Got To Selfish Sewing

On the weekend I finished sewing on the binding of a quilt for my niece - I'll take some photos when the sun comes out again.

Then I dug into some sewing for myself. This is a quilt I started quite a while ago. I've had the kit for ages and am getting to it now.

I started with this this afternoon

The snowmen are appliqued on - I did it by hand and I'm happy with it. I've been worried about the blocks beneath - that they would be too dark for my liking.

This was a kit and there were some fabrics I didn't like at all, like this one

and luckily I had enough squares to remove these and replace them. The fabric is all flannel - I haven't sewn an all flannel quilt ever and there are a few challenges - namely getting that thick fabric under my foot with a 1/4" seam.

By supper time I had a few rows together and I'm liking it (I think)

I won't know if this is a keeper until the top is finished. I collect snowmen, so that part is awesome (and why I bought the kit in the first place), but the other colours aren't quite to my taste. I tried to sell the kit at Monday sewing but didn't get any takers. If I don't keep it, I have other fabric on hand that I would love to cut up into this pattern. I think it is a great pattern for a winter quilt.

I've decided to try doing more handwork this year. In the evenings I like to park myself on the couch and watch tv - and my machine isn't there. So I'm thinking of doing handwork in the evenings and machine work at other times. I'll let you know how it goes.

Design Wall Monday

Here's what's up there today (well, actually on Sunday night):

Mar 3

Two of the four snowman are appliqued in the top piece - this is for  my Under the Stars quilt.
The bottom two pieces are this month's Dear Jane blocks started - I have 11 to do this month in total. We have to do 11 a month now so that we're finished piecing by the end of 2013.

I'm linking up to PatchworkTimes - check out what everyone is working on there.

Snowman #2

I had some time tonight to get a little sewing done. I added snowman #2 to the Under the Stars quilt.

 

 

Snowman #2

progress to date

Two weeks ago we got a snow day and it was glorious. Secretly, I'm hoping for another one tomorrow - so I can sew all day. If it would just get colder...

Snowman #1

Is sewn down and waiting for his friends

 

 

Under the stars progress

I've got all the applique pieces cut out and sort of prepared. I've used my usual method of freezer paper and starch but it doesn't work as well on flannel as it does on regular cotton. My turned under seam allowance pops out instead of staying under.

 

missing the eyes

So far I like it but maybe the only guy without a pompom needs one. I goofed when I got the kit - I took it apart and carefully took a photo of each fabric piece and the label. Then, while trying to organize them on my phone into an album, I erased them all. There was some swearing but I think I've got it worked out.

 

Now I need to decide how I'm going to applique the pieces to the background. The sample I saw used a machine stitched blanket stitch in black thread - but I think that looks a little too country for me.

I tried out some samples and here's what I got:

top row left - grey thread

top row right - black thread

middle row all white thread; tried the colour and played with which stitch I wanted

bottom row left taupe silk thread (what I use to hand applique)

bottom row right - hand applique so there's nothing to see

I think I'm going to go with the hand applique. My machine won't get the blanket stitch as close together as I'd like and I've shorted the stitch length as far as it will go. And I'm worried the cat might get her nails caught in them.

 

Any thoughts?

 

 

 

 

 



I've been cutting and I don't like stripes

Tonight I did some cutting for my Under the Stars quilt. It needs 156 3"x3" blocks - I just cut up all the fabric so I'm not sure how many I have. I hope I have way more than enough cause I don't like all the fabric.

Here's one of each block:

It's a little dark in the sewing room at night

I don't really like row 1, 2nd from right (red and green plaid) or row 2, second from left (red, black, white stripes). I just don't like them and hope I don't have to use them. Everything else I'm okay with or like.

Here's the thing that I learned about stripes - on the very first quilt I ever pieced - if they aren't on the straight of grain, they'll always look crooked. I don't like crooked unless it's on purpose, it makes me feel wonky and off kilter, and I think it makes me look like I can't sew a straight seam. Ironically, on this quilt, the two fabrics I don't really like are fairly straight on the grain and the other stripes are off. For this quilt, I'll call that whimsy.

M13 and a switch of direction

I finished M13 today. That is the last of the square blocks for this month. I have 2 triangle blocks to do which involve a lot of paper piecing and I don't feel like doing that right now.

M13

And I was thinking this afternoon. I'm sewing and sewing on the Dear Jane and I get 10 blocks done a month, but I don't have enough to sew into something yet, so it feels like I don't get much accomplished.

So, I decided tonight to start cutting up a flannel kit that I bought a few years ago. I've been thinking about this quilt since I moved into my new house. I want to snuggle under it in front of the fire, and since it's almost mid February, maybe I should get busy on it.

Here's the pattern:

And here's the flannel from the kit that I started cutting up:

These aren't really my colours, but I have a thing for snowmen so I'll love it anyway.