a plan is in place

I've been having fun with 15 Minutes of Play, a la Victoria Findlay Wolfe, who I saw but didn't meet, sadly, at the Schaumburg Quilt Expo a couple of weeks ago. I have 13 6-inch squares so far. Aiming for 20 to make a baby quilt for our new nephew, due this summer.

If you haven't tried this method, I recommend it strongly. It's a great way to use up too-small-for-anything-else scraps of fabrics you love. And it's a great excuse to organize your stash. It's also super fun, there's no math or pre-planning - both weaknesses of mine - and you end up with beautiful, original all-you squares that are fun and unique. And free!

Yesterday I ventured to JoAnn fabrics to get some sashing fabric and was pleased to discover a larger collection of better-quality fabrics such as some by Denyse Schmidt. I love this quiet print, which has circles AND dots, what could be better? I'd buy it in every color available. They're not cheap, so use your coupons. But with all the money you're saving making your own fabric, you can afford to splurge now and then. :-)

thinking about adding little white posts at the intersections of those blocks...

A little cold for kite-flying ...

 ... but it's certainly windy enough. Finished the binding yesterday. Not 100% pleased with everything, but I learned (re-learned) a lot.  I do love the colors.

FMQ, a few thoughts

I finished quilting the string blocks using Leah Day's design "hardwood floors." It turned out OK, but it was hard and not fun; I got better at it as I went on, but it never got significantly easier. At one point when I was about half way done, I felt like I'd swum out into the middle of a big lake and was too tired to swim back - help! -  but I did, and I finished the blocks. The job was made more difficult because of the string-piecing, with the extra layer of fabric and many seams. I hadn't considered that beforehand. Also, the backing was pieced in some places, and, combined with the string seams, those spots were really hard to quilt. Lesson learned: don't FMQ with string-pieced squares, at least not with a design that requires you to go side to side over bulky seams. Maybe some machines are better at this than my Pfaff Quilt Expression.

Now for the sashing and posts. I started quilting them with a simple kite design, and I was happy with the parts in the white fabric. But on the posts, which are darker-colored Kona fabrics, the stitching didn't look as nice, almost like the tension was off, but it had been fine in the white sections. So I pondered this situation while I cleaned my house, and voila, it came to me: rather than constantly adjusting the tension and rassling with the quilt, abandon FMQing the inside of the quilt, and do straight lines or zig-zag a quarter inch or so away from the seams in the sashing. This solution is a big relief, because I would like to finish this quilt soon. On another happy note, I started quilting kite strings with bows on the outer border and it is really easy, fun, and pretty. I have used this approach before with larger quilts (FMQ in the outer areas, regular quilting in the middle where it's a wrestling-match with the quilt and constant adjustment is required. i.e., not fun) so maybe it is the best approach for me.

no real flowers yet...

...but we have fused ones! I made the top of this tiny quilt in a wonderful class taught by Laura Wasilowski, the queen of fused applique, quite a few years ago. At the time I was frustrated with free motion quilting and gave up on it for a while. I finally got around to finishing it today. Not perfect, but I enjoyed quilting it and even did a little more than I had intended, a good sign.

inspiration

granny square quilt
http://www.modabakeshop.com/2013/02/granny-square-quilt.html

pieced bias binding how-to

My directions are gratefully borrowed from Jaybirdquilts. My only addition: make sure the width of your stripped section isn't wider than your cutting edge/ruler or it is difficult to cut the binding-width pieces off easily, and cursing may result. I also varied the width of my strips a little, from 2 inches to 3 or so. For the record, bias binding isn't just for when you're going around curves (which i have yet to do on a quilt). It is also the strongest kind of binding you can use, and is a good choice for quilts that will be heavily used such as baby or kid quilts. Plus, I just think it looks nice.

sneak peek

at what I'm working on lately. I've been very inspired by Leah Day's website and am thinking of fun ways to quilt this one as I piece the top together. Hint: kites.