Blogger's Quilt Festival, Spring 2015 - Farmer's Wife Quilt {large quilt category}

I'm excited to be entering my Farmer's Wife Quilt in Blogger's Quilt Festival Spring 2015, being hosted by Amy over at Amy's Creative Side.  This quilt was almost exactly a year in the making, and is the largest quilt I've made to date.  Quite honestly, I don't think I'll ever go bigger than this!!  Its finished size is approximately 86" x 96", and I'm actually hoping for a bit of shrinkage once it goes through the wash!

I enjoyed (almost!) every moment of making the actual blocks, and working with Denyse Schmidt's Chicopee fabric line certainly helped!  I love the bright colours and patterns in the fabrics that don't seem like they should go together, yet they do.

I had Chelsea (www.chelseaquilts.com) do the quilting for me, knowing that I could never manage to work this beast through my normal household machine, and I'm so glad I did.  She did a wonderful job.

I used Carolyn Friedlander's Widescreen Crosshatch fabric for backing, which ended up being just wide enough to use without having to piece any other fabric into the backing to bring it up to size.  Phew!  I was relieved to not have to deal with that for such a big quilt.  The binding fabric is Moda Bella Solids in Scarlet.

Thanks for stopping by, and be sure to visit the Blogger's Quilt Festival and check out all of the other entries in many categories.  Have a great day!

W.I.P. Wednesday ~ Farmer's Wife edition

I took a brief break from working on my Farmer's Wife blocks in order to complete some bee blocks and other small projects, but I'm right back into it now.  64 blocks down - I make them in batches of 4 blocks so that is how I have been photographing them.  You can click on the collage for a larger view.  I'm more than happy with how they are coming together, and am now well past the half way point!  Woohoo!

In other news, I have re-opened my Etsy shop, Winding Bobbins.  I currently have a few Family Passport Wallets in there (made using Amber's pattern) as well as a baby quilt, and I hope to add a few more items yet this week.  Fingers crossed that I'll see some sales!

Have a good week everyone!

Linking up with Lee @ Freshly Pieced

Blogger's Quilt Festival ~ Spring 2014 {ROYGBIV category}

Realizing just this morning that each blogger can link up two projects in the Blogger's Quilt Festival, I'm excited to share this second entry.  My other entry, in the large quilt category, can be found here.  Thanks again to Amy for hosting this event each year.

This quilt was a huge challenge for me being that it is improv based, which is something that definitely does not come naturally to me.  It did come together though, and I'm more than happy with the result.  This quilt now graces the wall of my kitchen and it just brightens everything up!

Quilt stats:

Finished size:  27" x 27"
Pattern:  Improv blocks based on crazy piecing technique described in "Quilting Modern" by Katie Pedersen & Jacquie Gering

Fabric:  Colourful scraps from my overflowing bin!  Michael Miller "Old Script" binding.

Quilting:  Spiral quilting using WonderFil Tutti 50wt Egyptian cotton
Festival Category:  ROYGBIV

 

Blogger's Quilt Festival ~ Spring 2014 {large quilt category}

It's time for another Blogger's Quilt Festival.  This is an online event hosted by Amy, once in the fall and once in the spring.  Looking back in my blog I was surprised to see that this will be the sixth time that I've participated!  It's a lot of fun to see the beautiful quilts that fellow bloggers choose to feature.

This time I am featuring my Roller Rink quilt.  This was not a pattern that I planned to make, more it was that I had a jelly roll of Comma by Zen Chic for Moda and then set out to find a pattern that made use of 2.5" strips.  The pattern is Elizabeth Hartman's book "Modern Patchwork", and honestly it was not one of my favourites in the book, but it fit the bill as far as making use of the jelly roll so I went ahead with it.  It has turned out to be a real favourite and is used daily in our house.

