x and + quilt finished

It's been a while. But I'm back!

So I finished my x and + quilt. I am absolutely in love with how it turned out. Even the husband approves--it's his favourite quilt.

Here it is.

The quilt is backed in a cream minky/cuddle type fabric from Joann. I quilted the entire thing with concentric circles from the center. It took F-O-R-E-V-E-R. But I absolutely love the result. Here is a close up.

This quilt, while being a ton of work and absolutely beautiful, is so much more to me than usual.

I was diagnosed with post-partum anxiety nearly a year ago. It was one of those moments in my life that hits you like a truck while simultaneously being the furthest thing from a surprise. I was cognizant of the fact that I didn't feel well but definitely wasn't self aware enough to think that anything out of the ordinary was going on. It was also one of those moments where I felt like the universe was looking out for me. I had booked a routine physical with my GP, mostly because I had already hit my out of pocket max for the year after having a baby in March, so I figured 'why not?'. I called for my appointment and I wasn't able to get in for a few weeks, which probably ended up being for the best, because I got worse. I think if I had gone in October when I first called, it wouldn't have been caught.

Instead I went in November. I could barely drive on my way--my heart was racing and my hands were shaking. I didn't really pay attention. This was a daily occurance at this point.

Most of the time, I just felt generally uneasy. Frequently, for absolutely no reason at all, my heart would start racing and my hands would shake. I had other symptoms that I did not realize were related at all until they disappeared. I would have insane temperature swings. Meaning that I would wake up, put on socks, sweats, a long sleeve shirt and a sweatshirt and sit under a blanket on the couch trying to warm up and then an hour later be peeling off the layers and repeating this process all day long. I thought my thermostat was broken and made my husband look at it multiple times.

My arm was incredibly sore. I thought that I had slept on it wrong one night, but it just kept getting worse. All the way from my shoulder to my fingertips, my arm was sore and numb.  My husband and I got a new mattress. Still sore. I would use heat, advil, and sit with it propped on pillows trying to hold it still for it to recover. Still sore. I would have hot showers and try to rub the knots in my shoulder and arm out for hours. Still sore. It would wane to be more bearable, but it was always bugging me. This went on for at least 6 weeks before my fateful appointment with the doctor.

My appetite was all over the place. I would go nearly a week only eating one meal a day and then have a day where I couldn't ever eat enough. I would be nauseated and bloated after eating a few saltines but then then next day sit down and eat an entire box of oreos like it was nothing. It was a crazy time.

It was a dark time for me and my family. We are lucky though--we came out on the other side. My kids had a few months of way too much screen time and questionable nutrition but we seem to have made it through relatively unscathed. I am and always will be a different person now but I like to think its for the better. I would gladly go back and not have to deal with that time, but I am grateful for the added empathy it gave me. A few of my roughest corners were knocked off and I learned to be much better about asking for and accepting help.

And now I have this quilt to show for it. After I started my medication and started to feel better, this was the very first project I wanted to get back to. So I did. And it turned out even better than I could have ever imagined. I also am reminded every time I see it that things get better. The darkness doesn't have to last forever--there are ways out. I actually started this post nearly 6 months ago but didn't finish it until now. It's always a process. There are good days and bad days. But things are better. Sometimes even good.

x and + quilt -- a work in progress

Many, many months ago (I think before I was even pregnant with my now almost 5 month old daughter) I started this quilt. Ever since I saw pictures of a x and + quilt, I knew that I would have to make one. I love this design, especially when it is super scrappy and a blend of all kinds of prints. I knew that the quilt would be a lot of work and I definitely didn't want to put so much effort in to hate the result. This meant that I pushed it off and pushed it off not wanting to waste fabric or effort on a quilt I was so nervous about making.

While I was thinking about what fabric to use for that quilt, I was also pretty obsessed with all low volume print quilts. I love how they are calm and serene while also being a jumble of all kinds of prints.

One day, I finally put it together and this quilt was born. I used the x and + block tutorial on the Badskirt blog--which is absolutely wonderful!

This quilt was a ton of work and it took me months to get just the top together. The quilt itself was time consuming, but I also found it unbearably tedious at times and took lots of breaks from this project. At points I truly didn't think I would ever finish. Mostly because I just wanted to throw the entire thing in the garbage. The blocks looked like an absolute mess when I got them together. But somehow with a lot of pins and sheer force of will, I managed to get them all together in a quilt top with points that mostly match and mostly lays flat.

