Circle Around Quilt

It's interesting the way a project as big as a quilt comes along.

I worked on this quilt three days at a time every six months!  That's why it took three years.

The last time I had pulled it out was right after baby Rory was born.  I made great progress, and then didn't get it out for six more months!

A month before Jonas' birthday I decided it was time to finish.  I knew it was a reasonable goal, I just had to make a sustained effort and not put it away again after three good days.  

And I did it!

It did require borrowing my friend's sewing machine at the last minute when mine went on strike!  (Thanks Emily!)  And begging the advice of a stranger at the fabric store for binding fabric advice--but I made it.

I love the fabric and the colors.  In the end I chose to back it with a sunshine-yellow quilting flannel.  I really want this quilt to be one Jonas will cuddle up in.  We received a simple quilt for a wedding present that was backed in flannel, and it's so cozy, so I knew I would use flannel.

The fabric choice for Jonas' quilt top was very intentional.  It has these sweet woodland motifs with mushrooms, woodland critters, and --most important-- acorns!  When I bought this fabric, Jonas was a sweet little speech-impaired toddler who loved to collect "atorns" on our walks.

(I can still hear it!)

I chose a brown patterned fabric to bind the quilt in, because I always had imagined the quilt having more brown in it.  Quite a few of the pieces have brown, but the quilt is mostly predominantly the off-white.  The brown binding just brings out a little more of the brown fabrics, which I had chosen because of Jonas' beautiful clear brown eyes!

I'll have to get some pictures of it on his bed to show the binding, and the backing.  But when I have free time at night the quilt is always busy doing it's job of keeping my sweet boy warm and cozy.  

At Last Complete

 I finished my quilt!  It's finally done.  It's been a long process, but it's not even been a full year since I started--only ten months!  (Can you guess how well other projects of mine get completed around here?)

 I love this "secret" pop of fun on the back.  I'd seen fun backing details like this on other quilts, and knew I would do it on mine.  These two stripes are made up of literally the very last scraps leftover from the quilt.  24 fat quarters and I ended up with a quilt top that perfectly fit a 90x72 batting.

I quilted it with light green thread and love how it stands out from the fabric. 

But I have to admit that the thing I love the most about this project, is that I actually finished it.  Hooray!  Now I'm a "quilter."

Fast as Cold Molasses

If I didn't actually have anything to do all day, I might progress faster on my projects for our steampunk bedroom makeover. But, in fact, I do have quite a few other responsibilities that take away from my "fun project" time.

I've made progress on my quilt that will lend a bohemian feel to lighten up the steampunk a little bit.  I bought a large flat sheet from the thrift store for my backing fabric.  I fancied it up a bit with some scraps from the quilt top, but I'll show that when the whole quilt is completed.

I quilted it just on my regular sewing machine.  I chalked parallel lines down the back then sewed these wavy overlapping lines down the back.  It works for me.  If the quilt top was a masterpiece then I'd probably want the quilting to be a masterpiece as well, but since the top is a fun, imperfect, made-by-me top then it's fine that that is the level of quilting on it as well.

Next up. . . binding.  I hear binding is everyone's favorite part of quilting.  (Not!)

The second project that is mid-progress is a faux headboard.  We don't have room for a real headboard.  this is a 4 foot by 6 foot piece of foam core poster board.  ($6 with a 40% off coupon.)  We are putting a fun faux finish on it to give it some old character, then we'll just tack it up on the wall.

The last bit of progress on the room is less a project, more "purchase with a vision":
  

We got the second wall lamp for the bedroom, another vintage scissor arm lamp off of e-bay.  I like it a lot.  (And the size of it is more what I had originally in mind than the other one.)

 

And of course, we outfitted both lamps with steampunk style Edison bulbs. 

So the progress progresses, though slowly.  My mom is coming to visit in a month.  Maybe I'll set that as my goal for completion.  (If not then maybe I'll complete it by the time she leaves with her help.)

I'm Done! Almost. . .

Last night I finished my quilt!  Well I finished the quilt top.  Now I have to move on to batting, backing ,and binding.  That will be a process too-I'm sure.  I still haven't decided how to back it yet.

For the most part it all worked out really well.  It was my own special style of quilting.  As I worked along (and made mistakes) I kept thinking, "I bet a real quilter would go back and fix that."  But what can I say.  I'm a casual quilter, so I made a casual quilt top. 

I used every single piece of the fabric (24 fat quarters) and kept my informal pattern going up until the very end when I had to make a concession to finish it up.  But I think it looks fine, and I am sewing together the final bits of scraps to make an accent strip through the backing--I really hope there's enough for it.

Quilting Progress

My quilt is coming right along.  Not quite as quickly as if I didn't have little hands that get into my work if I leave it unattended in the daytime. I'm thinking that I may need to take a time out to sew a fun sewing machine cover to keep the tension dials on my machine safe from curious fingers.

   This picture shows most of my progress.  I've now completed that last upper corner on the left panel that isn't quite done in the photo.  So that puts me halfway done with the quilt top.  Batting, backing, and binding are another matter of course.

