Work on the Soho Table Runner Continues...

I am still working on the Soho Table Runner from Busy Bee Designs. I kind of stalled out on it because other stuff just came up. I have done most of the quilting. I thought I would some plastic quilt pattern stencils to do my design. I also purchased some chalk spray to transfer the design to my runner top. 

All I have left to do quilting-wise are the short ends. I quickly discovered that the chalk-like spray to stencil your design is not for me. Ok...I am messy and kind of clutzy. It got all over the fabric even though I tried to block off the parts I wasn't spraying and all over the table I was working on. So, I reverted back to a purple disappearing marker to transfer the quilting design. This seemed to be a much better method for me. 

I really want to try free-motion quilting more. I took a class a while back at Modern Domestic, but haven't practiced in a long time and now I'm kind of afraid of it. 

Let's hope I get this table runner done by Thanksgiving. I have the binding all pieced and ready to go. I really do like it even though I still am uncomfortable with machine quilting.

Story Quilt Finished!

I haven't been posting much, but finally have the time to get a little done as my little guy is engrossed in the final episodes of the Clone Wars. I've going through all my pictures and trying to share some of the things I've actually completed this spring.

Here's the Story Quilt I had been working on for some time. I finally finished in March. 

Here's the finished quilt

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the back

Work Continues on the Short Story Quilt

The Short Story quilt is moving along ever so slowly. It's actually at my sewing machine right now about halfway quilted. But I don't have any pictures of the process. It is coming out ok, but there have been a few bobbles -- like forgetting to leave the needle down when I pivot or forgetting to put the presser foot back down. So that leaves a few weird stitches. Also, when the quilt sandwich is not moving freely and gets caught on the edge of the sewing table, the stitches get tight. But after leaving it be for a while, I don't notice these things as much when I come back to it. Here's some pictures of the quilt top before I started quilting.

Here's the blocks all sewn together.


Here's the border and the corners added on.

Here's the lovely Enzo enjoying the quilt sandwich process.

Short Story Quilt

The 49 squares for my next quilt are all made. I'm using two charm packs of Liz Scott's Sugar Pop! and Kona Cotton in Snow. The pattern for this quilt is called Short Story and it is from Carrie Nelson's Schnibbles Times Two: Quilts from 5" or 10" Squares. This is only my 2nd official quilt and the first one I did contained no solids. I liked the way it turned out, but it was very busy and there was nowhere to rest your eyes. So, using solids to offset my love of color is a new approach. I'll get more pictures up once I sew the squares together and start adding the sashing and border.

Trying Machine Quilting

Trying some machine quilting on my own after a class with Elizabeth Hartman a while back. Here I pieced together some of the many 1 1/2" squares I've cut from scraps and used some spearmint green Kona cotton between the patchwork strips.

I made four of these rectangles. They are an odd size. Then quilted them using my favorite design so far -- what I call the "mod square". Not sure what I'm going to do with them. Maybe a pillow or a table runner? I've moved on to some other things, but will revisit these soon.

Machine Quilted Pillow

Here's the pillow I completed from a class I took a while back with Elizabeth Hartman at Modern Domestic. I especially liked quilting the retro-mod squares pattern in the top orange square. The free-motion quilting (with the little circles) definitely takes some practice. I can't wait to try these techniques on a small quilt I recently started.