Finished: do. Good Stitches Starburst Cross Quilt

I'm a quilter and the host for the Cheer Circle of do. Good Stitches, and I'm thrilled to have our first finished quilt for 2013 all quilted and washed with photos to share!

Taadaa! This is the Starburst Cross block from a tutorial by SewCraftyJess. It worked out well for a bee sewing project, since all the star points are situated towards the middle of the blocks.

There were some challenges, though. The tutorial called for scant 1/4" seams, and some of the tiny seams were popping even as I was piecing the top. I knew I was going to have to quilt it heavily. It was just as well since I needed lots of practice. I just wish I had more time! Somehow everything is getting pushed back this year, and now it all needs to happen at once.

The other issue was that two of the blocks came in a full inch too small. Rather than cut them all down and lose a lot of quilt top, I pieced in two coordinating squares of fabric on the top, and worked the small blocks into the back.

I've never done so much FMQ, and this is only the second quilt I've attempted it on after my most recent Marine Den quilt.

In the words of Angela Walters, I quilted it to death.

I'm confident that this quilt will survive many trips through the washing machine in the future.

I really love the sweet little touch of the appliquéd do. Good Stitches label. I'm so glad that I ordered a fat quarter of labels for the Cheer Circle. We'll be good on labels for years to come :-)


Quilty Stats:
Pre-wash dimensions: 56.5"x 45"
Post-wash dimensions: 54"x43.5"
Batting: Warm & White from The Warm Company
Front Fabric: Assorted prints from do. Good Stitches Cheer Circle Members
Back and Binding Fabric: Yellow plaid donated from my Mom's stash.
Quilting: Free Motion and Stitching in the Ditch with the Janome Horizon 8900 QCP.


All of this quilting has been so. much. work. I'm completely thrilled with the outcome, though, and I look forward to donating it to Project Linus. I hope you're just as happy with the projects you're wrapping up these days :-D

Happy Crafting!

Claire

Finished: X Marks the Spot Quilt

Hi! Wow, I've missed this. Sewing may be my ice cream, but sharing is the sprinkles.

I've got a big 'ole quilty finish. Wanna see?

Sha. Zam.

This is the inaugural quilt for the Cheer circle of the do. Good Stitches quilting bee. I'm the host and was the first quilter for our circle. We're donating to Project Linus. 

This beautiful block is from a tutorial on SewCraftyJess's blog. She calls it the X Marks the Spot block. My only modification from her tutorial was to have everyone add borders. That way, when the blocks were slightly different sizes, I could skim off of the borders instead of having to slice away at points or add borders myself to account for variations. You can find our border measurements here.

For the back, I just scrounged together some Kona solids yardage from my stash that I knew had been washed. I was a little nervous with all the blue and white. I used three color catchers when I washed this quilt, though, and that seemed to take care of any lingering dye. Many thanks to Jessica at Remnants and the Friends of Annie charity fabric stash for the binding fabric. Austinites making charity quilts can peruse the donated fabric for your goodwill quilting :-)

The quilting is pretty much just straight lines with a zig here and a zag there. I could have gotten it longarmed for free, but I needed to get it knocked out. I was down for doing some FMQ, but I couldn't find the thread I needed in my sewing space. (Time to clean again.) There was no time to waste. I needed to get started. I've got a queue building after all ;-)

Quilty Stats:

Pre-wash dimensions: 103.5" x 67.5"

Post-wash dimensions: 100.25" x 65.5"

Batting: SewPerfect by Fairfield (Poly-Fil) Cotton Classic Batting. (100% unbleached organic cotton needlepunched with a 1/8" loft)

Front Fabric: Blue scraps from the stashes of Cheer do. Good Stitches circle stitchers and Kona White

Back Fabric: Kona solids

Binding: Scraps from Remnants' Friends of Annie charity fabric stash

Quilting: Done with my walking foot on the Bernina 1630.

I hope this twin-sized quilt will see a kiddo through recovery and onto many healthy years!

Happy Crafting!

Austin Modern Quilt Guild Donation Quilt Back

I'm loving every minute of the Austin Modern Quilt Guild retreat that we're having this weekend, so I wanted to pop in with a status update!

