Pieced, quilted, bound, FINISHED!

Here it is - my very first full sized bed quilt finished. Complete. All stitched up.

This quilt was my very first adventure into patchwork. I started in December 2009, just 10 months after picking up a needle and thread for the very first time, and piecing the top was a huge learning curve. I posted my first progress report here on 29 December 2009 - and wrote about learning this amazing new technique called chain piecing :-). By 28 February 2010 I had completed the quilt top (posted here), but it wasn't until May that I had it basted with backing and batting.  Then began the slow process of hand quilting, which I finally finished in January.  A few more weeks and I had selected the perfect binding fabric and got this sewn on, and ta-da here it is!  Just less than a year after completing the quilt top, the whole quilt is finished.  In the meantime, I have completed several other smaller quilt projects but, as I said, this is my very first patchwork and my very first bed quilt and so it holds a special place in my heart.  I am as proud of this as just about anything else I have ever done (child-rearing aside!!)

Here I am at 11.15pm last night sewing the last few stitches of binding to the back of the quilt:



And then a few minutes later, checking it over:



Before wrapping myself in it :-) :



Hmmm, and looking rather boss eyed.  Well I had been stitching the damned binding for at least 3 hours!!

Today, I took the quilt over to my  mum's to show her and take more photos and couldn't resist sharing this one of Waif, who insisted on being in the photos:



I'm lucky to have two boys who are such fans of my quilts :-)

Hand Quilting Conveyor Belt

Well, this weekend has been a sore fingered, achey back and goggle eyed sort of event...

On Saturday, I finally finished quilting my Jacob's Ladder top, and it looks something like this:



and closer up like this:



All that remains now is to bind it. I had thought I might do scrappy binding but not so sure now. I think I would prefer it with a single colour and I'm thinking dark purple...waddya reckon?

So, having finished quilting on Saturday, Sunday I spent with my lovely mum basting my red and black quilt. Thoroughly basting it. Very thoroughly basting it. Here it is in various stages of progress (and turned over to the back to check for bald patches!)



All this basting can only mean one thing: Yes, I have decided to hand quilt again ;-). A couple of blog readers suggested quilting fans (like this) but I've never done this before and wonder if I have too many seams (especially in the log cabinny central bit). Advice please ladies :-)

Bits and Pieces

I've been doing lots of fiddling around with works in progress this week.

Having decided to go with a hexagon star design for my charm quilt I laid the first few rings out, to see whether I prefered the rings in a single colour or scrappy.  I think I prefer the single colour...but I'm not sure.  What d'ya reckon?




Next in line was the corduroy Gee's Bend style quilt.  I got three pairs of jeans for a quid from a charity stall and got to work ripping them into strips.  I laid out the strips together with some leftover bits of corduroy from the centre to see how it would look.  I think it's gonna be great!



I've also been working on hand quilting my Jacob's Ladder quilt.  I have quilted 17 blocks out of 80 so far (yikes, still a way to go!) but although it's time consuming, I am enjoying it and I do like the way it's looking (ignore the basting thread, will take it all out when Ive finished the lot)

All Hooped Up and Ready to Go (aka Thanks Mum!)

I have finally bitten the bullet and prepared my Jacob's Ladder quilt for hand quilting.  It took me and mum about four hours (thanks Mum, you're a star!)  to hand baste it but I think we did a good job, it seems very secure.  So "all" I have to do now is quilt it :-P



I have bought a selection of different coloured cotton quilting threads so I can keep with the multicoloured scrap vibe.  Am finding the thread damn slippery stuff, it keeps trying to escape from the spools.  Any tips on preventing this would be gratefully received!

I haven't made any more liberated houses this week, but have made four little liberated stars for  Gman's red and black quilt.  These are only three inches across so difficult to get them to lay flat for a photo but I think they look quite sweet.  I will probably make a few pinwheel blocks this size too and intersperse with plain black squares to make up the next border.  That way I can lop bits off or add bits on to make the borders the right size, without worrying about having to match anything up.  It's not lazy, it's liberated :-)

Quilt Top Finished

Woohoooooooooo!  I have finished the Jacob's Ladder quilt top!  And here it is...don't look toooooo closely cos there's a few mismatched points and some similar fabrics that are too close to each other...but overall, very pleased with it.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="240" caption="Jacob's Ladder Scrap Quilt - All pieced and ready to quilt"][/caption]

I am now looking into what to use for wadding and backing.  There is so much choice!  Do I go for cotton or polyester or bamboo or recycled bottles?  Ooh, more decisions!

I have also completed my first "commission".  FIL asked if I could make him something to sling over the arm of the sofa to store his remote controls in.  I followed directions from this blog, using some fabric from the Fent Shop in King's Lynn (total cost £1.80!)   Something went a bit wrong round the bottom so I ended up sewing on some bias binding round it and actually rather liked the effect.  The photograph shows the organiser on an exposed arm of the sofa, but he is actually going be kept on the other arm, slightly more out of sight.  He was pleased anyway :-)

Ladder up to the Stars (or something)

I am soooooo close to completing my Jacob's Ladder quilt top now.  I have sewn together all the centre pieces (using the very technical plan shown below ;-)) and now just have to put on the borders, which are laid out ready:



[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Nearly there!"][/caption]

Then *all* I will have to do is quilt and bind it (cue maniacal laughter).

In the meantime, I am trying different things with a view to what to sew next...but being very indecisive about it!!  I want to make this and this and this and this and this.  That sort of thing.

