Astronomy 101

I had trouble choosing which pictures I wanted to show, so there's a lot of them.  I hope you enjoy it!

I'm submitting this quilt, "Astronomy 101", for the Blogger's Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side.  Machine pieced and hand quilted, it's a long full size blanket - the exact dimensions escape me at the moment.

It's so named because I came up with the quilting plan in, wait for it...  Astronomy 101.  Well that and all of the quilting is astronomy related.  Each of the square blocks between the stars has been quilted with one of the eight phases of the moon.

The stars had been assembled prior to deciding the overall layout.  This meant that each seam of the "moon" blocks had to be done in two parts.

Star and Moon Detail

Star Detail

Orion - The Hunter

In the large open space I quilted two constellations - Draco and The Hunter.  The constellation stars were done in white and the rest of the quilting was done in rainbow variegated thread.  I certainly would think twice about using variegated thread again.  It frayed like crazy!

Draco

Blocks for Boston

That's a lot of fabric pulled for two little blocks!

When I first heard about the call for blocks by the Boston Modern Quilt Guild, I knew I wanted to participate.  Being a hand quilter I don't really have time to make quilts for charity (as much as I wish I did)... but blocks, I can do!

 

Itty Bitty Star

I knew that I wanted to do something with the friendship star.  It seemed right to be sending friendship to those going through tough times.

I had wanted to do a friendship circle block, but given the time constraints, it just wasn't possible.  And after doing one three inch star, I'm kind of glad I didn't get embroiled in a pattern that required eight of them!

Something doesn't look quite right...

I pulled out all of the fabric I could find in my stash in the required colors.  Yellow and blue?  No problem.  White was another story.  Apparently I don't really use grey or white.

Now I just needed to actually make the blocks!  I've been training for a race and a few big quilt deadlines are approaching so time was scarce.  But training culminated Saturday, and I've been working hard since then.




Luckily piecing went smoothly.  Seams matched up and laid flat, my blocks didn't shrink, and all the pieces that I cut were correct.  (Being in a hurry a few pieces got forgotten...)

And this morning, mere days before the deadline, I was able to get my blocks in the mail.  I hope they get there in time!

Two finished blocks, on their way...

Linking up with Finish it up Friday.

Quilt Retreat Productivity!

Remember this?

I hadn't gotten any farther than this by the time I left for my quilt weekend on Thursday morning.  Sad, but not surprising...  I like to over-commit myself.

By Thursday evening I had 270 - 3.5" x 9.5" pieces ready to go.

I worked hard on Friday to assemble the main part of the quilt.  (Meanwhile, I dropped off my first order at the quilters!)

Saturday morning saw borders added and a back pieced, and by early afternoon I was taking this quilt to the quilters as well!

Now it looks like this!  Except less fuzzy...
Colors are more realistic in the first shot.

I think the back gave me more trouble than the front!  First I couldn't find a fat back that I liked which made me sad.  I was in such a rush that it would have been nice if that worked out.  However, after a couple of different attempts to find a fabric for the back, I managed to find a blue that matched the color of the blue on the front almost exactly!  I think it was Moda marbles in Royal Blue.


Then, when I was piecing the back I found that I only had just enough.  My 9 yard cut was not quite 9 yards... which I discovered after cutting the first two 3 yard

Backing - Moda Marbles Royal Blue

pieces off!  For future reference, check that the fabric is as big as you think it is before cutting anything!

When I dropped off my latest work, hot off the presses, my penguins were mostly finished.  She had to reload my quilt for a little bit that had been forgotten, but I was still able to take it home when I left Sunday morning.

I really like the quilter I use.  She does good work quickly.  The past two years I have dropped off quilts on Friday and picked them up the same weekend.  I liked not having to pay for shipping across three states!

Linking up with Finish it up Friday.

Yay!

My husband is awesome!  While I was out running yesterday he put up the molding back up and finished up my sewing room.  Happy dancing ensued.  :)

What a novel concept. 
Only two paint colors in the corners!

Future workspace and fabric stash.

And I've got a little sneak peak of a project that has nothing to do with penguins!  I'm trying to finish a queen size top by Thursday.  What could possibly go wrong?!

 Linking up with WiP Wednesday and Finish it up Friday.

Penguin Pillows and Back Troubles

By this point I'm sure that you all think that I only make penguins!  It's not true!  Though I have nothing to show you this week to prove otherwise - you'll just have to take my word for it.

In between painting sessions in the new sewing room, I've been working on a pair of pillows to go with my penguin quilt.

I've also been trying to put together the back for the penguin quilt.  Turns out I have less fabric leftover than I thought.  I am short one 12x50 inch strip.  So back to the drawing board.  And I need to have the back finished by Wednesday.  Thursday I'm off to my yearly quilt weekend with my mom and the penguins go to the quilter while I'm there!