Starry-Eyed Christmas Quilt

I finished a Christmas quilt in time to actually use it for Christmas! I think I started it early this year, abandoned it and finally dug out the almost finished blocks a few weeks ago to get 'er done.

 

Pattern: Starry-Eyed by Angela of Fussy Cut as found on the Moda Bake Shop.

Fabric: Countdown to Christmas by Sweetwater for Moda Fabrics.  I was lucky enough to pick up a bundle of this fabric after Christmas last year.  And even luckier that another shop had some yardage still left for me to bind it.

 

Here's my favorite part: the quilting.  I free-motion quilted a paisley pattern all over the quilt.  Technique found in Angela Walter's book Free-Motion Quilting. It was a bit tricky to figure out where to go next and how to get there.  You have to plan ahead a little bit, but once I got the rhythm down, it was pretty simple.  I could see how this would be very easy on a long arm quilting machine, but it's a little tricky on a domestic machine because you can't always see where you've been and where you're going.  I got myself into corners frequently, but eventually figured out how to get out of those easily too.

I love the texture the quilting created.

I'm playing roulette a bit with the backing.  I bought flannel sheets at Target when they were on sale for $20 a set . . . that's two quilt backs for $20! This one was a red flannel set and I washed it 5 times, using salt and vinegar to set the dye.  I would throw in a piece of my background fabric in each load.  The first time around it was very pink. By the 5th wash, it didn't look too pink anymore . . . I'm hoping that it was just fuzz from the flannel making it look pink at all.  Cross your fingers for me.  The flannel will make a nice cozy, cuddly quilt, but I hope I don't regret the red.

Bound in the red and white stripe from the Countdown to Christmas line.

 

Finished size: 64" x 80"

Finished Date: November, 2012

Scrappy Halloween Finish

This is Scrappy Halloween.

 

Scrappy Stash Quilt Along at Ellison Lane Quilts.  There's still time, if you hurry.  Here's the tutorial.

In the spirit of scrappy stash, the back is made from fat quarters and left overs found in my stash.

Free-motion quilting by me.  I started with diagonal lines and stitch-in-the-ditch radiating out from the center with the intent of making one large, dense spider web.  But the farther I got from the center, the sloppier it got.  So I added some diagonals and straight lines to the outer sets of 4 blocks and made 9 spider webs instead.

 

This left space between the webs that I filled with hundreds of little spiders and their webby trails.

Finished Size: 49" x 49"

 

Binding: Timeless Treasures Charcoal Sketch

(Now, a word about this fabric.  I bought this upon the recommendation of some fellow bloggers.  Although the print is really fun and a great blender, the fabric quality is atrocious.  I was trying to make hexagons with it and you can feel the difference, not to mention the horrible amount of fraying because of the loose weave.  If you care about quality, do not buy this fabric.)

Finish Along

I joined the 100 Day Hustle last week and I've already crossed a couple of things off that list, but I also wanted to join the Finish Along at Quilter in the Gap.  My WIP pile is embarrassingly large and I don't know how much of this I can finish by the end of the year, but it would sure be nice to "clean the slate" for the new year.

 

1. Bind the HST-Warm/Cool quilt

 

2. Dresden Plate table runner.  Wouldn't this be pretty on our Thanksgiving Table?

 

3. Spin Cycle quilt.  This should also be done by Thanksgiving so I can gift it to the lovely hosts of our annual pre-Turkey-day-pie-night. Blocks are done. Pattern by Allison of Cluck, Cluck, Sew.

 

4. Christmas Star quilt. Done by December, or Christmas at least.

 

5. Vintage Holiday quilt.  I have been a good girl and haven't even cut this one out, but I dream about it everyday and would like to finish it for Christmas decorating.

 

6. Advent Calendar.  Guess I better get this one done before December.

 

7. Abandoned Swoon blocks in Christmas colors need to become some table toppers.

 

8. I could not resist these scrappy log cabins and might join in the Scrappy Stash Quilt Along at Ellison Lane Quilts.  A finished quilt must be done by November 13 . . . hmmmm.

 

A few more things that I probably won't get done this year, but I'll add them to the list just in case.

 

9. Terrain Hexagon quilt.  I'd like to finish this so I can feel free to use the left overs for other projects.

 

10. Not Your Granny's Bee blocks will be exchanged this weekend.  I made a set of red/yellow ones too and will end up with a stack of charcoal-background blocks and white-background blocks. Do you think I could mash them together all in the same quilt???

 

11. Polaroid Block swap.  These little babies were fun to make and swap, but I'm not certain what to do with them now.

 

12. A red and white HST quilt.  This one stalled, but will be stunning if I ever finish it.

 

13. NuBee's Block Swap.  Red, white and blue.  If anyone wants to swap me something for that yellow and gray block in front, make me an offer. . . I made it for someone who dropped out and I'll never use it.

 

Well, that's quite a list.  There are a few more in the pile that I politely ignored, but this should be good for getting on with.

 

Also linking to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.