Blogger's Quilt Festival - Fall 2013...Just made it!

After a crazy week of sewing in between working and very little sleep, I finally finished my entry for the ROYGBIV quilt. I am so happy to share it with you!

Back in August the Orlando Modern Quilt Guild hosted two days of workshops with Jacquie Gering. Although I could not make the first day's session, I was so excited to attend her Stitch and Flip class that Saturday. I brought my favorite Kona solids (mostly scraps but a few FQs) and a gun-metal gray background color to create my project. Since I love a good rainbow, I knew I was going to incorporate as many colors as I could in this piece.

I started with 3.5 inch squares and 6.5 x 3.5 inch rectangles in my gray background color. I added a colored scrap in the corner and just started sewing. I didn't have an exact design in mind yet so I just carried on until I ran out of cut gray blocks.

 After sewing and trimming each block, I went to the design wall to see what I had so far. As I tried to connect the colors, they started to naturally form this organic line that slanted down at a fun angle. I then came up with the idea of this ribbon of colors that will swirl across the quilt.

Jacquie was such a great teacher and shared so many of her tips that day. She mentioned that she had never seen squares and rectangles together in a class and was looking forward to the end result. She even spent some time in the back helping me connect this swirl by reminding me that triangles are needed a the end to bring a line around to the next row. 

Before we left, she signed books and took photos with us. It was such a fun day!

The class ended way too quickly but I left so inspired to create this piece when I came home. I placed my pieces on my "design dining room table" since I don't have an available wall at home. I had lots of gaps here and there that needed to be filled. I also had to decide where a row would end and which colors would connect. I set out the next day to make triangle corners to bring the lines together.

This design became the final draft and I set to work piecing this top.

I took one row at a time and worked from top to bottom. 

 I spent some time working to make sure the rows were in the correct placement so I didn't lose the design or have to pick out any stitches! I was relieved when the blocks were done and I reached this point.

 Sewing the rows together was pretty easy after that! I place pins in every other row to press them in opposite directions. This made for perfectly nested seams that were a breeze to sew together.

 After weeks of searching for the right fabric to make the back panel, I was lucky enough to find what I was looking for last weekend. "Rose Windows" by Samarra Khaja (Timeless Treasures) looks like tiny pieces of a stained-glass window. It has 18 different colors and was exactly what this quilted needed on the back to emphasize the design on the front. I added a matching gray border around this gorgeous fabric to make it the same size as the front.

Now, the hard part was basting and quilting this huge thing. I spent a long time lining up the front panel with the center of the back square. I spray basted and also use safety pins so it would not move too much. I used thin masking tape to start a diagonal line in the middle and rolled it up from both ends.

I don't know that I will attempt more quilting on the diagonal any time soon. I have to find a much larger machine that will allow my "rolled burrito" to easily move about the throat space. (The Baby Lock Melody sewing machine looks like it would work better than what I currently own!)

After two days of coaxing this beast through my machine, I really loved how the quilting turned out and set to work last night to finish the binding. The rainbow strips I cut a few days ago did not really match this final project so I decided that a simple black binding would frame this quilt much better.

So here you have my final design:

I call it Rainbow Ribbon because it reminds me of a gymnasts twirling ribbons from the floor exercises. This is a gift for someone very special!

Blogger's Quilt Festival Category: ROYGBIV Quilt

Quilt measurements: 64 x 46

Quilt materials: Kona solids in various colors and gray, "Rose Windows" by Samarra Khaja (Timeless Treasures) for backing fabric, cotton batting, Gutermann thread (Color 116)

Thank you for reading this post. I hope it inspires you to be creative!

Sleepless Sunday - Day 27

Today I worked on piecing the backing and basting together my quilt for the Blogger's Quilt Festival. I had planned to finish it today and post the link soon after I was done. It took a lot longer to get things moving today since I was running on four hours of sleep. (Dealing with a 14 year old dog who is not sleeping well through the night. She's still my lovey bear but this morning was pretty rough.)

Evie on her birthday quilt

 

       

Halloween Doggie Treats
Evie loves 'em!

It's going to take a while to get this done but I will have it posted by the deadline this week. I'm off to get a little bit of it done now before I pass out from exhaustion.

This time next weekend, I will officially be on vacation and able to create and quilt without a care in the world. I can't wait.

Hope you had a restful weekend.

Crazy Town!

My life (and work) has been on a round trip to Crazy Town lately. There is so much to do and 24 hours is just not enough to fit everything. So, I've had to cut back on things that give me the most joy. I know this ride will not last forever so I am taking everything in stride as best as I can.

I did manage to sneak in some sewing over the weekend which helped take away some of the stress I've been under with my job.

Broken Arrow

My next block for the Skill Builder BOM is done. I'm still so far behind but I will be getting more done soon! I really liked piecing this one as it used up those little scraps I've had at the bottom of my bucket for this project. I didn't think I would need those itty bitty pieces but am so glad I didn't pitch them just yet. I still have to rip out the paper on the back and add the borders but I'm in love with the colors. I only made the center arrow in rainbow order. (Do you see where I messed up? It bugs me but not enough to sew the whole thing over again.) I'm even more glad that I chose to do solids for this quilt because I would not want to match up prints or anything that needed to be set in a specific direction.

Rainbow Ribbon

I also finished my quilt top from the Jacquie Gering stitch and flip class. (Forgive the terrible lighting on this one. It's been raining so much here that I didn't want to take it outside yet.) I'll post a better picture when it's quilted and has a binding. There's another error but its imperfection is what makes this quilt special to me.

I leave next week for a work conference and I'm actually excited to go this year. It means I get a little break from the day-to-day tasks that require my constant attention. I wish I could tuck my sewing machine in my suitcase. Perhaps I'll start on another hand sewing project...hahahahaha! I'm too spoiled by technology to attempt more hand work in this lifetime.

May your trips to Crazy Town be short stays!

In Rainbows

To know me is to know that I love rainbows. I love the variety of colors against black, gray, or white. I get a little giddy when I see multicolored fabrics that are in rainbow order. (I still like it when the colors are randomly placed but there is nothing better than classic ROY G BIV to me.)

Solid scraps for Class

So of course I was going to do a rainbow stitch and flip design when I signed up for the Jacquie Gering class hosted by OMQG. My original intention was to to a spiral rainbow but my blocks took on a life of their own when I placed them on the design wall.

I began with 3.5 x 6.5 rectangles in gunmetal gray. The various scraps I clipped were all different sizes but I simply chain pieced them on the bottom right corner of each rectangle.

When placed on the design wall, they started to make this diagonal stripe that I really liked when I stepped away from the way. I was really grateful for this wall since I usually design on my table. (Blank wall space is very limited in my tiny house.) When I arrived at the end of the row, I realized that I needed to get this design to turn so I can continue adding the colors in the order planned. The idea of using small squares to make it work appeared as a solution when I played with placement. I went back to work and cut out 3.5 squares and added a stitch and flip to the corners using the same fabric. (It was perfect since I had all of those scraps from the first round of sewing rectangles!)

Jacquie made me practice "turning" by forming triangles!

Here's what I have so far:

(Sort of blurry but you get the idea.)

I formed alternate rows of rectangles and squares for this rainbow design. Jacquie mentioned that she's never seen squares and rectangles together using her method. I was ecstatic to have made a new pattern and can't wait to put it all together. It reminds me of a gymnasts' ribbon used during the artistic portion of their program. Since the English teacher in me also loves alliteration, I might just call it Rainbow Ribbon.

I spent most of my day sewing rectangles and squares at the class but I did learn a lot from Jacquie about playing around with designs and colors. I especially loved seeing Blind Co-pilot in person. She quilted it using rainbow thread! (Beth S. noticed this and called me over to admire it's rainbow beauty.)

I wish I could capture the thread colors perfectly for you to admire, too. J'adore!

I spent much of Labor Day weekend working on sewing the rows together so meticulously. I kept checking and rechecking the order on the first 2 rows then I remembered Jacquie's note about sewing the top to the bottom. I put on some music and gathered my next pile.

Stacked from top to bottom!

I started singing about sewing the top to the bottom and found my groove on Sunday night. This felt liberating and I finally finished sewing the columns.

I needed to take a break from this one so I don't have the top finished just yet for show and tell at Wednesday's next guild meeting. I do have another technique under my belt and the possibilities are endless.

Speaking of Wednesday's meeting, I realized that I never made my BOM for the lotto. As luck would have it, the scraps left over from this class were perfect! I whipped together this wonky star from Linda's great tutorial.

Now, it's time for me to get back to work!
(This fabric isn't going to pay for itself.)