Hemispheres Quilted

The Hemispheres Quilt-Along wall hanging is now completely done.  Another one checked off the to-be-finished list!

I used a walking foot to quilt it, following the arc of the curves and using a chaco liner to mark the curves where I didn't have the ditch to follow.

I wanted the top thread color to match the azure fabric but was limited by what was locally available on short notice.  The big box store had a turquoise Coats and Clark 40-wt. trilobal polyester embroidery thread, so I thought I'd give it a shot, with Aurifil in the bobbin.  I am happy with the result.  The CC didn't shred or lint and had a nice sheen.

The fabrics in the top are Robert Kaufman Quilter's Linen in azure, charcoal, and snow.  I love the bit of dimension you can see up close, yet it still reads as a solid from a couple feet away.

While I was at the store, I spied what looked to be an interesting fabric for the backing, so I grabbed a couple yards of that as well.
 

Some of you may recall that this JCP skirt was my inspiration. I found it while online shopping and pinned it on Pinterest, commenting that it'd make a cool quilt.

Not long afterwards, I heard about the Hemispheres Quilt-Along and saw the quilt pattern.  It was serendipity!

So there you have it for this week's finish.  Linking to:

Black and White

Finally, a finish!  That is a good feeling indeed.  The black and white quilt that I pieced over two years ago has been quilted and bound.

And I lived.

Seriously, the actual quilting is not my favorite part of making quilts, but this was kind of fun once I got into it.  Once I gave up the idea of quilting a perfect spiral, that is.

Shay reminded me that imperfect, scribbly style quilting is called "organic."  To which I responded that this quilt may be so organic it attracts flies!

But the spirals got better each time.  No buzzing was noted in the vicinity.

Having practiced all those circular motions, I moved on to the narrow stop border and did more circles.  Organically, don't you know.

My outer border was a wee bit ripply, I noted as I was basting it.  I fought the urge to remove and resew it and instead hoped it would quilt out.  A little meandering in that area seemed to do the trick. 

Then I went back to the frame borders in the interior and did a back and forth stitch.  I really like how that turned out.  After quilting down one side, I was in the zone and went on to finish them all in one sitting.

Finally, the little red patch.  I changed thread to red and quilted a little daisy with some pebbling (very organic, ahem) around the outside.

It took longer yesterday to hand bind the thing than anything.  I intended to machine bind it, but hand binding is sometimes what happens when you take too generous a seam.

After binding, it was time right away for pictures, since it was the perfect kind of overcast (plenty of light but no glaring sun).  Then the quilt was nap tested.  It passed.

You can see the quilting better from the back.  I had in mind a zen garden kind of thing, thus the straight lines, spirals, pebbles, etc.

The original plan was to quilt it somewhat differently, but after getting reacquainted with the quilt as I was pin basting it, an alternate idea took shape.

I don't have a clever name for this quilt, but I thought of this song.  To call a song a rag is one thing, but a quilt, well, no.  Anyway, both the song and the quilt make me happy!



Linking to:

From Doodling to Done

When I'm on the phone at work, I sometimes doodle free-motion quilting designs in an old spiral notebook.  Not while I'm having a conversation, but when I'm on hold for a representative, which can be a few seconds or minutes.  I flip past the work notes to a back page and start scribbling.

Lately I've been doodling ideas for quilting the Four-Lily block, which I wanted to finish as a table mat or wall hanging.  I came up with various ideas for the different sections.  Unfortunately, the notebook I doodled in stays at work, so last night I recreated it on a piece of freezer paper, with an eye toward getting the scale right. I traced my block templates onto the paper.

There was no way I was going to try to freehand quilt that elongated tri-lobed shape in the lily parts, so I grabbed a red Pilot FriXion marking pen and drew it right onto the fabric.  Then I made a few more reference lines (and screwed up others).  It was kind of a mess around the center.

But it worked to keep me (mostly) on track when I went to quilt it.  I think I've mentioned this before, but I sort of suck at following the lines, even the ones I draw to be followed.  Here is the "after."  The marks disappeared completely with the heat of the iron.

The quilting shows up better on the back.

And here's the full view of the front.

I had never used this pen to mark a quilt design before, so this was a first, and I'm happy with the results.  I know the marks can come back again with very cold temps, so I'll be sure not to set any ice buckets on it.

Now I am looking forward to starting something new, or at least working on something different for a while.  Maybe a string quilt? Quilt one of my UFOs?  We'll see.

If you'd like to try making this block, the tutorial for it starts HERE (or see the Tutorials tab above).  Have fun!

Music to ease you toward the weekend!

Whoop-Whoop Friday ~ Chain Linked

Temps in the mid-40s, hardly any snow, in January?  In Wisconsin?  It's true!  It felt almost balmy today as I hung my latest flimsy on the clothesline.  I am not complaining; I'll take this any day over all the snow we had last year at this time.