We had our first 90-degree week.  It got plenty hot again of course, but it made me realize that fall weather is not that far away.  That means I need to get busy in the quilt department.  Owen and Jonas both need twin-sized quilts for this winter.  It may still take me until Christmas--we'll just have to wait and see.  

Making It Up As I Go--Begining Quilting

I saw this amazing pack of fabric when I started looking for fabric for the circle around quilts.  It's called "Gypsy" and I loved it.  It just seemed kind of bohemian, kind of 70's, but with really bright versions of 70's colors.  Technically it was marketed as a "quilt kit", but in reality it was just a set of coordinating fat quarters with an extra large piece of fabric for a binding, along with a quilt pattern.  But I saw the fat quarters as basic supplies for any quilt I wanted.  So when the ridiculously overpriced kit went on sale 50% off I bought it.

The quilt pattern that came with it was for a smallish full-sized quilt.  So I began by laying out trace paper--gluing it together at the overlapping seams--to the size of a full quilt.  Out of curiosity I laid out the fat quarters on my quilt pattern.  It looks like there would be enough the cover the surface of the quilt twice.  So I'm curious with all the cutting and sewing to see how far the fabric goes.

Looking at my inspiration quilt, I identified the lines of the main quilt segments.  The first line goes straight across the middle.

So I took my huge trace paper quilt pattern and folded the bottom half up (valley style).  Then with the points to the center of the quilt I folded it in even thirds.

You can see how the pieces are not just triangles.  The center top and center bottom pieces are triangles but the other four pieces are trapezoids.   I then cut the six segments apart--labeling the top side up and labeling the seams that will have to be matched back up ("A" to "A" etc.).

Then I began sewing the pieces using the paper-pieced string quilt method that a friend suggested to get the look I was going for. 

This center piece is not yet completed but here is the progress.  I decided to cut each of my fat quarters into two six inch and two three inch strips, and I am sewing those together in an organized-random fashion.

I am very pleased with the results so far. 

I am undecided as yet of how I will finish it.  When I first bought the fabric I thought I might make a new bedspread for my and Jeremy's bed.  But I've also been contemplating the need for a dedicated family picnic blanket and think this fun pinwheel-esque pattern would be fun for a picnic quilt.  If I was going to do that I would back it with a more sturdy fabric, and maybe use no--or very thin--batting?  These are all ideas I hear, but really don't have much experience with.  Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Another nice thing about large quilt pieces is the quilt comes together more quickly.  I have to say this is nice for two reasons.  First anyone beginning a hobby likes to be encouraged to continue by quickly seeing substantial results.  Second, mom's of three busy boys don't get a lot of free sewing time.  So when I only have 20 minutes of sewing time in the evening (after set up and put away time is factored in--because I won't tell you what happened last time I left my sewing machine up and unattended during the day time. . .) it's nice when I can see progress each night. 

Do You "Quilt?"

I've never really been "in to" quilting. Maybe it's because my mom wasn't much of a quilter. We tied quilts, and even hand quilted quilts, but they were always just large pieces of fabric, not pieced quilts. As I've warmed up to the idea of "quilting" I've had two caveats.

I don't want to make grandma quilts.

This caveat has two parts--I don't want to use grandma fabric, and I don't want to use a grandma pattern.

Now I recognize that people love their grandma quilts and and even go to great lengths to recreate old patterns and fabrics and that's fine. If I had had a grandma that was a big quilter then I would probably would be into that too. But I prefer a little more of an updated look, while using the same old techniques.

The other reason I don't like a lot of grandma classic patterns is because they use such little pieces.  I respect the historical reasons for that-- our pioneer great grandmothers found an ingenious way to use teeny scraps leftover from clothing construction to make beautiful quilts to keep their families warm in their snow-drifted log cabins all winter long.  But these days we buy yardage for quilt making--pricy, designer yardage.   So caveat number two is:

I don't want to cut my fabric up into teeny tiny pieces, so small that I can no longer really even see the pattern of the fabric I spent good money on.  

So really number two ties back into number one--I like nice contemporary quilt patterns with some large pieces that showcase the contemporary fabrics.  Though I sound really pickiy I've actually had two quilts this last year that I have fallen in love with immediately.

 This Circle Around Quilt. Such a fun quilt!  So I decided--like a novice-- to make not one but two of these quilts.  One for Owen and one for Jonas for their big boy bunk beds.  I was a good little quilter and bought the magazine for the pattern and bought all the supplies it told me to.  But in reality--I think I could manage without the pattern.  (And yeah--these quilts are still "in progress".)

I also saw this Sixth Time's the Charm crib quilt.  I love it.   I love how big and bold it is.  And I decided since I heard mixed reviews on the piecing method the author uses (leaves a lot of leftovers), and with the fact that I don't need a crib quilt right now, that I would just wing it, and try to create something similar for myself.

HAhahahaha!  I know, I sound crazy.  Unless you've met my Dad.  Then you know that I am the daughter of Macguiver, and honestly--because of him I usually end up doing most things my own way anyways. 

I am actually making progress on this quilt, and I am very excited about it.  I'll share my madness method next time.