Sew Thinky Thursday: Something Meaningful

This week's question for Sew Thinky Thursday is:

What is the most meaningful thing you've ever made?

I should probably tell you that the most meaningful thing I've made was something for one of my kids (wait a minute - do kids count as "something meaningful I've made"?), but I really haven't made anything specifically for them, other than a few bibs and their growth charts.  I made a few baby quilts before they were born, but it's not quite the same when you don't even know what your baby's gender is yet. ;)

So far, the quilt that has meant the most to me is the Fandango quilt I made for my in-laws (My apologies to all those who have already seen this about a hundred times).

I worked on this quilt for a really long time (not having a deadline helps), so it was a big part of my life for awhile.  

I deliberated for a long time on fabric choices and then placement.  I really wanted this quilt to match the in-laws bedroom, as well as their personalities.  I think the deliberation payed off, because it fits in perfectly on their bed (despite the fact that it's a tad short - sigh).

I even ventured outside of my norm and tried some fancy quilting, which turned out great! 

The in-laws love it, which makes me super happy.  I am lucky to have amazing in-laws.  They have been so great to embrace me as an extra daughter and immerse me in their family.  They have taught me a lot about how to be a better person and how to have fun.  I really felt like they deserved something special, so this quilt was made with lots of love.

I still feel bad that it never got a proper photo shoot, these pictures don't do it justice.  Either way, it is one of my most favorite quilts ever. 

Blogger's Quilt Festival: The Fandango Quilt

Hi!  Welcome to any newcomers visiting for the Bloggers Quilt Festival!

This is my entry this fall:

I call it my Fandango quilt.  Because I made it with Kate Spain's Fandango fabric.  I'm super awesome at naming quilts. 

I made this for my in-laws who are amazing people.  I wanted to make them something special for their anniversary.  I searched and searched for the perfect fabric and I love what I ended up with!  This quilt is on their bed right now (it's a BIG one) and it matches their bedroom perfectly!

Sorry about the funky pictures.  That's what happens when you finish the quilt hours before you plan to deliver it...  Don't we all do that now and then?

I quilted this quilt using a modified quilt-as-you-go method.  Basically, I broke the quilt down into 5 sections, quilted them, and then attached the sections by machine on the front and by hand on the back.

I love that I was able to quilt such a big quilt with such freedom!  I chose to quilt swirls in all of the frame boxes.  For the full boxes, I echoed the design of the fabric.  I think the back of this quilt looks so cool! 

The binding is scrappy, using leftover fabrics from the front.  I pieced four extra blocks into the back, with the rest of my light solid and some darker solid. 

This quilt was a ton of work, but I loved every minute of it!  It took a long time to complete, but I knew my in-laws would appreciate it.  And they did!  They sent me a super nice thank you card the day after they received it.

Quilt stats:

Finished size:  91" x 76"

Quilted by: ME!

Techniques used:  Regular piecing, modified QAYG quilting, bound by machine

Best Categories:  Bed Quilt, Home Machine Quilted Quilt

Festival #: 248

Now go check out all the other fantastic entries!

Finished Fandango Quilt!

This quilt is definitely my favorite one yet!  And it's been a long time coming!

After I finished my first big quilt in April 2011, I decided I needed to make another big quilt.  Something functional that someone could use on their bed.  Unfortunately, I didn't have any siblings getting married anytime soon, and a big bed sized quilt needed a big event.  So I decided to make something for my in-laws, since their 30 year anniversary was coming up.  That's a pretty big event, right?  Besides, my in-laws are pretty much the awesomest people ever and they deserve something special.
And now - two weddings and three babies later, I have finally finished their quilt, and just in the nick of time!

I had found a picture of this quilt block somewhere online - although this was before I had even heard of Pinterest, so I have NO IDEA where the image came from!  If anyone knows who designed this block, let me know and I will credit them.
***EDIT***  I FOUND IT!  This pattern is from the book "Modern Quilt Workshop"  by Bill Kerr and Weeks Ringle.

I spent weeks and weeks trying to find the perfect fabric.  The in-laws' bedroom has a lot of blue and white in it and I wanted something pretty but not old fashioned.  I finally settled on this Fandango fabric by Kate Spain.  Hence the creative name of the quilt.

You can read more about the process of creating this quilt HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE. 

I quilted this using a "Quilt-as-you-go" (QAYG) method.  Basically, I divided the quilt into 5 sections, quilted each section, and then attached the sections.  I used a wider sashing than is normal for QAYG, because I wanted the front to look more cohesive.  I think it worked, but the QAYG sashing on the back is really obvious.  Ah well.  I still think this is be best quilting I have ever done!  I never could have done it with the drag of an entire queen size quilt!

