Peony Quilt

A little too warm for the summer months but the flowers are definitely welcoming. The minky backing was wonderful in the end but it was a pain to quilt together. When free motion quilting, the extra weight made it hard to move it freely. By 10 minutes, your upper arms had its fair share of a workout. I can't deny the loveliness of the minky fabric but maybe with something else would we great.

Halfway Point

I sewed a black border on the front of the quilt and I hope you agree that all quilts need a border to finish it off.




We are half way done as I just finish the back of the quilt. I don't know why but as I was huffing and puffing last night, I realize I always forget to plan the back when I shop for fabric. I don't want to make a novel out of this post so I will save you the pain of reading all the roadblocks I encountered to get to this point. I posted two problems yesterday but seriously, I had more then 5. When it's after 8:00 p.m. and you have been working on the quilt for more then 3 hours straight, huffing and puffing seems appropriate.

As you can see, the extra bento box blocks didn't make the cut and a new fabric was added. The extra blocks will be used for couch cushions. It was just going to be more complicated if I added the blocks to the back instead of using a large piece of material.


I hope to go shopping tomorrow and get a big piece of batting so I can finally start to quilt the pieces together.

Roadblocks

It was a nice day off and my sewing machine was whizzing away when roadblock #1 appeared. I ran out of beige coloured thread. Okay, no problem. A small road trip to the store to get some thread. I had to go sooner or later cause I had to get thread for the quilting part. So I picked up a jumbo spool of variegated blue thread for the top.

I did the "thread" test and it looks really nice over the blues, blacks and whites.




Roadblock #1 solved. So I continued to sew some more and stopped when I had all but the last row of bento box block to sew on. Roadblock #2. I totally forgot that the batting I usually use is 90" wide. This means if I sewed another row of blocks, it would make the quilt measure 75" x 90". Doesn't sound like a problem but it is. I have made it a standard for all the quilts I make to have some sort of border. I think it makes the quilt look polished and well thought out. As you can see, I didn't really think this one thoroughly.

So I decided that the last row of bento box blocks will go on the back and just finish the front with a simple black fabric border like I had plan. I will let you know later how this new plan has worked out.

Keep on Truckin'

This was what was on my dining table a few days ago. Usually I would be gun-ho on getting the quilt finished. Not this time. I think I was dreading leaving all the squares on the floor if I didn't have enough time to organize it and sew the major pieces together.



So today was time. I was going to give the quilt a good chunk of the afternoon and sew as much as I possibility could.

After much musical chair with all the squares, this is what I think is the best layout. Sew, sew, sew some more.

It's 10:00 p.m. I think I put in enough time.

Therapy Continues

I love Sundays! It's so nice to sleep in and I mean sleep till past noon. Some ladies at work would tell me that sleeping in till 8 o'clock was nice but I am not sure how that is considered sleeping in. Anyways, the day then continued with some more sewing. I am so excited how well this quilt has progressed.



I am already more then half way done all the blocks. YAH!

My ironing board started to become an extension of my table. But I think this is all the sewing I will do for today. I have a bunch of small fabric scraps and I want to incorporate on the back. Going to do some research.

A Need to De-Stress

Work has been crazy. CRAZY!!! I realized to rid yourself of stress, you need to actually do something about it. Coming home sometimes is not the answer to forget about it. So I dug up the fabrics and start the bento box quilt for the living room that I recently bought.

As you can see, we won't be inviting anyone over this week as there won't be any space on the dining table.

I only have 4 out of 30 blocks finished but I am on my way. Right now I need a break. Dinner is calling.

Almost There!

It's been awhile but I have been busy. The spring inspired floral fabric quilt is coming together. My quilting partner and I strategically cut out the beautiful peony flowers from the fabric to fill in the spaces of the lattice design. One of the sewing days was a good 4-5 hours of an assembly line sewing the strips and squares together. I did most of the ironing while she did most of the sewing.
When we were done sewing the "lattices", we were ready to sew the pink borders around. It was initially going to be the medium pink and dark raspberry borders but some how it didn't work out. Strange thing but the colours did not match. There was something missing. We both put the quilt aside for the day and decided to come back another day. But my oh so smart sewing partner, took the extra cream coloured fabric and made a small border before sewing the planned pink borders. It worked perfectly. The cream was the missing piece and it tied all the texture and colour elements together nicely.




