Happy, Happy, Happy Completed - Things I've Learned

The AYOS pattern for the month of June was Dulcinea, by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. I changed it just a bit by adding sashing to the pinwheel blocks, and I left off the suggested border.

I used two charm packs from Moda's Avalon by Fig Tree and bound it with Sherbet from Moda's Ruby by Bonnie and Camille. I am particularly fond of the dots of Sherbet against the dotted cream background fabric.

The colors of this quilt inspired its name of Happy, Happy, Happy - it is bright and cheerful! The quilting was primarily straight line, done with my walking foot, and free motion circles and swirls on the border.

The back looks like a window to me. I made a panel of blocks from leftover fabric and used the same sashing as the front.

Things I've Learned:
I love the look of quilting on light valued fabric. As I was hand-stitching the binding, I got to admire the back of the quilt, especially the effect of the quilting on my background fabric, P&B Textile's Apple Cider Cream Dot. I love it!

Maybe being hard on myself is a good thing. I caught myself being hard on myself today as I ripped out a couple of hand stitches that were evident on the back side of my binding. In spite of the fact that probably no one would ever notice those stitches but me, I knew there was no way I was going to leave them in, because they were so obvious to me. That is what I term being hard on myself. However, I believe in "good practices", and I decided that making the quilt as perfect as I possibly can is OK, not only because it is a good practice, but it also makes me happy!

Straight line quilting is very effective. The quilting for this quilt was influenced by straight line quilting by Townmouse. I love the clean, fresh look it imparts to the quilt.

This month's pattern is Lincoln. I downloaded the pattern, and although I may not have time to join in the quilt-along this month, I will definitely check out the parade on August 1.

Key Lime Butterfly Complete - Things I've Learned

The vintage Schnibbles from my quilt-along is finished. I added the border of the white fabric with script, and the black and white hexagon patterned binding made the other fabrics pop.

The back is pieced with vertical panels of leftover fabric along with a coordinating swirl fabric.

The final size is 30-1/2 by 30-1/2 inches.

I finally worked up the courage to free motion quilt, and after all was said and done, I am pleased with the way it turned out. I cut a template for a butterfly design, marked it on each block with a Frixion erasable pen, and used my darning foot to stitch. There was a bit of pesky "eye-lashing", but only on the back. I did straight line quilting on the lime green bordering the blocks. I added a butterfly "body" with one of the embroidery stitches on my Janome.

Things I've Learned:
I learned that joining a quilt-along gives me the discipline to complete a pattern from start to finish with a deadline. No one pressures me but myself. On the day of the "parade", it is not only fun to see the variations but also to "meet" other bloggers and read their ideas and tips. I almost didn't do this month's Schnibble, and I'm so glad I decided to do it.

I learned that I can overcome any fear in quilting. Free motion quilting should have been fun for me, and up until this project, it wasn't. I finally began to get into a rhythm and feel the instant gratification and pleasure that comes from quilting a quilt. This feeling of "I can do it!" prompted me to enroll in a paper piecing class at my LQS.

I learned that even though I try not to be too hard on myself, perfect points are still very important to me. I found this tutorial about a positioning pin on Connecting Threads, and it worked!

Here are some photos of fabric I bought from Pink Chalk Fabrics, (shipping was fast!) and fabric from my LQS for my granddaughter's birthday quilt.

Here is all the loot from Pink Chalk.

I love these polka dot Petit Embroidery Scissors. I saw them on another gal's blog and had to have them!

Fabric from left: Lida Enche Painted Summer Butterfly in yellow, Trenna Travis Bekko Swirl Orchid, and Valori Wells Wish Treasure Patience.

Brejer Mon Amie City Multi. I have visions of using it for a bag.

Kate Spain Honey Honey Lavender Violet, which I picked up to go with the grouping below this one.

