Walk In the Woods (It's a Hoot) Quilt Finish!

Here it is, my biggest quilt to date! If you're a regular reader, you'll already be familiar with the story of this quilt so feel free to skip the next little bit and enjoy the photos! If you're visiting my blog for the first time from the Blogger's Quilt Festival (or elsewhere!), welcome and I hope you pop back to visit often! Here's a little info about it.

This quilt is made for my goddaugher's First Communion. F is the eldest daughter of my oldest, childhood friend and I wanted to make something special for her to mark the occasion. I wanted something fresh and pretty, but not too pink and girlie, as I wanted it to be something that she would be happy to bring with her and use as she grew up. I spent some time browsing through fabric before deciding to use Moda's It's A Hoot - which is whimsical, colourful, full of lovely prints and quite girlie in an understated kind of way.

I drew up my own pattern for this quilt and it is made using two simple block types. One is a simple four-patch with a border, the other is a larger charm framed with a double border. The prints were so lovely they were crying out for fussy cutting techniques wherever possible and I think I managed to make the best use of the layer cake for the various squares.

I used white sashing to make the squares pop, and an additional skinny sashing block made from the scraps left over from cutting the frame borders around the outside edge. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

This is my 4th quilt ever and (I think!) my favourite so far! It's the first time I've made a quilt entirely from one line/range of fabric. Normally I mix and match elements I like from different lines, and I found it a little strange (and maybe a teeny bit limiting!!) to work totally within one line. It makes for a lovely quilt although I did miss the challenge (and those moments of utter satisfaction when something just works) of putting together my own coordinates more than I thought I would.

I used free motion quilting for the first time on a quilt for this one. Its not perfect by any means, but I'm very happy overall with it, even if it was a little challenging! I love the crinkly texture from the quilting :-) Because it was a special quilt I used backing from the same line - the Owls in raspberry

I went with the Marshmallow dots for the binding. I think I'm in love with the binding actually! The dots are much more striking than I thought they would be. And happily, I have a half yard left so I'll be saving that for binding for another quilt.

In summary -

Name: Walk in the Woods quilt
Fabric: Moda - It's a Hoot by Momo layer cake + yardage for sashing & backing/binding,
Batting: Warm & White
Quilting: First time free motion meandering
Measures: 69" x 56 "
Pattern: My own!

I'm linking this quilt up to the Blogger's Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side. As this was a huge project for me, you might also see it linked up on a pile of other great blogs ;-) including {Sew} Modern Monday, Fabric Tuesday, Sew Cute Tuesday and more- check out my sidebar for these links! If you'd like to see other quilts I've made, check out the tab link at the top of the page "Quilt Finishes 2011".

WIP Wednesday

Wednesday again, and my WIP is pretty short and sweet this week!

Completed:

My Walk in the Woods quilt using an It's A Hoot layer cake. I will do a separate post for this quilt for the Blogger's Quilt Festival later in the week so I'm just showing the rolled up finished quilt here.


This took most of my time all week. I spent the weekend quilting it, and was pretty happy with my FMQ despite a slightly crazy start  (new quilting techniques and small children are not a good mix!) I am chuffed with how this quilt turned out and can't wait to put up the final pics. It just needs to be washed and dried to give it an even crinklier look so its ready for delivery on Sunday.


In Progress:


I've finished all my blocks for the Pinwheels Pips, they're pressed, trimmed to the correct size and I need to piece together my quilt top next. I've changed my idea for the quilt top layout a couple of times this week (lots of doodling!) so I need to finally decide what I'm going to do in the next couple of days. I'm also thinking of backing it with fleece as its intended as a throw for E - how does fleece quilt up? And if you have quilted with fleece, do you use batting as well? I'm afraid that might make it too heavy and warm. And as fleece is so much easier to work with and more stable than Minky I was wondering if I would be able to leave out the batting layer? Would love to hear any experiences, good or bad, if you have them!