The other special piece about this quilt was the fabric used for the back. Typically we would pick another fabric that would compliment the colours in the quilt but we wanted to use this up and coming fabric called minky. Minky is made from polyester but it is so soft and plush that it gives the quilt a very luxurious feel. It is used mostly in baby blankets but there are so many variety in colours that it can easily be integrated into quilts for all ages.

We both are so in love with the outcome that we hope to sew another quilt with similar designs.

Spring Is Our Inspiration

The colours of spring is influencing our palette for this collaborated quilt. Heck, any season other then winter is inspirational as I am getting tired of winter. I really hope that groundhog is on the money and we are half way through the 6 more weeks of winter.




We won't be working on the quilt for another week as our schedules don't coinside. I took the opportunity to try at the squares between the lattice like placement. We will use the beautiful peony fabric inside the squares and used the other fabrics to create a frame-like work.

A little detail on the inside border; mitered edge. It not the most visible detail but it will match the other borders we will be adding to the quilt. Can't wait!

My Weakness

I was to go to the fabric store tomorrow with my friend to make another quilt for another co-worker. But I could not resist and went today just cause it was "on the way". Ok, not really but if you tell yourself something over and over again, you believe it was true. I was planning to make a large quilt for the living room using the same "bento box" pattern as the last quilt I made. It was suppose to be black, white, grey and red colour scheme but there was very little red fabric on sale. Yes, I only buy fabric on sale cause I don't believe to spend over $10 per meter. Only because you can find good quality fabrics for less. So why spend so much when a little patience can give you more to spend.

Anyways, here is what I found. I want to find a few more swatches but I think I will resist and just use what I got. I can't wait to start on this quilt, however, I should finish the twins' quilts before I start anything.



Something else beautiful I found. I thought this pink floral fabric would be an option for our friend and use it toward the next collaborated quilt. The recipent's favourite colours are pinks and reds. Doesn't matter if we use it or not, cause I definitely can find a project for this beauty. Or I can just hang it and just stare at it. The greens are a little grey but I assure you they are vibrant and lively.


I can't wait till we go fabric shopping tomorrow and I can come back and show you what we find.

Happy Birthday Beautiful!

Happy birthday my beautiful friend. You are one year older and still as beautiful. I hope you love your gift. You wanted colourful and you got the colours of the rainbow.




I thought about putting the quilt in a gift bag but I felt the colours of the quilt are too pretty to hide away. I might start doing that for other quilts from now on.

As I was getting closer to finishing the quilt, I was thinking about how I was going to photograph the whole quilt without cutting out any portions. As you can see, even with someone with longer arms and height then me, it is still really hard to show case the whole thing. So I am planning some sort of tripod to hold a quilt. It's still in planning and drawing phase in my head so nothing in the near future.

Seeing Blue and Yellow

The collaborated quilt is finally finished and we presented to the recipient today. I think she really liked it.

I still remember the day in the fabric store. Can't wait till we start our next project, which will be next week.
I finished my share of the project and I handed off the top. She did the rest. She finished the top with a simple but beautiful border and the back. Her machine has all these added stitch features and created a gorgeous quilting design. It's hard to see all the details from the last picture but it enhanced the square pattern. Did I mentioned my partner in crime is awesome at free motion quilting?



The finished project: blue and yellow in "around the world" style.

Progress!

Call shift was over at 8:00 a.m. Saturday morning and after a few more hours of sleeping in, I got to work all weekend. I finished the black border, then sewed on the outer border. Yes, that means I got my sewing machine back. She is in tip top shape and doesn't make that squeaking sound any more.