Silver Lining

Slightly too long for my curtain rod to hold up

I have a big finish this week.

I managed to actually start working towards Christmas early this year, instead of just saying I would (Finally!), and I've been doing really well at crushing out my crafty Christmas list.  It's nice to be almost finished.

This quilt was pieced in one weekend back in May.  I was away on retreat and my long arm quilter was near by, so I wanted to drop it off before the weekend ended.  Talk about motivation!

The blue fabric is somewhat directional and looks like rain (at least I think so), so the blue rail fence pieces were cut in two directions to keep the rain falling in the right direction.

With the fabric looking like rain, and the quilt headed for desert country, I wanted the name to be related to rain.  When I started auditioning names, it ended up not being about the rain itself, but what comes with it.  So, without further ado, I give you...

Blue binding to finish off the edges

Silver Lining.
Finished Size: 85 x 94.
Machine Quilted.

Quilting Pattern

When I was taking pictures, I realized that I like my quilt backs to be more interesting.  The back on Silver Lining is all blue, and it seems to go on forever!

Linking up with Finish it up Friday.

Pillowcases and a Sneak Peek

I've been working on a couple more pillowcases.  I had about 9 that I wanted to make before Christmas, and I now have 5 finished.

The one on the right is a second one for my crazy color loving sister.  This one was a special request, she picked out the fabric and asked me to make her a pillowcase.  In the course of making it I found that despite the fabric having a large selvage, the label was printed on usable fabric above the edging!  That cost me a little bit in width.  Not enough that it should be a problem, but enough that it was annoying.

And I'll leave you with a sneak peak of something I'll be posting all finished in a few days...

 Linking up to Fabric Tuesday.

Binding

Binding is not my favorite part of quilting.

Part of my problem is that my machine does not handle the bulk well.  I have to keep convincing the feed dogs to not give up.  And I have learned to appreciate the needle up\down button which I don't have!

Since a good portion of my quilting to do list right now involves binding quilts, I haven't been too motivated to get into the sewing room.  I usually end up putting off doing the binding until the very last second, but I refuse to be sewing binding the day before we leave for the holidays this year.

I wish there was a finishing fairy to come along and bind my quilts for me.   But since there isn't, or at least we haven't met yet, last night I made myself sit in the sewing room and get working on binding.

I managed to get the binding mostly sewed down to the front.  I felt so ridiculous trying to manipulate this monster through my itty-bitty Janome that I told my husband he needed to take a picture.  Though for all the trouble it was giving me, I'm not sure this picture does it justice!

All that's left is joining the ends and then lots and lots of hand stitching to finish it off.  Hopefully I'll keep this momentum going.  It only took me 4 months to get this far.

Linking up to W.i.P Wednesday.

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.