It will shrink out

Whenever I make a mistake with piecing, I say it will quilt out. Well, when you make a mistake quilting, it will shrink out.

Pre-washing

I finished up my binding, threw the quilt in the wash and it looks great now! Yes, if you look at it for long enough, you see the wonky lines, but when it is keeping one warm, who cares?!

Post-washing

I've thoroughly enjoyed Cherri's Quilt Along. I don't think I would have ever tried to quilt, if it weren't for the quilt along. I am not sold on quilting yet, but at least I know what to do now. I am going to do the brown quilt next, but after that I think I may just do placemats.

Quilting is stressful

I enjoy piecing. As mentioned in the previous post, my black and yellows solid quilt was going to be my first quilting project. I basted and was going to wing it with the rumpled back, but thankfully Amy intervened. Her very detailed instructions made the basting so much easier. There was a lot of smoothing through the process. I have a very basic, cheapo sewing machine so I had to get a walking foot. I have only sewn through layers to do binding, but even with that minimal exposure, I could tell that a walking foot makes a HUGE difference. A quilting foot is wonderful! Anyway, I started in the middle strip because I figured that if I anchored the middle then I could keep working out and continuing to smooth as I got. I used painting tape to try and 1 inch 'stripes'. Yeah, that didn't work so well. I ended up with only 4 lines instead of 5. After fighting the tape for two strips, I figured out that I could use the quilting guide. Genius! My lines are wonky, but it doesn't look half bad. Since I was on a roll, I finished up sewing on the binding. With this time difference I am still wide awake, so I might as well start hand sewing. I am going to mess around with stitch length for the chocolately goodness quilt. Hopefully using the guide from the start makes a difference with my spacing. I am not sure though if I will ever be a quilter though. I may just piece. I will post pictures once the binding is done.

Thank you! Thank you!! Thank you, Amy!!!!

Wait for me!

I am a good two weeks behind in my Cherry House Solid Quilt Along. The flickr group has a bunch of completed quilts. I finally got around to getting backing fabric. I just went with solid black. I had left over batting from my quilts that came back from Jenny, so that worked out well. This is my first quilt job, so I am little nervous. I did a terrible job basting. I was very careful with smoothing out the top, but I didn't think about the backing. I pinned it all, flipped it over and it was messed up. I redid one side, but I am going to go ahead and quilt from the middle out to that side and then re-baste. Will be an after church project. Pray for Cherri, please. She has been well lately and has had to visit the doctor several times.

Turned out ok

While I don't love it like I love the brown colour scheme, I do like it.

The yellows don't show up very well in the picture, but they are pretty yellows. In the flickr pool, another quilter used gray with yellows and it showed up really well. I would use the same pattern again, making some size adjustments to end up with bed sized quilt.

Box of chocolates

Everybody uses the word 'yummy' when talking about fabrics and quilts. I greatly dislike the word 'yummy'. This quilt though does make me think of the word 'yummy'. It reminds me of a box of chocolates. I love the colours of this quilt. I think they are rich and caramel-y and butterscotch-y and toffee-y. I should have known that I would like it, because the colours in the quilt are all represented in my living room furniture. I need to stick to what I like rather than trying to go with trends.

I have pictures of the pieced chains, but they would detract from the image of the quilt itself. I did something I shouldn't have. I didn't measure my pieced strips and cut the background strips to size. I went ahead and sewed the background strips on and then cut. You can see the unevenness on the bottom edge. I need to figure that one out.

I adore this quilt. The size also adds to the chocolate charm. Thank you Cherri. So here it is.

Overthinking colours

I went back and forth and back and forth on the Cherry House Quilt Along colour selection. In the end I went with a couple yellows and one orange. I went ahead and cut because I knew if I waited I would have started all over again. The colours aren't showing up very well in the picture, but I am pleased. I have no idea which combination of colours I ended up with. I know Papaya for certain and maybe Corn Yellow.

So after choosing my colours I was left with a pile of peachy looking beiges. I decided I might as well do another one. I went to Hobby Lobby with Emily over lunch today and picked up Caramel and Coffee as the background. One of the other colours is Ocher, but the other two I am unsure about. I haven't cut them yet. When I do, I will post a picture.

Edit: OK it is black and yellow

So the golds did not work out. My friend Emily (of Emily's deer) said she didn't know why I was re-visiting the black and gold colour scheme. Last summer I tried a black and gold quilt using batiks. It did not work.

So I ran to Hancock Fabrics and picked up all the bolts of yellow they had. I ended up with Papaya, Corn Yellow and Buttercup. I had forgotten I already had Corn Yellow, so I kept one of the previous yellows. My previous cuts didn't come marked so I have no idea which is which. I think it is Daffodil. So here is the current selection. I feel more comfortable with it. The papaya is orange-y, but I think it goes. It is the one 'off' colour to make it unique. Tonight I cut.

On a side note, I was doing some Kona Cotton research last night and there was some discussion on whether the Kona Cotton from a quilt store (Kaufman's) was the same as the Kona Cotton carried by Hancock Fabrics. I have looked at the bolts and some of them do indeed say Robert Kaufman.

Edit: I went to Hobby Lobby and the bolts are indeed marked Robert Kaufman. I bought a couple other yellows- canary, banana and something else. I'm so confused now.

Fabric here!

My fabric for the Cherry House Quilts Quilt Along arrived yesterday. I got 5 yellows/golds, but it looks a bit mustard/tan. There is one very bright yellow. I am not sure if I should include it since it will 'pop' or if I should go with the more subtle/blended scheme.

Suggestions? The colours are pretty true in the picture.

Fabric ordered

I ordered the fabric for the Cherry House Quilts Quilt Along. With the weather though, it is going to take a while to get from Ohio to Iowa. That's OK, because all I have to do is cut before next Monday. Still don't have my Kona colour card, but a kind participant listed all the golds for me on the Flickr discussion board. Quilters are so nice!

I ordered Cheddar, Corn Yellow, Daffodil, Ochre and Sunflower. I wonder if they will come labeled. One lady in the Flickr group suggested making one's own colour card. Just snipping a bit and accumulating colours along the way. The one thing that I loved the most was the price. For the quilt top and binding, it was only $11.69. Got to love Kona Cotton.

Continuing on about Kona Cottons, there was a fabric swap last month. You sent in 12 Kona Cotton fat quarters and you were sent back 12 Kona Cotton fat quarters. The kicker though was you had to pay a handling fee of $6. I was a bit appalled. That was in addition to including a postage paid envelope to have your 12 fat quarters mailed to you. I know it is work to sort through everything, get things mailed out, etc., but I still thought it was a bit much.

This has been a bit of a rambling post. I apologize. It has been a long day already and my thoughts are scattered.

I NEED . . .

I need a Kona colour card. Desperately!!!!

Cherry House Quilts is having a quilt along and it uses solids only. Yes, I have become a bit addicted to quilt alongs. The patterns are free, they have variety and it allows me to have a sewing goal every week.

Anyway, I have wanted to try my hand at more 'modern' designs and this is a perfect start. I want to do it in Black and Gold; Purdue colours NOT Iowa Hawkeye colours. Unfortunately, both my LQS don't carry Kona cottons and alas, my favourite Fabric Shack is a 12 hour drive away. I can order them online from the Fabric Shack, but I am unsure of the colours using my computer screen. Any suggestions?