A progress picture from when I finished all the subunits that make up the x part of the block. Man these blocks took so much cutting and stitching and cutting again and pressing and I'm so glad it's over! Don't mind the super dirty starch-covered ironing board cover. Side note: I've had that cover since I got it for a wedding gift 7 years ago. It bit the dust a few months ago. I washed it and it disintegrated. Clearly it was just spray starch holding it together!

I thought that I had more progress pictures but I can't find them. So here is a picture of the final result:

I absolutely love how it turned out. It's a perfect mix of white/off-white and bursts of colour. I'm not one to usually mix all kinds of things together and I usually like more limited and co-ordinating palettes. But I am so glad that I chose to include a little bit of everything with this quilt. I think that all the different prints and designs really add to the overall result. 

Here's one picture of a closer view of part of the top:

Now to just find the perfect backing to get this thing quilted. It will probably take me forever to decide now that I've invested so much time in this top. I'll have to find the "perfect" fabric and the "perfect" quilt design. Wish me luck that I'll be able to overcome a crippling case of quilt perfectionism to get this thing done!

Wedding Quilt

One of my & my husband's oldest friends got married this summer so I decided to take on something a little more ambitious as a gift. I wanted something that would be classic so that it would hopefully be used for years to come. After a lot of consideration of different patterns, I finally settled on the Norway quilt pattern by Camille Roskelly of Thimbleblossoms.

So. Much. Cutting. There are a lot of pieces that go into this quilt, but I think it was worth it. I chose to use all solids for this quilt--again to give it a very classic look. I used all Kona cottons for this top.

A progress picture.

Much more progress. This is when all the subunits to make the blocks were done. I have never, ever used my seam ripper as much as I did with this quilt. I wanted to make it as perfect as possible.

The blocks are done! These blocks are huge! But look how good they look! This pattern was great. I thought it was very well written and easy to follow.

The quilt all laid out and basted. This thing was a beast to get smooth and ready to go. I chose a 108" wide backing--the black crosshatch on white from Doe by Carolyn Friedlander. It was kind of unwieldy to have such a large piece of fabric but it was so nice to not have to piece a back.

Here it is all quilted. I did it all on my home machine. Man, I just love that Juki. It handled this thing like it was nothing. It's quilted simply with straight lines radiating outwards from the center. I chose this pattern because I would be able to accomplish it and have it look great and also because it would help me with any imperfections in basting. I worked from the center out to make sure everything was smooth and flat.

I used a print from the Cotton and Steel basics for the binding. Sprinkle in black cat. I love the sprinkle print & need to buy some of the new one that came out recently--the hot pink sprinkles on the unbleached background. Perfection.

All done, washed and crinkly and folded. Just like I like it. I love how crisp the bright white and black look together. If anyone was wondering the 9 Kona colours that I used are: cactus, chartreuse, lime, pond, candy green, cypress, robin egg, water and riviera. I love how it turned out but if I were going to make it again I would change either the candy green or cypress to make the contrast higher. The two colours are quite similar. I love how many colours the Kona cottons come in but again, they are difficult to pick just on a computer screen. I really should get a color card.

Photo Dump

It's been a while. But I have still been sewing. So here are a whole bunch of pictures of a whole bunch of quilts I've made recently. Lots of baby quilts!

 This is a simple stripe quilt. I started with the backing fabric (the navy blue floral from Vintage Picnic by Bonnie and Camille) and decided to just match the colours. Which is always difficult on screens rather than in person. I should just get some colour cards but I haven't so I just try my best. I ended up ordered 4 "co-ordinating" Bella solids from Fat Quarter Shop. Honestly, that was kind of a fail. In this quilt, the pink (Tea Rose) and the red (Christmas Red) are the colours they sent (which were a great match) and the blue and green are colours I ended up finding on my own at a local quilt shop. The green (Pistachio) was actually an OK match, but I just felt that it was too dark for what I was going for. The blue (Bermuda) was, in my opinion, so far from the actual colour in the print. It didn't match at all. It was way to dark and not the right tone. Maybe it works better with the other prints in the line, but it wasn't what I wanted at all. As I said, I lucked out at a local shop and found two American Made solids that worked much better for what I wanted.