I quilted straight lines in all the solid spots, spirals in the border boxes, and I outlined the design of the fabric in the full boxes.  I LOVE how it looks on the back!!

Here you can see my QAYG sashing (where I attached the quilted sections).  I sewed them together by machine on the top and on one side of the back peices, then I packed the quilt with us in the car on our way to our cabin and sewed the sashing down on the back the same way you would sew binding down by hand.  If that doesn't make sense, THIS tutorial matches what I did the closest (I just attached larger sections, rather than individual blocks). 

I added my four extra blocks to the back, as well as a strip of the light fabric, since I didn't have enough of the darker backing.  Hubby thinks it looks funny.  I think it looks modern. :)

Before putting on the binding, I tried out the quilt on our bed to see if it was big enough.  It was pretty big, but I wish it was just a little wider.

This is what happens when you flip it the other way.  Too short.  It was a dilemma.  I had worked so hard on this quilt that I didn't want it to be unable to fulfill its purpose.  Since the quilt was already quilted, I didn't want to try adding another border or anything.  I decided to try adding a wide ruffle to the sides to give it more width.

But then I ended up hating it.  This picture shows the back, because the front was too embarrassing to show.  It was puffy from trying to turn the top of the quilt over the thick seam created by sewing the ruffle on.
Long story short, I bagged the ruffle.  I convinced my husband to admit that the ruffle looked silly anyway.  So instead I have a quilt that just might not be quite wide enough.  Oh well - we'll see what my in-laws decide to do with it. :)

For the binding, I grabbed every scrap of Fandango fabric I had and pieced it together to make a scrappy, yet matching binding.  The only problem was that most of my scraps were just under two inches wide.  So I went ahead and cut them all to a measly 1 3/4 inches (as opposed to my usual comfortable 2 1/2 inches) and sewed them together.  I figured I would just make it work, or else sew the binding on by hand like I did with my twin rainbow quilts.  But then I realized that was absolutely crazy.  So I turned my binding into single fold binding and sewed it all on by machine.  MUCH better than attempting skinny binding, although I hope it holds up!

And there you have it!  This baby is finally finished and living with its new owners!  (Of course, I finished the binding about an hour before I planned to give it to them, so there wasn't much of a chance to get good pictures - hence the funny shadows under the tree.  I know it makes it hard to see, but that's the best I could get...).  Anyway - the in-laws loved it and I got a very sweet thank you card two days later.  I'm so glad they liked it!
Now.  What's next? 

Quilt stats:

Started: July, 2011

Finished: August 4, 2012

Fabrics: Fandango by Kate Spain

Finished size:  91x76 (smaller than expected - by about 5 inches)

Recipient:  Hubby's parents - for their 30 year wedding anniversary on August 5, 2012

Previous posts can be found HERE and HERE and HERE.

I'm pretty proud of this quilt - it's definitely one I would hang "at the end of the hallway" and stare at for awhile if I could.  So I'm going linking up to Kati's link party.

I am also adding this quilt to the Kate Spain Blog Hop linky going on over at Blossom Heart Quilts.  Thanks Alyce!

 

WIP: The beginning of the Sunburst Quilt

I have some works in progress to report this week!  Wahoo!  Summer is so close I can taste it!  There are only two more days of school left and I took today and yesterday off because my babysitter had graduations to attend.  It has been so nice to stay home with my boys (they are getting so big and are tons of fun to hang out with!) and do a little bit of sewing during their nap times.

I have lots to do in the next few months!  We have a wedding, an anniversary, and a new baby coming soon.  Things are starting to move along on the wedding quilt I am making.  I originally thought about making a Sparkle Punch quilt using this awesome bundle of fabrics that I won from Kati.

(Picture borrowed from Brenda at PinkCastle Fabrics.com)

 I thought it would be perfect for a colorful quilt - my favorite!  But the bride requested something modern with green and brown.  So have something else planned.  It's going to be really cool - totally different than anything I have EVER done.  I can't wait to show you more as I make more progress!  Here is what I have so far:

I also did some work on my Fandango quilt.  I have *almost* three sections quilted.  Only two more sections to go!

AND I made a bunch of burp cloths over the past few weeks.  It feels nice to get back into things again.

I'm linking up this week!

WIP: Fandango quilting

I've been a little MIA lately.  I had to go back to work three weeks ago and suddenly there is no time for quilting!  However, we are on Spring Break right now so I am trying to get some things done.  The boys have been really good lately, which helps!

I decided to quilt my Fandango quilt in sections.  I pieced the top into 5 smaller chunks and I plan to quilt each chunk, then use the quilt-as-you-go method to attach the larger pieces.  So far it is working out pretty well!  I have been quilting straight lines in all of the neutral spaces and all that stopping and turning would have been impossible with a bigger quilt.  I think it's going to work out great.

This is as far as I have gotten on section A:

 

Hopefully I can make lots of progress before school starts again next week!  I have another sister getting married and a nephew coming in August, but I like to do one project at a time, so it will be great to finish this and get started on something new! 

UPDATE!  I finished quilting this whole section.  I did some swirls in the border boxes and I traced the design of the fabric in the bigger pieces.  I like it!

Thanks to Lee for motivating me enough to have at least something to share for WIP Wednesdays!

Mini-Quilt!

Last week I made a commitment to Amy that I would finish this project.  I wasn't sure if I would be able to do it, what with the three month old twins and all.  But it turns out that all I had to do was step away from the computer and just work on it whenever I had a few minutes.  And I finished it with a couple of days to spare!  Wahoo!  To see what other people finished last week, check out the link:

And here's what I did last week:

I made a mini!

I'm thinking of trying the quilt-as-you-go method for quilting my Fandango quilt, since it is going to be another huge one.  However, I've never done it before so I decided to make a mini quilt to test my skills.  It was also a good chance for me to try a couple different quilting styles to see which one I liked best.  So I made mini "out of the box" blocks to practice on, using some fabric from my stash. 
I knew I wanted to quilt straight lines in all the neutral fabric, but everything else was anyone's guess.  These are the designs I tried:

Feathers and pebbles.  I really wanted these to work, but I think it is just too busy.

This one has wavy lines in the border box.  Then for the solid box I just traced around the design on the fabric.  I think I like this one the best.

Loops, meandering, and swirls.  

All straight lines.  Too poofy.

Here is the back.  I think it looks kinda cool.   Even though the four sections don't meet too well in the middle.  Oh well.  One can't be too picky.  I think I like the "wonky" look.

I bound it in this green because I just so happened to have a whole bunch of it already cut and folded.  I've been practicing my machine binding.  Check out my corners!

I found several tutorials for the quilt-as-you-go method.  Two of them were for attaching one block at a time - here and here.  One was for attaching larger sections - here.  And then I found this tutorial after I had already started - genius!  I'll definitely keep this in mind for next time.
I decided to try the first technique and attached each block one at a time, then attaching the rows.  One tutorial suggests putting the overlapping piece on the front, the other suggests putting it on the back.  I tried mine with the overlapping piece on the front, so I could stitch it down by machine and not have the front look funny.  Now that I look at it, I think I will put the overlap on the back next time and try stitching it down by hand to avoid the "strip of fabric sewn on top of everything else" look.  I don't know though.  I'm not too good with hand stitching.  It takes forever.  I think I might also try making my sashing strips just a tad wider, to cut down on bulk. 

The final product is 16 x 16 inches
Fabric is "Pumpkins Gone Wild" by Sandy Gervais - I THINK.  (This fabric was part of a giveaway I won a long time ago.  Who knew I had Sandy Gervais fabric in my stash all this time?!)

Now that this is finished, I have NO IDEA what I'm going to do with it.  What does one do with mini-quilts?

Work in Progress: Fandango Quilt

The boys have given me a few days of good naps lately, so I have been sewing again!   Yay!   They seem to each take at least one long nap every day and if I'm lucky they will be at the same time.  ;)  Here's to hoping they can keep it up!

I finished making the blocks for the Fandango quilt I am making for my in-laws. 

This is what I started with (I cut these out back in, what - July?):

It's been fun to watch the blocks grow.  They went through a couple of phases.  You know.  Like kids.  They go through phases.  And they grow.  Okay.  Moving on.

Phase 1:

Phase 2:

And phase 3.  These are the final blocks:

They are huge!  16 inches square.  The finished quilt will have 20 of these.  Now I just need to sew them together with sashing and figure out how to quilt it.  I pretty much have no idea how to quilt it.  Any suggestions?

 This is a first for me... I'm linking up!  I want to be better at recording my progress (it's usually pretty slow, so I may not be able to link up every week), rather than just all my finished projects.  So I'm jumping on the WIP Wednesday bandwagon!  Yay!  I'm the kind of person that likes to see a project all the way to completion before starting a new one (for the most part - mostly it's my husband who encourages this habit).  So I don't really have any other WIPs or stats to report.  I did work on a quickie project this week, though.  I don't have pictures loaded up yet, but I'll post about that soon.

Check out all of the other WIPs at Freshly Pieced.