The Baby Quilt is Done!

So the Railroad Tracks baby quilt is finished, all washed up and gifted to the brand new momma. Wowsers, was this quilt a problem child. I haven't had that much trouble finishing up a quilt in years. First, the machine quilting started giving me fits with revealing some bias issues. Always something to be concerned about with improv. piecing, but this one was more stubborn than most.

Always something new to learn!

I had to pin, pin, pin and then re-pin when quilting in the opposite direction. Finally I just started using butterfly pins in all the areas that wanted to push the fabric instead of stitching over and through. An expert I am not, but this one just made me sweat. Thankfully there wasn't any puckering in the back at all and only two or three spots on the front that needed a re-do.

Such a bold, bright looking quilt for me

I also made a rookie mistake {bad girl!} when sewing the binding down and forgot to move the needle over. Something about that walking foot being wider than the average 1/4" foot?*sigh  I rarely ever use a walking foot for binding work, but as you can see from the right side of the quilt, it really needed the help to keep the puckering to a minimum. For some reason that light green block had extreme bias issues {that naturally carried over into the border}. Actually, once machine quilted, I went back and added some hand quilting to just that one block. Most people would never notice, but I thought the 'poofing' was a bit out of control. Oh well, just a baby quilt and all that jazz. Who's gonna notice with a cute little baby around?

It's a true-blue finish!

Uh huh. Then it was washed prior to gifting, like I always do. Go ahead and tell me how crazy that is, but I like to know what I'm gifting. And I love the crinkle from washing and drying, sort of a trademark of mine. We all have our ways... That's when I discovered that there was a major bleeding issue with one of the blue fabrics. If you can't see the remnants of where that blue dye bled right into a white block, then I won't point it out. It's definitely there and so very annoying. Suffice it to say that there was definitely moments of rage and despair 'cuz I always pre-wash my fabrics before attempting any quilt making and these things always take me by surprise.

A little bit of hand quilting

 After three washes and a 16 hour soak, the dye seemed to have stopped bleeding. It was from the same exact fabric in two different blocks--little tiny strips of fabric that literally poured dye into the rest of the quilt with great glee. Once I calmed down from that horrible disaster then I realized that those little pieces were trim-offs from my improv. basket blocks. Woohoo. So I went searching and decided to do a preemptive soak there too. Yeah. Not so good news. The beautiful creamy center turned dingy blue and wouldn't budge even after an 18 hour soak and then later, some good 'ol oxi-clean coaxed even more dye out of the block.*sigh again  Yes, I am currently trying to re-make that particular block.....

A sad looking block

During this time I went hunting for any and all of that same wondrous fabric, only to find two different pieces hanging around. One was the original fabric that I bought last summer--it ended up soaking for between 16-18 hours before surrendering to clear water. The other piece, bought a couple months ago {because I liked it SO WELL, ha!} took over 24 hours before it finally quit bleeding. Different dye batches maybe?

Doing the 12 hour forever soak

Folks, this fun looking fabric is a monster bleeder. Run to the hills if you have any currently residing in your quilts. Just kidding. Immediately try the Vicki Welsh 'Save my bleeding quilt' plan of attack and maybe pray a lot too. She says most dyes will quit bleeding with the 12 hour soak and I've always had good luck with her method. This dye was blue and so very determined, words fail me....

A Melody Miller bleeder fabric

I am so scared of blue fabrics right now, it almost makes me break out in a rash to think of what might be lurking in any of my current ufo's. And to think that I was only concerned about the red fabric in that innocent little baby quilt! Hey, it's all washed up now and presumably all the dye is done trying to escape. What do you think, keep it or toss it? Linking up to sew, stitch, snap, SHARE with Linda and Julie. Regardless of all the trouble with this quilt, it feels really good to have another 2018 finish in. And honestly, most baby quilts get used pretty hard. Better to happen on something like this than something we're more attached to.

Railroad Tracks Baby Quilt

About an hour and a half before I generally wake up, a woman called my phone 5 times this morning. Even after she was told positively that the number she was calling was wrong, she stilled called two more times. I didn't bother answering those last 2 times and decided that if she called even one more time, her number was going to be permanently blocked. 

All the blocks sewn together....

Some people are just so stubborn, it makes zero sense. And so I have a headache today.*ugh  Why, why, why? Which means I'm going to sound cranky. {And it might even be true.} I also tend to despise Daylight Savings week as it totally messes me up for days and then to have my day start out extra early with the clueless phone woman. Can I just go back to bed?

