WIP Wednesday: Plan of Attack

Over the weekend I borrowed a fur-free floor to baste the True Colors quilt. I then spent my whole Sunday morning trying to figure out what I was going to do for the quilting. I spent a fair amount of time cruising pantographs on Google and Pinterest before finally settling on something that seemed doable by combining two of the lovely tutorials over at the Inbox Jaunt. It is a simple all over floral design with a little added punch in the form of swirls and, best of all, easily scalable to an appropriately large size.

The plan and some practice

Armed with an idea and a basted quilt the next step was to find some thread. I was pretty set on a variegated grey for the back (the same one I'm planning to use for Rainy Wishes), but I was extremely conflicted about the front. Luckily my LQS doesn't have a huge selection of quilting thread so I couldn't spend all day debating! On the recommendation of my LQS ladies, I ended up with a variegated pastel. I got some bobbins wound before heading out this morning and hopefully will be able to get started on the actual quilting tonight.

Ready to go!

Enjoy more quilty adventures:

WIP Wednesday: Cutting and Ironing

As I may have mentioned, my fiancé doesn't sleep well so I try to minimize my sewing machine use in the morning/when he is sleeping. This weekend that resulted in me doing all the cutting for 2 new tops, most of the cutting for another (I ran out of background fabric), and preparatory ironing for a fourth. I only have 2.5 weeks to get the true colors quilt finished so clearly the correct choice was for me to start 4 new projects... Anyway, here they are!

First, a half scrap version of Summer Slice. I say half scrap because there is a polka dot FQ bundle in there in its entirety. My version is going to be a little smaller than the one in the tutorial (I only made 64 of each piece instead of the suggested 80).

Next is something a little more manly, 132 8.5" squares for a Scrappy(ish) Mountain Majesties. This one is also only scrappy-ish because most of the colored blocks come from various FQs that I bought specifically when my friend requested I make him a quilt. All of the background fabric is technically leftovers though so I'm sticking with scrappy-ish. I have been agonizing and changing my mind about what to make for my friend for the last 2 years. Then a week or so ago Kat at Kat and Cat Quilts posted her own Scrappy Mountain in progress and everything just fell into place. Don't you love it when that happens?

Number three is another girly quilt, this time not scrappy at all. I'm using the Country Home Pillow Cover pattern to make blocks for a quilt. The current plan is 12 blocks, two of each fabric. I got 5 out of six of these half yard cuts on one of those end of season sales at like fabric.com. They're from Summersault by Erin McMorris for Freespirit Fabrics. I ran out of the Kona black I'm using for the background color so this project will be shelved for an extended period of time until I replenish my stock.

Last, but certainly not least, I ironed and arranged all the FQs (purchased ages ago as a bundle because I love blue) for what I'm calling Triangle Beach. I'll leave exactly what that is going to entail up to your imagination for now... :P

True Colors Kit Deviation and Rainy Wishes

I have two completed tops to share this week so it's both a finish and a WIP. First is the Rainy Wishes top. I did a lot of rearranging of these blocks and I am pleased with the final layout, more or less ^_^

Rainy Wishes top complete!

I also am super happy that I decided to change up the True Colors pattern. I ended up having to order an extra half yard of the white background fabric and a fat quarter of the pink for the centers of the stars in order to expand the pattern, which is not bad considering I increased the quilt size by about 20%.

Now it's a queen size

I really really lucked out and had enough of the purple left to fussy cut that outermost border and miter the borders.

Mitered corners!

For finishing, I have a grey flannel for Rainy Wishes and intend to use a variegated grey for the quilting. I don't know what I'm going to do for binding. Maybe a solid blue? Maybe scrappy and just use up every last bit of this fabric? I got a light gray and white swirl in a 108" wide backing for the True Colors kit and I'm either going to use the suggested purple woodgrain as the binding or a solid black. I have no idea what kind of thread or quilting to do at all and I only have about 3 weeks to figure it out!

Backings and a potential binding ready to go...

                    

Finish it Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts