Friday's Photo Finish

I am so excited that it's Friday. I FINALLY finished my Michael Miller Fabric Challenge quilt for the Modern Quilt Guild.

It took a while to get here but I am so glad I finished it in time to enter the competition.

Here's a quick summary of how it's made:

I cut the fabric into squares that I made into 9-patch blocks.

(Trying to make random patches was harder than I expected.)

I used muslin on the corner of 13 of them since they were going to be cut off anyway.

I then used EQ7 to create a custom template for my Drunkard's path pattern that would create my letters. I needed the curves to end with 1/4 exactly that would make smooth curves for each letter.

Each template took two pages that were taped together and
cut out on freezer paper for the blocks.

I practiced a few times on muslin to be sure it would work first.

After sewing all of the 9-patches together, I tried to keep similar colors from touching. It wasn't perfect but it started to become fun.

I slowly made my way through all 13 blocks that needed to be cut and added gray to form curves to create the letters. (Unfortunately, I forgot to take photos of this part since I was doing this at night after grading papers. Le sigh!)

To ensure the letters weren't touching too much, I added 2 in strips of gray in between each letter to give them a little space to show off. The shorter letters needed an extra gray block to make them as long as the "L" then I added gray on the top and bottom to make the finished piece.

This is my first quilt made entirely with Aurifil thread and I think I am hooked for life now. White and steel gray were used for all of the piecing and for quilting the many, many, many lines it took to make this dream a reality.

This beast is 68 in by 68 in and was bound using my favorite fabric from this collection called "Pegs a Plenty". (It's the only purchased yardage from this collection used to make this quilt.)

I love this quilt and am thrilled that it's finally finished.

It's been a while!

Hello out there!

Hope you had a fun-filled Fourth of July! We live off of Lake Monroe in Sanford and we can see one of the largest fireworks displays in Central Florida right from our front yard. (I don't know if our daughter-dog, Evie, would agree with that statement. She was actually ok last night and didn't bark or panic which is always our concern.)

I've been working crazy hours as usual but am making time to quilt at night. (My photos look terrible but that's the time I can sneak in some fun.) I'm making some progress on my UFO list for the Orlando Modern Quilt Guild challenge. I think many of the projects will just be on my list indefinitely. I am ok with that now.

I finished making the Paper Pieced Bee Hive Blocks for each of my guildies and love the ones I received in return. It was a blast to see the blocks everyone made in their group last Wednesday. I may opt out of the next round but I look forward to doing these hives again.

The Lone Starburst is one that I might do again because it turned out beautifully in rainbow colors. (You know I love a good rainbow!) I also really loved the pattern from A Squared W called Graph-ic. Math lovers would really appreciate her inspiration. The possibilities with this design are endless and I can't wait to try my hand at designing my own quilt from it.

The Scrappy Diamonds was also fun to make except I couldn't get my printer to scale it right. Thankfully, Leslie printed out copies for me and I was able to whip it together in less than an hour.

I liked making the tulips and butterfly but don't see myself making them again for a quilt unless someone asked for this specific design...and they were paying me. :) (Ok, I didn't really like making them but was happy with how well they turned out for the people who requested them.)

I can't wait to see everyone's quilts when done, including my own. I didn't get a good photo of all the fun paper planes my guildies made for me so I'll just wait to show the final quilt when it's all done.

My sample planes that my guildies were asked to make for me.

July was also my turn to be the hive queen in my online Stash Bee. I am getting help with my rainbow log cabin-ish idea I drew a few years ago but never made. I've asked them to make concentric squares using rainbow colors and I can't wait to see what they each will send me. I had a blast with the interview questions that you can read all about here if you wish.

"I Can Sing A Rainbow" is possibly what this quilt will be called.

I've been working on the Michael Miller fabric challenge for the MQG and am getting excited with how well it's turning out.

Sewing lots of blocks! (This photo does no justice to the great colors in this collection.)

I find it funny that I fall in love with my quilts as I am making them and they each become my new favorite quilt. Does that happen to you, too? This one I especially love because I designed it on paper and then recreated it in EQ7 so I can get the right size and make my block templates. I love that I can calculate fabrics needed and knew precisely how to cut my fat eights with no waste. I'm glad when I can cut all pieces given with nothing left over because my scrap bins are piling up and I have yet to really make an entirely scrappy project.

I will have a lot more to share at the end of this month when I've finished up this MM challenge quilt. (Plus, my work load will be a little less after August.)

I hope you've been able to quilt to your heart's content. Tell me all about it in the comments section when you get a chance.