Yep, I finished that!

Here's Melissa's charity quilt, finished. Remember, Melissa helped design the quilt, and I sewed it for her. Quilted with loops and flowers in a few focal points, and stitched-in-the-ditch throughout. Backed with the same fleece as Melissa's own quilt.

It's so windy outside, the only way to take a picture is to lay it out on the grass! 

I've mailed the quilt to Melissa, and she's spending some time loving it. She wouldn't be the first person to fall in love with something she's created, and to change her mind about giving it away! 

I finished the Liberated Wedding Ring quilt, too! I just love these colors and prints, and the way the rings interlock and re-form.

 It's been washed so you can see all of its crinkly goodness. I outline-quilted a few of the rings, hoping they'd stand out a little, but they don't. Now I know I'd need to trapunto them, to add extra batting in just those areas. I'll try that sometime, in another quilt.

 You can see in this next photo the border quilting, a mandorla shape and a diamond. (I had to look up the word to describe the pointed ellipse, or almond shape, between the diamonds, and I'm sure I'll never use the word again. Still, it's good to know there's a word for it!) Anyway, I chose it because it echoes the shapes made by the bisecting rings in the quilt design.

The quilt has an over-all vine and flowers pattern quilted on it, achieved by outline-quilting this large-scale floral print on the back of the quilt. I'd seen the technique at last year's quilt show, and recently I took a workshop class to learn it from an art quilter. My new sewing machine (a Pfaff Expression3.0) produces beautiful, even stitches on both sides of the quilt, and it turned out great! I love the loose, overall design on this busy quilt.

 The bright, cheerful floral compliments the blues and greens on the front, I think.

 Do you remember when I received this mini quilt in a swap?

 It sat on the railing for a year and never really belonged anywhere. What I really had wanted to ask for in the swap, was a sewing machine cover. I knew, though, that I'd eventually get a new, bigger machine, so I simply asked for whatever the swapper wanted to make.
I still wanted a sewing machine cover, however, and even more now that I have the machine I'd looked forward to getting! So, I took the mini-quilt apart, and re-made it into this really great-looking cover!

I also took inspiration from my table partner at the sewing workshop, and made the mug-cozy here, to hold all several of my sewing gadgets. I love sewing gadgets!

There have been some new babies born in the family, so I made some of my favorite booties.

Bethany sent me this photo of Poppy's I Spy quilt on her new bed. Many of the blocks in this quilt were made by partners in the 3x6 online block swap. I like how the sides of the quilt are long enough to hang nicely or get tucked in, and that you can still see the blocks, even under the foot of the bed. Isn't it sweet?

 Something new, and unfinished:
Last August I won some fabric from Lily's Quilts, a line called Indie from Pat Bravo's Art Gallery Fabrics.

Then I bought some more, from the same line, and let it sit for a while. Over and over, though, I've loved Sujata Shah's designs on The Root Connection, and I decided to throw all of this line, plus a few batiks and solids from my stash into making her Painted Zigzag. Here's my version, in progress on my design wall.

This weekend is Easter. Here's a picture from a long, long time ago of our friend Nancy (who reads this blog!), Ralph, and me, dressed as Three Blind Mice. We could pass for Easter bunnies, I think!

Which of my finishes is your favorite? Have you finished something lately?

The Big, Pink, and Purple, and Rainbow Quilt

UPS delivered the bulky package...

"I hope it's my quilt!" said Poppy. 

It is!

I got my quilt!

You're taking my picture?!

Look at this one!

Let's look at all of it!

Oooh, I love it.

Poppy jumps for joy!

Poppy loves her quilt!

Thank you, Bethany, for taking all these pictures, 

and sending them to me right away!

I'm so happy to see Poppy's sweet enthusiasm!

Who's Afraid of the Big Pink Quilt?

Poppy's quilt is finished, and on its way to Pittsburgh!
**** If you'd like to see lots of pictures of individual quilt blocks and quilting details, take a look here.****

A year ago I joined the 3x6 Mini Bee, an on-line group that makes quilt blocks for each other. It's a fun way to try sewing blocks using different color combinations, and to make friends with people around the world. I started receiving quilt blocks in pink and purple and rainbow colors, featuring prints and motifs a little girl would appreciate.

Finally, with Poppy's birthday approaching, it's time to turn these blocks into a quilt! 

After conforming all the blocks to the same size, and choosing a sashing to pull them together, I still had to overcome the obstacle of size: I really wasn't looking forward to wrestling a twin size, flannel-backed quilt under my machine to quilt it the way I envisioned. I did some research, and talked to the local quilt guru, and came up with a plan to use a form of quilt-as-you-go.

I'm working with a paper model here; I didn't take photos until I was well into the project, and a smaller model might help communicate the big idea. 

I didn't completely sew the quilt top together; I left it in three sections, each section had two rows of five blocks, with sashing in between.

I made the whole backing for the quilt.

Use your imagination here.
Each section on the left is ten 12" blocks with sashing.
The yellow is a 70"x96" pieced backing.

First the middle section of the quilt top was plunked down onto the middle of the huge backing, with a section of batting in between, just enough to fit, with an inch or two sticking out all around. Pin basted.

I machine quilted each block, first using stitch-in-the-ditch along the sashing and on all the straight lines in the blocks.

Remember, this paper model represents  a 30'x70" quilt section!

Then I got out my Free Motion Quilting foot, and had fun experimenting with different shapes. All the white background spaces are FMQ in a meandering stitch, and in the colored areas I quilted flowers and stars and circles and feathers and loops and swirls! I was working on the middle of the quilt, but with only the backing rolled up in the harp of the sewing machine, without the bulk of the remaining quilt top and batting.

When the center section was thoroughly quilted, I added the bottom section and quilted it, then the top section. Let me show you how I added the other sections!

You can see the quilt-in-progress spread out on my ping pong table, the backing for the upper section hanging over the edge. The quilted middle section is spread out, and rolled up in the background is the quilted lower section of the quilt.

I'm pinning the next section of the quilt top, right sides together, to the already quilted center section. 

Remember, the quilting has cinched up the already quilted layers,
so stretch them out so the new top section goes on smoothly.
Match up the sashing!

Then I take it to the machine, and stitch through all layers: new section of quilt top (face down), middle section of quilt top, middle section of batting, backing.

Notice the backing rolled up on the right.

Then back to the ping pong table, where the backing is stretched out and taped down, and you can see the quilt top section ready to be folded down.

Batting is laid out on the backing, ready to go under the upper quilt section.

The new batting is attached to the edge of the middle section batting. It's okay for the edges to overlap a bit, unless you have especially bulky batting. Just whipstitch the batting edges together.

Smooth the new quilt top section over the batting. You can't tell here where the top is joined except that the blocks in the top right corner of the pic have already been quilted, and the two rows of block in the foreground have not.

Pin baste or spray baste the layers together, then quilt as desired. 

I used the same method to add sashing to the sides of the quilt, and to add borders to the top and bottom ends. 

The point of this technique is that with a full size backing, I could work on a section of quilting at a time without manipulating three heavy, bulky layers all the time, and there are no awkward joins that have to be covered, hand-stitched, or disguised in any way. No shoulder pain, no sewing machine getting pushed around on the table!

**** If you'd like to see lots of pictures of individual quilt blocks and quilting details, take a look here.****