 

Quilt stats:

Finished size:  65" x 77"
Pattern:  Roller Rink, from Modern Patchwork by Elizabeth Hartman

Fabric:  Comma by Zen Chic for Moda, Kona Steel, Kona Iron, tone on tone 'quilting blender' from Fabricland (backing), green print from Ooh La La by Henry Glass (binding)

Quilted by:  me, using Aurifil 50wt cotton thread #2610 in the pattern 'geometric overall' from "Free-Motion Quilting with Angela Walters"
Festival Category:  Large Quilt

The flying geese experiment continues ~ and a giveaway!

** The giveaway is now over and the winner has been announced here.  Thanks to all who entered! **

A couple of days ago I experimented with a new-to-me method of making flying geese units.  For a tutorial, visit this website and scroll down for the second method described.  I was really pleased with the results, it is truly a no-waste method.  Then on Instagram I was pointed in the direction of yet another method, which I tried yesterday.

Obviously the results look quite the same as any other flying geese but the steps taken are really different.  Another one of those "how is this ever going to end up being what it's supposed to be" sort of things!  The tutorial for this method can be found here.  The previous method I tried really only had pros, and this latest method has a few pros and cons.  

Pros:

• you end up with a unit slightly larger which is then trimmed down to size, so there is a greater margin of error.  A plus if you're not confident in your 1/4" seam.  You will end up with units that are exactly the right size.
• with just 2 squares of fabric and a really easy step-by-step, you end up with four flying geese units

Cons:

• this is not a no-waste method.  Because you are trimming the units down to size you end up with waste, and compared with the traditional flying geese method (the first method described here) where you end up with useable waste (half square triangles), in this case you end up with unuseable waste.  Granted not a lot, but still some.
• you will end up with four identical flying geese units, which is fine if that's what you're after, but if you want to go for a scrappier look (like the units I made a couple of days ago) this isn't the method for you.

I would like to send one of these mini quilts/mug rugs to one of you!  To enter, leave a comment on this post letting me know if you would like this blue one, or the orange one.  For a second entry, if you follow me on Instagram (@windingbobbins) leave a second comment on this post to let me know.

The giveaway will end on Thursday, April 10/14.  Good luck!

Unintentional project ~ flying geese

I started off yesterday experimenting with a new-to-me flying geese method, and ended up with this:

I have made a lot of flying geese in the past, after all I did make a Swoon quilt which has many flying geese units.  These were all made with the method using a rectangle and two squares of fabric (the first method described on this page), which totally works but ends up with wasted triangles, or free HSTs if you like to think of it that way, but honestly when I'm making a project I'm not thinking that way - it ends up feeling like waste to me even if they are useful leftovers. 

Nicole pointed me in the direction of this alternate flying geese method, which actually makes 4 at a time.  This technique is the second method described in the same link I gave for the more traditional flying geese method above.  It wasn't intuitive to me but I followed the step-by-step and it totally worked!  Who comes up with these things is what I'd like to know!!  :) 

I liked my little experiment so much that I decided to add skinny borders right then and there, quilt some dense matchstick lines, bind it and call it a finish.  It ended up being 6" x 10.5" and I actually have a perfect spot for it, a place where my husband likes to put his coffee mug when he's working on his computer.  :)

There is actually another method for flying geese that was pointed out to me on Instagram that I really want to try.  Also from the Connecting Threads website, the third method can be found here.  I'll let you know if I give it a try.

One more thing.....until recently I have always joined binding strips straight, end to end, and have always been a little bit frustrated with how bulky those joins are.  On a recent project I decided to try joining my binding strips on the diagonal and I found myself wondering why I had never done this before!!?  It's a bit more effort but it distributes the bulk and makes a much smoother finished binding in my opinion.  BUT I was still joining the two final ends of the binding with a straight seam.  Yesterday when I was finishing this little mug rug I decided to try joining the two ends on the diagonal and I found that it was so much easier than I thought it would be (like so many things!!) and will do it like this from now on.  You can find the tutorial I used here.

Have a wonderful day everyone!