But here's a block I have made and I rather like it:



It's an "Army Star" block - the pattern is from Quilters Cache and can be found here.

I am thinking I will make four of these, but a bit of a border around them and use them for sofa protectors.  Waddya reckon?

More Jacobs Ladder Blocks

I've made 9 more blocks:

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="221" caption="Nine more blocks made"][/caption]

Thought it might be a good time to lay all the finished blocks out together to see how the whole quilt was shaking up, and here's how it's looking:



I'm pretty pleased with how it's turning out and can't wait to see how the finished article will look!

Good and Bad

I have been beavering away at my Jacob's Ladder quilt and have assembled 12 more blocks and got several units partially made to turn into more blocks:





When I compare these to the previous set of blocks, they are much tidier and I think I have used the light/dark contrast more successfully (I think to start off with, I was using too many brights rather than lights). The fact that I am improving is, of course, good news...the bad news is that the first six or eight blocks I made might not be good enough to put into the quilt :-( I am not going to scrap these outright but rather use them to practice my quilting technique.  I have a sample pack of eco-friendly wadding from The Cotton Patch, so I might make up a mini-quilt to give each of these a try before deciding what to use in the full size quilt.  I like the feel of the cotton/bamboo wadding the best but will see how they all sew, and wash.

Moving back to the improvements in piecing, I can summarise the reasons for the improved accuracy below:

1. I have got a bit more confident with the rotary cutter, especially at cutting strips

2. I have worked out how to use my quarter inch foot properly!!  When I first had it I was lining the edge of the fabric up with what turned out to be 3/8 inch rather than 1/4 inch.  Only 1/8 inch difference but it soon adds up over several seams.

3.  I have learned the correct method for pressing seams - no steam and press on the right side - the opposite to what I was doing!

I am continuing to voraciously consume any quilting books and magazines I can lay my hands on, so hope to continue with the improvements until I manage to make a perfectly, perfectly square block.  I will do it, I will!

Mini Morsbagging and More Patchwork

I have had a session of mini-Morsbagging this week - that is, a session of making mini Morsbags, rather than a mini session of making Morsbags :-) Having unwrapped last week's Layer Cake, I couldn't quite bring myself to part with the woven Moda ribbon that tied it up, and thought it would make some handles for a little Morsbag, so I made a couple using the ribbon as handle, plus a couple more while I was in the mood.  Here they are:



Just the right size to take a paperback and some sunglasses to the beach.  Ha ha, chance and fine thing spring to mind!

Jacob's Ladder

I have made five more blocks for my Jacob's Ladder quilt:



Of course, it would have been six blocks, were it not for this "Whoops!" block!



I thought about unpicking it and sewing the units together again, the right way, but thought this might distort the material and mess it up, so I'm just going to keep hold of it, maybe use it in the backing or something.  It's a bit of a bugger, cos I think it's the neatest block I have sewn so far and it's got a couple of my fave fabrics in to boot.  Must pay more attention.  Must pay more attention.  Must pay more attention.

I have got four more four patch units ready to pair up with some half square triangles too:



Stay at Home Quilt

For those that saw this post, I conducted a poll amongst friends and family and option 5 was definitely the overall favourite so this is the one I went with.  Having looked at what I've done so far, I am sort of wondering whether to stop with one more border and turn it into a quilted cushion cover, rather than keeping going to make a full size quilt.  This is because (a) I want to get practising some actual quilting soon so a full size quilt isn't my first quilted project and (b) cos it looks so nice against the green of our new sofa:



I will wait and see what next month's magazine brings - if the border looks impossibly hard I might just put a plain border round and call it a day!

New Year Update

Well, it's just a few days into 2010 and I am making good progress on my quilting projects.

Jacob's Ladder

I have now made up six full blocks of this quilt (only 43 more to go lol!).  Here's a pic.  If you squint your eyes, you can see the pattern emerging with the light/dark blocks:

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="First six blocks for Jacob's Ladder Quilt"][/caption]

I have various other part completed units ready to sew together for this quilt:



However, I have now received the next issue of Popular Patchwork, so will be making a start on the first border for my stay at home quilt before continuing with the Jacob's Ladder.

Grandmother's Flower Garden

I have made the first flower for Grandmother's Flower Garden.  I have decided to stick with single ring flowers.  The photograph isn't the best quality I'm afraid.  I will have to leave the papers and tacking stitches in until the hexagons are sewed to other hexagons.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="First flower in Grandmother's Flower Garden"][/caption]

First Step onto Jacob's Ladder

As I said in this post, I am planning to make a Jacob's Ladder scrap quilt, with the pattern taken from Katharine Guerrier's Scrap Quilt Sensation book.  The blocks are made up of two four patch units and two half square triangle units, with fabrics alternating between dark and light/bright values.

Here's some of the first few four patch blocks I have made:

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Four patch units for Jacob's Ladder Quilt"][/caption]

I have, for the first time, tried my hand at chain piecing - and wow, it does save time!  I whipped up a load more four patch units in half the time, with less thread used and fewer stray ends to clip.  Marvellous.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Chain pieced patches ready to cut apart"][/caption]

For the triangles, I made these using this quick piecing method.  Here's a couple, ready for cutting along the drawn line:



Next step is to sew some of the units together to make the pieced blocks.  I need 49 full blocks, plus 28 half blocks in all!  Not far to go then :-)