FF: Wayward Transparency Quilt!

I'm pretty sure you've seen fifty kajillion iterations of this quilt because everyone made one, but here's mine! (Of course fifty kajillion iterations were made--this pattern is bomb!) But just in case you haven't seen one, this is the Wayward Transparency Quilt by Quilting Jetgirl, which was part of a super fun awesome QAL. I always love Yvonne's patterns as they are extremely easy to read and understand, and they turn out some super sweet quilts!

These photos were taken after the quilt's first wash. I particularly love the crinkly goodness that a spiky meander leaves a quilt. I quilted everything in a mint thread that matches the lightest solid. I was concerned it might be too pronounced on the darker triangles or possibly distort the transparency effect given the quilting design that I had chosen, but now I think it's just fine.

I did machine stitch down my binding, something I'm choosing to do more and more often now, but this time I used my zigzag stitch. I've done this on a couple of other quilts, but I thought in this case it would particularly suit given the spiky meander.

And the back is a big chunk of a Joel Dewberry print, plus some scraps I pulled out, including my beloved C+S tigers. I only ever managed to find a fat eighth of that print, and now I'm left with a small scrap, but as this quilt is heading to a super sweet baby boy, I'm happy to share.

This is my first finish of my FAL Q1 list, and it's already February! I better get moving! :)

Lito's Quilt.

My middle son has finished his first quilt! We used fabric from the collection Little Kukla by Suzy Ultman, backed it with an Alison Glass print and used a gray Kona solid (steel, maybe?) for the binding.

I bought these fabrics early in my quilting tenure, when I used very little self-control when it came to fun novelty prints. I'm proud to say I have a bit more self-control now and occasionally even buy blenders and solids! But I had a half yard of each print hanging around in stash, and Lito liked them, so we cut 6" strips and sewed them together, easy peasy.

We had a ball working on this! It was so much fun, and to see my kidlet so excited about quilting made my heart super happy. I don't think quilting will surpass his love of Legos, at least for now, but I'm thrilled I got to share one of my favorite things with one of my favorite people!

We debated gifting this to his younger sister, but since she's not exactly lacking in the quilt department, we ultimately decided that this lovely will be headed for Project Linus.

And hopefully Banzo and I will finish up his quilt soon, and you'll get to see that one as well! Spoiler alert: it has monkeys! 

Quilting with My Kids

I have four children. This is certainly not new information to y'all, though sometimes I admit that I'm still a little surprised by it. (I have FOUR children? When did that happen?) And as y'all can probably imagine, keeping four littles entertained/occupied is a challenge, especially if this mama wants to sneak in a bit of sewing.

Enter: The Design Wall. I grab my carefully color-coded, super fancy ziploc bags of scraps, dump out a bag or two, and let them go wild designing. We've made a handful of placemats in this fashion, and let me tell you, scrap placemats are a great FMQ practice canvas. :)

And while I have been doing the sewing while the kids have been the design team, my second son told me a few months ago that he would like to make a quilt. My oldest heard this request and decided that he too would like to make one. I searched through my stash and secured our supplies, and we went to work. (For the record, I did not let my five- and seven-year-olds cut the fabric. I can imagine them brandishing my rotary cutter as a pirate sword with disastrous results.)

Since this is really their first major foray into sewing, I kept it simple, and we just did row quilts. The nesting dolls is my five-year-old's offering. (He sat on my lap and guided the fabric as I controlled the foot pedal.

And after he helped me sew a row or two, my seven-year-old did all of the fabric guiding, though I did control the pedal still, but only because his legs aren't long enough.

So far, they've helped with every aspect except the cutting, and I intend for them to help with the remaining tasks. However, we've had a hold up in the basting stage that is all my fault as almost every single basting pin I own is currently keeping my Patina quilt in a yummy quilt sandwich. Speaking of that Patina quilt, I should really give y'all an update on it! Soon, lovely readers, soon.

Do you sew with your kids? Any tips for me? I never realized how difficult a beginner could have sewing a consistent 1/4" seam!

Baby P's Quilt

I finished A QUILT. That's right! I still make those! Baby P's Quilt is done, and none too soon. (Baby P was only born three or so months ago!) So I'm a wee bit late! But if I tell myself that I want to give it to him in person when I see him in a few weeks, well, then, I've finished with plenty of time to spare.

