Monday, May 14, 2018

Quilting Ashley's Quilt

Let me share with you the adventure of the periwinkle quilt!  Sometimes we just have the urge to want to own pretty fabric when we see it.  We don't know what we'll do with it but we know it will make something pretty someday.  So this purchase was the result of an urge like that.


When I showed my daughter my newfound acquisition, she REALLY liked it (her current favorite color is periwinkle).  So I said I'd make her a quilt using it.  Of course, that meant going back to the store for more fabric.  (Oh darn)

I chose to use the pattern called 
The Betty Quilt by Erica Jackman at Kitchen Table Quilting

Here's an in progress shot . . . 

And here's the finished top before trimming. 

My plan is to quilt each fabric in a different quilting motif and stitch in the ditch around every piece so the back will still kind of retain that woven look the front has.  I still consider myself a newbie when it comes to free motion quilting.  It takes me so long just to get a quilt to finished that I forget all the fmq practicing I have done and have to learn all over again!  So I do some practicing on scrap fabrics before I do it on the quilt.   The first color I quilted was the periwinkle polka dot.  I attempted using the pattern taught by Angela Walters on YouTube called The Incredible Swirl . 

  My swirls don't look anything like hers, and I can see every little thing I did wrong, but you know what?  It doesn't matter at all.  Ashley loves it!  

And here is what it looks like on the back.

The next strip I quilted was one of the lighter colored one and I decided to keep it simple with that one.  All I did was quilt diagonal straight lines following the pattern on the fabric as a guide.  I thought about going back and doing diagonals in the other direction to create a grid, but I kind of like this look.


Next up is the coral polka dot.   I decided to try a pattern from Lori Kennedy at the Inbox Jaunt.  This is from her Craftsy video entitled Creative Free Motion Techniques From Doodle to Design.   This particular motif is called Faye's Flower.  

The coral thread I chose matches so perfectly it's kind of hard to see the design.  Oh, by the way, I decided to always use periwinkle thread on the bobbin and whatever thread matches best on the fabric strip I'm working on for the top.  I see a few problems with that method when my tension isn't just right but I keep a close eye on my tension and adjust it if I see thread showing through from the other side. 

Here is what Faye's Flower looks like on the back . . .

So that is my quilting adventure so far with Ashley's quilt.  Stay tuned for further episodes!   I'm looking for some new motif's to try out  What are your favorites?  

This week I also "baked a cake" for Velda who is the queen bee for the Stash Bee I belong to.  Here is Velda's Strawberry Shortcake!  Yum!!

Also, this month's color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is pink and rose.  So here is my first block to meet that challenge.  Cute house block is a free Craftsy pattern designed by Sandra at Mmm! Quilts!


And my collection of houses so far . . .

And last but not least, I started another project to help use up my scraps but after I got into it, I realized that I really didn't have as many of the type of scraps I need as I thought I did.  Phooey!  But since the whole point was to use up my stash, I refuse to go out and buy fabric for this project.  That is where you come in!  I am hoping I can do a scrap trade with some of you.  I promise I will send you back as much or MORE than you send me.  

What are you collecting?  

I am looking for anything with a black or dark navy background.  

Here's a picture of a pile of my scraps so far.  I'm needing strings that are at least 5 inches long and width from 1 to 2 1/2 inches.  They can be much longer than that but the minimum is 5.  So what do you say?  Anybody out there wanna do some trading?  I'm in the market!  
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24 comments:

  1. Your quilting is wonderful, the patterns really look well on those fabrics. I like 'ribbon candy', at least I've seen it called that, kind of like a number eight. Your houses are really cute too. Sorry I live down under, so the postage for scraps really isn't worth it. Hope you have some fun replies.

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  2. You've been up to all sorts of quilty goodness lately! Your quilt came together so well, and what a great idea to practice your FMQ skills. You're doing awesome! I love that backing fabric. Sorry I don't have any fabrics with black to send you!

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  3. I like the quilting sampler on the woven ribbons! I hate, hate, hate to mark. I've developed some go-to, no-mark motifs: loopy "flowers" for blocks, a curve-and-circle for inner borders, and faux-feathers for outer borders. . . . Your RSC houses are charming!

