Pineapple Princess

Catching up some more...  I'd finished this flimsy up a year ago but wasn't sure how I was going to quilt it since it's bigger than I'm comfortable with for my domestic.  I took it back to Maine with a vague plan of renting some longarm time but the days quickly passed and I realized I was running out time before we were heading south again.  

Luckily an adorable new quilt shop opened in our town and the owner does longarm quilting.  Not only did she do an amazing job she was able to get it done before we left and even gave me enough time to get the binding on so I'd have some handwork for the long drive back to Florida.  

I was almost finished when we finally rolled in to the Keys.  

Now that it's done it's headed to my daughter's new apartment in Miami but until she gets settled I get to enjoy it.  

But seriously, that quilting!!!

Quilt Stats:

Finished quilt is 72" x 77"
Pattern: Pining for You by Tula Pink.
Fabrics: Tula Pink's DayDreamer and Designer Solids Collections from Free Spirit.
Batting: Quilter's Dream Orient Bamboo.

Quilting by Vicki at Knots & Bolts Creating Co.

Pining To Sew

I have a slight pineapple obsession and a huge love for Tula Pink so obviously I was going to buy the Pining for You kit that came out with Daydreamer.  I'm not usually one for kits but with all the transitions happening in my life this was the perfect project for grab and go.  I don't have access to my stash right now so having all the fabrics I needed pre-assembled made this feasible though with 50 different fabrics I might have underestimated.  

The blocks are just challenging enough to be interesting but go together quickly and easily.  They are also fairly basic without a lot of points to match.  I did find it best to press the snowball blocks toward the center rectangle and the crown strips towards the triangles.  That way the seams would nest when I sewed them together.  I also found it useful to square up the snowball blocks and the top flying geese crown block.  Doing that made my borders line up best.  There are definitely a few wonky crowns but in the spirit of going with the flow I decided I could live with that.

I did them in sets of 4 as the pattern is laid out.  I could do a set in about 3 hours which is a reasonable block of sewing time to carve out in a day.

It was definitely an adjustment setting up a workspace at our home in Maine.  I was really missing my studio but I made it work and was able to get all of the blocks made before we left for the season.  

Once we got settled again I squared up all my blocks and got to sewing them together.  Buying a 15 1/2" square ruler definitely made the process easier.

And in almost no time I had a finished flimsy.  I decided to make it a little bigger and added a border so it should fit on a king sized bed.  Now to figure out how to get this quilted so I can put it in action.  

Release the Hounds

One of the (many) things on my to do list is quilt my Tula Pink Houndstooth quilt.  It's been basted and sitting in my studio since last summer while I figured out how to quilt it.  Poking around the web it seems like a lot of people stipple these but I don't think it does anything for the design and with the bold color scheme whatever color I choose to quilt with was going to really show on half of the blocks.  The fabulous Angela Walters quilted Tula's and choose to do straight line quilting in light parts and swirls in the dark.  My quilting skills are definitely no match for Angela's but I like the effect so I thought I'd give it a try.

Rather than attempt it on my quilt I shrunk the pattern down to make a pillow sized practice version, this time in Lime & Navy.

In the navy sections I quilted 1/4" lines which was actually harder than I expected given the irregular shape.  For the green sections I pulled out my go to, Free-Motion Quilting with Angela Walters and tried some concentric circles.  It still needs more practice to get my circles round but I'm pretty pleased with the results.

I happened to have a lime green zipper on hand so I went with my go-to zipper installation tutorial by s.o.t.a.k handmade for the back.

It doesn't really go with anything in my house but I love it...  maybe it's time for a quilt studio redo:-)

Checking in with this week's Finish it Up Friday by Crazy Mom Quilts.

Pillow Stats:
Finished pillow is 21" x 21"
Pattern: Adapted from Quilts from the House of Tula Pink
Fabrics: Kona Storm & FSDS Lime.
Batting: Quilter's Dream Orient Bamboo.
Thread: 50 wt. Aurifil in  Midnight (2745) and Fern Green (2888).

W.i.P. Wednesday: Eat those Frogs!

Despite my slight detour to make a quick anniversary present, I had a fairly productive week.  Or maybe it just feels that way because I got one big check off my to do list.  I don't know why I make such a big deal about basting.  I finished my Out to Sea top a month ago, got the back pieced, ran to the store for batting, quilted another quilt so I'd have enough safety pins and then the excuses began...  it's too hot, I don't have time today, my back already hurts, I'm wearing white pants.  I was holding firm that I couldn't start anything new until it was basted and finally I ran out of excuses.  I timed it and 1 hour and 24 minutes later it was done.  I didn't even have time to watch a whole movie.

With the remaining time I finally sewed the buttons back on my favorite Lilly pants...  my second most dreaded sewing activity.  It's really pathetic how long it takes me to get around to doing any sort of "domestic" sewing!

Not that it's been nothing but drudgery around here...  I sewed the binding on my Beatrix Potter so now I need another movie to watch while tacking it down.

And since tonight brings the return of Hand Sewing Happy Hour at Quilter's Way I'm resurrecting my La Passacaglia prepping these centers.

