Marina

I finished my quarter log cabin quilt on Thursday, but just found no time to blog it!  I have been in house cleaning and prepping for entertaining mode for the past couple of days since I'm hosting a baby shower tomorrow.  Also, our MQG chapter spent a huge chunk of yesterday at our local children's hospital delivering quilts to babies in need.  Since my son was a preemie and in the hospital for 5 weeks, it was such a moving experience to be able to bring comfort to these families in a specific way.  All activities aside, I'm glad I finally have a few minutes to share the finish with you!

I don't know why, but the colors and shape of the blocks remind me of the bright sailboats and flags in a marina, so that's what I'm calling this one.

This quilt was a really fun one to work on.  It was a breeze to put together, and made great use of fabrics I already had sitting in my cabinet.  I don't know about you, but even though sometimes I like to use an entire collection of fabric, it feels so amazing to be able to make a whole quilt from whatever is in my stash.

I really only needed 16 different fabrics for the front of this quilt, but you know me...I always like to have some leftovers for the backing.  So I used 20 different prints, which gave me a couple of rows of blocks to round out the WOF strips on the backing.

For the binding, I used some of my favorite Denyse Schmidt navy and orange polkadot fabric.  I found it on a crazy sale awhile ago and bought a few yards to have on hand.  Blue and orange are so common in boyish fabrics that I knew it would get used up!

If you've never made a quarter log cabin and are looking for an easy, relaxing project, I highly recommend giving this pattern a try.  This quilt measures 64" x 64," and in case you missed it, I gave a little explanation in my last post on how I put the blocks together, and I included cutting diagrams there as well.

Marina is already in its new home, in the reading nook of a friend's son.  It makes me happy to imagine him snuggled up with it, along with his favorite book.

Another Monster Quilt

I finished the quilt top yesterday for the friend who loved my Hopscotch quilt, but wanted a queen sized one.  This one is not exactly the same, but is pretty similar.

With a little more orange than Hopscotch and no navy at all, the overall effect is that the quilt is brighter.  I like it a lot and I hope they do too!  In person, the quilt does actually have a lot of blue in it, but for some reason in the picture, the oranges and greens are really jumping out.

I'm working on quilting it right now, and every time I quilt one this big I just feel like I'm drowning in quilt.  This one is 80x100.  No matter how much table space I have set up, I never feel like it is quite enough.  Of course, it's always these big ones that I'm the proudest of.  Even still, it feels a little bit weird to do two such similar quilts with so many of the same fabrics back to back.  

How about you?  Do you like to repeat designs or colors or do you always try to do something different each time?

Improv Pieced Backing- Sunning by the Pool

In the spirit of resourcefulness, (and since the top was made from leftovers as well), I decided to piece the backing for my Giant Log Cabin Quilt entirely from stash.  Since the whole attitude of this quilt has been "just grab and sew" I decided to try my hand at improvisational piecing.  This means I didn't touch my rotary cutter and I didn't measure anything during this process.  Check it out!

(Click HERE for the tutorial for the quilt top if you missed it!  Grab and sew is a beautiful thing!)

I'm pleased with the end result, but I must say, it was a bit harrowing!  When piecing the quilt top, I at least knew where I was going with it, and which direction I needed to sew.  This totally "willy-nilly" way of sewing is something that will take some getting used to.

Basting with this improv backing was also a little (okay, very) tricky, and I dislike basting on the best of days.  Since I was sewing some irregular pieces, my seams weren't 100% perfect (shhhh...don't tell the quilt police!) which made taping the back down without wrinkles a real pain in the behind.  I just kept plugging along though, pulling and smoothing in every direction.  If you've seen Finding Nemo, you'll understand what I mean when I say that "just keep smoothing...just keep smoothing" was running through my head.  All in all, the whole taping down the back ordeal took over an hour!

I ended up getting it decently smooth-not smooth by my usual standards, but sometimes you have to realize your limitations.  So, I decided to quilt in squares radiating out from the center of the quilt.  I have found that to be one of the best quilting patterns to outwit the puckers that always try to make their way onto my quilt when my backing isn't completely perfect- and it worked!  Victory over puckers, those little devils!