 I just pieced strips and then quilted on either side of the seam with co-ordinating coloured thread. I haven't tried fancy thread & don't really see the need to. I just pick up what colours I need at Joann (hopefully on sale). I have recently picked up some cones from Connecting Threads & am really enjoying them. Mostly just because they are going to last for so long and the price point is awesome. This quilt is also bound with a white tone-on-tone print, also from Connecting Threads.

I can't resist a folded quilt. This quilt went to a longtime friend and her absolutely adorable daughter.

This next quilt is a rainbow quilt that I cut mostly from fabric that I already had. I did pick up a few extra orange and yellow prints just to make sure that there was enough diversity in the prints. I personally hate cutting, so I usually cut the entire project out just to get it over with.

I made rainbow nine patch blocks with the white in the center. Here they are all sewn together into the quilt top. And yes, I use a mattress as my design wall most of the time. Because my sewing room is also our guest room. We just have a mattress that goes on a collapsible base for the guest room bed, so I put it up when we don't have guests and just spread the sewing crazy all over.

Here is the quilt half quilted. I quilted diagonal lines through all of the squares in both directions to make a cross hatch over the entire quilt.

All quilted and bound! It's bound with a scrappy binding made up of a variety of prints that are all on a white background. If you couldn't tell, I went/still am going through a pretty intense white binding phase.

A glimpse of the backing, which is white plus signs on a grey background from Hobby Lobby. This quilt went to really good friends who have fairly recently become foster parents. They are absolutely amazing! I kept this quilt gender neutral so they could get as much use as possible out of it.

This quilt went to my niece who is only a tiny bit older than my daughter. She was due after my daughter but decided to come a few weeks early to be the older cousin. I made these pinwheels from two charm packs--one of Moxi and one of just Bella white. Once I got them all arranged and sewed together I thought the quilt was just a little bit small so I added some narrow borders, again in just Bella white. This baby quilt is smaller than I typically make, but I really liked that it was square and just really cute. I guess I usually make more a toddler/crib size. This one is truly a BABY sized quilt.

I backed the quilt in red minky so it would be super cozy. I love the way quilting looks on minky. The pinwheels are quilted in a double crosshatch and there are free motion loops around the white border. I bound the quilt in a yellow gingham.

Again with the folded quilts--I truly love the way quilts look when they are washed and crinkly and folded.

The last of the baby quilts in this post. This one was the only one I kept--because it's for my own daughter, who was born in March. I chose a a soft palette of mint, aqua and grey. Last minute I decided to throw in that dark green Lizzy House print because I just love it and I think that it really added to the overall layout.

Working on the layout. I truly agonized over it.

The top all sewn together. I really love how the simple patchwork looks. Sometimes simplicity works the best.

Quilted along the seam lines. Bound in a white tone-on-tone print from Carkai by Carolyn Friedlander. I have contemplated buying an entire bolt of this print because I love it.

The finished quilt. It is backed in a wonderful floral print by Aneela Hoey in her Vignette collection. I loved that whole line. Beautiful florals without being overly stuffy. Overall I loved the way this quilt came out. It's crinkly and perfect--just folded up and waiting to be loved when she is a little older.

A gift

I finished this quilt quite some time ago but I was waiting to gift it before I posted about it. A good friend of mine is expecting a baby girl--which was a relief to me. Don't get me wrong, I love baby boys too, but I struggle with ensuring that quilts for boys are "masculine" enough. I wouldn't say I'm overly into 'girly-girl' things but it is much easier for me to be able to just pull a variety of whatever I'm feeling like doing from my stash and put it together. I rarely buy novelty fabrics (of which there are many suitable for either gender) so I would say the vast majority of what I do buy has a more feminine slant. Does anyone else find themselves leaning on more novelty fabrics and/or solids to sew for boys?

