Short attention span quilting

I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in that I vastly prefer piecing to quilting and as much as I LOVE zig-zags, quilting them is the worst!  Pivoting every 5" you can never get in to a good rhythm so I'm just taking this one line at a time.  Every time I finish a row I take a break.  It's all set up and ready to go so anytime I have a few minutes to spare I can sit down and make a little more progress.  It feels like it'll take forever to get done but on the upside my studio is getting cleaned up; )

Quilting the Beast

It takes a looong time to quilt a queen sized quilt, even on a longarm.  I spent all day quilting this at Laurena's but the sore muscles are definitely worth it.  I LOVE how this came out! 

I used a simple pantograph with tulips and leaves which had the airy look I was going for.  This was a much easier pattern than the spider web insanity I did on my last quilt but I had to do 12 rows of it and each one was taking me about 20 minutes.  It's fun for about the first 2 hours, then it just gets tedious... luckily Jack Johnson is my quilting buddy which helps the time pass more quickly;-)  Rainy day here in New England so it's perfect for making binding... all 400" of it!

Ready to quilt

I've been making even more HSTs, this time for the back of my Fig Tree quilt.  I finished the top back in August but couldn't muster up the motivation to piece the back.  This quilt is big, 88"x96" so it wouldn't be enough to just seam two lengths of fabric together.  I put this zigzag down the middle to give it the extra width and so I don't have to worry about matching the pattern.

In the interest of finishing it this year I decided to go ahead and quilt it on the longarm.  My TBQ pile is already out of control and I can't bear the thought of trying to wrestle this through my home machine.  If I was having any doubts about this decision reading about the hilarious Liz of Goddess in Progress "joy of quilting" moments with her beautiful version of this quilt sealed the deal.  I can't wait to see mine finished!!!

Transformed

This month's BMQG meeting was a workshop using the Twister rulers.  The plan was for everyone to bring a top ready to cut and the amazing Aimee would demo how to use the rulers.  I've already made a Valentine quilt using the Lil' Twister ruler so this was a good time to put the bigger version to use.

I stopped in at Quilter's Way and nabbed this new layer cake of hello luscious by basic grey and some red FSDS for the border.

The hardest part of this quilt is figuring out how to layout your squares. This design is all about contrast! After much debate I put this together. I swear it took longer to layout the fabrics than it did to sew the top together.

Unfortunately the weather here in New England wasn't cooperating and the meeting was cancelled due to snow. Since I was going to be stuck at home for the day anyway I went ahead and used the ruler to cut out the squares. It's such a leap of faith to start hacking up a perfectly good quilt top!

Here it is reassembled.  Now I just have to wait for the yardage to be released 2/15 so I can put on an outer border and add it to my massive TBQ pile.  I should just book longarm time now!  I'm really happy with the end result.  I don't know how many times I tried to talk myself out of the red border.  My gut said it was the right decision by my head kept pushing for something safe like the Bella Snow.  In the end I think it really made the pinwheels pop and a much more visually interesting quilt.

There's still time

Today is the last day of our Quilter's Way Blog Tour.  In case you missed it, yesterday Pippa came up with a beautiful design in her beloved solids and you definitely want to check out the awesome quilt Laurie at Dodging the Butterfly put together today.  Most of the giveaways are still running so check out all the participants and try out the Kit Designer for yourself.

Monday

alidiza

Tuesday

A Quilting Jewel

Wednesday

Salt Marsh Designs

Thursday

 Pippa Patchwork

Friday

Dodging the Butterfly

Gratuitous photo of the day: A sneak peek at what I'll be working on at this weekend's BMQG meeting: )

And the winner is...

rachael@imaginegnats.com

Congratulations, I can't wait to see what you make with this!!!  Rachael has a great tutorial up on her blog today for making a chevron pillow.  Definitely added to my to do list: )

There are still more chances to win so be sure to check out the other sites on the Blog Tour.  Aimee has a fabulous kit to show today and don't forget to try out the Quilter's Way Kit Designer for yourself!

Monday

alidiza

Tuesday

A Quilting Jewel

Wednesday

Salt Marsh Designs

Thursday

Pippa Patchwork

Friday

Dodging the Butterfly

And since every post needs a photo, a little eye candy;-)  Some eyeglass cases Audrey and I made together.

It's not too late

The clock is ticking but you can still enter my giveaway for this gorgeous fat pack of fabrics from Echo by Lotta Jansdotter until midnight tonight.  Just go here and leave a comment.

And then be sure to check out today's Blog Tour participant Jen at A Quilting Jewel.  She's put together a beautiful quilt kit with a step by step guide on how to make your own.  I think I need to make one of those also: )

Monday

alidiza

Tuesday

A Quilting Jewel

Wednesday

Salt Marsh Designs

Thursday

 Pippa Patchwork

Friday

Dodging the Butterfly

Quilter's Way Blog Tour

I was feeling rather nautical when I put together this combination of orange and blues using Designer Solids and prints from Echo by Lotta Jansdotter.  I had so much fun putting together this quilt kit and I could easily have designed a dozen more.  I love the flexibility to pick fabrics from different collections and to easily mix prints and solids.  It's easy to drag and drop your fabric choices and I could quickly see how the feel of the quilt changed when I tried swapping the orange with agave (teal).  It also seems to give a fairly good representation of the scale of the prints, at least as they relate to one another. 

Another nice feature is that you can choose to receive a text message when your order ships.  Super important when you're anxiously awaiting your fabric purchases; )  There's also in-store pickup so I can be over in a flash when my kit is ready to go.  Convenience is key!

It would be nice to have more flexibility in the finished size of your quilt. The pattern I chose makes a king sized quilt while I would prefer it in a queen. Obviously I could scale down the pattern myself but I'd be buying a bit more fabric than I really need.  Overall this is a fun and easy way to create your own custom quilt kit! 

Now to the good stuff...  For my giveaway Quilter's Way is providing this lovely bundle of 4 fat quarters from Echo by Lotta Jansdotter.  To be entered in the giveaway leave a comment by midnight Tuesday, January 17th.  Wednesday I will draw a name and announce the winner.  Don't forget to hop over to the other participants for more chances to win and definitely check out the kit designer for yourself.

Monday

alidiza

Tuesday

A Quilting Jewel

Wednesday

Salt Marsh Designs

Thursday

 Pippa Patchwork

Friday

Dodging the Butterfly

Getting Ready

I am so excited to be hosting a Blog Tour next week for the new Kit Designer at Quilter's Way.  As they describe it...

The Kit Designer is a breakthrough tool that, for the first time ever, allows anyone to easily design their own quilt kits online. Once a kit is designed, it can be shared with the recipient, blog readers, Facebook friends, and of course, ordered through our website. Now you can enjoy all of the benefits of a quilt kit with the added bonus of choosing your own fabrics. 

Sounds pretty cool to me: )  Each of us will be designing our own kit to share.  Of course there will also be giveaways for you generously provided by Quilter's Way so be sure to come back starting Monday and see what we come up with.

Monday

alidiza

Tuesday

A Quilting Jewel

Wednesday

Salt Marsh Designs

Thursday

 Pippa Patchwork

Friday

Dodging the Butterfly

Back at it...

I had a wonderful time on vacation but it was so nice to get back to my quilting studio. After 3 weeks I was seriously suffering from sewing withdrawal. Now I know I said I was going to finish up some lingering projects this month but with the new year I needed a new start.  This week I've been making HSTs, lots and lots of them for an Easter project.  They definitely bring some sunshine to these dreary days of winter!

On Vacation with the Hexies

Hexies on a plane...

Sunset Cruise with the Hexies...

Drunken Hexies; )

Hexies in paradise...

Happy New Year!