WIP Wednesday: Quilty Fun and FMQ

I finished two baby quilts this past weekend. I'll be sharing those with you later this week. Three finishes in one month...I don't think that has ever happened to me before! It was the perfect storm of the husband being out of the country for a few weeks, followed by him being really busy with schoolwork (and me leaving the house a mess/not cooking). ;)

Besides the baby quilts, I have been working on two other projects:

1. Quilty Fun

The Quilty Fun quilt has been such a joy to work on. Lori's enthusiasm for sewing is contagious and it really shines through in her writing. The above picture is the left side of the quilt. My favorite block grouping is the quarter square triangle set in the middle. I would love a whole quilt with that block in those exact same colors. I'd probably make the blocks a tad bigger though!

I felt like the little jumping gnome in the blue house when I saw that it was "Neighborhood Houses" week! The house blocks are so adorable. You can see everyone else's blocks at the sew along's Flickr group.

2. Free Motion Quilting

I have also been practicing FMQ. I am loosely following along with the Free Motion Quilting a Sampler class on Craftsy.  I won't ugly up your feed with my unphotogenic practice sandwiches, but I uploaded them to Flickr. In a few years, I hope that I will be able look back at those pictures and see how far my quilting has come. It is really addictive. I intended to just quilt one practice sandwich to see how went, but I ended up going until I ran out of solid fabric!

Like I've told a few of you before, my experience with FMQing is much like my experience driving in Mario Kart: I can't stay on the path and I have no idea where I am going! My stitching flows better when I am thinking about anything except quilting. I guess that is where the recommendations to drink wine come in!

The picture above is last thing I quilted. I am starting to get the hang of it and I feel a little more comfortable about trying it on an actual quilt now. My plan is to do a few more practice sandwiches and then I am going to quilt a Jelly Roll Jam quilt. The Jelly Roll Jam quilt is small and print-heavy. It was such a quick make that I won't be too upset about any mistakes!

I am also reading First Steps to Free-Motion Quilting by Christina Cameli. In addition to FMQ instructions and advice, the book features non-fussy projects to practice your quilting on. The Wiggle Bottom cushion is the first project in the book. It is fun project, because you can practice different designs on each strip. I'm looking forward to doing more projects from the book as my skills improve.

I'll be continuing the Quilty Fun and FMQ projects this coming week. I also hope to make some progress on the Zig Zag Love quilt top.

First Finish of the Year: Patchwork Prism

Patchwork Prism | 70"x76"

I have fallen out of love with a few of the quilts I made during my first year of sewing, but I think the Patchwork Prism will always have my heart. This quilt represents one of my favorite things about quilting: being surrounded by beautiful colors all the time!

This quilt was made using Anna Maria Horner's absolutely gorgeous Patchwork Prism pattern. The pattern is available for free on AMH's website. I started this quilt top in May 2012, during the Patchwork Prism QAL. I obviously did not finish in time for the final link-up!

This scrappy quilt actually ended up creating more scrap material than it used. My scrap bin wasn't exactly overflowing at the time, so I ordered a couple of scrap packs from Hawthorne Threads to supplement my stash material. I really wanted to make this quilt!

As with many scrap quilts, the most time consuming part was all of the cutting. I cut the triangles in the most inefficient way possible and I am still finding fabric with triangle cutouts! I should have cut appropriately sized squares that could have been stacked and cut into multiple triangles at once. I used template plastic, but if I were to make another Patchwork Prism I would make it work with the Hex n More ruler or use the freezer paper method. I had great luck with printing and using freezer paper templates for the Best Friends quilt top.

This was my first experience sewing triangle blocks and sewing them was a little bit tricky at first.  If you haven't made a triangle quilt before, there are fantastic tutorials for cutting & sewing them at On the Windy Side and Sew Fresh Quilts.

The backing is Kona Charcoal, plus some grey and white scraps. At the time of quilt top completion, I was not sure how to translate my idea for backing into reality. I wanted it to be mostly solid, but I also wanted to echo a few of the hexagon shapes from the front. After more than a year of procrastination, it actually only took me a few hours to finish the backing!

I drew out the hexagon placement on the pattern's color map.  The original plan was to use colorful fabric for the hexagons, but I eventually decided on a monochromatic gray color scheme to create more contrast with the front. I cut the triangles to the appropriate size with the Hex N More ruler. In order to have the left side extend past the quilt top for basting, the four gray pieces at the edge of the quilt are rectangles with a 60° angle cut on one side.

I made three separate square blocks: big hexagon, medium hexagon and small hexagon. I joined the square blocks with big pieces of solid fabric, being careful to match the sizing of the front. I ended up moving the big hexagon up a row, so my original goal of the quilting lining up with both front and back fell to the wayside. I did get pretty close on the medium and small hexagons though!

The batting is Pellon Nature’s Touch 100% Cotton Batting. I chose this batting because the quilting distance can be up to 8"-10" apart. I had used it previously with the Starburst quilt.

For thread, I used Aurifil 50wt Medium Gray (2605). The medium gray thread struck a nice balance between the dark-colored back and the medium-colored front. It looked a little dark on the yellow fabric, but the contrast became less noticeable once I washed it and the fabric puffed up around the stitching.

I quilted 1/4"ish away from both sides of the seams. My piecing wasn't super precise, so I had to mark the lines on the quilt top instead of using my seams as guidelines. After working on baby quilts for the past few months, I forgot how unwieldy these larger quilts could be!

Post-Wash

The binding is Endless Chains in Teal from Pat Bravo's Alhambra II. I felt that a binding that contrasted with the quilt top too much would be distracting, so I chose a greenish blue that would blend with outer colors. I also like that it has a touch of warm yellow!

I have really enjoyed having the Simply Color 28wt thread collection on hand. I use 28wt thread to hand sew the binding to the back of the quilt. It is heavy enough that it feels really secure, but not so heavy that it is super visible or makes sewing the binding onerous. This thread collection coordinates with the binding colors I tend to use, so it has been so convenient to have these colors all in one box! For this quilt I used Aurifil Pale Turquoise Blue (5006), the last spool on the second row.

I love this quilt and I am so glad that I can use it now! You can see more Patchwork Prisms at the Janome + Anna Maria Horner Flickr group. It is fun to see all the different interpretations!

The two Backyard Baby quilts from my Finish Along 2014 Quarter 1 List are almost done. One is waiting for binding and the other is waiting for quilting. This may be the year of the finish after all!

This quilt is part of my Finish Along 2014 Quarter 1 List. I am linking up with Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts and with Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday which is being hosted at Quilt Matters this week!

Finish Along 2014 Quarter 1 - To Finish List

I want to complete 5 projects for the first quarter of the 2014 Finish Along. Three of those projects are baby quilts, so I think this goal may be attainable! The 2014 Finish Along is being hosted by the fabulous Katy at The Littlest Thistle.  As of this posting, there are still a few more hours to link up (it is closed now).

1.  Charley Harper/Botanics Baby Quilt- This quilt top has been taking up valuable floor space for a month and a half. :) This should be a quick finish. The back will have some simple piecing and I'll be quilting straight lines around the seams. Status: Quilt top is done

Two birds, one stone:
2. Baby Equilateral Triangle Quilt- This quilt for a friend has been on my list for a long time. So long, that the baby is already a year old! Status: The pieces are cut.
3. Baby Plus Quilt - This quilt for my husband's coworker has only been on my list since early last year and the baby is due any day now. I am using the same fabric, so I have been cutting the pieces at the same time. Status: The pieces are cut.

4. Zig Zag Love - There is really no urgency with this one, but I stopped halfway through piecing and I have a mess of 1.5" berry squares all over the place! I want to finish this before I lose all the pieces! Status: Half of the piecing is done.

5. Patchwork Prism - An oldie, but a goodie! I finished this top in October 2012 and it has been tucked away in a drawer ever since! I love this quilt and I really want to use it! My idea for the back has been holding me up. Status: Quilt top is finished.

Hopefully I won't get distracted by any shiny new projects or QALs in the next 3 months. ;) Good luck to all who linked up with the FAL this quarter!