Linking up with finish it up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts
 

Quilting a spiral ~ what worked for me

I wanted to make note of these things for my own future reference, but hopefully you'll find them useful as well:

• Baste your quilt well.  You will handle the quilt a lot and want the layers to stay put.  Also, quilting in the same direction around and around the whole time has the potential for a lot of shifting if your basting is insufficient.  I used a lot of pins but spray would work as well.
• I found this printable spiral template at verykerryberry and found it to be very useful.  I wanted to be sure that I began with a properly started spiral and this did the trick.  The template doesn't look like much but it is all you need to get going in the right direction.  I printed it smaller than actual size because I wanted 1/2" distance between my quilting lines.  From there, I actually placed the paper template in the center of my quilt, affixed it with painter's tape, and sewed through the paper and the quilt with my machine unthreaded.  Then I traced over those stitching lines on the quilt with a washable marker and was good to go.
• Use your walking foot.
• Start with a very short stitch length!  I went all the way down to 1.5 (on my machine, 2.5 is the default stitch length).  The beginning of the spiral is the trickiest part and when following a very tight curve, a short stitch length is really important.  For the first few rounds I was literally sewing two or three stitches, then raising the presser foot and adjusting the quilt a bit, then a few more stitches, etc., just to be sure I was following my marked line.  Also at the beginning especially you will want to take it really slow.
• I wanted my lines to be close together and I didn't want to have to use the guidebar for my walking foot (I hate that thing, mine doesn't stay put.) so I moved my needle position as far to the right as I could and then used the left edge of my walking foot as my guide. 
• As I went along and the spiral grew and became easier to sew, I gradually increased my stitch length until I was up to a 3.0 on my machine, which is what I normally use for straight line quilting.  Unless you look closely you'd never know that the stitch length varies throughout.
• You'll eventually get to the point of having a full spiral that goes out to the edges of your quilt, leaving the corners unfinished (the point I was at in the above photo).  From here you can just quilt one corner at a time, continuing in the same direction that you quilted the rest (clockwise in my case) and continuing to follow the edge of your walking foot as a guide (or your guidebar, if you're using one).

I hope you'll give this a try sometime.  It's a really fun (once you get past the first few rounds...) and striking way to quilt a quilt, adding lots of interest and texture.  I'll definitely be spiraling again in the future!
 

Spiral Rainbows

This small (finished at 27" x 27") scrap busting project has been in the works for quite a few months.  I didn't know when I started exactly where I wanted to end up, but I'm very happy with the final destination.  :)

I started by digging through my scraps and dividing them into colour groups, then put the blocks together using the crazy piecing technique described in "Quilting Modern."  This falls under the category of 'improvisation' which as I've said many times, does not come easily or naturally to me, so for me these blocks were a lot of work.  I have a hard time just letting random be random and I probably put way too much thought into it!

After seeing Debbie's 'Unlocked' quilt quilted in a spiral, I knew I wanted to give it a try on this project.  I had quilted concentric circles once before, quite a long time ago, so I needed a refresher on how to get started, and any tips and tricks I could gather to make it as smooth as possible.  I hope to write a blog post soon with what worked for me as far as the spiral goes, so stay tuned for that! **quilting a spiral blog post is up, you can find it here**

I found this really awesome Michael Miller "Old Script" fabric to use for the binding, and I just love it.  And in case you're wondering, the backing is nothing to write home about, a plain solid cream, which is why it is not pictured!

I hope your day has been as beautiful and sunny as ours has been!  Thanks for stopping by.

Linking up with finish it up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts

Butterfly Strands

My second ever Instagram post (if you follow me there) was of a table topper I had made for our TV/electronics cabinet near the time that I started quilting, and at that point I was thinking that something new was in order.  I actually do still like the old one (also one of my first blog posts, you can see it here) but I've come a ways in my skills and in what my current style preferences are, and I just wanted a change.  The top for this new one was made entirely out of scraps, colourful ones and neutrals as well.

For the blocks, I followed Faith's Butterfly Strands tutorial.  They were fast, easy, and used up loads of my scraps, in particular those skinny strips that aren't always useful in a lot of projects.