My youngest granddaughter "loves periwinkle", and her birthday is in August. For her quilt I purchased coordinating fabric along with a Dessert Roll in Honey Honey from Quilt 'n Sew, my local quilt shop in Katy.

Juggling Summer Complete: Things I've Learned

The quilt for my oldest granddaughter was finished one day before her 12th birthday. I love to cut it close! Her Papaw and I joined her and the rest of the family for an early celebration at Saltgrass, and she seemed very happy, not only with her quilt but also her birthday cash.

Since her bedspread is a black and white zebra print, and her current color love is mint, I purchased a fat eighth bundle and a jelly roll of a collection I love - Moda's Juggling Summer, which blended well with all of that. I chose a mint print from Moda's Noteworthy line and a coordinating Juggling Summer print for the backing, and the neutral fabric is White Out, a white dot on white pattern. I pieced the binding from all the black prints of the collection, and it may be my favorite part of the quilt. Black really made all the colors pop.

I named her quilt "Dream in Color", which is my wish for her.

My son snapped this shot of her enjoying her quilt at home.

I employed my walking foot to quilt mainly large zig-zags, straight lines, and squares, with the only curves being in the inner border.

Here are more Things I've Learned during the creation of this quilt:

I learned that pattern instructions are not always clearly written.
I am not criticizing the person from whom I purchased the pattern. I am guessing that it is difficult to write a quilt pattern! In my inexperience, my first glance at the downloaded instructions indicated they would be easy to follow, but I discovered that there were too few illustrations, and many of the directions were vague. It is possible that a more competent quilter would not notice the lack of details. Either as a result of the pattern itself or my cutting errors, I had trouble with the inner border, and I had to add pieces to make everything fit. I loved the pattern, and I was able to figure it out, so all was well in the end.

I learned that I need to slow down and pay attention.
I noticed that as my time ran out, my mistakes became more numerous. I even put my bobbin in the wrong direction once and quilted an entire area before I noticed the funky look of the quilting.

I learned that I am getting more relaxed with machine quilting.
I am not as critical as I was with my imperfect quilting, and I am learning to look at the big picture. People who don't quilt don't see these imperfections. They see the quilt and think you are amazing for making it.

I learned that I love every step of quilt-making.
There are parts of it that I like better than others. For instance, cutting the pieces is not my favorite part, but using a rotary cutter is actually fun for me. There is no part of making a quilt that I don't enjoy. And the sense of accomplishment is, for me, indescribably fulfilling.

Katy the kitty, whose tail is lower left, and Buddy the dog had to see why my husband was holding a quilt on the staircase.

Audra's Iris Garden Complete: Things I've Learned

The lap quilt for my daughter-in-law's birthday is complete! I detailed fabric (Audra's Iris Garden) and pattern (Two Block Delight) in this post. I named her quilt Garden of Dreams, a combo of the fabric name and my DIL's love of a very infrequent nap. I delivered it to her when we met them for dinner Friday night, and she seemed very happy. My son sent me an iPhone photo of her later that night, wrapped up in her quilt.

My patient husband held it on our staircase for my photo attempts at front and back views.

I attempted to capture the colors and layout in various spots in our house, but my photos don't show the vibrant colors of this quilt.

I am still keeping the quilting simple, as I have not yet graduated to true free motion quilting. I use my walking foot for "waves", and I am fine with it for now. I found many ideas for FMQ using a walking foot at this website.

I used my Janome DC3050 stitch #47 for the corner blocks - a nice little connected flower. And for the binding I tried another tutorial I found on Amy Smart's blog Diary of a Quilter. I loved the ease with which the binding went together this time, and the mitered corners were a snap. Hers will be my go-to method from now on!

Here is the label, which I hand embroidered.

As I stitch and quilt, I contemplate. I don't always write down my "a-ha" moments, but here are a few things I learned this time around:

I learned a new word for quilting mistakes - "organic". I have to laugh every time I see this word. I realize there is a very sincere meaning behind the term, but to me, it's a nice way to say "I'm still learning."