The other little project I've been working on is a lovely piece of embroidery using this pattern:

Source: etsy.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Another great example of how much I love Pinterest - I found this pattern as a pin there a month or two back and just couldn't get it out of my head. I found a nice, natural coloured linen/cotton mix and am doing it bit by bit in front of the tv in the evenings. Hoping to get this finished up this week, I'm almost done with it and loving how it looks, even if my embroidery skills are pretty basic.

To Start:

I need to do a few sets of bunting for baby boys' rooms before the weekend for my nephew and my friends' two nephews.

I'm linking up as always to WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced - get over there and check it out! And check back in later in the week to see more photos of my finished quilt.

10 things I "learned" about Free Motion Quilting today!

Today, I started quilting my Walk in the Woods quilt. It's the first time I've done free motiong quilting (FMQ) on a bed sized quilt. I learned a few things!

1. You need to get a flow going to get the meandering motion you want. This is not aided by small children's constant demands for juice, milk, water, chocolate, croissants, pins, needles, bread rolls, "arts and craps" sets, painting, scisssors, crayons, measuring tapes to use as skipping ropes, assistance with jigsaw making, help with toileting, more painting, more juice, crackers, biscuits (the European types!), lunch (at 10am), new toys....hmm, I think I've covered at least half of it there.

2. When you finally do get a flow going, your thread breaks. You get it going again and the bobbin runs out. This repeats itself for a while.

3. When you get it going again after point 2, your almost-5-year old demands help setting up a Wii game. You then get distracted playing silly skiing games on the balance board. Your flow is now shot to pieces.

4. You read all the instructions & tutorials about how to do FMQ but you really hate those bicycle clips for keeping the quilt rolled up and abandon them, leaving you to wrestle your quilt around the machine and the kitchen table.

5. You detach your quilting extension table after approximately 15 minutes because its driving you insane. It's so useful for straight line quilting, you can't believe how much it interfers with FMQ.

6. It takes a long time to get used to moving the quilt around when you are used to letting the machine pull it through for straight line quilting.


7. You discover you are incapable of working in rows and end up just going with the flow, meaning when you finish you reckon there's about 1/3 done but its so haphazard its hard to tell.

8. Your stitch length is all over the place. Now, you know the 8 year old recipient of the quilt will not notice but you do!!

9. When you finally, eventually start to make real progress you look at the clock and realise its 2pm, everyone is still in their pyjamas and no one has had lunch yet.

10. But, when you pack away your stuff, you realise how fast the FMQ was and how nice it is looking despite lots of mistakes. You are happy!!!

First WIP Wednesday of the Summer

 

Can you believe its Wednesday again already? All those bank holiday weekends and holidays in the last few weeks have made it hard to keep track of the days. Here's this week's progress!

Completed:

My Dresden plate mini quilt - really happy with this one, its very pretty in real life. It measures 30" x 30" and is a perfect wall hanging!

I also got my Summer Sewing plans straight in my mind and blogged them to give me a little focus. For those list-makers among you, I'd love if you had a look and joined up your own summer sewing plans at the linky here. I've tried to do a button for you to link back your posts, let me know if its not working!

<div align="center"><a href="http://fairyfacedesigns.blogspot.com/2011/05/summer-sewing-plans-add-yours.html" title="FairyFace Designs"><img src="http://i1085.photobucket.com/albums/j433/FairyFaceDesigns/summersewinglogo2.jpg" alt="FairyFace Designs" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

In Progress:

I have the Walk in the Woods/It's a Hoot quilt just about ready to baste, I'm hoping to get that done tonight. I had some issues with fraying on some of my seams that I've had to spend some time repairing (why? its never happened to me before. I used a layer cake, but can't imagine that's a reason? I'm not having any similar problems with the Pips layer cake.)

I also got a lot done on my Pinwheel Pips quilt for E. Not least because I can't cope with the constant "is my quilt done yet Mam" questions. I've done all the piecing using a chain piecing process for the first time, which made me be super organised to stop getting everything mixed up, and it was surprisingly quick - I've only a few more seams to do to have all my blocks done. I'm loving the pinwheels - I was a bit worried about my points all matching up but so far its going better than I expected. And I just love the movement in the blocks. Looking forward to laying out all my blocks next and piecing the quilt top together. I used quite a few white solid charms in with my half layer cake to keep it fresh, as there's a lot of pink and grey and to get a decent size.

That's pretty much it for this week, it's been productive! I'll be linking up as always to Lee's WIP Wednesday and some other great blogs - check out my sidebar for the links :-)

P.S. - I've got a button!! For those of you who asked, feel free to grab it for your blogs. It's on my sidebar :-)

Big Scrappy Winner!!

 

Before I announce the winner to my big scrappy giveaway I want to say a massive thank you to everyone who entered. I couldn't believe the number of entries - 783 to be exact - how cool is that!! And thank you to everyone who signed up to follow me, I'm so thrilled to have you here. Please keep reading and commenting because I just love making new "friends" from around the world through blogging.

If you're interested, I'm running a linky party for the next few weeks where you can link up posts from your blogs about your summer sewing plans. I'll be doing a little giveaway for people who participate. I think it would be nice to see what you're planning, and for us all to discover some new blogs and share some comment love. Have a look here for the post with all the details - I'll leave it run for a couple of weeks to give you time to blog it and will link it in my sidebar so its easy to find.

 So without further ado, here are our winners. The main prize, my big bundle of scraps is going to be climbing on a plane and heading all the way to Indiana, USA - the winner was

 who is Val Campbell!

Yay! Well done Val, I've emailed you :-)

There were 32 valid entries for the bag pattern prize - thank you all ladies for featuring my giveaway on your blogs. The winner was

who is Stephanie Granite all the way out in California. Yippee! Well done Stephanie, I've emailed you.



So that's it folks, giveaway over but watch this space, I'll do a few more over the next few months.

Summer Sewing Plans - add yours!!

So here we are, the 1st of May and the first day of summer. Here in Ireland, where we rarely see anything but a rainy summer, we seem to have been bathed in summer sunshine for the last month. So it seems a little funny to be talking about the start of summer, but that's what it is. Even if the sky is threatening rain for the first time in weeks here in Cork.

I love the summer months, the long, bright evenings and the cheery light of summer mornings, even if it is raining! I always feel more positive and really motivated. I've been thinking for the last week or so about what I want to achieve this summer, sewing wise, taking into account the great light and increased energy I always have. And I thought it would be interesting to see what other people plan to do too. So, I've listed my plans for the summer here and I have set up a linky below for anyone who is interested in doing the same on their blogs and linking up. Please do! I'd love a sneak peek of what I might expect to see on your blogs this summer :-) And its a great way to discover new blogs. If you link up, please go and comment on other people's links. Let's have some fun!

1. Finish my Walk in the Woods/It's a Hoot quilt for my goddaughter's First Communion. That's coming up pretty fast now, I need to get it done in the next 10 days.

 

2. Make a quilt for my daughter, the most demanding customer in the world ever. I'm making this from half a layer cake I won in a giveaway of Sherbet Pips and I'm trying Pinwheels for the first time. It'll be a Pinwheel Pips quilt!! I have all my HST sewn up and waiting to be pressed and pieced. Every morning she wants to know is it done yet so I'll be sewing up a storm on this one. I did a trial block last night (top pic!) and love the movement in it :-)

3. Another version of my "Sophie's Dreams" quilt for a Christening gift for a baby girl which I'll be starting to cut this week.

4. Quilt for my son D. He's now feeling a little left out of the action and asked me this morning could he have a train quilt. I have lots of lovely boy's fabrics and I think I'm going to do a simple strip quilt for him.

 

5. My Central Park Skittles quilt. This is for ME! I love these fabrics, I love this pattern, it won't fit with any decor in any room in my house and I don't care, its just for me!!!

