Prep Work on Quarter Circles Round #2

I expected this part of the Quarter Circles Round #2 project to go quickly, but alas, I was very mistaken. The circles were previously hand appliqued and then cut apart, so it was important to reinforce the outside edge of each seam.

Quarter Circles Round #2

At first I tried to backstitch at the seams while I was sewing the skinny sashing on, but then I realized that when I added the next quarter circle, I always sewed with the sashing on top. That made it difficult to to backstitch at the precise spot that needed reinforcement. Efficiency has not exactly been a by-word around here this week.

All stacked up...

But finally, I got it all reinforced, sewn together and in a lovely little stack. Lots of stray threads though. Wowsers, was I picking them off of me forever! My husband will probably complain that he's finding them everywhere, even in his just washed clothing, as I was running to answer the phone and doing laundry etc. while I was trying to sew.

It was an easy process to iron them flat and then cut away the protruding ends of the sashing. The fabric/color combination is still making me very, very happy which is a lot of fun. I often wonder why certain combinations are so much more lovable than others and why there isn't an obvious formula for making it happen every time!

Trimming off the excess....

I doubt that you can see from these pictures, but the circles do not come out all 'even steven' on these blocks. I deliberately cut out the circles less than perfectly round before the initial stitching, hoping I would end up with some 'wonk'. Some blocks have more wonkiness than others which {I confess} at first I found a bit alarming and then, after that initial shock of  'did I do that?', very charming. It reminds me of that wonderfully antique make-do look that is actually quite difficult to reproduce in our current era of abundance.

Ready for the hand applique

I also wanted to link up my latest finish with Julie's Binding Blitz! More details about this quilt over here. I'm kind of a slow poke about getting to a true-blue finish so I didn't think to wait for Julie's linky party!

Imagine a Quilt

Not sure when I will actually do the applique for the Quarter Circles, but it's nice to know they are all prepped and ready to go. It's always good to have some smaller pieces of hand work sitting around waiting for an opportune moment. Those larger pieces are just plain awkward to work on in a car or sitting on the bleachers etc.....

A 2015 Finish!

Finally, a 2015 finish! Yay me!! I was so dreading getting this quilt washed after the last two quilts with red fabrics had bleeding issues. Well, needless to say it hindered me a bit from wanting to get the binding taken care of in a timely fashion.

Imagine a Quilt is finished!

Thankfully there were NO problems here. I had to wash in cold water first to get the blue wash-out markings to go away. And yes, I did throw in about six color catchers, but they weren't even that pink afterwards. More of a dirty brownish color which I assume was from a mixture of all the dyes? Lovely to see my cream fabrics unblemished by any floating dyes though!

All ready to be snuggled up with....

Really big sigh of relief . And it looks so cozy now. I am a bit addicted to the freestyle baptist fan pattern as you can see. It just seemed like the thing to do on the borders with all the applique. I know it gets in the way of reading the words, but really, only from a distance. Up close the stitching doesn't seem to be a distraction at all. The machine quilting on this quilt was only through the sashing and along the edges of the 9 patches. Everything else is hand quilting. Of course.

Loving that stitching....

You know me and my hand quilting obsession. It's terribly hard to make the decision to do any machine quilting, because I much prefer the look of hand quilting in the style of quilts I make. It's part of what makes me love the finished product.

And now facing the other direction...

This quilt is #3 in the 9-Patch Series I was working on in 2012. It's also the third one to be checked off the list. Wowsers am I making progress here.*wink

And the last picture, promise...

Okay, that's it. Enough about this quilt. I've got others begging for attention too....

Always Another Quilt To Get Ready For the Hoop

I finished up the hand quilting on 'Imagine A Quilt' and figured out an acceptable binding. It's a whimsical quilt, not very formal at all, so it seemed perfectly suitable to go digging in the leftover binding tote for a starting place. I gathered up five pieces of binding ends and then went digging for mixed blue fabrics for the rest. 

Imagine A Quilt

Hand sewing it to the back will come when all the stars align I guess. I had hoped to get it done in time to link up to Julie's Binding Blitz, but I don't know if that's possible. My week is already running out of days and I so hate to be a slave to deadlines!