This quilt took a hard left turn from the original design/idea. And then, just when I thought I'd settled on another idea, it decided to veer left again. This spot we've arrived at? Well, it may not look it, but it's definitely a stretch for me. I don't usually make quilts like this. Cool colors? Loads of negative space? I know a ton of quilters will laugh at me, but that kind of business is utterly terrifying for me.

And I made this quilt with the intention of stretching myself. It's just, what I didn't realize was, my sewing time has become seriously limited. It's a decision that I've come to for myself, and it's a good decision, but it means that when I *do* have sewing time, I don't want to spend it stretching myself. I want to spend it making something I can get very very excited about. And while I don't hate this quilt or dislike it by any means, it doesn't feel very Audrey to me. (Okay, the quilting totally feels Audrey to me, and I fought that urge too, exploring two other possible quilting ideas that would be even more of a stretch, but ultimately returning to a scheme I knew I would like and could execute. I'm happy I did.)

For the back, I used a charcoal kona solid. I had originally planned to use this as the back when my color pull was white, gray, black, red, orange, and mint with just a hint of pink, but it still worked even after transitioning to a mint/blue/green combo. I used the same mint thread for both my top and bottom threads.

And for the binding, I used the same kona mint solid and went with a machine bound zigzag finish.

This is my final finish from my Q2 FAL list. I completed everything on my (short) list! But since I've never finished an entire list before, I'm extremely pleased with this accomplishment.

Baby E's Northern Lights Quilt

You could say I'm a fan of Jaybird Quilts' Northern Lights pattern. You could say that, and you would be right since this is my FOURTH time making this particular quilt! But this is the first time I got to make one for a girl, and I really enjoyed this fabric pull.

I had originally tossed around some other quilt pattern ideas, but I made a Northern Lights quilt for Baby E's cousin, so it seemed fitting that I make one for Baby E too.

And while this is my fourth time making this quilt pattern, it's the first time that I actually did something fun with the quilting, which is kinda shameful, but we'll ignore that. For the first three, I echo quilted the lightning bolts. For this one, I added some FMQ spiky stippling. I purposefully chose Kona Charcoal for the background so that the bobbin thread would be really noticeable and scrumptious.

And here's a better shot of the quilting. I also chose to bind this quilt in Kona Charcoal, which I think lends it a nice frame.

This is my fifth finish from my Q1 FAL list, and my first quilt finish. I have another baby quilt up next to finish, and then NO BABY QUILTS for awhile. Exciting!

FF: Northern Lights Quilt #4

You'd think after three iterations, I'd be done with the Northern Lights quilt pattern by Jaybird Quilts, but you would be wrong. I love this quilt pattern. I love each one I've made. And this new one *may* be my favorite one yet. It's the first one I've made for a girl, so the pink solids may have had something to do with it. I've yet to make a prints version--maybe next time?

Colors are: Kona Clementine, Kona Punch, Kona Cerise, Kona Crocus, Kona Purple, and to be honest, I can't remember what the blue is. Kona Caribbean, maybe? I *think* that's it.

The chain piecing began, and it was oh-so much fun working with this attack of color. YUM. I love me some bold, saturated fabric.

AND THESE SEAMS SLAY ME. (In a good way.) I finally FINALLY figured out how to line up the rows to almost always wind up with perfect or near perfect seams. In the past, I've guessed and usually had to rip out 8-10 connections to make them nicer. This time, I only had to rip out one. WOO!

And here's the finished top. I have the backing already, but I realized I don't have batting on hand. So that's ordered, and then hopefully I'll be basting this one and getting it quilted up lickety-split. This quilt is for a baby due in March, but she came really early, and I'd like to have it done soon! Until then, I really need to get moving on another baby quilt, this one for a baby due this month.

Vanilla's Baby Quilt

Those of you who follow me on instagram are probably already aware, but Vanilla arrived last week! My strategy was to eat so much food on Thanksgiving that she was pushed out of the womb. I am thrilled to report that it worked! And lucky for me, I (mostly) finished her quilt, just in time.