 

6. Finish making my bedroom curtains - they've been sitting half made in my basket for almost a year now and they need to be done!

7. Baby quilt - I have a pattern idea for a baby quilt that I want to try to make up and if it works, write up the pattern for.

8. Bottled Rainbows QAL placemats. One done, bar the binding, 3 more to go!

9. Crazy Scrappy QAL - I'm going to see how many blocks I do with this and then decide how I'll use them. I might do a quilt, I might use them for pillows - I'm not sure yet.

10. Quilt for my new niece/nephew when he or she arrives in August (please God, all going well). 

11. Simple Sewing tutorials - I know that in addition to a lot of super experienced followers I have who I go to for advice, I also have a lot of readers who are not very experienced at sewing or quilting and get email questions about sewing questions, how and where I buy my fabric etc. So I thought that it might be of interest to do some tutorials on how to sew simple items - e.g. pincushions, bunting, simple baby blankets etc. I'm also going to do a tute on how to find and buy fabric on Etsy for those people who are interested - particularly people based in Ireland who can't get access to the lovely fabrics available overseas. If you are interested, please leave a comment saying so, or drop me an email to fairyfacedesigns@gmail.com with ideas you would be interested in me covering in tutorials.

So, I'll be busy this summer. How about you? Please link up your summer sewing plans below. I'll run a little mid-summer catch up at the end of June, and a final "review" of how we got on at the end of August and will do a little giveaway for people who participate over the summer.

Dresden mini quilt - finished!!!

Here it is, my Dresden plate mini-quilt, all finished and looking quite cheerful if I do say so myself!! This was the first quilt-along I've ever participated in, and I really enjoyed it. I can't recommend Lynne's instructions highly enough - it was the first time I've pieced a circle in quilting and she made it a doddle! If you want to do similar yourself, you could do worse than head over to her blog and follow along.

I am glad that I only did the one block mini-quilt. I think this will make a super pretty wall hanging but as the blocks are so big (30" x 30"), I'm not sure if a whole quilt of these big blocks would be entirely my taste, although I'm very tempted to adjust the pattern and do a quilt with smaller size blocks in the same style!

I backed it with plain white cotton. I used poly batting on this one as its for the wall, but its very see-through and anything coloured or patterned would have shown through batting and the white outer circle on the front. And when I came to bind it, although I would have preferred to use the blue or brown fabrics I have in the circle, the only fabric I actually had enough of was the Riley Blake Love Birds, so I used that. It turned out nice though and the blue, green and red running through it coordinate quite well with the pieced circle.

When it came to quilting, I was seriously tempted to do spiral circles all the way round, as in Lynne's original block for the QAL - but I wanted to practise my free motion quilting for the It's a Hoot quilt which I will be starting to quilt next week, so decided to go with this. I'm getting better all the time at the FMQ. It took me a while to get going on this quilt but once I got a rhythm going with it, it went well. I now have a good feel for the speed I need the needle to work at, and the speed I need to move the quilt at. But I need to figure out a better way to move the bulk of the quilt around particularly for the bigger quilt sizes. I was so pleased with the improvements I've made, I even took a closeup!! What do you think, its looking ok, isn't it?

So, all in all, a good Saturday's work! Now I just need to see if my mother really does want this.... if she doesn't, I'll be quite happy to keep it for myself, but I think she just might! I'll be linking this up to Fabric Tuesday and some other great blogs - check out my sidebar links!

Lastly - I want to say a huge WELCOME to all my new followers! I'm stunned and amazed at the response to my giveaway, and so pleased to have so many people join me. I hope you enjoy reading my little blog. I couldn't possibly respond to the hundreds of comments left for the giveaway, but I did read each and every one and I want to thank you sincerely for all your lovely words on my blog and my projects. It was so nice to realise that people had explored my previous posts and liked what they saw. I hope that you continue to read and, please - keep commenting!!