Do.Good Stitches: Humilty Group Broken Herringbone

It's time to reveal my first bee quilt!  I'm a little nervous about it because I went out on a limb and tried some new things with the assembly and quilting.  Here we go!

First of all, for the month of May, I asked my bee mates in the Humility group of Do.Good Stitches to make me mostly monochromatic Broken Herringbone blocks.  It was so much fun receiving these little packages throughout the month!  They all turned out so awesome.  Here they are all arranged by color on the living room floor:

I knew that I wanted to try an offset layout with half of the blocks on one side of the quilt and half on the other.  After lots of deliberation, I decided to sort the blocks into warm and cool colors.
Here is the warm side:

And here is the cool side:

What do you think?  I wanted something with lots of negative space and offset blocks.  I also thought this might be a genius way to try quilting "echo blocks" in the negative space.  Basically, I quilted the warm colored blocks (which created the echo look on the cool colored side), then flipped the quilt around and did the same for the other side.  This quilt is totally reversible, I love it. 

Sandra (at least, I think it was Sandra - correct me if I'm wrong please!!), a member of our group, ordered some Do.Good Stitches labels from Spoonflower (I think?) and sent me a couple.  Thanks Sandra!  Since this quilt doesn't really have a back, I stuck it in the top right corner next to the greens. 

For the quilting, I chose five different skinny filler patterns and quilted them in the skinny sashing of each block.  My original plan was to stitch in the ditch for ALL of those little sashings, but after outlining each block I decided I really wasn't excited about the idea of all that shifting and turning, so I went with FMQ instead.  And then I decided it wasn't worth it to add more quilting once those were done. 
Also, after much debate I chose to use this silver/gray thread because I wanted something that would blend in with the white but still be seen on the gray.  In hindsight, I think I should have used a slightly darker gray for a more subtle look in the negative space. 
What do you think?  Does it need more quilting?  More straight lines?  Different thread color?

This photo turned out a little bit blue - the real quilt is more gray.

I wanted a nice gray for my background, so I ordered a whole bunch and was half way through assembling my quilt tops when I realized I had grossly miscalculated the amount I needed!  GAH!  Since I was too impatient to wait for more to arrive, I went to Joanns and picked up the closest match I could find for one of the sides.  They aren't exactly the same, but it's really hard to tell most of the time.  

For binding, I kept things super simple for myself and just folded the "back" over onto the front and machine stitched it down. 

Now, I really want to know what you guys think about this quilt!  I took some risks and tried an idea that has been floating around in my head.  I wanted something really modern and I think I found it.  However, most of the people I have showed it to so far - mostly family members - don't really like it at all.  Which is fine.  This quilt is for charity - not for any of my family members, so it doesn't really matter if they like it or not.  I like it, and I'm not offended at all if others don't like it.  But that doesn't mean I'm not curious.  What do YOU think?  Love it?  Hate it?  Do you wish I had put all the blocks on the front?  Done different quilting?  Used a different background color?  I'd love to know!
Truth Tea is welcome here!  ;)

And just for fun, a few more shots.  Thanks for humoring me!

I took these two shots in my backyard, and they look kind of cool with the sunlight shining through in spots.

And one shot of it post basting (LOVING spray baste lately), pre quilting.

Quilt stats:

Started: May 2014

Finished: July 11, 2014

Pieced by:  Members of the Humility Circle of Do.Good Stitches

Quilted by me

Finished size: 72" x 62"

Recipient:  Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota

Binding:  Backing folded to front and stitched by machine

This is finish #14 in this quarter's Finish-Along.  (Original list can be found HERE.)

Also linking up with Kelly at Needle and Thread Thursday:



And Alyce at Sew Cute Tuesday:


And Randi at Show and Tell Tuesday:


And Lindsey at Fabric Frenzy Friday:

Finish Along Q3 Goals

Hi Friends!

As expected, I didn't finish too many of my goals for quarter 2 of the Finish Along.  Ah well.  I still get to roll them over, and of course, I have added a few!

Here are the old goals that are rolling over to Q3:

1.  Finish "Deck the Halls"

2. and 3.   Make my twin toddler bed quilts.    I'm using "Cruizer Blvd" and I'm planning to make one Jungle Path quilt and one Broken Herringbone quilt.

4.  Building Fun Quilt.  This one is basted now and ready for quilting.  Wahoo!

5. and 6.  Secret project for family member/Hello Sun Wall hangings.  These are definitely on the back burner right now, but that doesn't mean I don't still plan to get to them some time!

7. 8. and 9. Puff Quilts for the shop (or maybe for new nieces/nephews) using either of these charm packs:

So, I haven't gotten around to taking a photo of it, but I totally bought a layer cake of this fabric!  Love it!  Thanks, Southern Fabric!

10.  More bib sets (or maybe another puff quilt) for the shop.  Probably using some of this:

11.  My Letters Quiet Book:

12.  A Jelly Roll Quilt:

13.  A new quilt for our King bed:

And finally, a new one for this quarter!
14.  Finish my Broken Herringbone quilt for the Humility circle of Do.Good Stitches.  This one is also basted and ready for quilting!

I better get crackin!

Linking up:

A Few Blocks

I have a few loose blocks that still haven't been blogged about and I don't want to forget them!

The first set are BOM blocks for my local quilt guild.  The two bottom blocks are both 3D and they are super fun.

The circle blocks are for Vickey in our Do.Good Stitches group.  They were fast and easy to make, which I think we were all super grateful for.  She is going to cut them all into quarters and sew them back together again.  Her quilt is going to look fantastic.

Thanks for stopping by!

A Few Little Things for a Few of my Favorite People

A few weeks ago, I received an Etsy order from my favorite customer.  She just happens to be Mom to my sister-in-law and is one of the sweetest people ever.  I love making stuff for her.  :). My sister-in-law has a few of my bibs, and apparently she loves them and needs a few more.  So I whipped up a pair for her, plus another pair for her nephew.  Grandma chose BYU themed bibs for her younger grandson and trains/helicopters for the older one.  I must admit, I tried the train/heli ones on my boys and was tempted to keep them for myself.  They are nice and thick, soft, and plenty big.  Yep, I need some more for my boys...

This photo seems to show the truest colors.  

I felt like the BYU bibs needs just a little more, so I added the little monogram.

I love to add little quilted details to my bibs.  The extra quilting holds them together a little better and gives them some character.  I even outlined a couple of the little "Y"s.  can you see them?

I made the second set a little bigger since they were for an almost two year old and I love the bigger size.

I recently bought some snap pliers (from Kamsnaps.com - I HIGHLY recommend them) and now I want to put snaps on everything!  I even made these bibs adjustable.  :)

A few detail shots to show off the bubble quilting:

One of these days I need to sit down and make a bunch more...

P.S.  It just so happens that making more bibs (specifically using the trains/helis) was one of my Q2 Finish Along goals (original list can be found HERE.)  Katy - do these count?  Linking up!

WIP: Building Fun and Broken Herringbone

I finished a new quilt top!  This one is from the Building Fun pattern by Geta Grama.  I used some Textured Basics by Patty Young that I won in a giveaway awhile back.  I love the colors, and I'm glad the stripes aren't quite as distracting as I anticipated them to be.  It was fun to make a quilt from a pattern, with all the math and stuff done for me.  (Although I DID have to do some figuring when it came time to cut everything.)  Now I just need to quilt it.  Although I'm tempted to do something fancy and customized for each block, I'm thinking I'll do some stippling.  It's been awhile since I've done some simple, relaxing meandering.  I'm looking forward to it.

This was my goal for June's ALYOF.  (My goal setting post can be found HERE.  Mine was entry #51.)

I've also been working on another quilt, which is also almost ready for quilting.  May was my month for Do.Good Stitches (FIRST TIME!  WAHOO!) and I chose the Broken Herringbone block.  It was so fun to receive all my little packages in the mail and I was so excited when the last one finally arrived!  Here they are all lined up in color order:

I've got a really fun plan for these.  Hopefully it works out the way I've imagined it in my head...

I debated for awhile which of these two quilts I should commit to for my July ALYOF goal.  In the end, I decided to push myself.  I think I can finish these two quilts soon because I'm motivated.  However, I've got a new quiet book in the works for my shop that desperately needs attention.  It's going to be awesome (and big), and I've just got to finish it.  So my goal for July is to finish my ABC quiet book.  Everything is cut out, now I just need to do lots of ironing and stitching. 

Linking up: