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.