My First Mini!

So... Back in August, I participated in a mini quilt swap with the ladies in my guild.  It was SO FUN.  In fact, since then I have signed up for two more swaps - something I never thought I would do.

Anyway.  My partner for this particular swap said that she loves pastels.  This worried me at first, because I am SO not a pastel person!  But I found a charm pack that I liked - Windham Basic Pastels, and decided to figure out how to use it.  After stewing for awhile on what design to stitch for my partner, I came across THIS MINI QUILT one day in my blog reading and decided that's what I was going to do.

Here it is!

 

My partner happens to be a long arm quilter, so I was a little nervous about the quilting, but I love how it turned out.  The orange peels in the border are a little wonky, but I love the little row of pebbles.  :)

And here's the back.  I just pieced together what was left of the charm pack.  I did remember to add hanging sleeves, although I regretted it later because the binding was really hard to sew around all those layers in the corners.  :s

And here's the mini I received!  My partner knows I love bright, happy colors, so this is PERFECT!  Also, I love this star pattern.  :) 

Doesn't it look great on my sewing room wall?  It's so cute!

Now, onto the next mini.  I have HUGE plans!


This was Finish #7 on my Quarter 3 Finish-Along List.  Wahoo!
 

Cheyanne's Wedding Quilt

A few months ago, I got a call from one of our aunts telling us that our cousin was getting married and she wanted me to make the wedding quilt!  I was beyond excited and completely flattered that she even asked me to do it.  :)  I've had to keep the whole thing under wraps for two months because she wanted it to be a surprise for the bride, but now that the wedding is over I can finally share it!

We started off with this color scheme.  She wanted black/white/gray with just a touch of Tiffany blue.

Fabrics from left to right, top to bottom:  Kona black, Kona Steel (?), Bella Graphite Gray, Bella Zen Gray, Kona White, Something from Joanns in my stash, Something from my LQS, Mystique by Lila Tueller, Alison Glass Sunprint Feathers, Mystique again, Riley Blake Chevron in gray, Bella by Lotta Jansdotter, Riley Blake Houndstooth in Gray, Riley Blake Quatrefoil in Gray, Something from my LQS, Riley Blake Damask in Gray, Mystique by Lila Tueller, Moda Bella Robins Egg Blue, Riley Blake Medium Chevron in Aqua.

I sent her links to my (extensive) Pinterest boards, and this is the photo she chose as our inspiration for the quilt pattern.  I took this idea and drew up an over sized Queen pattern from it. 

SOURCE

Fabrics were cut,

Blocks were pieced,

And before I knew it, I had a finished quilt top!

We tried it out on our Queen size bed to make sure it was long enough.  As long as it doesn't shrink excessively with it's first wash, I think it will work!

And then I proceeded to spend many, many hours quilting it.  I went with these three designs mostly, with some other stuff thrown in:

(It's easier to see the quilting from the back.)  Feathers, Angela Walters style hourglasses, and this Fabulous Flower.

There is also a little bit of dogwood quilting (in the quatrefoils and black scrolls), and lots of echoing on the large damask/floral and chevron prints. 

The little squares all got the same design I used in Korina's quilt.  I LOVE the secondary pattern this creates!

This border was the hardest to choose a design for, and I was running out of time, so I went with some quick Angela Walters inspired Dot-to-Dot quilting.  It's not the best looking, but it will do!

I took TONS of pictures of the quilting, but they were all taken with my phone the morning of the wedding and not many of them turned out.  Here are a few more:

This is my favorite block.  I love this blue color and that white floral Mystique print. 

Here's a shot of the back.  As you can see, I used matching thread for the top/bobbin and matched my threads to the fabric, so that back looks a little crazy.  But also a little cool.  We wanted something simple for the back, so we went with a white on white damask print and you really can't tell there is a print at all!  Oh well.  I was a little limited on my choices of backing fabric, because I didn't want to spend a fortune on it, but I was happy with this one because it was 108" wide and I didn't have to piece anything!
Another note on thread.  I used Aurifil for everything except for the quilting on the blue.  For that I found a really pretty, shiny blue Sulky thread.  I was a little nervous about it at first because it's not as strong as regular cotton, but I paired it with cotton thread in the bobbin and it seemed to work fine.  It's really pretty.