What's your most dreaded quilting/sewing task?

Keeping motivated with this week's W.i.P. Wednesday:-)

W.i.P. Wednesday: And So It Goes...

This summer my sewing time has come in two flavors, slipcover sweatshop and hand sewing road trips.  This week is more of the same, prepping La Passacaglia cogs before we hit the road again.  This really is the perfect summertime project.  Nothing big and heavy to haul around and it's easy to pick up and put down.

For my 3rd cog I dug deep into my Tula Pink stash for this fabulous Hushabye owl.  This print holds so many choices for fussy-cutting!

More Hushabye for the next rings...  I love the way it almost looks like lace!

We're packing up again so I'm prepping my next ring.  For this one I'm mixing in some Nicey Jane, it was bound to pop up eventually:-)

Here's my progress so far.  It's hard to know where each cog is going to end up in the final arrangement so I may need to add more pieces when it all finally comes together.  I love it so far!

Keeping up with this week's W.i.P. Wednesday:-)

And Then I Improvised...

 

The awesome Erin of Daley by the Yard asked me to do an improv piecing demo at her grand re-opening next weekend.  If you've seen my quilts you know that tiny little pieces and perfect points are more my style so I figured I'd better practice a bit first.

Neptune is one of my most favorite and maniacally hoarded fabric collections so it was perfect for having random little bits to sew together.  I just pulled everything out of my scrap bag and started sewing it together until I had a panel the right size for my anchor applique.

I also had some jelly roll strips left from my Zig Zag quilts that I pieced together for a border.

I thought it would be easier to do reverse applique on the anchor rather than trying to turn under seam allowances with pieced seams...  that may not have been true:-)  A little glue and a lot of patience and I got all the edges turned under.  I layered the quilt with the backing and batting and then quilted around the anchor to hold the edges in place.

For the rest of the quilting I used the Bernina wavy stitch (#4) with a stitch length of 4.  I found I had to adjust the tension way down to around 1 1/2 but with a little fiddling it was perfect.  It was pretty tedious but a couple of movies helped pass the time.  Thank goodness for Netflix!!!

I've entered this in the Applique category at the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  Hop on over there to check out all the other fabulous quilts!!!

Quilt Stats:
Finished quilt is 42" x 52"
Fabrics: Neptune by Tula Pink, Cotton Couture in Fog, FSDS Cosmic Blue for binding.
Batting: Quilter's Dream Orient
Thread: Aurifil 2845

Swept Away

The absolute best thing about joining the BostonMQG was I found my BQF Aimee.  There isn't a single project I've made since we met that hasn't been improved by her suggestions.  Yesterday during our standing craft chat we were cleaning out our respective quilt studios and Aimee came across some fabulous ribbon we bought on our fabric buying frenzy at Mood.  Faster than you can say "We love Tula Pink!" the challenge had been issued...  use it to make a Noodlehead Gathered Clutch.

My biggest concern was the zipper since I'd already made my daily trip to Quilter's Way but it turns out I do have a secret stash of zippers so I had a few choices.

The ribbon is from Salt Water and I played around with a couple of ideas before deciding it was time to dip in to my carefully hoarded pile of Neptune.  Picking out fabrics and cutting all the pieces was definitely the most time consuming part of the process.

Anna's instructions are easy to follow and well illustrated.  The zipper installation was a breeze!

I wish I'd followed the instruction to use a slightly wider seam allowance when sewing the lining pieces so it fit better inside the bag.  Mine is a bit poochy but the card slots are a perfect fit.

The finished clutch is a bit small for my taste, more the size of a pencil case or wallet.  If I make it again (and I can guarantee I will) I'd use these mods from Clover & Violet to make it a bit bigger.

Linking up to the fabulous Finish it Up Friday by Crazy Mom Quilts.

Ask Me About the Birds and the Bees (Perfect Quilted Tote)

I don't think I've ever been more impressed with myself after having made a bag...  and the last bag I made was the dreaded Weekender;-)  With 39 meticulously detailed steps, Oh, Fransson's Perfect Quilted Tote is not for the faint of heart.  But what a tote bag it is...  

I started this in Elizabeth's workshop at the Philly Sew Down but ended up starting over when I got home.  It was much easier having my whole stash to pull from.  I started with a FQ bundle of Tula Pink Birds and the Bees and then raided my scrap bin.  This bag was made 100% from stash.  I just kept finding things I loved that would work perfectly:-)  

I found it was pretty quick and easy to make the quilt as you go panels once I had a plan in place.

Then the fun really starts...  This bag has TWO interior pockets, including one with a zipper.  I got this fabulous Anna Maria Horner Good Folks print at Marden's this summer.

My only regret is that I didn't use the Cranberry Crossweave from the facing to do the slip pocket trim/interior.  But check out that perfectly installed zipper;-)

I made the wide version and it's the perfect size for everything I need but I'm wondering if carrying this is a little too close to wearing a quilted jacket.  It's a fine line...

See more fabulous finishes at Finish it Up Friday by Crazy Mom Quilts.