I really really liked using the variety of neutrals in this project, something I'm not sure I've ever done before, and taking the same idea into the borders and even the binding.  That cross-hatch piece of binding that you can see above is the only piece of neutral that isn't a solid, my attempt at adding an extra modern flair to the project.  ;)

For the quilting, I went with the same design I used on this recent large quilt finish, though on a much smaller and denser scale this time.  This design has quickly become a favourite of mine as it seems to suit so many different projects, in my opinion anyways!

I discovered that I had a nice piece of a blue tone-on-tone fabric leftover from some other quilt back (can't even remember which one!) that was just the right size, so I'm happy to say that I didn't buy a single supply for this project, it was all from scraps and other leftovers.  The best kind of project for me these days!

Quilt stats:

Finished size:  23" x 33"
Pattern: Butterfly Strands blocks, tutorial by Faith of Fresh Lemons

Fabric:  all manner of scraps and fabric leftovers!

Quilted by:  me, using Aurifil 50wt cotton thread #2026, in my variation of Crybaby Meander

W.I.P. Wednesday

This is what I've been working on this week, in between a whole ton of spring cleaning...

I'm onto binding now so should be a finish very soon! 

Linking up with Lee @ Freshly Pieced

2014 Pantone Quilt Challenge ~ Radiant Orchid

Do you know what Pantone is?  I'll admit a couple of things....first, I had to look Pantone up to find out exactly what it is (look it up if you don't know!)....and second, I didn't start this quilt project at all with the intention of entering the challenge, it just happened to meet the criteria and there are great prizes!  Entries are open until March 21/14 and there are a variety of categories that you can enter in, if you're still considering it.

This quilt is a gift for someone who is going through a tough time.  I hope that a little bit of cozy quilty love will help.  :)  Today was very very windy, also bright and sunny, which doesn't make for easy picture taking, but nevertheless here we go....

I paired the orchid with various shades of blue (and honestly, various shades of orchid) and I think it works nicely.  The background is a nice creamy neutral, as is the backing.

I really really enjoyed free motion quilting this one, and with each quilt I do it continues to feel more natural and my repertoire of designs I'm comfortable with is expanding, so yay for that!  This one is based on a design called 'Crybaby Meander' but I added more of a hook whenever I was moving on to the next shape, but unfortunately you can't really see that in these photos.  It's a neat look, trust me.  :)

For the first time in a long time I used a store-bought flat bed sheet for the backing.  I was a little apprehensive about it but it actually turned out great.  I did pre-wash the sheet even though I didn't pre-wash any of the other fabric because it felt a bit stiff and was very very wrinkly out of the package, and when all was said and done the quilt washed and dried really nicely and hardly shrank at all.  I'll definitely do that again for an inexpensive quilt back.

Finished quilt size: 64" x 75"

Linking up with Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story

Isabelle's Quilt

The window of opportunity for outdoor photographs was very short today so as soon as the quilt was out of the dryer I quickly went outside, in poor light I might add, for a few photos.  Also, the recipient has waited a long time for this so I wanted to be able to get it to her as soon as possible.

For the blocks, I used Kati's tutorial for Stack & Whack Wonky blocks.  To make the most of the fabric, I didn't make the blocks too terribly wonky (the wonkier they are, the more you have to trim away to square them up which obviously equals more waste) so it's not too crazy but still has a nice, moderately wonky look.

The recipient of the quilt is crazy about owls, and her mom found this super cool owl print on Spoonflower.  It didn't make sense to use it in the blocks on the quilt top but for the back, awesome!

For the first time I tried a loopy all over quilting design, but did a double loop instead of singles for a bit more interest.  It was fun and super fast and I'd recommend something like this to someone starting out in free motion quilting.

Quilt stats:

Finished size:  65" x 86"
Pattern:  Stack & Whack Wonky blocks

Fabric:  Cuzcu by Kate Spain, Kona Snow, a few random extra prints for fun, including the owls, and Moda Bella 'Clementine' (binding)

Quilted by:  me, using Aurifil 50wt cotton thread #2021 in an overall double loop design

{almost} wordless update

{the front}

{the back}

Pattern:  Stack & Whack Wonky Block tutorial by Kati @ from the blue chair, 48 blocks to make a twin size quilt
Fabric:  Mostly Kate Spain 'Cuzco' with a few other prints thrown in for fun (note the Spoonflower owls, SO cute!)
Quilting:  Double loops overall meander in Aurifil thread.  About 1/3 of the way finished quilting.

