At Long Last...

If you've been following me here for a while, you may remember the first glimpses of this quilt from back in  2010. Um, yeah, so that's kind of embarrassing. Life happens though and you get frustrated with the progress and then make a mistake that puts you off it for a while and then you start grad school and then you start working three jobs and then you decide to do some crazy laborious embroidery on the back...you know, the norm.

I centered the embroidery right at the top so she'd catch a glimpse whenever she snuggles into bed

Well, I managed to finish the binding by hand in one long car ride yesterday that my husband and I just made from Massachusetts to Michigan to visit family. I was bound and determined to be productive as long as I was just going to be sitting in that car for 12+ hours! I finished it just as we came across the border from Canada (having driven about half the distance too and maybe with a bit of a lead foot so that I could get back to sewing...) and GOOD GRIEF was I elatedproudexcitedestatic to say the least. Today I gave it to my three year old niece, as I'd planned all along, and have to admit it was a little hard to let the thing go after all this time. I've done several doll/lap/baby quilts over the years, but never a big one like this, hence all my squeals of joy at having finished it. Definitely enough of a good feeling to spur me on to finishing other projects!!

I know the cool blogger thing is to just show the finished quilt, but my granny, who taught me to sew, always takes one of her with it and I feel that is a tradition well worth honoring so here I am in all my nerdy joy:

The quilt is twin sized for her big girl bed and is made with Heather Ross' Far Far Away II line in the plum colorway. The backing, sashing, and binding is kona cotton while the purple border is a cotton sateen. I machine pieced and quilted it, but did the binding by hand. You can see the full progress here, from design to quilt top:
Beginnings
Design and progress
Another iron in the fire
The quilt top

Back in the Studio

I decided to make a simple pillow of scraps to go with the FFAII quilt and now just need to attach the back. I like how it turned out with additional bits from Anna Maria Horner collections and some scrap sari silk.

I've got my work cut out for me this weekend. Well, literally in some cases. In the first time in a long time, I have one whole day to work on personal projects (goodgravyhoorayfinally!) so I am revisiting the Far Far Away II quilt for my niece that has had to take a backseat to so many other projects this year. It's embarrassing really as it has been sitting in a corner of my studio all this time, silently taunting me from it's perch and reminding me I could be working on it if I would just stop stretching myself so thin. Well, no more! At last it is all ready to be quilted minus some last minute embroidery I decided to add on the back. More on that part later, for now, let's just revel in the first sight of fabric to grace this here blog in way too long:

Is it possible to lay out a quilt sandwich without having furry little helpers coming to judge your handiwork? Zoë approves *I think* but is a brutal task master.

As I work today, I am already thinking of the other projects that await me on the horizon: A couple items for friend's that have had babies recently/soon and some pillows for our own living room (A project I get to keep?! someone see if there are pigs flying outside your window, quick!). I've made some progress on a few pillows for us but my thoughts on the final look have changed a bit since then in terms of color and we need more than originally planned due to a new (rather massive) couch.

So many plans, so little time! I should get back to my sewing now because tomorrow I'm off to visit another museum for a paper that needs to be several pages longer than I care to think about at the moment. Sigh...it seems I must learn to embrace moderation and not just admire it from afar. Do you have a laundry list of grandiose things you'd like to make? Maybe we can each pledge to finish just one of them by the end of the month! I know I'm just the kind of person who's going to keep biting off more than I can chew so I'm all about making lists and enforcing manageable timelines on myself that include downtime. What kinds of things do you do to keep yourself productive but sane?

A grin and a sigh of relief

my completed Heather Ross quilt top!

I think it was about 11:30pm last night when my sewing machine finally stopped whirring. I honestly could not stop grinning for a little while as I love love love how this came out and it feels better than I could have imagined to make something this large with my own two hands! I'm just completely floored to see my original design come to life!

I'm also particularly pleased with the way the purple cotton sateen looks to be slightly contrasting but it was only a matter of changing the direction of the weave when I cut the pieces. I was worried about having to use so much sashing but I think that will be a nice effect when it drapes over the side of the bed.

I'm going to start quilting it today if time allows. I've got to start packing and i'm doubtful that one day is enough time to quilt and bind this whole thing. I feel good knowing that I'll have something substantial to show and i can always take it back home and finish it up. I'll get to enjoy it a little longer that way plus I decided it's going to have to count as her christmas present too since I am not a rich aunt by any means!

The beginnings of progress

I've been rather content this afternoon, listening to the new jenny and johnny album and putting together the quilt top of my niece's quilt. But let me back up just a smidge...

(I was elated to finally find pink pinking shears at joann's. I've been looking for a while and had to get them!)

Last week I'd finished sewing together all of the heather ross fabric sewed into blocks (the main rapunzel, owl and pussycat, and sleeping beauty prints) and accent rows (the rose and moon prints). every night since then I've been drawing and cutting out a ridiculous amount of pale pink sashing and just today started piecing them altogether. You can see there's a bit of puckering where I backstitched on each piece with the machine but I'm not sure what I can do about that. On the whole, I'm pretty darn excited to see it coming together! Maybe I will make this deadline after all (fingers crossed).


This is my plan for the overall quilt which will be a twin size. Hooray for ridiculous amounts of sashing! I found some gorgeous cotton sateen for the purple bit. It's really more of an eggplant color and I was a bit nervous about using it for a toddler's quilt but the colors worked so well together I decided to go for it. If this child is at all related to me she will appreciate the aesthetics. Stay tuned, hoping to post next week with the finished quilt top!

marathon quilting

the first completed quilt block

i know that i have too many irons in the fire at the moment but i've added in one more project because, well, i just can't help myself. my niece's birthday is in late october and her mom told me that the last quilt i made her is suffering a bit of wear and tear since the soon to be two year old insists on taking it with her everywhere. this warms my heart through and through and of course i will bend over backwards for that girl any day so, yeah, i am working on another quilt that i hope to get done by the end of october. so i am definitely crazy. and yes, i am using the machine on this one the whole way!! we'll see, this might end up as a christmas present...

when my sister-in-law said they could really use it sized up a bit for her new big girl bed and told me about the colors of her room, i knew that heather ross' far far away II line of fabrics in the plum colorway would be absolutely perfect! i have to admit, i am really happy to have an excuse to get some of this gorgeous fabric!

you can see in the photo above the first completed quilt block that i've done. i could only afford one fat quarter set of the plum colorway so i spent HOURS doing math (which i detest) and drawing out different quilt block patterns that would take my fabric as far as it would go and feature the different fabric designs in the best way. i think i've finally got it now so as soon as i get a row of the quilt top done, with sashing, i will be sure to show it off here! wish me luck, i am so going to need it.