Anyways, this project was really fun. I pulled a bunch of different fabrics that I already had on hand and cut rectangles for some simple patchwork. I wanted the quilt to be quite varied with the fabric but still feel very soft, colourwise. I also wanted it to be a clean, easy design but a little different from a typical charm square type patchwork top. So I went with rectangles that I cut at 6" x 3". I also wanted it to be clearly 'girl' but not over the top and saccharine. I think I accomplished my goals (& I love how it turned out!) Here is a picture of the top:

This was also the last quilt I quilted before I got my new machine. So needless to say, it was challenging. But after trying lots of different tension settings and speed settings and some old fashioned brute strength, I managed to make it work as well as possible. I backed it with one of the (relatively) new Cloud 9 flannels at Joann (which I found to be really great quality & would definitely use again) to make it snuggly for a newborn. I didn't take a picture of the back, but its a white background with pink & green X and Os. I quilted it in a random, uneven herringbone pattern inspired by Ashley at Film in the Fridge. I have done this pattern before on another quilt & I loooove the way it turns out (especially after the quilt is washed and all crinkly). I thought it added a lot of great texture to the simple pattern, while not being overly feminine.

For the binding I used a turquoise polka dot which was also from Joann. I know that everyone has differing opinions on Joann. I have many thoughts & I will write them in another post so you don't have to read an essay about Joann right now. But this was the first fabric that I saw in the store that I liked for binding but I was determined not to pick another turquoise/aqua/blue like I do for all of my projects. So I wandered around the store considering many other options until I had successfully driven my daughter crazy & then settled on the blue because it was just the one. I think it ended up being great & who cares if every project I make has aqua? Not me!

So all in all I was really happy with how this quilt turned out. I hope it is snuggly and soft and wonderful for yet-to-be-born baby girl. Here's one more picture with a hopefully better view of the quilting (I darkened it a little so hopefully the lines would show up better but the colors look different):

Juki TL-2010Q

I'm just going to get right in to it-- I got a new sewing machine. It was sudden & completely unexpected but I couldn't be more excited. 

I had been sewing on a Brother Innov-is 40e for about 5 years. I bought it after I got married & we were both still in college, so the budget was pretty tight. I was also just starting out sewing (I had taken home economics in jr. high & sewed with my mom a few times growing up) so I didn't want to make a huge purchase (not that I could have anyways). It has been a great machine for what it was designed to do. But since I really ramped up my sewing about 2.5 years ago, I was getting increasingly frustrated with it. I realize now that it was mainly due to me trying to push my machine to do things it just wasn't powerful enough to do. I have quilted multiple quilts using this machine, but with the combination of the very small throat space & not enough power to pull the quilt through the machine (even with a walking foot) I was fed up. Also, my tension had always been a little finicky (I don't know if that is part of this machine or just mine in particular) so even piecing was getting frustrating. I have never been a fan of how the thread pin was placed on this machine--I just don't think that the thread ever pulls off evenly. I was to the point that I didn't even really feel like sewing anymore because I was so discouraged. So I was dreaming of getting a new machine but it was a far off dream in my mind--mostly because trying to save up my sewing/fabric budget for each month was mysteriously not happening. There is just way too much beautiful fabric out there that needed to come live with me. 

So this last weekend (Memorial Day weekend, actually) my husband was home on Friday (4 day weekends for the win) & suggested that we go look at new machines. When that happens--you just get in the car and you go. We went to a local store that carried both Jukis and Janomes because in my weeks/months of dreaming I had narrowed it down to either a Juki TL-2010Q or a Janome 1600p-QC. From some compulsive googling, I felt that they were fairly comparable, had nearly the same features & should be priced pretty similarly. I had read numerous reviews (mostly of the Juki--I couldn't find that many for the Janome) & felt that I really just needed to go try them out to try to decide.

I had decided that I wanted a non-computerized machine so I would have less technology to worry about breaking. I liked having a straight stitch only because I don't really need anything else with the kind of sewing that I do. I also wasn't planning on getting rid of my first machine, so I would always have that to pull out for a zig zag or whatever else. I also loved the idea of quite a lot of throat space to try to learn to free motion & even for just straight line quilting on bigger quilts. I felt very confident in my choice.

So we went into the store & we didn't have a great experience. I personally hate most sales situations & have a really hard time being assertive in them. So, from my point of view, I got a lukewarm reception. The first person who I spoke didn't seem to want to show me anything and told me that the machine expert was in a class. So she got her attention briefly and told her I was looking for 'something' for quilting, despite me previously telling the first person that I was only interested in two specific models. So the machine expert gestured to the machine she was showing in class & said I could sit in on the lesson & then she would show me some things. I presumed (mistakenly) that it wasn't going to be very long--mostly because I had my almost 2 year old daughter with me as well. It became clear that they were in the middle of the lesson and it didn't seem to be ending any time soon. It was also a machine that was way more money than I wanted to spend & not at all what I wanted. I got up briefly to check on my daughter & at that time the sales person asked me what I was looking for. When I mentioned the Juki and what I wanted, she looked bewildered and just asked me why. At that point, I was just done. I don't need to convince someone to sell me what I want. I felt like I wasn't being heard. This was especially true in the following exchange: 

Sales person: You won't be able to appliqué!