After all of that, look what I managed to do on the binding-

Sometimes you're the windshield, and sometimes you're the bug I guess.  I cannot believe I did that!  Seriously!  How did that happen?  I swear I cut my strips in the same direction.  Too bad I didn't even notice it until the binding was completely on the quilt, while I was outside taking pictures.  

Let this be a cautionary tale- if you're using a directional print for the binding, always make sure it's going the same direction in each binding strip!  (it's best to recognize this before the quilt is finished) 

I decided to call this one Sunning by the Pool.  The oranges remind me of umbrellas and beach towels against the clear blue water of a swimming pool.

By the way, I did succeed in my goal of making a quilt from start to finish only using things I had on hand!  Maybe that means I tend overbuy fabric for my projects?  hmmm...  Still that's definitely a win for me, and after the backing and binding fiascos, I'll take it!

Giant Log Cabin Quilt Tutorial

Last week, I made Ring Around the Rosy, my first Giant Log Cabin quilt, and it was so fast, I turned right around and made another one!  This time though, I took pictures along the way so I could share the method with you.

I love quilts with lots of fabric variety, but that means that I have lots of fabric leftover sometimes.  That was certainly the case here.  You'll probably recognize these fabrics as the same that were in wild thing's birthday quilt, Sailing at Sunset.  They were already cut and just sitting in my fabric cabinet, but I left them there until after giving wild thing his quilt, so I wouldn't spoil the surprise.  Now that he has his quilt, this fabric was fair game!

I've seen Giant Log Cabin quilts before, but this is a little different, in that I'm using different fabrics to make up each "log strip" rather than one continuous fabric.  For me, this means that I get to use a much wider variety of fabric, and the look is more random, which I love.

Start by cutting a single square, any size you want.  For this quilt, I cut my square at 6.5 inches, but for Ring Around the Rosy I was using fat eighths, so I used a 9 inch square.  Cut the rest of your fabrics at a uniform width and arrange by color for easy grabbing.

In both of my Giant Log Cabin Quilts, I used 4.5 inch strips.  Fat eighths work great here because you can just cut them in half lengthwise!    The strips can be varying lengths.  Keep in mind that this log cabin design is really just a piecing method, and if you choose shorter pieces, as I did here, it won't look as much like a traditional log cabin block.  That's okay by me!  I happen to love the look either way- sometimes you just have to use what you've got in your stash!

Begin piecing your strips around your center square in a spiral, log cabin style.

When you sew a piece that is longer than your block, just trim it off- simple!

When you get to a side that is longer than any single strip, just quickly grab and piece a few together.  Just take a look at the fabrics they will be against, and try to choose contrasting ones.  Don't stress too much about it, the quilt will look great as long as there's some variety!

Keep on sewing around and around, and watch your quilt top form in minutes!  Now, inevitably you'll piece a few strips together and they won't quite be long enough.  Oops!

No big deal!  Just add another piece and keep on going!  Sew to each side until you reach your desired quilt size.  Just be sure that you have equal strips all around the center square, or it won't be centered.

There are lots of variations so you can make it your own!  Here are a few-

*start with a rectangle instead of a square if you want a rectangular quilt

*vary the width of the strips- this would be a cool use for a jelly roll!

*vary the width of the strips from layer to layer

*vary the size of the center square, or make the center square a pieced block

*vary the fabrics, but make each layer with fabrics in the same color family

*purposely add strips unequally around the center for a modern, off-centered square

This quilt is so speedy and so forgiving, it's easy to adapt to whatever fabric you happen to have on hand!  This is a fun, no-stress quilt!

Have quilty fun!

Wild Thing and His Birthday Quilt

Today is wild thing's 9th birthday, but since we have a baseball tournament all weekend, we ended up celebrating his birthday a few days ago.  He logically presented his case that he deserved his birthday gift then, and since I'm not the greatest secret-keeper, of course I let him have it!

