Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Quilting Day!

Good morning!  (at least it is while I am writing this)  I have taken a day off of work so I could finally finish the quilting on this baby!

First order of business is add another table behind my sewing machine


So hopefully, I will have a lot of progress to report at the end of the day.  In the meantime . . . I wanted to share a few things I have learned.  When I was choosing thread for this quilt,  I auditioned some variegated thread against the fabric and thought it looked pretty good.




It's a really good thing I did a test swatch of quilting because it did NOT look good.  On the spool, all mixed together is fine but when it sews, the individual colors stand out more.   Even though there is green and purple, there is also a lot of yellow and red which are not prominent colors in this quilt.  In fact, this thread is the thread I use when I showed you my quilting practice here.  You can see those colors just would not have looked god.  So I am using green on the green chevrons, purple on the purple chevrons and off white on everything else.

One more thing to share and then I am off to quilt!  Last week, on a plane ride to Atlanta, I was doodling around and came up with this quilt design:

Now this is a pretty simple design using a common pinwheel block.  I had a feeling I would probably find it had already been used this way.  Sure enough, I found THIS by Blossom Heart Quilts.  Pooey!  Almost exactly the same thing.  The only difference is she flipped the HST between each pinwheel while I left them to create a flat line.  My thought was to create more interest by the use of a rainbow scheme.  Haven't had time to figure that out yet.  I need to redraw this so I can color in the triangles.   I am considering adding something inside the blank four patch that is inside each of the diamonds created by the lines of HST's.  We'll see!

Anyway, that is enough blogging for today.  On to the quilting and wish me luck on getting it DONE today!  At least the quilting part.  I still need to bind it.

Stay warm!

Linking to:
Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts
WOW  (WIP's on Wednesday)


11 comments:

  1. Variegated thread can be tricky that way, so pretty on the spool, but... That is why I don't use a lot of it I guess. Can't wait to see what you are doing in the white areas. I think it has gotten harder and harder to come up with an original design anymore!

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  2. I have taken the day off to quilt before (shhh, don't tell anyone).
    Interesting that you have put together two of those white tables for your sewing area. I may end up doing that.
    I've never bought variegated thread and would think it would be very specific to a project.

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  3. That's a pretty thread for this project, but I'm with Vicki - gave up on variegated thread several years ago. Thanks for sharing your project on Midweek Makers

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  4. Isn't it fun to skip work to quilt!!! I think I have that print with the pink and purple large flowers. Just don't now what to do with it. Kudos for trying to design a quilt -- keep working on your design.

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  5. I think variegated thread is for keeping in your stash and petting because the perfect project for it is very hard to find! Although using it like you did for practice pieces is a fun idea. I'm so glad you're making progress on this quilt. It's so pretty and I know you're going to be happy when it's finished :)

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  6. Oh wonderful, to have a whole day to stay home and quit. I will be pestering you to find out how you have done. I only once bought a variegated thread, I still have it. I did use a little for a hand quilted cushion, but you guessed it, that's a UFO too. You are obviously enjoying all the HSTs you have made recently, I'm looking forward to seeing more on this new quilt.

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  7. Hope the quilting went well and you are at the binding stage now. Love the layout for your next project. Looking forward to seeing both projects move towards a finish.

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  8. Hope the quilting went well. The variegated thread looks gorgeous on the spool but as you say you always have to pull some out to lay on top of a quilt to see what it will really look like. Lovely to catch up (again) with what you are doing. Hoping to be a bit more of a frequent visitor from the New Year!

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  9. I hope you had a very successful day of quilting. Sometimes you just need a staycation day to work on a project. Variegated thread thread can be a very tricky thing to work with. Love the design you are working on. Can't wait to see how it evolves into a quilt.

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  10. Oh I just love the fabric in your zig zag heart quilt!! That is beautiful!

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  11. Really like this design! Glad you had a day off to have a little vacation in your sewing room!

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