Big Swoon

Now that my quilt studio is doubling as my home office I've had to do a major clean out.  I unearthed this giant swoon block basted and just waiting to be quilted.

In the spirit of just get it done I kept the quilting simple and just did some echo quilting and added some extra rows to further define the elements.  After 7 years I was able to finish this off in an afternoon.  I'd even made the binding already so I just needed to slap it on and enjoy some Netflix and chill while tacking it down.

Lessons learned:
Flying Geese would have been better than HSTs for the zigzag border.
Don't use a directional print for zigzags!!!

Quilt Stats:
Finished quilt is 37" x 53"
Pattern:  Adapted Swoon Block by Camille Roskelley
Fabrics: Tufted Tweets by Laurie Wisbrun, FSDS Sky & Kiwi, Bella Solids Bleached White.  Timeless Treasures Dots.  Binding: Crazy for Dots & Stripes by RJR Fabrics.
Batting: Quilter's Dream Orient.
Thread: 50 wt. Aurifil in  Natural White (2021).

Excuse Me While I Swoon

As I've mentioned before I'm really not that in to the whole fall thing.  Those "crisp" autumn days put me in a ghastly mood so quicker than you can say pumpkin spice latte I escaped to my studio, dug into my stash, and got sewing...

There really isn't enough space in my house for yet another Ghastlies quilt but there's always room for pillows.  I've been on a bit of a Swoon pillow jag lately.  It started started with my Christmas version and then spread to a patriotic version so obviously a Halloween one was in order.  Most of the Ghastlies focus prints are too spread apart for these smaller pieces but the Ghastlie Web print was perfect.

For the quilting I made a free form spider web.  This is such any easy and forgiving pattern and perfect for Halloween decorations!  Lori Kennedy has a great spider web tutorial if you've never tried quilting one.  Next time I'll try adding the spider.

For the back I had a little fun and used this colorful 9 Ghastlie Lives print.  As always, I used this zipper closure tutorial by to S.O.T.A.K. Handmade.

Feeling Ghastly with this week's Finish it Up Friday by Crazy Mom Quilts.

Pillow Stats:
Finished pillow is 20" x 20"
Pattern:Adapted from Swoon by Camille Roskelley - Thimble Blossoms
Fabrics: from the Ghastlies collections by Alexander Henry, P&B Basics, Onyx Grunge by basic grey.
Batting: Quilter's Dream Orient Bamboo
Thread: King Tut Rosetta Stone (978).

Patriotic Pillow Party

I have a tendency to get a bit obsessed with fabric collections.  After a bout of bad weather in Maine earlier this summer we came home for a few days.  I was cleaning up my studio but when I went to put away my stack of Madison fabrics from my Star Struck pillow I decided it would be much more fun to whip up something else...  next thing I knew I had a trio of patriotic pillows.

These were really quick and easy since I'd already made both patterns.  I started by copying my Kate Spain Holiday Swoon pillow.  One of the things I'm obsessive about is keeping a project sheet for everything I do.  It is so nice to be able to look back and see what thread you were using or how you did something.  For this one I just pulled out my notes on how to resize the block to 16" and went to town on it.

A Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Season 2 binge helped the endless rows of quilting along.

Swoon;-)

From there I went back to Camille Roskelley's Stars and Stripes pattern.  I took my own advice from my Flower Sugar version and made up a R/W/R strip set and then cut a shorter piece and then added the extra row of white to what was left and added that to the bottom.  Once I was done I trimmed the length to size.  So much faster and more accurate than cutting each strip to size and sewing them together individually.

Some easy wavy line quilting and I was ready for a day of poolside binding to finish it off.

Catching up with this week's Finish it Up Friday by Crazy Mom Quilts.

Pillow Stats:
Finished Swoon pillow is 20" x 20"
Pattern: Adapted from Swoon by Camille Roskelley - Thimble Blossoms
Fabrics:  Anna Griffin Madison prints from Marden's, Knoa Snow
Batting: Quilters Dream Orient
Thread: 50 wt. Aurifil in Ermine (2312)

Finished Stars & Stripes pillow is 13" x 17"
Pattern: Stars and Stripes  by Camille Roskelley - Thimble Blossoms
Fabrics:  Anna Griffin Madison prints from Marden's.
Batting: Quilters Dream Orient
Thread: 50 wt. Aurifil in Ermine (2312)

'Tis the Season

Another better late than never post, when pulling out our holiday decorations I found this fun Kate Spain Christmas quilt I finished in January.  It's perfect for Christmas but really needed something to go with it.  I dug out the remaining scraps and decided a Swoon pillow would be the perfect accompaniment.

I love this block by the adorable Camille of Thimble Blossoms, it's complicated enough to look fabulous standalone yet is easy to assemble.  I did a little math to resize it to 16" and got to work.

Once I had it pieced together I decided I wanted to quilt it with 1/4" spaced lines.  I started with an X through the middle and then quilted each quarter.  It was a bit tedious but it goes faster the closer you get to the center and it was a great way to relax after all the holiday craziness.

Once the quilting was finished I went with a simple envelope closure for the back and a bound edge.  In no time it was ready for service on our couch.  It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas:-)

Pillow Stats:
Finished pillow is 20" x 20"
Fabrics: Solstice, Flurry scraps by Kate Spain, FSDS Mist.
Batting: Quilter's Dream Orient Bamboo.
Thread: 50 wt. Aurifil in Natural White (2021).

And then I Swooned

You know all the cool quilters are making the adorable Camille's Swoon quilt not to mention hanging out at the Swoon-along with the fabulous Katy of I'm a Ginger Monkey.  I'm still kicking myself for being too intimidated to talk to Katy at Quilt Market even though I was standing right next to her in line for like 20 minutes waiting to get our books signed by Sarah Fielke.  LOSER!!!  Anyway, I really wanted to Swoon but I didn't see myself making a whole quilt.  I'd been brainstorming using it for the center of a medallion quilt or something like that but then I was digging through my stash and I came up with this pile of fabrics I'd put together for a baby quilt.  I thought this could be big, really big!


The fabrics are: Dots by Timeless Treasures, Tufted Tweets by Laurie Wisbrun, FSDS Sky and Kiwi, Crazy for Dots and Stripes by RJR Fabrics and Bella Bleached White.  And again, all from stash: )

After playing with the math I decided to make a 32" Swoon block.  Sorry, it was really dreary so I didn't take pictures along the way and it went together really quickly.  Once I finished up the block I felt like it was a little small, even for a baby quilt, plus I wasn't sure you'd look at it and instantly know it was one of my quilts so I added the zigzags;-)  I love the way they echo the lines of the block!  I made these with HSTs but if I did it again I'd go with flying geese to reduce some of the seam allowance bulk.  I also probably wouldn't use a directional fabric again.  It definitely upped the level of difficulty to get all the bubbles going the right way. 

The finished top is 36" x 52".  I don't have a big enough piece of spare batting so I will still get to make a trip to my LQS which gives me time to figure out how I'm going to quilt it.  The unbelievably talented Angela has a great post about how to quilt your Swoon so I have lots of options to consider.  And here's my tip for the day... this is the perfect time to make your binding.  1, it saves you from accidentally using the piece you had intended for your binding (been there, done that!). 2, you're still in the piecing groove. And 3, it is so nice to have your binding all ready to slap on as soon as you're done quilting.  It makes finishing those quilts so much easier!