Finished Sunburst Quilt

I finished my sister-in-law's quilt just in time!  I sewed the binding on late the night before the wedding, and took the quilt out of the drier right before we left for the reception the next day.
I didn't really have a chance to take pictures before I left, so I tried to get some outside the reception center once we got there.  The parents of the groom were so kind to offer to hold the quilt up for me!  I didn't get the greatest pictures because the light was weird and I didn't want to keep my helpers out in the hot sun for too long...

I went ahead and quilted it the same as Jacquie's quilt.  (See my other posts about the quilt top HERE, my inspiration for the quilt HERE, and the beginning/fabric selection HERE.)

I didn't want the quilt to be too stiff, so I quilted the lines farther apart than I normally would have.  I don't have a walking foot, but the lines were too far apart to use the presser foot as a guide anyway.  So I got out my blue water soluble marker and my big ruler and drew all the lines on the quilt beforehand.  Then I quilted the whole thing with my free motion foot.  Yep, all those straight lines were quilted free hand.  No feed dogs or anything to regulate my stitch length or keep things straight.  I figured the inevitable waviness would give the quilt an "organic" or "homemade" look.  Of course, once you step away from the quilt and look at the whole thing, you can't really see the waviness.  Thank goodness.

I think the back looks kinda cool.  I used a queen size sheet for backing because it was slightly cheaper and I didn't want to worry about piecing a back this time around.  I was super frustrated for awhile when I was quilting it, though.  To the point where Hubby had to drag me away from the machine and force me to go to bed.  My sewing machine was having all kinds of issues.
For future reference, this is what I learned (skip this part if you want - I had a lot to learn):
-For a huge quilt like this one, spray basting was definitely easiest.  Luckily, the boys took a 2 1/2 hour nap one day and I was able to get the whole thing done.  I took the top and back outside to spray them, then brought them inside to sandwich them.  I even ironed the quilt sandwich after basting.  I got the ironing idea from a blog somewhere one time...  I think it helped prevent the back from getting too many puckers.  The ironing was hard work (lots of pulling and repositioning to get rid of wrinkles), but I *think* it helped and it didn't seem to affect the basting.  HOWEVER, the sticky spray basting may have been part of why my machine kept skipping stitches or breaking thread...
-NEVER buy polyester thread again.  Who knows if that was the issue.  I bought polyester on accident but when I finally switched to cotton/poly, my thread seemed to go longer without breaking.
-My sewing machine doesn't like to sew sideways.  The thread gets wound around the eye of the needle and causes all sorts of problems.  It took almost an entire section of diagonal lines to figure that one out.
-Constant vigilance is required when quilting a huge quilt - DO NOT ALLOW ANY PART OF THE QUILT TO DRAG!!!  This includes the part of the quilt that is in front of the machine.  When I let my attention slip, I think it was the drag that caused some of my problems.
-In the end, everything turns out just fine.

For the binding, I thought this more colorful print would look nice framing a basically solid quilt.  I like it. 

And one more shot.  Not the best one, since I took this at 10:30 pm right after I finished sewing the binding, BEFORE I put it in the washer (you can still see the blue lines from my marking).  I really like how the binding pops.  Oops.  I should go fold those other quilts in the corner.  Doing that right now.

Sister-in-law (as well as her new hubby) loved it!  I'm so glad.  This was a fun quilt to make.  Different.  Fresh.  Modern.  I would love to make another one... someday.

Quilt stats:

Started: Early May, 2012

Finished: June 22, 2012

Fabrics: Timeless Treasure Sketch Basics

Finished size:  About 86" x 98"

Recipient:  Sister-in-Law L - for her wedding to J, June 2012

For those visiting from Lee's, welcome and thanks for stopping by!

Next up:  Baby puff quilt, Fandango quilting, and something to cover my sewing machine with.

Tag Toys

Lately, my boys seemed to be obsessed with the tags on all of their toys.  We have a little giraffe that a dear friend made me with ribbon tags all over it.  I decided we needed more toys like that.
So I did a little pinning, and saw THESE cute alphabet tag toys.  I had to give it a try.

I put together a rainbow of fabric scraps, since I don't have a lot of super cute boy fabrics that are big enough...

I didn't notice that stray yellow ribbon until after I took this picture.  Oops!  I love the multicolored tags, though!

I backed them with a soft blue flannel. 

I copied THIS tutorial by stuffing the toys with shredded shopping bags so they would be crinkly.  Jaxson loves things that crinkle (like papers or M&M packages).  It sort of worked.

I just sewed the two pieces together with the tags in the middle.  I didn't want to worry about turning them inside out, so I left the edges raw.  I will keep an eye on them to see if they fray too much.  Just to be safe, I stitched the edges down with a tight zig-zag stitch using some rainbow thread (note to self: Mom's machine is AMAZING for this stitch.  Mine - disaster.  This was done on Mom's machine). 

J for Jaxson, B for Bronx.  I hope they like them!

Sunburst Quilt Top!

I finished a few more sections on the sunburst quilt...

 

And then I sewed the sections together, and added a border (during which my sewing machine almost broke!  I guess it just needed a good cleaning - I almost had the hubby convinced to let me take it to a shop).  Then I gave it a good pressing (which took all day - my boys sure need a lot of attention sometimes), and took it outside to get some pictures in the wind...

Of course, here it is trying on the bed for size.  It's another huge one!  I think it measures about 86x100.  Let's hope I can get it quilted before my sister-in-law's big day on Saturday!!!

Linking up!

WIP: Sunburst Parts 1 and 2

     Yay for progress!  This quilt has been fun to work on.  It feels kind of like improv, because I've been cutting each piece as I go.  Except that it's not improv - because I actually sat down and designed the whole thing before doing any cutting at all.  I hope it turns out okay.  Putting this quilt top together is making me feel very modern. :)

     There will be four sections.  I have finished the first two.  I guess I shouldn't call it the "sunburst" quilt, because it doesn't really look like a sunburst.  But the quilt is inspired by THIS quilt that I originally found on Pinterest...

     The original pinner commented that it looked like a sunburst and the name has stuck for me.
     The original quilt was made by Jacquie Gering (did you hear she has a BOOK out now?).  I have searched and searched for more info on this quilt, and THIS is all I have found - it's a photo blog of some of her quilts.  I guess her quilt is actually called "Outside In."  The quilt was quilted by the amazing Angela Walters.

     So anyway.  I took the idea and made it my own.  I've got two and a half weeks to finish it... wish me luck!

See previous post HERE.

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!

Burp Cloths

I have been plunking away slowly on my Fandango quilt, but in the meantime I have been making burp cloths for several friends who have been having babies.
My inspiration came mostly from a pair of burp cloths that were given to me by a neighbor, although I did model Olivia's burp cloth after the ones in Natalia's Tutorial (except that I just did a straight stitch 1/4 away from the edges so that they will fray a little).

Here they are!

 

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!