Of course, I finished the binding in the car on the way to the wedding (which was a 5 hour drive...luckily).  And here is proof that plenty of blood, sweat, and tears went into this quilt:

I was just telling my husband a few minutes before this happened "Wouldn't it be just great if I poked myself with a needle and bled all over this quilt hours before we're supposed to give it away?"  Yeah.  Luckily it was only a tiny bit.
And for the record, there were actually no tears shed in the making of this quilt.  I enjoyed every minute of it! 

And finally, a few shots of the finished quilt in my Grandpa's living room, right before heading to the wedding.  This quilt is HUGE and it was SO windy outside, making it really hard to photograph.

I really had to scrounge to find enough fabric for this label (I fuzzed out the name for the recipient's security).

Hubby is standing on top of a couch in this picture:

And here it is being displayed at the wedding.  I'm still just so honored that I was asked to make this special quilt!  I hope the bride and groom love it!

Quilt stats:

Started: July 3, 2015

Finished: August 21, 2015

Fabrics: See first photo

Batting: Pellon Nature's Touch 100% Cotton

Thread:  Mostly Aurifil (Silver, White, Black), with some Sulky rayon (Blue)

Finished size: Approx. 104" x 104"

Recipient: Cheyanne and Husband

Methods used:  Piecing, Machine Quilting on my home machine

Binding: Hand stitched to the back using a Kona Jelly roll

Hours Spent: Approximately 50 hours

This quilt was goal #10 on this quarter's Finish-Along list.  Linking up:

Do.Good Stitches: I-Spy Bubbles

I was in charge of choosing blocks for our Do.Good Stitches group in April.  Inspired by THIS quilt by Kati at From the Blue Chair, I asked my bee mates to send me blocks with raw edge appliqued circles.  I wanted raw edges so that the circles would fray a little in the wash, making them sort of 3D.  And to make things super fun, I asked them to use their novelty fabrics to make an I-Spy quilt.

YOU GUYS!  I never could have come up with something this awesome on my own!  There are so many gems in this little quilt.  I don't want to give it up!  In fact, it's been sitting in my living room being loved while I waited for the right time to photograph it (SHHH, don't tell!).  Don't worry - it'll be in the mail soon.

But seriously - the next time someone asks me what my least favorite part of the quilt making process is, remind me to tell them it's the photographing!

Anyway.  I asked Vickey, our host, to send me a bunch of circles rather than the two blocks we normally ask for.  I used a lot of those circles cover some of the seams between blocks and fill in some of the gaps to make the quilt look more consistent overall.  But she sent me a TON of circles (thanks Vickey!), so I used the rest on the back.

I debated for a long time on how to do the back.  I considered super scrappy, but in the end I decided to go with this cheap neutral solid because there is so much white on the front of the quilt.  I glue basted the extra circles in a layout I originally hoped would look like bubbles being blown from a bubble wand.  Not sure that's what I ended up with, but oh well.  Instead of stitching these circles down, I just heat set the glue with my iron and quilted over them.  I'm hoping they will still hold after many, many washings. 

Here's our little "label:"

For the quilting, I copied Kati and did pebbles all over the whole thing.  With a swirl snuck in here and there.  It took awhile, but it wasn't too bad.  The pebbles are pretty big and I tried to make some bigger and some smaller for more variety.  It sure took a lot of thread, though!

I think the crayon circle is my boys' favorite. 

Either that or the owl one...

For the binding, I rounded up all my novelty scrap pieces for a super scrappy I-Spy binding.  :)

I hope some kid loves this as much as I do!

ETA:
I had to see what would happen to the quilt once it was washed.  Let me tell you, it frayed a TON and it's super crinkly now.  :) 

I think this little turtle is my favorite.  :)

As for the back, it held up okay.  The little ones struggled a little bit since they weren't sewn all the way down.  I even found one of the smallest circles in my washer after pulling this quilt out.  Oops!  Next time I'll either quilt tighter/smaller bubbles, or stitch the circles all the way down.  

Quilt stats:

Started: May 2015

Finished: July 6, 2015

Fabrics: Various Novelty/I-Spy fabrics

Batting: Pellon Nature's Touch 100% Cotton

Finished size: Approx. 54" x 60"

Recipient: Junior's House

Methods used:  Raw edge applique

Binding: Hand stitched to the back

This quilt was goal #4 on this quarter's Finish-Along list.  Linking up: