Okay, okay, I'm back! Things got a little chaotic over here working on quilts. One, because after I got back from vacation, I didn't feel like quilting for a week or so, so there wasn't anything to really share. Then I realized I was getting behind, so there was a mad rush to catch up. It's a vicious cycle I tell you. Then my brother started asking how the baby quilts were coming along, and when would I have them done. Even though he said the babies wouldn't be arriving until December and January.
So I set aside my hand quilting and double downed on those baby quilts. The star one for the little boy was quick to quilt, I just made diagonal lines through all the blocks. I pulled out a scrap sandwich I have to test my free motion quilting skills, and I wasn't happy with the results. So no cute swirls for the little girl quilt. Instead I just used the serpentine stitch on my machine and made wavy lines across the width. Which turned out really well I think.
Then it came time for the labels. Lately I've been back and forth on either just writing on a square of fabric or using the letter stitches on my machine and making the label that way. Because these are baby quilts, I figured machine stitching would probably be the better option since it will be washed more. So, before I do the stitches on my label, I have a scrap piece of fabric that I test it out on so I can center all the words. He had asked for a verse to be put on the label of each quilt, which was fine, but did require some extra figuring. Quite honestly, it looked like I was writing a code by changing the letters into numbers.
After I had my secret code figured out, I started on my scrap fabric. And that's when the issues began. My thread broke a few letters in, so I changed the needle. Started again, and the thread broke again. So I cleaned my machine, and that seemed to fix the issue. I had everything measured out and marked my starting lines, and made my label. Made all my labels I might add. Two labels with verses and two labels that had my name and the year. Binding was cut, labels pinned, stitched the binding down to the front so I could hand stitch to the back, all was going well. I started hand stitching everything down, only to finish sewing the first label down to realize that I forgot a letter in the first word. And that's when everything was set aside to deal with another day. Because all of that happened in one afternoon and I wasn't in the head space to deal with it.
A few days later, I unpicked the label, unpicked the first word, and restitched that word. Thankfully there was enough room that I could scoot it over a quarter inch or so without it getting caught in the binding. But I texted my brother and told him they were done, I just needed to wash them and check them over and they would be ready for pick up that weekend. And when I washed it, the orange fabric bled just a little bit onto the cream border and I wanted to scream. Thankfully the bleeds washed out with 2 more washings and many color catchers and some dawn, but I was really ready to not look at this quilt again.
Both were picked up last Sunday and he gifted both of them earlier this week. And I am thankful to say, I am told both couples were overjoyed and excited. Which is really nice to hear, because making things for people you don't know can be a little tricky.
So what have I been working on since the baby quilt debacle? Well, I finished my Barnstar quilt on Thursday and it was washed yesterday so is now beautifully crinkled. That quilt is going to get it's own post because I took all the photos. I picked my colors for the Quiltville winter mystery quilt and I am super excited about that. I was debating between three color options and thought I figured out which I was going with, only to be going through my scraps and collecting colors, when I came across a charm square that I got in a scrap bag from someone, so I didn't have the full line, just a few squares, and my whole color scheme changed. And I scrounged the internet to find more of that fabric or something from the line so I could use it as backing. And I am happy to report, I found one shop that still had the fabric in stock and I bought four yards since I'm making mine half the size. Though if I like the pattern a lot, I might make it full size after the fact and go buy more fabric.
So my Old Town Mystery fabrics are green for her red, turquoise for her melon, and red for her turquoise. And I will be using blacks for my neutral, which I've only done once before, so this should be fun. And I think my color scheme has a polish feel to it. I've also decided if possible and if I make it bigger, that I will switch out the turquoise for light blue if it makes sense since both are in my backing fabric and I was torn between turquoise or light blue. But I can't wait for this to start, and it starts a week earlier than normal which is great because I have off, but not great because we are hosting a friendsgiving that Saturday and I need to make bread and cheesecake and a soup and clean, so hopefully I have time to play with fabric a little bit?
The start of that third baby quilt
Ok, off to get that third baby quilt done before the mystery starts, and not start any more quilts until then! Happy quilting!
