Atoms and Oranges - A Finish!

When approaching the end of Atoms and Oranges, I wasn't sure how I wanted to set up the last few circles for quilting.  I've had mixed results clearing my fabric of various types of chalk and pencil marks; especially the colored marks, which I would have needed to use on the white sashing.  I thought about how I had used masking tape to line up the corners of the diamonds and wondered whether I might be able to do something similar here.  And then it hit me: what is a lint roller except a big wide piece of masking tape?

So I carefully peeled a sheet off of a lint roller, lightly traced my circle onto the back of it (trying to avoid sticking it to my cutting mat), cut the sheet along my traced line (occasionally stopping to remove tape from my scissors), and stuck that bad boy right at the first sashing crossroads.  It worked like a charm!

With this little trick in my pocket I cruised right through the last bit of quilting, and am now pleased to present a finished Atoms and Oranges!

Linking up with Let's Bee Social, Fabric Friday, and Finish it up Friday.

Atoms and Oranges - Quilting Progress

The edges are near on my Atoms and Oranges quilt.  I finished the hooped part this morning, and that's the "center" finished.  All that remains are the last three inches around the outside.

The deadline is coming up quick, so it's time to engage the thrusters!

Linking up with Let's Bee Social.

Diamonds and Dashes

I've been adding stitching close to the ditch on the Atoms and Oranges churn dashes.  Six large diamonds will be formed where four blocks come together, and these areas will recieve more quilting when all the straight lines are done.  For now I'm just enjoying the secondary pattern they make.

Linking up with Let's Bee Social.

The Quilting Begins...

When last I posted, this quilt was bound for borders.  Then I laid out some fabrics... and then laid out some more fabrics... but this stubborn quilt vetoed every last one.  So finally I let it have it's way and I pinned it up without adding any borders.

Needle and thread were set to it almost immediately.  I've missed having a handwork project very much!

Thread: Gutterman - Peacock (7534)

Linking up with Let's Bee Social and WiP Wednesday.

Lab Walls - Complete!

All of the cute little labs are now protected.  One more round of borders to go!  I'm thinking that a couple inches of atoms all the way around should finish this off nicely.

Linking up with Let's Bee Social and Fabric Frenzy Friday.

Scientists at work!

Twelve little scientists are newly installed in their labs, and already hard at work!  Next up will be installing a little sashing for privacy.  Wouldn't want their research getting contaminated!

Linking up with Let's Bee Social.

Atoms and Oranges - First Look

July has been crazy!  I've been here, there, and everywhere it seems.  But ever so slowly I've been stitching along, and now I have all the pieces needed to make my twelve blocks (some trimming required).

First row trimmed... and flipped apparently!

Of course the second I had enough pieces made, I had to peek at a block!  Perfect!

Linking up with Let's Bee Social.

Fussy Cutting Critters

I put the rainbows aside after finishing the second round of blocks in order to start work on the Scientist baby quilt.  I've been calling this one Atoms and Oranges.  (I may be a dork, but I think it's cute!)

First I cut out some squares and marked them for HST creation.






Then I set to fussy cutting pieces from the Lab Animal fabric.

I made a frame out of a small piece of cardboard to help me find the blocks I wanted.  Then I applied a little masking tape to keep the frame right where it belonged, and before I knew it, I had 11 cute little critters (and 1 block of lab equipment) to build my quilt!

Linking up with Let's Bee Social.

Rainbow Baby Quilt - A Finish

The last stitch has been put in my rainbow baby quilt.

The last pin pulled to finish off the binding.

Photographs have been taken for posterity, with crazy morning light (of course).  I enjoyed walking past and admiring it hanging on my wall while I was going about my morning.

And the hand off has been accomplished.  I'm so glad it's done and off to it's new home!

Linking up with Slow Sunday Stitching.

Rainbow Hand Quilting - Third Border Analysis

I was hoping to have two finished borders today, but I still have one hoop position left.  Tonight should see them done, and the hike I went on Saturday was worth a little delay!  Cold, but worth it.

The original plan was to do a zig zag for the third border.  However, after a quick calculation of how much more sewing I would need to do for a zig zag border than a straight border (which turned out to be about 60 inches), I may go with a straight border instead.  The poor little guy deserves his quilt!

Linking up to Slow Stitching Sunday and MOP Monday.

Rainbow Hand Quilting - The First Two Borders

I've been putting in some quilting time every night and am now about 50% of the way done with borders one and two.  I think I'm going to have to revise my estimated finish date again.  I must be putting in more quilting than usual...

The first border is done on the bottom in the hoop.

I've been using tape to mark the line borders.  I have one set for the side borders and one for the top and bottom borders because they are different widths.

I won a giveaway last week, and was pleasantly surprised to find my prize waiting in my mailbox when I got back in to town last night.

But, despite my excitement, I managed to leave the fabric in it's package overnight and used it as a reward to get myself out of bed early this morning.  Mission accomplished!

Linking up to Slow Sunday Stitching, MOP Monday, Let's Bee Social, and WiP Wednesday.

Rainbow Hand Quilting - Starting the Border

More progress on the baby quilt.  I finished all 20 blocks and even managed to start the border.

There is going to be stitching in all three of the borders.  I have started on the first two.  The third one is close enough to the edge that it will require some finessing with the hoop, so I'm going to do that one separately.  No reason to make them all complicated!

I've been getting rid of the batting lint as I go.  It's very striking just how black the borders are again!

Starting to sew - a fun curlicue.

Linking up with Slow Stitching Sunday, Let's Bee Social, and WiP Wednesday.

Rainbow Hand Quilting - 89%

There has been some really good progress this past week.  I was able to accomplish just about one square a day, bringing me to halfway through square 18!

The back is the easiest way to see all the quilted blocks!

Square 18 is Mr. Snake.  I was hoping to have him finished for this morning, but I still think I'm in good shape to be done with the panel and working on the borders by mid week!

One of the squares I finished recently had both a boy and a girl.  Since the baby has already been born, and the gender is no surprise, I decided to only outline the little boy.

Each block has an outer and an inner border around its center piece.  For half of the blocks this is a light and dark of the same color.  In the course of my stitching, I've found the boundary between the light and dark is harder to discern with certain colors.  For example, the yellow squares have been quite easy to stitch.  However, the line between the two shades in the red squares is more difficult to see (and those blocks go a good deal slower).  I think they picked very similar reds!

Linking up to MOP Monday and Let's Bee Social.

Rainbow Hand Quilting - 50%

There has finally been some quilting going on around these parts again.  It's been way too long!


I got to spend sit and sew for several hours yesterday.  Between the quilting, the sunshine, and a documentary, it was the best evening I could ask for!


Ten squares of the noisy critters panel are quilted and there are ten still to go.  At the rate I'm going, I might have it finished for the little one's first birthday.  (The baby is due any day now.)  Ha!

 
The back has been a little stretchier than I remember flannel being, but I'm liking this piece more and more as it works its way towards quiltdom.

The clock (in the lower right) looks like a little bit like a Mario Brothers bomb from the back.  It makes me laugh, and I think it might be one of my favorites!

Linking up with Let's Bee Social and WiP Wednesday.