A Little Quilt Swap + New Fabrics!

So! I joined my first real Quilting Swap! 24″ or 18″ square Quilts must be done by Oct 3rd. I’m super excited about it. I’ve been joined for a few months now (but i havent started yet eep!)

I’ve decided on a design, some patchwork with a big colorful applique on top! :) I’ll show some progress photos as I begin. I Bought some great fabrics, i hope they arrive soon!

Got a bunch of Blue vintage sheet fat quarters from Jeni (ironsea)

photo by jeni (ironsea)

and some great fat quarters and a yard of some nice fabrics for backing from Whimsie Dots. She is a wonderful lady, and has sales most of the time!

photo by WhimsieDots

I want to mix vintage and modern. :) Hope i can pull it off!
I realize now that it’s going to be 90% vintage sheets!

Quilt Progress Continued!

So i’ve been working for a few weeks, except I’m a few months in, really. I bought the fabric way in advance, and wrote up the plans.. and it all sat there.
I really gotta finish this thing up!

This is my workspace.

i got that desk for $5 at a garage sale! Cha Ching!

Leaves A LOT to be desired. Luckily I’ll have a craft/ sewing room in Ian’s new house!

And yes, i have a Knuckles plush, a duck lamp and a paper robot on my desk. Whats it to ya?

Anywhoo… Here’s some more progress! The photos speak for themselves really. I’ll keep the descriptions to a minimum. :)

When we left off… I sewed my paired pieces together. 1+1=2!

Half Done!

Halfway into the pairs, I tried chain stitching. Feeding the next square into the machine, rather than stopping, cutting threads to separate and setting up again. It made the second half go way faster!

they are holding hands aww..

my machine is spitting them out really fast. Aerial veiw of the back of my machine.

DONE pairing the first set!

laid them out to be paired once again.

2+2=4! More pairing! More friends!

Paired, pinned and stacked!

Chain stitching the pairs to the other pairs... :)

My squares were uneven. 99 squares. so i have some 4's, and some 6's. Finished 6's!

Re-assembling....

It was like a puzzle. i kept messing up!

So i paired the 6’s with some other 6s. and pairs the 4’s with some other 4s… Sewed them up the same way til i met in the middle.

Sewed that right down the center.. Annnd…….. Drum Roll Please!

FINISHED QUILT TOP!

Back view. :)

Next Post will be the border strips… and maybe some basting… Wish me luck. So Far so good I’d say! My quilt is about 1/6 the size of a queen sized quilt. Crib Sized. Perfect beginner project. Hope Sara and baby Jakob like it. :)

Quilt Progress So Far!

I ordered ALL my fabric off Joann.com. Insane deals on cute fabrics. Etsy is loaded with designer and vintage fabric too, but i fell in love with Debbie Mumm’s fabric designs. Most of them are DM. :)

At this point I had taken photos of the cutting process. i bought a rotary cutter, a mat and a neat quilters ruler. I seem to have misplaced those pics! I’ll be searching for them… until then.. fast forward a few steps.

I pieced the cut squares out on the floor. they are all 3 in squares with an additional 1/4in seam allowance all around. :) measure 15 times.. cut once. That took the longest. Over 3 days of measuring to get it right.

not a creative shot at all... meh.

So.. i plan to machine stitch the squares. its for a baby, and if i want it to last a long time, machine is the way to go for me. I put the squares into pairs and put a pin through to keep them together. Also to mark where to stitch.

I watched House Hunters, Bathtastic!, Property Virgins, kitchen Impossible, more Property Virgins and Ree on Throwdown before i was able to finish. Took a long time….

Almost done!

oh so neatly in their rows...

Finally around 10:15pm… i finished. Stacked them up… and went to bed.

What a monster. And this is just a crib sized quilt. 3 times as many squares are needed for a full sized quilt. Glad i started small. I’m nervous to begin sewing…. Wish me luck!

Step #2.. Sewing the squares to their mates.. Tune in soon..

Quilting Research Trip to the Library

I got these books!

And also unrelated.. i got this one on Audiobook:

It’s to listen to while in traffic. Audiobooks are so great. Why has it taken me so long to start listening?!

Now I cant wait to go home and start reading and learning some more! Ian’s sister is having a boy! So I’ve gotta get some cute male, blue, boyish, tough, animal, cars, planes, automobile-themed fabrics. :)

Also i’m in the market for a rotary cutter. Been looking around and comparing prices.

I’m liking this fiskars one.
QUESTION: Is it worth buying the Pinking Blade? will it cut through the fabric? or is it just for scrapbooking?