He thought the entire idea of posing with the quilt outside was hilarious and could not stop giggling.

He was totally surprised, since he usually sees all of my projects in process.  When I told him how I managed to make Sailing at Sunset in one day without his knowledge, he just cracked up laughing that I was able to pull one over on him.  That kid just melts my heart.

There are so many joys of being a mom, but one of the greatest has to be seeing something that I created bring him so much happiness.  He loves the quilt for what it is, and he loves it because I made it.  Since he's had the quilt, if we have been at home, the quilt has been by his side or wrapped around him.  I'm so glad that even at nine years old, he's still not too old to love snuggling up in one of Mommy's quilts- and I know that I will never tire of seeing it either.

Birthday Boy Quilt- Sailing at Sunset

Well, I finished my wild thing's birthday quilt.  As I mentioned in my last post, he and my wonderful husband were heading out of town for an overnight trip, and I jumped on the opportunity to make a quilt for him without his knowledge.  Yes...yes...  I could have just worked on it for nights on end after he went to bed, and cleaned up all evidence every night before going to bed myself, but hey- that's just not how I roll.  Of course, that means that I had to sew like a mad-woman to get it pieced, quilted, and bound within the span of less than 36 hours (sleep optional)- 

even if I did choose a really simple pattern.  

Here it is all finished!  I'm calling it Sailing at Sunset, since the colors remind me of the ocean when it is most beautiful, and because there are a few nautical-themed fabrics mixed in.

Marathon sewing aside, I'm really proud of this quilt for a few reasons.  

1.  I've been quilting off and on for almost 15 years, but before this quilt, I have never done a pieced backing.  It's not that I don't know how to do one, it's just that by the time the top is all finished, I'm ready to get on with the quilting part and get it done.  After seeing lots of awesome pieced backings all over the blogosphere (thanks for the inspiration!), I decided to take the plunge and do one myself.  

The backing-

 2.  Until this quilt, I've never done a binding.  What's that you say?  No binding?  How did I finish the edges of my quilts?  Well, I used the method used by my grandmother, which is called "back over binding."  This method involves leaving the backing a couple of inches wider than the quilt top all the way around, and you simply fold it over, tuck the raw edge, and stitch it down, either by hand or machine.  This works great if you've chosen a backing that isn't too busy and will look great against the pattern of the quilt top.  Alas, the backing I wanted to do would not have looked good on the front side, so I had to learn a new skill!  All in all, I'm happy with it, even though my corners don't look perfect- darn that mitering!

3.  My FMQ is getting so much better.  I didn't have a single crossover in my stippling on this quilt (yay!  personal victory!), and I felt really relaxed while quilting.  Usually, I feel tense while quilting, and as a result I don't think my curves are as smooth as they should be.  I know I've mentioned that FMQ is still a new skill I'm working to perfect, and I've had one or two crossovers in each of my last quilts.  In this one- not a single one.  I'm also working on more even spacing of my meandering lines.  It's hard to take a picture of all this, but here's my best shot (no pun intended, lol!).

Check out the label I added to the back.  You can see the quilting pretty well in this picture too.  To apply the label, I used spray basting to hold it in place, and then appliqued it to the backing after basting, but before quilting (so the stitches wouldn't show on the front of the quilt) with a zig-zag stitch.  Have I mentioned that I really dislike hand sewing?  I find it tedious, and I don't think that my stitches are as strong as machine stitching.  Believe me, if I can find a way to do something on the machine, I will NEVER choose to do it by hand.  

and because I can't help it, I'm going to include a picture of my Boxer Beau, who takes every opportunity to visit me and forces me to take breaks.  He's pretty persistent!  :)

I actually managed to finish this quilt (from cut pieces to finished quilt) in about 18 hours!  Well before my husband and wild thing are due to arrive home.  Now, we'll have to see if I can actually make it to June 8th before giving the quilt to him.  I'm not a great secret keeper, and I love giving gifts that I know will be loved, so it's going to be tough!  I can't wait to see him snuggled up with it!  I love that even though he's almost nine, he still loves Mommy's quilts.  :)