My husband was home sick this week and so I took the opportunity to have him help me move the dining room table. It has to be moved every single time I want to sandwich and baste a new quilt. So annoying, but with a little preplanning I can usually get help when needed. {The table has carpet underneath which means I can't just shove it out of the way. I learned that the um... hard way once. Broken table legs? Yeah. It was ugly.}

Knowing the hand quilting on 'Imagine A Quilt' was nearing a finish, I had decided that 'Vertical Baskets' would be next up in the hoop. It's been in the queue for a very long time!

Vertical Baskets

I never finish quilts in the exact same order they get to the quilt top stage, but I do try to get them quilted before they are so outdated that dislike or disdain starts to set in.*wink

Loving these baskets....

The quilting design is still very much up in the air for this quilt, but I am sure something will come to me when I actually have it in the hoop. On the last quilt, I ripped out a whole hoops worth of quilting before finally settling on how to venture forward! Whatever it takes, but I never do anything super complicated. Or intricate. Laziness Simplicity is my byword when it comes to hand quilting.

And a closer look....

And I do know that keeping it in the drawers accomplishes nothing in getting it to a absolute finish. Oh my, how very, very many quilt tops I have now.... And you know me, already trying to figure out another quilt project to get started on!

Always Some Hand Quilting Going on Behind the Scenes....

After machine quilting through the sashing and alongside the 9-patch blocks, there really is minimal area left to hand quilt. I started out with a chunky, red, big stitch look and then, after completing only one frame, ripped it out and started over. This time with a very light lime green thread.

Imagine a Quilt in the hoop

I just felt that this quilt didn't need anything to distract from what the cream background squares do for the quilt--calming it down and giving it a peaceful, almost serene look. I'm really enjoying working with this quilt again in spite of being disappointed that I'm not big stitching. For some reason, that was what I was in the mood to do right now! The fabric and color combination is very soothing to me though. Every single 9-patch has one piece of the same exact blue floral and then the rest is scrappy {with a lot of repeats}. I don't know how to describe it except for the fact that it just feels good to me!

Through the years I am constantly pulling out an older quilt top to hand quilt and then all the while, working on a zillion 'current' quilt projects. This has often caused some overlap in the way I work with my quilting, such as me starting Quarter Circles Round #2 after hand quilting my first Quarter Circles quilt and things like making my Cactus Basket blocks in the colors I did, no doubt because I was busily hand quilting my Spring Forward quilt at the same time.

Getting close to the border work...

This influence of older quilt to new, and back and forth as I add design elements and detail, is a constant, occurring over and over in my quilt room. I like to think that it adds depth to my quilts as nothing is ever really finished in a rush or pushed off for the next little bit of whimsy that catches my eye. Of course, some quilts languish for years waiting for that last little bit of detail, but we won't be mentioning that.*wink

Scrappy Tulips

And last but not least, I went ahead and added a border onto Scrappy Tulips. It's a very vivid floral print that dulls the sashing down just a bit, but at the same time, adds a bit of drama that the quilt seems to need. I'm definitely going to have to change out that pink square for a red one and then try to find something for the next border that pulls out the brighter colors again. Always a challenge, these make-it-up-as-you-go-along types of quilts....

On To the Next Quilt!

Next up in the hoop! I decided to go with #3 in the 9-patch series because it should be simple, fun and very no-pressure. I've already started machine quilting through the sashing and also around the blocks just to stabilize the quilt. Not that it needs it, but hey, why hand quilt the entire quilt when it doesn't necessarily need the extra love?

Imagine A Quilt ( #3 in the 9-patch series)

After that part is finished, then I plan to put it in the hoop and get busy with the hand quilting details. It will add some great texture and make me feel better {like I'm not being quite so lazy *wink}. It will also make the border especially easy to stitch as machine quilting anywhere near applique work makes me break out in a cold sweat.

And a closer look

This quilt was started back in 2011 but of course it wasn't ready for quilting until at least a year later. There are rarely any fast, back to back start-to-finish type quilts made around here, but that's okay. Everything in its time.....