Sunday, February 24, 2013

Bella Patchwork in Arcadia

aka "On Backing a Quilt with Minky"


Bella Patchwork in Arcadia
 Marking another long-standing WIP off my list! I decided to back this one in double-sided Minky Fleece (and I skipped the batting). As much as I loved putting together the top of this quilt--Aradia is one of my favorite lines, I got to put some honey bun strips to use (!!), and Elizabeth's Bella Patchwork pattern is fabulous--I truly hated the quilt assembly process.

Untitled
I confirmed my suspicions: Minky is e.v.i.l. I had a heck of a time basting this quilt, and as a result the quilting is pretty dreadful. The 60-inch-wide double-sided minky was not quite wide enough for this quilt (which finishes around 62x75), so I had to piece it together for the back, which left a big lumpy seam. I wasn't sure how hand-stitching the binding would go on a Minky-backed quilt, so I attempted attaching it by machine, and I'm just not very good at that!

Untitled
Now. Despite my many grumbles, I can assure you that this will be the most-loved quilt in my house because, after all, Minky is crazy soft and cozy. I just won't rush to back another quilt in it any time soon.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Scrappy Swoon (brought to you by WIP Wednesday)

Scrappy Swoon
My major accomplishment this week (other than running a half-marathon...I like to casually drop that into conversation as frequently as possible...I may or may not be wearing my medal as I type) was finishing my Scrappy Swoon quilt back/top. It's going to become the other side of my Hideaway Swoon that will live on my guest bed, and I'm thinking this will be a truly reversible quilt.

  I just went from "hooray!!! I finished my scrappy swoon!" to "@@&#*%" when I noticed my bigfat mistake.

Now, in the interest of keeping it real, I noticed a big oops after I pieced it together the first time. But, after some together time with my seam ripper (and perhaps a few naughty words), I got it sorted out.


  scrappy swoon 2

My main objectives with this quilt were to bust through my leftover Hideaway fabric and create a back to my Swoon quilt. Dunzo and dunzo. Bonus: I'm pretty much in love with it. Now, it does need to grow a little bit to be big enough to back/front my Swoon quilt. I'm thinking I'll just slap a grey border on it, but I'm open to suggestions!!

Big thanks to Jennifer at the Hopeful Homemaker for the excellent Scrappy Swoon quilt-along!!

 I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday!

 WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Monkey business

We love Luke's kindergarten teacher. She's going on maternity leave next week, despite my protestations. Her classroom theme is monkeys, so I made her a quilt using leftover bits I had on hand from this one.

  monkey business
 I put this quilt together using the Charm Squares Baby Quilt pattern on Sew Mama Sew.

  Untitled

The fabric (Hooty Hoot by Riley Blake) is well-suited to fussy cutting, so I was able to highlight some of the cute critters.

 Untitled
I even had enough fabric leftover to piece a back.

Came into the room to find Luke had started basting my quilt for me. Child labor laws? Psh.
 Luke always likes to help me tape down my quilt backs for basting. This time, he did it himself while I was out of the room. His technique needs a little refining, but not too bad!