Memento Quilt - finis!

I have fi-nally finished the memento quilt I've been working on and couldn't be happier! The fabrics were a true treasure to work with and have left an amazing quilt top. I always underestimate how long these will take and my husband suggested I quantify it, so maybe next time I won't blithely suggest I can get this done in three months.

Yes, this means you have to stick with me through facts and figures (or, you know, just scroll down to the piccies). Before anything else I had to start with measuring allt he emblems, appliques or focal images on all the garments to find out what the average size was and what sort of block would work best. Fortuantely, there were only two very small images and only two very large ones, and the rest all worked themselves happily at about 4.5" square.

You should be able to see in this image the template plastic, marked with centering lines from each corner, over the image of the house:

Of course, part of what takes so long is my underestimating how long it will take to cut (and fussy cut!) that many 4.5" patches.  42 blocks, plus one for the back means over 300 patches.  Oy.

An additional element of difficulty comes with handling infant and toddler clothes: there's not always that much real estate, fabric-wise.    There's quite a few patches that were cut so close to the edge the seam allowance includes the stitches of cuff or ribbing.

Then, of course, there's the pinning. Miles and miles (and miles) of pinning:

One of the basic things I tell all beginning sewistas is to always pin more than you think you need to.  Because you really need to.

It was absolutely worth it in the end:

Having so many different fabrics makes an all-over stitching pattern preferable, as it unifies the top, across all the various colours and textures.  Rather than a stipple or loop that goes all over everything, we went with a traditional diagonal within each block, excluding any appliques:

The texture on the reverse actually makes me giddy - It's a delight to behold!

Oh, and that big number I know you're waiting for - 14,066 feet of thread.  That's right, between top and bobbin threads that's nearly three 500-yard spools!

Memento patches update

The memento quilt currently in progress is coming along well.  So far I've been to the butterfly jungle:

Found pockets hidden in some very busy flowers:

Discovered a thoughful Pooh bear in a rose garden:

And neatly mapped the miles to go before I sleep:

A Ghastlie quilt

First off, my thanks to everyone who bought tickets for the USKA raffle for my Calico Jack quilt.  The winner was Jason H., who swore up and down he wasn't going to share with his kids (but we all know he will!)  My apologies that I don't have pictures of the drawing, I forgot my camera last weekend.

It was actually a bigger weekend than usual for the denizens of chez tarabu - in addition to the school picnic we had a birthday and a housewarming party to round out the weekend.  The housewarming was for dear friends who just bought their first house - a wicked adorable 1920s house, with hardwood floors, high ceilings, fully tiled shower enclosure and a cross-breeze to make anyone jealous. 

Fortunately for me, parties are gifting events and I got to make them a quilt!  I used three fabrics from Alexander Henry's 'Ghastlie' collection:



In fact, when the fabric first came out a few years ago, I immediately thought of these two and may have rubbed my hands in glee when they announced they were buying a house!  (And, as Lisa Boyer once wrote, you should never give a quilt for anything other than a once-in-a-life event, the stress of topping the birthday quilt each year is just too much!)  It's a skinny twin - measuring just about 54" x 80", and set on the horizontal it should be just right for chilly autumn nights on the sofa.

Finish it Up! Friday, July 20

I finally finished those two legacy tops that have been knocking around.  It's funny, when I break a needle while quilting my own tops I check my tension (machine and personal), review when I last took a break or ate something and generally look for all the faults in my sewing process.  When I break a needle on a reclaimed UFO, I wonder if the late quilter doesn't like the quilting pattern chosen for her top.  I'm glad to say I didn't break a needle on either of these, so I'm pretty sure the quilter in question likes my work:  

We're all lucky I'm not the kind of spiritualist who actually talks to the deceased, because I'd never get anything done what with asking all about raising kids forty or sixty years ago and whether they really ate that bacon-pimento cheese spread I see in the old adverts. 

Finish it Up! Friday May 4

I've got three new pieces to show today, although the runner was finished some time ago, I only just got arround to photographing it:
Let's start with Pretty in Punk - 38" x 40", stitched in the ditch with grey thread - just right for a future skully princess:

Next up, a neutral infant quilt, alternating yellow'n'green patches and novelty animal prints (35" x 35"):

And finally, my bright spring runner. At 12" x 36" it's just right to dress up a breakfast bar of bistro table:

So what have you made this week? Post your links in the comments below.

Finish It Up! Friday April 6

I am pretty excited to have this custom wall quilt completed. The finished piece measures 40" x 60" and is pieced from cotton, silk, sateen, denim and tweed fabrics.

The hanging is done with a dowel through a rod pocket on the back. The dowel has an eye-hook on each end, each with a bit of grossgrain ribbon knotted through the hook and hung from a brick clip. I got the clips from www.brickclip.com and have to say I am most impressed with their service. I placed the order on Friday and they were delivered on Monday. I have no idea if the standard turn around is to pick-pack-post within 24 hours, but they certainly did that for me!

Finish It Up! Friday 30 March

My Bento Cake quilt is done for realz! Pieced, quilted, bound and up for sale!

WIP Wednesday

This is another legacy project - a Falling Leaves top finished by a quilter who's passed on. I still haven't worked out the binding for this one - there's dark green leaves, purple flowers and blue ticking in the various blocks - all of which would lend themselves well to binding.

Edited: I wound up not making up my mind and went with solid white binding - I didn't break any needles or burn myself on the iron, so I presume the late quilter is pleased with my choice.  You can see the finished quilting here.

WIP Wednesday

This piece is working on becoming a 43" x 60" wall quilt - vibrant, multi-textured and (dare I say it?) just right for spring!

Mini-quilt Monday!

I haven't participated in Mini-Quilt Monday in, well, ever (I don't think). I finished two mini-quilts yesterday, one I'm not terribly fond of and one I like very much. The first, which I am not terribly fond of, is this one:

I don't particularly fancy the very dark center, although if it's under a plate I won't really notice. That one measures 11" x 9.5"

The one I'm really tickled about is the little critter one, here:

This one measures 6.75" x 5.5" and may be going to live under a mug shortly.

I also finished a 45" custom lap quilt for a local school's spring auction.

And I had help while I was hanging it for the picutres:

Finish it Up! Friday - 9 March

It hasn't been a bumper week for me, but hey I have at least one bonafide start-to-finish finsh to share:
This rainbow pennant was inspired by party decorations for my friend's little boy who wouldn't pick a colour or theme because as far as he is concerned all colours are awesome!

And I've finished all the blocks for my latest bento pie quilt:

They are already coming together and I L-O-V-E them! By the time I am finished this will be a twin-sized quilt of indigo-pink-batik joy.

Finish It Up! Friday - 03.02

I'm running a bit behind for this week's Finish! post, but after weeks of accomplishing little I actually have full-size projects worthy of posting.

First up, a custom twin-sized pirate flag quilt. This one features solid Kona purple and the Day of the Dead-inspired 'Los Novios' print from Alexander Henry:
Second is another finish to a top Jenni created for one of her boys:



He's a very tactile lad, so the backing is unquilted fleece. I quilted the top as usual, with cotton batting and a really ugly cotton print that I couldn't bear to throw away but couldn't honestly imagine using for anything anyone might see!

After quilting it was simply a matter of layering with the fleece, and then binding the two thick layers (quilt and fleece) together. It's much heavier than usual and will be quite warm. It will also require tumble-drying on high!

Monday's Mess

Do you ever have days when you're browsing Flickr or Pinterest and you look at all those well-organized, well-lit studios and feel a little bad about yourself? Maybe you don't have a private room with a custom Koala cabinet system or a walk-in closet for storing all your fabric.

Maybe you work from the dining table or a 2'x3' chipboard student desk that should have hit the scrap yard years ago or the floor, because it's the only flat space around.

I'm lucky enough to have a space to call my own, but it's not big enough for some of my projects which is when I have to take over the prime floor space in front of the fireplace (it's totally a coincidence that this always seems to happen when it snows). I just completed a queen-sized t-shirt quilt top, partially seen here:



And this is what the basement, where I drug out my collapsible cutting table looks like after the carnage is over:

So next time you realize you don't have Eleanor Burns' studio, don't sweat it - plenty of other quilters don't either!

I also learned a very important lesson about using sweatshirt material: Always clean the table between cutting the white sweathsirt fleece and the black ones. Honestly, it looked like Frosty moulted in there!

Finish it Up! Friday - 3 February

Pinkie Pie is completed! Her finished measurements are 42" square, with a pieced binding. All Hail, the trusty nine-patch!

What have you accomplished recently? Add links to your recent personal creations below:

Around the World and Falling Leaves

I received two new quilt tops to finish over the weekend:

The Falling Leaves measures 76" x 74", a generous throw quilt size.

The Around the World variation measures 76" x 85" and will be ideal for a twin-sized bed.

Sometimes I have the best job ever!

Finish it Up! Friday - January 27

Just a few finishes this week. I am in the midst of a queen-sized t-shirt quilt, Pinkie Pie still needs to be completed, but I did manage to finish two little mug rugs and a Clementine Cake:

I am glad mug rugs are so popular these days - It's an excellent way to use up orphan blocks, without fiddling with crunchy Insul-bright to make potholders. It also allows extra practice with the free-motion skills. My ocean waves still need a bit more practice.

I also baked, shared and ate a Clementine Almond cake. You see all that snow outside of the window? Neither did I when I had a slice of cake in front of a roaring fire!

Finish it Up! Friday - 20 January

I am almost surprised with what I accomplished this week - three finishes. The first was started and finished in the week, the second would have been finished last week except I needed to trim the weeds, and the third; well, it was a UFO for quite a while!

This first is for a friend I went to school with, in our school colours:
This is for a friend I went to college with, who doesn't want to know the gender of her little one in advance of the big show, so I went with our school colours. School colour quilts are actually quite popular around here, with blue-and-white for Hood and Notre Dame and green-and-white for Oldfields are definitely the most popular I have had requested.

Second-finish this week reminds me of cupcakes. Not common-or-garden cuppcakes, but those luscious hand-sculpted confections you see on Sunday Sweets at Cakewrecks:

And my poor little UFO that's finally complete:

The texture on this one is the real treat - the center horizontal panel is a loose meandering stitch, the pale blue above and below are a tighter stipple, and the outer borders have a straight-line echo stitch beside each seam.

Pinkie-Pie design wall

It's a girl! You could probably guess that - this is what's on my design wall at the moment. My only directions were 'nine-patch' and 'pink, Pink, PINK!'

If I ever meet this child I won't be able to refrain from calling her 'Pinkie-Pie'

Finish it Up! Friday - 13 January

This week's finish is brought to you courtesy of my son. He did not make this quilt, but he did design it, and has waited patiently for ever (since last summer) for it to be finished. In my defense, he only picked the fabric last month. And oh, what fabrics he picked:

The center panel on the front is a nylon flag from our local low-cost imports shop. I was a little worried about using the nylon, but it has turned out well. I backed the nylon panel with solid white cotton, the kind I often use for backings, so even if it gets tugged about and the stitches snag the nylon I won't worry about the batting bearding through.

The finished piece is slightly smaller than a standard twin size, as it's for a top bunk, measuring 50" wide x 80" long:

You can find out more about this pattern on my Craftsy page, here.

Finish it Up! Friday 6 January

This week's finish was completed last Sunday - I hope that's a portent for a productive year!

A simple colourful critter quilt, just like this one. It is already off to it's new home and I have a new quilt on the machine - with any luck this does herald a very productive year indeed.