I finished the Chain Linked quilt earlier this week.  I'm loving the pops of yellow and orange and turquoise!

The pattern is by Amy Smart of Diary of a Quilter.  It was a fun one to put together, once I figured out what my sashing colors were going to be (Mink is the dark brown, and Ash is the gray, from Connecting Threads).  I ordered a pile of other solids spread out over several orders because I just couldn't seem to hit upon the right combination.  Finally stumbled upon it, though, I think.

The other browns and tans and creams that didn't make the cut will get used in something else eventually.

I've got it hung sideways in these pics, because my clothesline is only so high and I didn't want it dragging the ground.

The print fabrics I used included Central Park by Kate Spain for Moda, among others.  I combined two different FQ bundles won in giveaways this past year, plus a couple others thrown in, some Paula Prass Woodcut Garden, the orange and turquoise from Joann.

 
Now I'm wondering what color thread to quilt it with.  Always an afterthought!

How about you?  What have you been working on this first week of the new year?

Starting at the End

I know it's been pretty quiet around here lately, but fear not, I have not been sitting on my hands (much).

Today is a gray day with light snow falling like powdered sugar.  Although nothing has yet accumulated in the way of the fluffy stuff, I do have a couple piles of quilt squares to show for this week.

In fact, I have all the squares pieced, I just have to lay them out on the floor and fiddle with the order before sewing the top together.

I'm working with a pattern by Amy Smart of Diary of a Quilter, called Chain Linked.  The colors of the framing squares don't show true against the beige carpeting with camera flash, but that is a gorgeous dark brown called Mink, and the gray is Ash, both solids from Connecting Threads.

I'm linking to Sarah's Can I Get a Whoop-Whoop? linky party, the last of 2011.  She suggested we show one of our favorite accomplishments from the past year.  That would be my kaleidoscope quilt!

I love the bright, happy colors and fabrics that went into it.  It makes me smile!

Wishing you all your creative best in 2012!

Nick of Time...or Maybe Not

I finished my holiday wall hanging just a few minutes ago, wanting to get it done in time to link up to Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?, which I thought closed at noon today.  

Turns out I was wrong about that—it's midnight—but I'm grateful for the self-imposed adrenaline rush to fuel me through the finish!

The idea for this project came from Karen at Laughter in Quilts who had made a lovely one using the Carpenter's Wheel block pattern on Quilter's Cache.  Since my front hallway was desperately in need of something seasonal, I totally stole borrowed her idea!  Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?

I used some scraps of Christmas fabrics I'd bought at JoAnn last year, along with Kona Snow.

The backing is a vintage piece I thrifted this past summer.  The batting is likewise thrifted.  I'd found a craft-sized package of bamboo batting at Goodwill, and it worked perfectly.  This is the first time I've used bamboo batting.  Is that stuff ever soft!  It quilted nicely, too.

I need to put up a decent rod in the hallway to hang this, and the hallway is pretty dark for pictures anyway, so I took it out on the front porch for a few shots.  I couldn't be bothered to sweep the sidewalk first (I thought I was under the gun for time, remember), and besides, that's what Picasa's "Retouch" button is for.  Virtual sweeping—no more debris, dead bugs, or whatever they were.

It's beginning to look a little more like Christmas around here.  With any luck, I'll get the little tree re-strung with lights that actually work today.  I hope your holiday is coming together nicely too! 

Kaleidoscope Quilt Finish

Norm was right about the binding; it totally works.

I am happy to report that the kaleidoscope quilt is done.  I gave up waiting for the sun to come out from under the clouds and went ahead with taking photos of it on the deck this morning.  I freezed my freezing fingers off doing it, but that's what big mugs of tea are for, thawing frozen, freezed-off, freezing fingers.

Silly f-words aside, here it is.  Although it's not the '70s rock inspired piece I intended it to be, I do love the finished quilt!

There will be a version 2.0 kaleidoscope quilt that hopefully will achieve the vibe I had planned for this quilt.  In the meantime, I'm reserving the secret name for the second iteration.  (It's based on a song with lyrics weird and iconic enough to inspire, and a glammy, now deceased, front man.  That's all the hints I'm giving on that.)

Norm calls this "the candy quilt."  That's not the alternate name I had in mind, but I can see his point of view.  (There's a part of me that wants to do up the CC label in rainbow-colored embroidery thread with daisies for the asterisks.  Actually, I think a little hand work practice might be nice...)

More photos of the back:

The finale of foldedness:

Thanks to Elizabeth D. of Don't Call Me Betsy for the kaleidoscope quilt-along that provided the motivation and method for making this quilt come together!  See the Flickr group pool for more eye candy and inspiration.