Finished: Blue Herringbone Quilt

I have been sewing so much, and I'm thrilled to share some pictures of all of these finished quilts. I've been doing physical therapy for a hip injury that cropped up while I was running in June, and it's been a challenge to keep up with everything. While I'm doing various exercises at physical therapy, it's important to count the number of repetitions I do with each leg to gauge my progress. This is shockingly difficult. I've resorted to counting out loud and on my fingers. If someone walks up and asks me how it's feeling, though, I'll lose count anyway. 

Numbers don't do well in my brain, but math is crucial in quilting. It's inescapable. I started cutting fabric for the Coral Herringbone Quilt and quickly realized that my pieces were going to make a much bigger quilt than I intended. Befuddled, I went back to my computer to figure out where I went wrong with my math. There was some geometry going on, and in high school, I was pleased whenever I could manage to get a "C" in geometry. I figured out my mistake, and realized I'd be able to salvage the fabric by cutting the pieces down to size.

It was important to get this quilt right, though, so Mr. Pins suggested I make a full test quilt to see if it came out the right size once it was quilted and washed. Thus, the Blue Herringbone Quilt became my test run for the Coral version. I was inspired by the beautiful color palette that Kati at From the Blue Chair used in a quilt she shared on Lily's Quilts.

Quilty Stats:
Pre-wash dimensions: 39 3/8"x 60 3/8"
Batting: Warm & White from The Warm Company
Front Fabrics: Kona White, assorted solids
Back Fabric: Pearl Bracelets in baby blue
Binding: assorted solids
Quilting: Straight line quilting with the Janome Horizon 8900 QCP

I shared this quilt during show and tell at an Austin Modern Quilt Guild meeting, and it's since been borrowed by an architecture firm for a photo shoot for Austin Home magazine and it may appear in a book as well. Show off your quilts, folks. You never know who will see it ;-) This quilt seems to be done traveling now, so I'm going to put it up for sale in the Etsy shop.

I'm in Houston for Fall Quilt Market and Festival this week. It's exhausting and exhilarating. I'm going to have so much to share with you.

Happy Crafting!

Claire

Finished: Coral Herringbone Quilt

It's so nice to have a finish to share! Come to think of it, this custom quilt has been in the works since the end of last year. It's going off to a share adventures with a sweet little girl in Texas. This was the first time I worked with someone long distance to complete a custom quilt. It was a great learning process, and it allowed me to take the new knowledge and make other custom projects go even more smoothly.

Custom quilts are tricky. The ideal situation is for you to make quilts and have folks buy from that inventory. (Hear that folks? Etsy shop.) If someone wants a custom quilt to go with the colors of a particular nursery, tell them how much fabric is needed and let them go buy it. You can point them to online and local resources if there are some quilt shops in their area or loan out your color cards on a deposit. It's important to make sure they know the difference between quilt shop quality fabrics and big box store or home dec material. This approach saves you from spending lots of time trying to find the right colors, when the client already knows exactly what they are looking for. The other benefit is that you only have to quote the cost of labor.

My baby quilts are usually in the neighborhood of 60"x40" before washing. Depending on how they are pieced and quilted, I usually see shrinkage in the neighborhood of 3-5%. I haven't ever measured 6% shrinkage, but I've heard from others that it's totally possible. If someone wants a quilt of a certain size, let them know that you can hit it within 5" in either direction, but that the nature of fabric, quilting, and laundering makes it nearly impossible to have specific dimensions when that quilt comes out of the dryer. It should be pretty easy to hit the mark within 2"-3" in either direction of the desired measurements. Do let your client know that design elements near the edges of a quilt may be cropped differently depending on how the squaring process goes.

I loved all the feedback about laundering quilts before you send them off. I'm definitely pro-washing so that they can go through the washing machine with a color catcher and through the dryer on high heat for good shrinkage. I always want to be able to check for color bleed, any threads that need trimming, and any necessary repairs before sending off the quilt. There were also great suggestions for sending along some extra color catchers with washing instructions for those first few times through the washing machine.

Quilty Stats:
Pre-wash dimensions: 62 1/8"x 41 5/8"
Post-wash dimensions: 59 3/8"x 39 3/4"
Batting: Warm & White from The Warm Company
Front Fabrics: Kona White, assorted prints including three Razmatazz Hipster prints
Back Fabric: Modern Meadow Herringbone in Pond by Joel Dewberry
Binding: Centennial Solids Silver Lining
Quilting: Angela Walter's "paisley" free motion quilting with the Janome Horizon 8900 QCP

I'd love to hear any lessons ya'll have learned from making custom quilts either for free or for revenue ;-)

I did have to make a test quilt for this guy, so I look forward to sharing those photos this week!

Happy Crafting!

Claire