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  4. black are one box of scraps that I have very little of - I guess I either do not buy them or I have used them all up - I hope you find what you are looking for

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  5. Your freemotion doesn't look like a newbie at all. I think it's wonderful!

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  6. WOW, I am with Ashley...I love periwinkle as well. That is an excellent and outstanding way to showcase your quilting. And those houses...swoon!

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  7. As always you are making a fantastic job of new to you quilting motifs, I never know what you are going to try next. Love your pink house, it matches in great with the others. I haven’t any black background scraps, sorry, but if I do get any I will send them with your next bee block, and it looks as though I will have plenty of time:-)

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  8. OMG your quilt is awesome...and I could never do that good of a job quilting the different motifs that you did. Great job!!! Janice

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  9. Your quilting looks great! I like your idea of a different motif in each area. And the back looks beautiful as well.

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  10. Your quilting is amazing. Well done. Can't wait to see the finish.

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  11. Love the quilting you did, so cool to do different patterns... I also love your houses! They looks so cool! xx

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  12. Love the quilting on Ashley's quilt! It really is hard to tell that you are a newbie on that front. Your RSC houses are very fun and cute. I don't have much in the way of black scraps, so I'm no help on that front.

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  13. Oo! Oo! I have dark background string scraps! Not a huge amount, but enough to give you some more variety. The only hitch is that it will probably be late June/early July before I can mail them. We'll be in the Bahamas until then. Is that too late?

    I lurrrrrrrrve what you're doing with Ashley's quilt! So much yummy texture in so many designs. Using all periwinkle in the bobbin is working great. One of my go-to designs for a nice filler is curvy cross hatch. You stitch a curved line from corner to corner, then echo that. Then do another random curve approximately perpendicular to that and echo. You end up with a wavy gravy groovy kind of grid. Very fun :)

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  14. Your quilting looks great and I like your idea of different designs in each fabric. Keep up the good work!

    I have scraps. I *love* scraps (jazz hands!) and will share. Will email you.

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  15. I am in awe of your FMQ skills. If this is what you do as a newbie, Angela and Leah should be very scared. A new star is on the horizon!!!
    Hurry up and finish it, because I want to drool over this eye-candy of a quilt.

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  16. I love that pink house! The door fabric looks like the candy dots on paper that I used to love to get and peel off one by one.

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  17. Glad you were able to go back and get more periwinkle ;-) and what a great quilt!!!

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  18. Glad you were able to go back and get more periwinkle ;-) and what a great quilt!!!

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  19. I love this pattern—and your colors. What a neat design to use to explore different quilting patterns. They are looking beautiful on both the front and back. I especially like your swirls. One design I like to do is Flower Power from Inbox Jaunt. I’m not good at it, but it’s very forgiving. I may have some navy and black prints for you. Do you mind if they aren’t real colorful? Mine would likely have small white/light prints—not nearly as colorful as yours. Also do you want strips or are chunks that can be trimmed as you wish be okay?

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  20. You swirls and flowers look great to me! And I love the strawberry shortcake block. Yum!

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  21. Hi Janice! I have been following along with Angela's FMQ challenge, too. Your swirls look great to me. I have done two projects with her continuous line orange peel design, and feel slightly more confident with that one. I watched her Feathers video that came out last Monday, but haven't tried it. I love your idea for your daughter's quilt - which turned out fabulous too by the way! All those different areas with unique stitching will look so great when you're done. You could do some clam shells, some wavy lines along the length, and that stitch that looks kind of like a S - that's it, that's all I've got. I can't wait to see what else you come up with! ~smile~ Roseanne

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  22. Oh my gosh, your FMQ is amazing. I am in awe Janice and it makes me want to go practice. Incredible!!

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  23. All your work looks lovely! Your FMQ is so good! Wish I hadn’t been traveling when you put out this call for black print fabric scraps. Most of my small amount is back in Tx. Don’t think I have any here, but I’ll check, if you are still collecting!

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I LOVE meeting new quilting friends and always respond to comments so I'd love to hear from you!