Slab strips for the border work

So yeah, Quilting. That's undoubtedly why you dropped in. I've been working on the improv. railroad track blocks {from Maria Shell's Improv. Patchwork book}, until I had the base of a baby quilt size. Each block ended up just being shy of 12", so then I had to decide whether or not add another row of blocks or maybe go with borders. Since all my trim-offs had been used up, it was an easy idea to go for borders. I do have a fondness for that look...

Sewing the borders together

My niece had her baby early last week so then I knew this quilt was destined for a little boy. So glad that worked out {thanks momma!} as this quilt had already taken a sharp turn away from femininity with these unlikely crayon colors. And he's really sweet and adorable, we've been to see him several times. That helps motivate me just a little towards getting this quilt done in time for the upcoming shower.

Auditioning more borders

Initially I thought to add railroad track borders on all sides of the quilt, but after adding the top and bottoms, decided no. Much too busy. I hate admitting to it, but I actually make a fabric run to buy the lighter green plaid fabric. Yeah. Nothing in the stash seemed to work and I was running a bit dry on inspiration.

Getting sandwiched and ready to be pinned

While working on this quilt has been a lot of fun in some ways {loved playing with my trim-offs!}, it's also been a little too uncomfortable, if you know what I mean. These are not my best colors for getting in the zone and I've constantly been beset by insecurities and frustration. As you can imagine, it makes the decision making process more difficult than usual. It's a very good thing this quilt is so small or I'm confident this particular quilt would have overwhelmed me completely. There was a point where I just wanted to be done with the whole project and sincerely felt like somewhere, somehow I had taken a wrong turn. Next time I need to try it in better {for me} colors? 

Tree of Life

The hand quilting on my Tree of Life quilt has proved to be very therapeutic in contrast. Hmm... It feels so very peaceful....

When the Blocks Start With the Crazy Talk

I know, it's making you feel dizzy.

Getting the basket blocks sewn together and trimmed

It was making me feel the same way, no matter how many applique blocks I threw on the wall or how I changed the setting.

What's it gonna look like with the addition of the pineapple blocks?

This was one of those ideas that started out with a stack of gorgeous {to me} fabrics and lots of behind the scenes meditation on how to best use them. The bottom line always came back to trying to blend some improv. sewing with a sort of classic applique shape.

Those lovely basket blocks are just not doing anything good...

It was something that was hard to get started on. The idea seemed prettier than the final result could ever be, but oh so irresistible. And getting it to this point and seeing all that busyness on the wall was a wee bit frustrating. It wasn't all wrong, but the fun looking baskets were just not behaving well. There was a lot more crazy talk than I expected.

Hmm.. Could it get any busier?

My daughter popped in to tell me something and had to listen to me lament the situation. She hesitantly suggested using one of those 'strips of fabric that go between?' and finally the light bulb went off. These busy, busy blocks definitely seem to need some breathing room. The power struggle on the wall is real, but we quilters have our tricks too.

Okay, maybe the sashing will give everything some much needed space

I think it would help if I had about four design walls! This is most definitely going to take a little more time than I initially thought to settle. No point rushing anything! I finally took it all down and dove right into the scraps. Ahh... It felt like the wall had been yelling at me. 

Luckily, a good distraction was right at hand. There were these lovely. little, stripey bits that didn't want to end up in the garbage can. Did anyone else get the Maria Shell book, 'Improv. Patchwork: Dynamic Quilts Made With Line and Shape' for Christmas? 

Just having fun...

I've been pretty confident that this book was way above my pay grade. And hello? I don't exactly have a lot of solid fabrics, a must-have in the writings of this book. But the funny this is, a few snippets from the book have apparently been percolating in the back of my brain regardless. And guys, I didn't even read through the entire book, just sort of skimmed and gawked a lot, like we do when it's all just a bit too much to absorb in one setting. 

So yep, I'm here to tell you that somehow all these little scraps {some so skinny as to be ridiculous} have pretty much hi-jacked all those other important quilting plans/lists and want-to's. At least for the moment. They are currently making their way into a 'Railroad Tracks' sort of quilt based on Maria's yummy book. It's been open to the relevant page during this free-wheeling make time, let me tell you--trying to make an interpretation that won't come off as total garbage! Too, I'm thinking baby quilt size so it will be small and less likely to get overwhelming when the scraps run out. Which means I will probably be ditching that pink and blue baby quilt idea I proposed a couple months ago. How utterly boring that would have been compared to this....*wink