Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Behind the scenes

Hi!  I've been a little quiet on my blog, but I've been working on things.   A friend sent me fabric to make 2 quilts for her.  I played with a few designs, and decided to go with Quilt In A Day's Piece of Cake, using 10" squares.  It seemed the best for the amount of fabric she sent, as well as the size of the prints.  Both are ready to baste and quilt, and I hope to get them basted today.

One features a cute assortment of duckies, butterflies, and flowers.  The other features Disney Cars fabrics.  I pieced both backs with leftovers.  I added white sashing to the Ducky one, and blue to the Cars, as well as some scraps I had of Cars fabrics.  These will be a gift for twins, so I used the same pattern for both.  




I also pieced another baby size quilt top, using fabrics I purchased from Fabrics N Quilts called Little Brown Bear.  I pieced it on my vintage Singer 15-91, and added the borders on my Viking Sapphire.  Why switch machines?  Because I can sew to a certain point with only using finger pressing.  Once it needs to be ironed, I have to go downstairs to the studio, and laundry room to iron.  I don't want to set up a second iron in the living room/dining room.  So, once down there, it's easier to finish the next steps, which need pressing after each, on the other machine.  This is so sweet!  I plan to get Minkee for the backing, just to make it really soft.  



 When this is done, I'll be adding it to my shop.  I have a few other baby quilts planned, as well.  I'm using up smaller pieces of batting, and finishing some UFOs.  

I also finished this table runner, for me.  I had made one quite a few years ago, using Moda's Candy Kisses, in the same design, only with smaller borders.  But I ruined it.  I had a candle lit one day, and it melted funny.  I think I was downstairs, and didn't discover until it had poured melted wax over a large area, that seeped into the batting, and even through the backing, to leave a red mark on my table.  Luckily, I had purchased more of that charm pack, which is now out of print, and some yardage.  I had planned to make placemats and more, so I pieced another top last year, and finally got it quilted.  I used a design similar to the Feathered Heart pillow I did last month, to quilt this.  I can't wait to clean off my table and put this on.  And I know not to burn candles if I need to work down in the studio, unless it's in a jar.  

LOL, Ooops, I guess I forgot to erase the blue marking line I drew to help shape the feathers.  



So, that also knocked a UFO off the list.  I was going to try to get it done for the Project Quilting challenge on Sunday, but used up 4 bobbins when quilting it.  Then I pulled another red for attaching the bindings, and used that up.  Pulled a 6th similar red bobbin, and used that up, as well.  I still had half the binding to machine stitch, so I decided rather than wind a bobbin, I would go to bed, and that was at 1 a.m. Sunday morning.  I decided to sleep, rather than get up, finish it, and then take photos and blog.  My son was coming for dinner, so I also needed to prep that, and make a pie.  But I'm thrilled it's done now, and that my quilting has improved since I made the first.  That one used stencils, and the quilting wasn't as good.  This is all free hand feathers, and I think it's awesome.  I used Aurifil 2440, a faded red, for the hearts, 2423, a pale pink for the inner border and surrounding the hearts, and another red for the border.  

So, what have you been working on?  Thanks for visiting, and Happy Valentine's Day!

Maryellen