Me: I don't appliqué (and thinking in my mind that on the rare occasion I felt it necessary, I'm sure I could make it work on the Brother, that she knows I own)

Sales person: You will want to with a little girl!

Me: I don't think so (thinking if I haven't appliquéd anything for her yet in the first 2 years of life the chances I start now seem low)

Sales person: I sell a lot of those Jukis, but usually as a second machine, not a first machine.

Me: (just thinking--I just told you I have a machine already, despite its limitations. & I have thought about this & I feel good about a straight stitch only machine)

Sales person turns back to her lesson and seems to just brush my answers off.

At that point, I just got up and left. They had a Juki that I could have tried but they didn't seem to have the Janome in store (I don't really know if this is true because they didn't ever really talk to me about either). I was leaning towards the Juki anyways because they seemed to be so much more prevalent. I was feeling pretty discouraged about the whole thing.

The next day (Saturday) my husband said that we should go to another local shop and look (or buy) at the Juki. I had been in there before I had much better experiences, so I was up for it. I wasn't passing up my opportunity since he had actually mentioned buying the machine. Timeout for a little sappy moment: Shoutout to my husband for taking a look at the budget and making this happen. He had known for a long time that I wanted a new machine. I looked like it would maybe happen in a few months. But he was sweet enough to realize that he was going to be traveling in that time & that maybe I would just like to get it now so I could sew to my heart's content while he was gone.

So we went in, I tried it out and we bought it. I was so excited. & it was nice to feel like they heard what I said I wanted & showed me. They didn't have one in box at that store, so I wouldn't be able to pick it up until Tuesday. So I did pick up yesterday but I didn't have a chance to take it out of the box until today. I've pulled it out and got it running. I was a little intimidated to thread it--but I figured it out. So I'm infatuated so far in the 10 minutes I've actually spent using it. So I'm sure there will be more info as I use it more and more. 

This purchase was so unexpected but I couldn't be happier. I feel like I'm going to be back to sewing all the time.

Here's a picture of the machine. It is so much bigger & sturdier than what I'm used to. I still just can't believe it. After that word vomit, I think I'll get back to sewing!

Remember this top?

Well now it's a quilt (almost)! Here's it is being basted:

As you can see, I added a 6 inch border in the multicoloured dots to make it a little bit bigger. Before the borders it was about 52" square, but the recipients (my family I was visiting) decided they wanted it to be a little bigger. This was the first time I added borders & it went much smoother than I anticipated. Probably due to the fact that this is a very forgiving print.

I quilted it with straight lines in a chevron pattern along the chevrons that are in the blocks. I didn't quilt on the borders--so this was the first time that I had to bury all of the thread ends (I usually just quilt from edge to edge and catch the ends in the binding). It probably needs some quilting on the borders but I was kind of in a crunch with the time and didn't have a good idea for them.

It is backed in the multicoloured flags also from this line (The Boathouse by Sweetwater) and the binding is the red & navy links.

As I said on Instagram, I didn't take my real camera (so I only had my iPhone for pictures) & I'm really short so a good picture of the quilt didn't really happen. Instead, here is one of it draped over a couch with the binding sewn on to the front but not hand stitched to the back. Maybe I can coerce the now owners of the quilt to take a picture of the finished quilt...

I was in the process of hand stitching the binding in the car as I was leaving, but ended up dropping the needle as I was trying to rethread it--so only some of the binding is finished. Luckily--I was leaving it as a gift with some other sewers so it should get finished without me (maybe even some quilting on the borders!). 

I love the way it turned out--especially since I don't usually just sew with one line. I'm not very adventurous with learning new skills but this helped me step out of my comfort zone a little bit. At least for me, quilting is always a dichotomy of me wanting my work to look good & being frustrated that I don't have more skills. You can't get better without practicing, right? So I guess it's time to just do it!