Finished: Spring Stripes II

Spring Stripes II is quilted and finished!

My goal was to finish it by the end of April and I succeeded.  I also wanted to use a different quilting pattern for each block of color.  This wasn’t as easy, and I did duplicate some patterns a couple times (but never in the same row!).

Mod overlapping squares and railroad squiggles

Bubbles, thin echo squiggles, and flames

More bubbles and flowers and leaves (sorta hard to see)

By the end, I could really see improvement in my quilting. The first pattern I used was orange peels (tutorial by Oh, Fransson!), and I also quilted orange peels as one of the last blocks. The first stripe is tentative and hesitant, as I really hadn’t quilted anything but a stipple. The second stripe (below) looks a lot more even.

Triangles, wood grain sorta, second go at orange peels, and more mod overlapping squares

The back is Ikea SMÅBORRE fabric, which somehow, I managed to buy in exactly the right size. I love when things work that way and I appreciated how wide this stuff is. The binding is Emerald Kona, same as for Neptune, because that is what I had on hand. I like the pop of darker teal!

I enjoyed the exercise of quilting many patterns, and I think I added a couple of new designs to my arsenal.  I especially like the mod overlapping squares and the flowers and leaves patterns.  In fact, I’m planning on quilting Fortunate Granny with allover echo flowers!

This is my April finish post and I’m linking this post up with A Lovely Year of Finishes with Fiber of All Sorts and Sew BitterSweet Designs!

This is also my first finish for the Q2 Finish Along at The Littlest Thistle!

 

 

 

 

Just for fun and comparison, here’s Spring Stripes I, finished just about a year ago!

Finished Size: 53 x 64
Fabrics: Echo by Lotta Jansdotter for Wyndham, Kona Ash and Emerald, Ikea SMÅBORRE

Quilting Away

Still working on Spring Stripes II. After a non-quilty weekend, I’ve been trying to get back into the swing.

I managed to get nearly another row of blocks done last night, after troubleshooting some tension issues. I’m making things up on the fly and learning why one should quilt from the middle to the edges.

I have some bumpy spots, for sure, but I think that they will become less obvious after a wash and a crinkle in the dryer.

I’m hoping to maybe even finish this by the weekend. I know, it’s a long shot, but I feel like I have some momentum with this! Now, what color should I use for binding? I was thinking orange!

Linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced!

Busting a (Quilting) Move

A few days ago, when I wrote my ALYOF and Q2 Finish Along goals, the world was a bright and shiny place full of weekends and time and possibility. Of course I would get three quilts quilted and one quilt entirely finished in three months. Of course! And that pair of socks on the needles? Done! And those books I’m reading? Read! And those dinners I need to cook? Totally doable!

I tend to dream big, and that’s OK, because all this stuff is fun, relaxing, free-time type business for me. And there aren’t really issues if I don’t finish things on my self-imposed deadlines.

But I’m about to add another project into the mix, Colette’s Crepe dress, sewn bee-style with fabulous friends from college (hi Anna!) to figure it out together. It has been a long time since I’ve sewn a garment and the fitting of the bodice is making me nervous, especially after reading through Gertie’s Sewalong. It all seems very doable, but I would really like the finished garment to fit and be flattering and be wear-to-workable.

With that in mind, I busted a move on quilting Spring Stripes II. The goal is to do a different pattern in every stripe (or only duplicate patterns across stripe sections, not within a stripe section).

So far, I quilted seven different patterns: spirals, orange peels, figure 8s, flowers and leaves, bubbles, flame-like “zippling” (to use Leah Day’s term), and round-corner boxes. I think the flowers and leaves are my favorite; I may use it to quilt Fortunate Granny!

None of the patterns are “perfect,” especially not the orange peels. But I’m breaking out of my stipple rut and I’m pleased with the results so far.