Stay tuned!

Will be linking up with Lee @ Freshly Pieced

W.I.P. Wednesday

I don't usually have a lot of projects on the go at once but suddenly I'm knee-deep in W.I.P.s!  These three are finished tops awaiting backing/basting/quilting....

And this one is a new project but is coming together very quickly, thanks to lots of snowy days which has equaled lots of sewing time!  This is for someone special who is going through a tough time.  Purple/blue are not colours that I normally use very much but it is actually a nice combination (though difficult to photograph!).  I've followed this tutorial for Tula Pink's totally tubular technique which is a really quick way to make a stacked bricks type quilt.

  
So needless to say, I have enough to keep me busy for quite a while!!

Linking up with Lee @ Freshly Pieced
 

W.I.P. Wednesday

A lot of my sharing has been via Instagram these days but today I thought I'd pop in here at the old blog and show a few projects I've been working on that have me very excited!  I dumped out the scrap bin in the last few weeks and decided to do some scrappy improv.  First up, a rainbow block mini quilt, made using the crazy piecing technique from the book 'Quilting Modern.'

This was a LOT of work for me and I'm sure I over-thought a lot of it (straight, symmetrical stuff is what comes natural to me!!) but can I say how thrilled I am with how it turned out.  It's about 27" square and at this point I'm not sure what it will become, but for now it hangs on my design wall and makes me happy.  :)

Realizing that the rainbow blocks in no way depleted the scrap bin I jumped into another project, this time adding to the scraps bits of light neutral solids that I have, not enough for large projects and I don't remember what shades they are anyways so might as well use them up!

 

The picture was taken yesterday and I'm now up to about 30 blocks - these are small and quick, and will finish at about 4" square.  I'm using a tutorial by Faith @ Fresh Lemons called Butterfly Strands.  I was introduced to this tutorial through my bee this month and I love it!  Fast and fun.  :)  Another 'make me happy' project for these dreary winter days.

Looking forward to seeing what the rest of you have up this week!

Linking up with Lee @ Freshly Pieced

W.I.P. Wednesday

The wonky stack & whack quilt I started a few months ago for my friend's daughter sat neglected for at least the last month, with our trip and the Christmas holidays I just didn't have time or motivation to get going on it.  I had all of the blocks completed and some even sewn into rows already in December, but finally this week it all came back out and I got on a roll and finished assembling them.

This is half of the blocks, fully assembled (Well, as much of it as you can see, hanging over the curtain rod!  Each half is 6 blocks x 4 blocks).  I have another half finished as well which is not pictured.  Last time I made a large quilt I left the final seam joining the two halves until I was ready to baste.  This way I can press each half, then sew the seam and baste right away to avoid having to press an unwieldy fully pieced top.  It worked great for me last time so I'm sticking with it this time!

Linking up with Lee @ Freshly Pieced

Memories

The little embroidery piece I purchased on our overseas adventure over Christmas has found its way into a quilting project, and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out.

I hummed and hawed over pretty much every aspect of this project, starting off with how to get the embroidery itself as square and as warp-free as possible, to choosing border fabrics, to how to quilt it, how much to quilt it, and what to bind it with!  Also my decision to use a double layer of batting, which had me doubting all the way till the end. 

But now it's finished, it lays nice and flat (bonus!), the double layer of batting adds a really nice dimension to it and the minimal quilting is just enough.

Many of you helped in my choices along the way, so thank you!  It all works together and this project will serve as a wonderful way to remind us of our trip and the memories we made with family and new friends.

Just a few days ago, this particular spot on the wall had became home to the other wall hanging we brought back, and needing an indoor spot for photos today I swapped it out for the embroidery and I have to say, I prefer the embroidery here!  So I guess we'll see where everything eventually finds a permanent home.  :)

Linking up with Finish it up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts