this is why...

This quilt is a perfect example of why I don't make quilts for my own children.  It never works out.  There was the sock monkey quilt I made for Alex, which is so ugly I think we'd both agree that it isn't worth hanging onto.  There was the dinosaur quilt I made for Quinn, which he told me I should give to Grandma...

 

And there's this one, which I made for Quinn because for years everything for that boy had to be all green all the time.  And now he likes black. The story does have a happy ending -- now that it's done, he's happily claimed it as his own and is sleeping under it every night. With other covers on top.

 

It's too big to spread out and get a picture of the whole thing. (Do all of the other quilters have bigger houses?)

This is from before I got the binding on, but it does show off the whole quilt in better lighting.  In real life, the blocks blend together and you have to look hard and count squares to see where one begins and the next one ends.

The backing is a  clearance fabric from Connecting Threads. I love how  gently busy it is -- this'll hide damage and stains and ink pen!

 

 

 

Now I'm wondering if I have scraps to make a black postage stamp quilt.  For me, because I'm not making any more quilts for these boys.  Can't picture it? Take a look at what Carly at Citrus Sugar did with blacks for the background of her Punisher quilt!

 

This post is linked to Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts. 

Scrappy Trips Around the World in Green

All of these Scrappy Trips Around the World that I'm seeing lately have inspired me to finish the one I started for Quinn a while back.  The top has been done for almost a year now and I've had the fabric and binding all picked out, but I've dragged my feet when it came to finishing it....possibly because Quinn has decided that green is no longer his favorite color. Now he likes black.

Yesterday, I took it up to Mom's and quilted it on her longarm.

I wanted to use the same swirls I did for 38, but I keep forgetting that just because I can do something easily on my Janome doesn't mean I can reproduce the same pattern on Mom's machine.  These swirls are totally different. Not bad, I keep reminding myself, just different. I want these same swirls for the next baby quilt I've got planned, but I'll be quilting that one on the Janome...

 

Even if Quinn doesn't love it, the rest of us do. And having it done will keep from from feeling guilty about starting a new one.

Quinn's Trip Around the World - the top's done!

The flimsy for Quinn's green Trip Around the World quilt is together. Here it is, draped over the couch. I need to find a better spot to get a picture of the whole thing because it came out huge. I think the original plan might've been to make it 48" square...then it went up to 60"....and then to 72"

Because if you've got enough green fabric, you might as well make it big, right?



It took me four days to make the blocks and put together the top for 30s Barn Raising. The Blue Bargello top took two mornings.

It took me a year to make this quilt top. First I couldn't decide if I wanted to make another Scrappy Bargello or a Trip Around the World. Then I was afraid I wouldn't have enough green. Then I knew I had more than enough green, but I was afraid that, forgotten and buried somewhere in my sewing room, perfect bits of green were going to be left out.

Now that I've got the top together, I'm not sure quite what to do with myself. This has been my fifteen minutes of daily piecing, the project that was sitting right next to my sewing machine. I've got to pull something else together right now, or I'll take the day off, and then tomorrow, and then the day after that. Lynne over at The Patchery Menagerie has a great post about how hard it is to get back to work once you've lost your momentum.

I've got a bag full of pieces for another Extra Scrappy Pinwheels, which I need to make because I gave away the first one. It was supposed to be mine, but I gave it away. I should have all of the pieces cut -- and if I don't, now would be a good time to find out, right?

While I'm doing that, I need to start sorting scraps and cutting squares. Have you seen the postage stamp qults over at Coloradolady? I have got so many plans for postage stamp quilts....

This post is linked to WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced and Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story. And I forgot to mention that, although he still loves all things green, my seven-year-old does not like his quilt.

regrouping again

I don't like counting pieces of fabric. That's one of the reasons why I make so many of my quilts with 2 1/2" squares, so I can cut tons and tons of squares and use what I need and toss the rest into the box to use for the next quilt.

Orca Bay is going to involve a whole lot of counting, but I'm using every trick I know about putting things in stacks and pinning them together and writing myself notes. And sometimes you've just gotta count.



Not knowing how many strips I had was the biggest reason Quinn's Scrappy Trip Around the World has been stalled for so long. When I started the project, I didn't know how many green fabrics were in my stash, or how big I wanted the quilt to be. I cut strips from as many green fabrics as I could find in my stash, and the ones Jan sent me. Somewhere along the line I decided to make it 72" square.

Ever since, I've avoided counting my green strips. I don't know how many I started with, but I do know I've lost some. I wouldn't be at all surprised if there were some partially assembled blocks around here someplace, but if I wait until I find them the kid will never have a quilt.



My goal for Sunday was to figure out how many blocks I had finished, how many blocks I had started, and how many strips I'd need for the rest. And to count the green strips.

I have exactly the number of strips I need. There is no excuse not to finish this quilt.

I know I've made more bowties than this! I remember sewing them in fabrics that aren't here...and I very vaguely remember deciding to put the finished ones in a safe place.




To see more design walls, head over to Patchwork Times. For more Orca Bay and Bow Tie progress, head over to Quiltville. And don't forget to check out my new pattern, 30s Barn Raising and enter to win a Moda Jelly Roll and the background fabric to make the quilt.