I learned that good thread is really good. I used some fabric store quilting cotton for the piecing, but for the quilting I used a thread called Putty from Angela Walters 6 spool pack for Superior Threads. I purchased the 6-pack from her at Houston's Quilt Festival during her free motion quilting class. I still haven't learned much about thread, but I know this one seemed silky, strong, and well, "like buttah".

I learned that my Grandmothers made great sacrifices to quilt. I quilt for pleasure. I have the luxury of no children at home (OK, I'm not counting the dog and cat), minimal chores, modern conveniences, and lovely free time, not only to create but to enjoy creating. My grandmothers had very few labor-saving devices, limited resources, and rare stolen moments of privacy. Yet they both managed to save scraps and put them together - by hand - to produce quilts that were functional, beautiful, and survive to this day. My appreciation and love for them grows daily. If they were still alive I would ask them so many questions!

Next project: a quilted-top floor pillow for my grandson's birthday Friday!

My First Quilt: Things I've Learned

I finally completed the Christmas quilt for my daughter - on Valentine's Day! Fabric choices are detailed in this post. Finished size is 36" by 44". With the exception of hand-finishing the binding and labels, it was all sewn on my Janome DC3050 using both cotton and polyester threads.

Quilt front

As I pieced, sandwiched, ripped out, and quilted, I had a lot of time to think; I decided to list, in no particular order, a few things I learned in the making of this quilt.

I learned that not having a pattern is OK. I bought the Nature's Gift panel with no thought other than I loved it and wanted to use it to make a little Christmas quilt for my daughter. I used a combination of disappearing nine-patch and improvisational placement of fussy-cuts. I truly enjoyed designing as I went.

I learned not to be so hard on myself. This I learned this from other quilters, who are the kindest people in the world. They will compliment your strong points and call your mistakes "quirks".

I was obsessed with making my points perfect - always a nice goal, but I'm not entering my quilt in a contest. When I looked closely, I noticed that several of the quilts I admired on others' blogs were not perfect - imagine that! And my free motion quilting is obviously that of a beginner. This bothered me terribly at first, and I ripped out many swirls. I finally let it go, relaxed, and my quilting improved.

I learned to "Let the quilt tell you"- this is something I kept reading and hearing about when deciding on a pattern for completing the quilt, and I hope to cultivate this habit for future quilts. This time around, my quilting was chosen for its ease of execution, although I did try to enhance the blocks.

I learned the value of choosing the appropriate thread for quilting. I thought just any old thread would do and chose an off-white color to quilt. I learned quickly that off-white was way too pronounced on the red of the sashing; something more subtle would have looked much better. (And disguised my beginner quilting.)

I learned to relax and enjoy the solitude of quilting. Almost meditative, each phase of quilting was enjoyable for me, especially when I had the window open next to my sewing machine and could appreciate birds chirping, distant traffic sounds, and halcyon days with white puffy clouds and blue skies. The wine was helpful too!

I learned that sewing knowledge does not a quilter make. I've sewn since I was in 7th grade, and I assumed that quilting would be a snap for me. It wasn't. There were parts of making a quilt that came easier for me because I sew, but quilting is a complex art that will take just as much time as I devoted to perfecting my sewing skills.

I learned that even though I may not be a great at free motion quilting, I am good at piecing and binding. I love piecing; it gives me a chance to appreciate each block, cherish the fabric, and find joy in composition and symmetry.

Before I made and sewed the binding, I watched some tutorials on binding and finally followed Amanda Jean's clear and easy to follow instructions on crazy mom quilts. Once I started hand-stitching the binding on the back of the quilt, I fell into a rhythm and did my best work, using my skill at making the stitches invisible.

This gift box purchased at Joann fabric store is a perfect container for this Christmas quilt.

Choosing a name for the quilt was fun, and I finally decided on "Tweet Noel".