The adjustment from a family of five to a family of six has been relatively painless, and the challenges have been expected ones. I look forward to seeing how Vanilla continues to fit into our family.

As you can see, I didn't get around to handstitching the friendship stars. I may revisit that at a later point. Or not. I think I'm going to wait and see how different my life is with four kidlets before making a firm call on that.

This is A LOT of quilting for me. I know this is like regular quilting for many people, but for me, oh man. This is crazy town. And I have to say, for the first time maybe ever, I really enjoyed all of that quilting. I really enjoyed the thought process. Maybe it's an instance of finally feeling like I kinda know what I'm doing? Or maybe it's just that I cherished every part of the making of this quilt?

This quilt is scrappy down to its core, but I made sure it had some cherished favorites. OOP Tula and AMH, shot cottons, even some batik scraps. The backing is a Heather Ross strawberry print with a couple of scrappy strips to bring it up to size. Not gonna lie, I was pretty pleased to use up some of the gypsy wife strip scraps that have been sitting in my scrap bin for ages. I hoarded this HR print for ages, originally planning to make myself a skirt, but it's a much better fit for this baby.

Has this quilt made my top five quilts of all time list? Um, yes. For sure! I adore how this quilt turned out. A wild explosion of pattern and color and randomness with a hint of order--even that description doesn't quite make sense! But these are the best sort of quilts for me.

This is finish #3 from my FAL list. Admittedly, I'm a wee bit behind where I wanted to be, and I can't see myself making much progress over the next month, but I also kinda expected that. Vanilla will be my big finish for the quarter.

FIP (Friday in Progress?)

I'm calling this Friday in Progress, and sadly, Friends, I have little to report. Vanilla is apparently quite snug in my stomach and wants to stay put, a fact with which I am finally coming to terms--but I have been busy with lots of baby prep and even some resting. My freezer is full of ready-to-cook crockpot meals, everything for baby is laundered and put away, our homeschool is planned through the end of the year, and I've knocked a few other annoying tasks off my to-do list. I haven't felt a huge rush to nest this pregnancy--with Fava, I decided one weekend that our dining room table had to be completely sanded and repainted because there was no way I could bring a child into a home that featured a table that chipped--so I've been taking it slow. Which is good. Because walking slowly seems to absolutely wind me at this point.

And for some reason, my motivation to sew has been zapped. I picked up my middle son's big boy bed quilt from the long-armer, and I love the way it turned out. The boxy design is maybe larger than I expected, but I actually like that about it. I've yet to trim this bad boy or even start work on piecing the binding, but I do know I'm planning to bind it in the lime solid we used. My son is sooooooo excited for it to be done, and he's asked if he can sleep under it every night once I've finished. That does a mama's heart good.

I attached the binding to Vanilla's baby quilt, but I've gotten little done on the handsewing front. (I'm one side down as of this morning!) I really need to step on this, especially since I'm still planning to handquilt those friendship stars, but even as I type this, I'm yawning. Maybe something about that quilt just makes me sleepy?

I have been making some knitting progress on my mama's shawl. I went up a size in needles after my other shawl turned out too small, but even still, I think this is going to run on the small size if I just stick with the pattern. Thankfully, this one looks like it will be a breeze to just add rows until I'm content with the length. I'm enjoying the pattern and the look, and I'm thinking I might knit up a second one after I finish this one, but with much larger needles.

That's what's going on around these parts. How are you? 

Vanilla's Quilt Top

Friends, hopefully by the time you're reading this, I'll have finished basting this bad boy using my latest acquisition--505 basting spray. Hopefully, the spray is good to me, and it revolutionizes my basting experience. We shall see. But first! Details on this lovely, which is finally done!

This was my original sketch for Vanilla's quilt, aka, #10 from the #30daysofquiltdesign challenge, and I'm not gonna lie, I still really love this design. Three-quarter dresdens in two corners? Fun blocks of color? Yowzas! This was going to be epic and just right.

Except, when I finished my friendship star border, I started to get worried. I really liked the dark navy of the quilt and the feel it gave to the top. I loved my original drawing, but I hadn't bothered to color anything in, just assuming I'd go navy/LV/navy/LV/etc. as I worked. And the more I looked at the quilt top, the more I started to think a thick low volume final border would significantly change the feel of the quilt, and in a way I wouldn't like. I didn't want to do it. I wanted my navy!

I stuck with my gut, and I didn't make the final border a low volume pièce de résistance. I split it into two thinner borders, one a thin low volume, and one a slightly thicker navy solid border--Kona Indigo, I think? And when I finished sewing that second border, I knew it was the right call. While not as flashy and skill-challenging as the dresdens certainly would have been, it finishes off this quilt top properly, at least in my opinion.

Besides, there is already kinda a lot going on with this top. A New York Beauty center...

...a round of friendship stars, two of which intentionally rotate in a different direction...

...and a backing pieced from Heather Ross' Briar Rose collection, the ever delicious strawberry fabric that I have been hoarding for just a wee bit.

So while I didn't follow my original plan exactly, I let this quilt take me where it would, and it was the right call. I have no idea how I'm going to quilt it. I love the idea of a mix of hand and machine quilting, but I may just machine quilt it for now and add in the perle cotton elements later. I do know I intend a scrappy binding using the warm colors in the top because while this quilt has a lot going on, I'm sure to pack in more. It's the Audrey way.

Finished Night Sky Quilt.

Friends, I had crazy plans to take this quilt out in the wild and photograph it somewhere other than my home. But, as you haven't seen every angle available at my home yet, I suppose there is some novelty to my balcony. White railings! Old brick! The sheer fabulousness of it all! I jest, of course, but you know I'm not jesting when I talk about how glorious this quilt is. Friends, this is my first Night Sky quilt (pattern by Jaybird Quilts) and it is scrumptious.

I'm more than a little in love with Jaybird Quilts' patterns. Her Northern Lights pattern is still one of my all-time favorite quilt patterns, and I'm thrilled to have another of her patterns. I'm confident there will be more Night Sky quilts in the future. (I'm already dreaming of one with yummy navy background fabric and perhaps brilliant yellows, oranges, pink, and reds? (AKA, my favorite color scheme.)

While not the easiest quilt I've ever put together--can't beat plain patchwork for that, friends--it did come together with ease. What was really shocking to me was how nicely my angles lined up. It looks like I pinned with serious care and was super careful about every stitch, which we all know is not how this quilter typically operates.

I quilted it with a mixture of straight lines in the white section and some FMQ in the green portions, and it was bound off with a fun green and white stripe.

The back is a stars and planets print that I had chilling in my stash. My older boys are super upset that I am giving this quilt away. They could care less for the front, but HOW DARE I give away this super cool sparkly space print? THE HORROR. (Little do they know, I still have some in stash, and I'll eventually get around to making them something from it.)

For this quilt, I actually shook things up a bit and used a different thread on top that I did in my bobbin. Green and white for the top--blue on the bottom. I was nervous, especially for the white sections, but it worked like a charm.

This is the before-washing shot. If there is one negative to the quilt, it's a bit on the small size for an Audrey baby quilt, but its loveliness more than makes up for that. The entire time I was working on it, I remembered another fun baby quilt I made with a similar palette. There is something about kelly green and crisp white that moves me!

This is my fifth finish for the Q3 FAL, woo! Only eleventy million left to go! Friends, have a lovely Monday, and I hope your August is AMAZING.

FF: Rainbow Log Cabin Quilt.

Baby quilt #1 of 3 is done, woo! If I'm honest, this quilt turned out differently than I originally anticipated/planned. I started making rainbow log cabins, then thought they'd float rather nicely in a background of low volume goodness. (In this case, the background is grunge in vanilla.) So maybe this quilt doesn't look exactly how I'd envisioned it, but I think it conveys the right message for this baby.

For this baby, I hope he has a bright and colorful life with lots of open space and room to grow into the man he is supposed to become. It's the kind of thing I'd wish for my own kids, and when I was sewing the binding onto this one, it's what I fervently prayed.

The quilting, believe it or not, is actually my favorite part of this quilt. Not because it's super fancy or crazy wild--it's simple, but I feel like the lines are effective. I used a cream thread to blend into the background, and I used my new hera marker--which I adore--to make those crisp and deliciously sharp lines. Marking this quilt took me maybe half the time marking normally takes me--definitely a win.

The back is a mix of two space themed prints--more along the idea that I hope this little babe has a wide open future--and a rainbow strip that I pieced ages ago from weird angle scraps. It fits perfectly with this quilt!

Baby quilt #2 of 3 is waiting to be basted, but I've yet to even cut fabric for #3, something I should probably do, and soon!

This is finish #3 from my Q3 FAL list. Only thirteen more things left on the list to complete. Totally doable. (In crazy land, but as I'm pretty sure I hail from crazy land, it's all good.) How are your FAL list/Q3 goals coming along?

Night Sky Quilt Top.

I am really, really excited about this one. I labored through the cutting, but when it came to piecing, I couldn't get this bad boy assembled fast enough. I love the way she turned out, scrappy and so very very green.

The most difficult part of assembling this top was piecing together the rows. My seams didn't always want to behave and meet up properly--I found a good mix of 1) no, this has to be seam ripped and sewn again, and 2) this is sufficient.

I have some fairly dense (for me) quilting planned for this one, a mix of straight line and FMQ. I'm excited to get started, but I really should finish my rainbow log cabins quilt first. Plus! This one still needs to be basted, a task that I always hate and dread. And I'm out of batting--I feel like I'm always out of batting--why is that?

A Rainbow Quilt Top

The past ten days or so have been extremely productive sewing. I can't exactly explain why--if I could, I would harness that productivity and make a killing selling my "secret", but since that's not going to happen, I'll just be content with what I've gotten done, a list that includes this quilt top!

Of the three baby quilts I need to get finished in the next few months, this one tops the list, as its recipient is arriving first. I have until the end of September, but I worry that it'll take me that long to figure out how to quilt it--I have a feeling that the best quilting scheme would be WAAAAAAY outside my comfort zones, like so far outside that I wouldn't even know where to begin. But will my old standbys be an uncomfortable fit? This lovely is basted, so I need to pull it out when the kids are occupied and just take a bit of time to mull it over.

This is my favorite block of the rainbow log cabin bunch. As you can see, I really went wherever my scraps took me, and this top includes plenty of solids, prints, batiks, etc. There are fabrics from all sorts of quilts projects--this one includes scraps from my second quilt ever, and even a strip from a quilt I made for the recipient's older brother!

I have loads of that swirly star fabric, and at 45", this quilt will require just a bit more than WOF for its backing. I opted to use a complimentary planet fabric, and this rainbow strip I've had lying around for way too long. I almost used it as part of a quilt backing several quilts ago, but I didn't need to piece the back, and my husband kindly mentioned that it's a special piece that I should save for a special quilt. I'm really glad I listened to him, as it fits this one much better!

I'd like to say I'll have this one quilted asap, but I just don't think that's going to happen. (Especially when I have another quilt top complete that seems like a much easier project to tackle! But more on that quilt later.)

Starting a Night Sky Quilt.

Yesterday, I pared down this lovely stack of yum and started cutting fabric for a new baby quilt.

I had different plans for it, but every time I thought I had settled on something, there was a nagging little feeling lingering at the back of my brain, telling me it wasn't quite the right pattern. I'm sure those other quilts would have been lovely too--how can you go wrong with that stack?--but it wasn't perfect for my dear friend's baby, and that was that.

I managed to get to this point last night, and OMG, am I glad I pushed on. (Thank you, Netflix!) When I finished this block, I was fully in love, and I knew without a shadow of a doubt that this was the perfect project for this stack and for this baby and for my friend.

I opted to do a scrappy LV background instead of one color, and I'm glad I did. I like the added interest. (Yes, I know it's a little nutty to have so much white on a baby quilt, but have you seen that block? How could I say no?)

This morning has seen block number two and some added borders.

I need to redo frame fabric for that half hexie on the top left. I misjudged fabric placement in my haste to see what it would look like, and I cut it too short.

The pattern for these blocks is Jaybird Quilt's Night Sky Quilt. This is the second pattern I've attempted by JQ, and oh la la, can I just say, I am having so much fun? I loved loved loved Julie's Northern Lights pattern, and I've made a ton of them (three?), but this one. I see more in my future.

I have a few more blocks to make, and then it's time to piece everything together. I am super impatient to see how everything shapes up!