I had great plans of finishing this quilt back yesterday, dropping it off at Remnants to be quilted, picking up some QuiltCon challenge fabric, and heading out to the retreat. Shocking news: piecing the quilt back took longer than expected.

Jessica at Remnants helped me pick this multicolor Ti leaf batik from the closet of donation fabric at the store. I was wary, but I do love me some Ti leaves. Ultimately, I was fine with the fabric, but it wasn't enough. I pulled some grey and black from my stash to help me piece some sort of weird back together.  

I wish I hadn't overcomplicated it. I don't love this back, but it will serve its purpose as a back to this quilt, and go off to brighten someone's life as a donation quilt with blocks made by the members of the Austin Modern Quilt Guild. 

I wanted to post this yesterday, but there were internet issues. I'm so pleased with what I'm getting done this weekend, and I can't wait to share!

I hope your weekend sewing is knocking your socks off :-)

WIP Wednesday: AMQG Donation Quilt Top

I got a little Fourth of July holiday sewing done today. I finally crunched the numbers to figure out how to piece the blocks and background together. I got some Kona White out on the cutting board and went to town with the rotary cutter. Math scares me, but everything went together as planned.

This layout was very forgiving of variances in the size of the blocks donated by Austin Modern Quilt Guild members. These blocks have so many pieces that the slightest difference in seam allowance adds up by the time the block is finished. I know my first couple ended up 1/4" short. Now my seams are so scant that they tend to end up 1/4" bigger. 

I was thrilled to make some progress on this WIP before the sun went down and it was time for fireworks to start. The little balcony overlooking our tiny yard is a great place for hanging quilt tops in the breeze.

I can't wait to see everyone's WIP updates! I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced, Sew Much Ado, Whatever Goes Wednesday, and Rae Gun Ramblings.

   Happy Fourth of July!

Summer Sampler Series: Minnesota Block

I've got another black and white Summer Sampler Series block today to swap and donate with the Austin Modern Quilt Guild at our next meeting in July.

I was hesitant to jump in with this one, but it came together nicely. Then again, everything seems easy after paper piecing that last block with directional prints ;-)

I sketched out this block to plan the direction of the prints for the finished block. Unfortunately, I took a break in between cutting sessions and totally forgot my plan. Oops!

The direction of my turquoise print is consistent, but the wavy Shine print from the Cocoon line is all over the place. I meant to have the Shine print running parallel in opposite corners, but I forgot to do that, too. So, now the prints are running the same way in corners on the top and bottom of the block. Furthermore, my points didn't line up as precisely as I would have hoped for paper piecing. It must be my Storm at Sea curse.

I think it looks silly, but not silly enough to undo it! At least there's enough noise going on in the background that the turquoise pops out at you, huh?

Futhe

I traveled over the weekend, and it feels so good to be sewing again, even if I am botching blocks. Is sewing withdrawal normal?

I hope your crafting goes as planned!

Designing a Donation Quilt

I know what you're thinking: All of those Summer Sampler Series blocks that Austin Modern Quilt Guild members have been working on actually go somewhere, right? They do. It's true. Once we have enough that go together to make a quilt top, someone will volunteer to piece the top and start putting it together. Other gals have some quilts rolling, so I volunteered to piece this batch.

I've never tried to piece a quilt with blocks made by different folks, but this is what I'm thinking so far. The background will be white. I'm going to sleep on it and see how I feel in the morning. Come on Friday!

Big money to you and your crafts ;-)

Claire Jain

Arkansas Traveler Block

We had a great time at the Austin Modern Quilt Guild March meeting on Thursday night. There were 40 folks there, which was amazing! I was so glad to go to the meeting, but I was sad to have forgotten my Summer Sampler Series blocks to swap and donate. Thumbs down. 

Thank you Canon Rebel T1i for taking such a great photo at dusk on a rainy day!

This is what they look like, though! Taadaa! Paper piecing success. I understood paper piecing in theory. Though, even after a hands-on class at International Quilt Festival in Houston, I had yet to successfully foundation piece something using paper this way. (Thanks to Clare at selfsewn, I have gotten the hang of English paper piecing.)

