Granny Square Quilt UFO is FINISHED!

A BIG THANK YOU to Jane, Karen, Elzaan and Rosemary for your lovely comments on my previous post! 

In between smaller projects, I've been working on UFO's. I don't have many, but those I have are lap or bed quilts. 

A couple of weeks ago (yes I know, I'm slow in blogging!), I finished the Granny Square batik quilt! 

Yep! It's green too... and brown! :) For years I have tried to convince myself green is not my favorite color... I think I have been wrong all these years! It's very easy to love greens; look out of your window and we are (most of us) fortunate to be surrounded by greens in all shades. The love of nature, I believe it affects us somehow... 

This is the first time I made granny square blocks and I really love them. They are easy and fast to make and gives a quilt a nice look. 

I think the yellow squares brighten up the corners...

I found a beautiful brown and green leaves batik for the back. Even better; it was on sale! :)

In the washing machine it went after it was finished. I threw in 3 color sheets and they came out RED! I thought I had pre-washed all the batiks earlier, but it could have been one of the browns I missed... Love the crinkled look after it was washed! 

I have 3 more UFO's to finish, but right now I can't decide on which one to attack! :) 

HAVE A WONDERFUL (QUILTING) WEEKEND! 

Scrappy Green UFO is FINISHED!

I hope you all that a wonderful Easter; some relaxing days and lots of yummy food. 

If you read my previous post, I was in the process of quilting the Scrappy Green quilt. Actually it didn't take that long to FMQ (Free Motion Quilting) it. What took time was to wait for the right day (light) to take photos. 

Love all those different shades of green

Took me some time to decide on how to quilt it. It ended up FMQ in my favorite pattern; loopy swirls :)

Just love the scrappy border and corner stones! 

... and the scrappy back! 
I made it so that it can be used on both sides.
I thought I had pre-washed all the fabrics, but I think I must have missed a couple. I threw it in the washing machine together with 3 color sheets and they came out green! Fortunate no bleeding on the white! 
Love the crinkled and 'vintage' look after it was washed. 
All fabrics used are from my stash, but it didn't make a dent! lol

The granny square lap quilt (UFO) is finished too, but that will be another post. 

HAPPY QUILTING! 

Quilting the Scrappy Green

HAPPY TUESDAY!

Tuesday is at its end this side of the globe, but for some of my readers Tuesday is about to begin. 

If you read my previous post, you know I had to order thread for quilting the 'scrappy green'. I finally got the thread yesterday, after the package was stuck in local custom for one week. I could have gone to pick it up, but no way do I bother to line up in the heat and humidity to get a package of thread! I'm not in a hurry to get the quilt done! 

I started the quilting last night. As you can see, it is possible to quilt a big quilt on a normal throat size machine. It took me some time getting the hang to it, but as it is said; 'practice makes perfect'! I won't say the quilting is perfect though; I do the best I can and if I'm not happy with some stitches, there's always a seam ripper next to 'dear Nina'! :)

When doing such a big quilt, I always start from the center. As you can see on the photo above, one half is quilted and I have just started on the second half, hence the folded part of the quilt.

It went very smooth to quilt this one. For me, the trick is not to quilt more than a square of 6-7 inches at the time and keep the quilt 'loose' on all sides so it is easy to move. 

I'm not thrilled about the color of the King Tut I have used. On the color chart it looks 'medium/light' green, but on the quilt I find it a bit dark on the cream and on some of the light green squares. I could have come up with a more creative quilting pattern instead of loopy swirls and chosen a matching color on the cream fabric, but........... well, I wanted to get it done without too must fuss! :) Done is done and I can't change it now! Overall, I'm happy with it! 

Now to take care of some thread ends and prepare the binding.

HAPPY QUILTING! 

Getting ready to quilt the 'scrappy green'

WELCOME MARCH!

First of all; THANK YOU to all of you who took the time to leave comments on my previous post! Much appreciated!

I think I've never showed you how I prepare a quilt for quilting? 

There are different ways to do it; on the floor, on the table, with or without a plank, the easy way (?) on the frame, longarm etc. No longarm in this house, not even a plank! :) 

I'm fortunate to have a considerable large sewing table. Actually it is MIL's old dining table (seats 12) that I've refurbished with new top and re-painted. Love that table!

The 'disadvantage' when preparing for quilting a big quilt, is that I have to empty the table! This is how it looked like a some days ago...

...and then...

An empty sewing table causes anxiety!!! LOL

... but it didn't last long!

Here I'm getting the quilt back ironed before it moves to the table.

I'm using masking tape to hold the quilt back in place (on each side). 

Getting the batting in place is the fun part! NOT!!! :(

There we are! The batting centred, smoothed and lightly ironed. 

The quilt top centred. Since the backing is pieced too, this took some time to get the top adjusted to the back, but I got there! :) Very little margin (each side of the backing), about 2 inches on each side on the backing so had to be very careful and do the right measurements! 

See that little yellow basting thread that pops up from the white rectangle? 

That's the centre of the top and it has to fit exactly with the centre of the backing. 

First, I pin baste the part that is on the table. When that is done, I thread baste the same area and remove the pins. Yes, I can hear you; 'why does she pin baste AND thread baste?!' 

Bad experience! I've tried several times to quilt without thread basting (pins only), and it ended up puckering (every time!) and I had to spend wasted time ripping. For not to talk about the umpteenth times of broken needles (several swearwords and more coffee!) because the needle hit the pins! So, that's why I prefer to take the time to thread baste before quilting. 

When the centre is done, I continue doing the the top and bottom. 

OK! All done! Now it's ready to be quilted and I just realised I don't have enough quilting thread! Should have thought of that earlier! DUH! Oh well, have to put it aside for a couple of weeks until I get the spools. 

Have a nice week! 

Two FLIMSY's and a scrappy backing

Since my previous post, I've been working on UFO's and now I have two FLIMSY! (Flimsy's? Flimsies? How is that written??) 

Don't know what a 'flimsy' is? A 'flimsy' is a finished quilt top and here's my latest 'flimsy'

Some of these greens I've had F-O-R-E-V-E-R. By that I mean fabrics I thought I had to have and bought when I started quilting, about 10-11 years ago. Those fabrics tend to pop up everywhere when I was looking for other fabrics and in the end I got sick just looking at them! 

I could have thrown those fabrics in the bin, but that is a big NO-NO for me, as I cut scraps as small as 1.5 inch squares. I decided to use up those fabrics making an easy green and white scrappy quilt. 

First I had in mind to make a lap / throw quilt. HA! That failed, and it has now ended up a large twin or double bed quilt! Why on earth do I do this to myself?! I know (by experience!) how hard it is to quilt it on my domestic machine! Never learn! lol

After I got the right size on the 'flimsy', it was time for the backing. Since this is a scrappy quilt and I still had more left of some of the 'ugly old' fabrics, I decided to make a scrappy backing as well. 
It took me some days to figure out the backing and here it is

'Old' fabrics from my stash. Feels good! :) 
Now to the 'sandwiching'! 

My second FLIMSY

Scrappy granny square blocks in brown and green batiks. 
I made a few of these blocks back in October last year. Lost interest and they became a UFO. The idea was to make it bigger - 5 x 7 blocks - but after doing the other green one (large twin), I thought this size is big enough (lap quilt). 
Fabric for the back is purchased today and should be here in the middle of March, earliest. 
I have 3 extra blocks that I've made into small table toppers / candle mats (forgot to take photos). No suitable backing for those either, just have to wait.

Today I've been busy quilting some other small table toppers / candle mats. 
I hate PLANS, because plans always fail!!! Better say the IDEA is to get the scrappy green twin quilt sandwiched and quilted. 
That means; empty my sewing table!!! YIKES!!! 
lol 

HAPPY QUILTING!  

Time to count UFO's and WIP's

HAPPY 2017!

I know I'm a bit late wishing you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR, but as it is said; better late than never. I hope this year, so far, have treated you well.

Do you have any New Year's resolutions and do you stick to them? I have given up on them, they fail all the time. That said, I hope to blog more regularly and this year I start out with UFO's / WIP's

I'm not sure if I should refer to them as UFO's, WIP's or both? I work on each of them (except the last two) off and on, when I'm bored with other projects. :) 

I love scraps more and more and #1 are some PSQ blocks I have leftover from one I finished last year. These 2.5 inch charms are solely from swaps over the last years. My idea is to combine charms with pinwheels.... so let's see how that pans out. 

  

Scrappy granny square blocks I started last year. I'm using green and brown batiks, all from my stash. 

108 scrappy log cabin blocks! These are made from 1-1/2 inch wide strips and the finished block size is 8 inch. 

Another scrappy I started last year. I'm currently working on this one.

The next two are my oldest UFO's, from 2010/11! This one is a real UFO! :) 

Quilting members of NNC (NEEDLESnCRAFTS) yahoo group in Malaysia made blocks for a group swap. Here's one of the blocks I made. I may have enough fabrics for a small lap quilt...

Some of the blocks I received from the NNC group swap.
I have yet to decide on how to arrange them; there may be some other blocks (from the swap) in between. 

These UFO's / WIP's should keep me out of trouble over the next months! lol

What are you currently working on? 

HAPPY QUILTING!