I can't wait to make more blocks! I think I'll keep using my Terrain fabrics by Kate Spain. What a fun series. I definitely upped my skill level on this one. I hope everyone is having a great weekend of sewing.

Remember to spring forward for Daylight Savings Time. Here's to longer daylight hours for sewing in 2012!

Improv for a Good Cause

I've never done any improv piecing. I know, I know, but remember, I took a ten year break from quilting. Then I jumped back in with patterns. The Austin Modern Quilt Guild's American Cancer Society Relay for Life donation quilt is the perfect opportunity for me to give improv piecing a try.

The blocks had to be 12.5" wide but could be any length, so I had some room to play. It was fun! The seam ripper did make an appearance as I tried to figure out what I was doing and use my fabric efficiently, but it still went together fairly quickly.

Have you tried anything new lately? How did it go? I'd love to know!

I'm linking up with Somewhat Simple and Between U & Me.

Central Texas Wildfires Donation Quilt Finished

Taadaa! My first quilt in ten years, and I knocked it out in a busy two months, like a boss. I couldn't have done it without the generous folks at Stitch Lab donating fabric specifically for Central Texas Wildfire victim quilts.

I had to lint roll the quilt to get some threads off. The sewing room is a little chaotic right now. It looks like someone just came back from Houston with fabric and tools and just dumped it all in there before having an all night binding fest . . . oh wait.

I tried to pick scraps with coordinating colors. I also just had to eyeball the remnants and try to determine biggest square I could make from the smallest piece I had. From there I just threw together some nine patch blocks the old fashioned way. It was good practice for seam spinning.

The piecing process was a little dicey at times. I ran into a math error or shrinking problem when I went to size up my original white border fabric. I was short. This resulted in another trip to Hancock Fabrics, since I needed some budget friendly yardage. The dark print I settled on incorporated the block colors pretty well.

By the time the top was done, I was so not interested in doing the long, pieced strips for the back's vertical lines. I pushed through, though. I initially thought the turquoise would be too bold, but I was wrong. I love it! Go bold or go home.

Once this bad boy sandwiched and squared, I was pumped to put on binding. I needed to do it in one night, though, because I wanted to hand it over at the Austin Modern Quilt Guild meeting the next day. I followed Susan Schamber's three-part crafty approach to quilt binding, but I found that I really should have just used a quarter inch seam allowance when I attached it to the sandwich top. Oops, after that I wasn't able to catch the binding everywhere when I stitched in the ditch on the front.

Arg. At that point it was like 3:30am, so I just went back around the quilt and stitched all around in the middle of the binding. This twin quilt was 104" by 65", so that took a little while. I fell in bed at about 4:30am. I'm sure no one else has ever stayed up that late trying to finish a project by a deadline, right?

Ultimately, I'm very pleased. I feel great to have made something that's going to help a family rebuild their lives, and I'm thrilled to be quilting again.

Let's Go.

It's about time.

I kicked a mattress out of my house and declared the empty space my sewing room. Mr. Pins was completely supportive of this, even though time and money had been spent to get the mattress in the room in the first place. Oops.

I've been married for six months now, and threats to renew the quilting hobby I began ten years ago have been carried out. My fabric crafts have not been completely contained to the sewing room since the transformation, but it's an improvement. Certainly the room is seeing lots of crafting. I may have wandered in there this morning and picked up some scissors even before I brushed my teeth. So I have a craft problem. The first step is admitting it right?

Once the post-wedding chaos had subsided earlier this summer, I poked around online to find out what had been going on in the world of quilting. 

Wow. So the internet has changed some things. 

While I have definitely been a web-loving gal since the mid 90s, the internet was not part of my quilting experience when I started in 2001. Now it seems like the web is creating a strong sense of community between younger quilters all over the world, and I'm so glad to become a part of it!

To connect with local quilting folks, I quickly joined up with the Austin Modern Quilt Guild and have met amazingly talented folks.

I can't wait to show you what I've been working on since my return to quilting. I'm almost done with a donation quilt for the The Central Texas Wildfire Quilt Drive put together by Modern Day Quilts. Here's a sneak preview!