Hand Quilting Twinkle Twinkle

For way too long, Twinkle Twinkle has been folded and sitting on the shelf of an end table next to my spot on the couch.  Ignored.  I thought surely if I left it next to the couch I'd pick it up some night and start stitching.  Right.  Right?  No.

I can not even really remember doing it, but I had previously echo quilted the center of each star with perle 8 over the summer.  When I pulled it out again this week, I started echo quilting in each diamond shape around the star with various colors of perle.  I am about half way done with them.  

I now need to come up with a plan for each of the larger squares at the four corners of each star block.  You can see I've been sketching out little orange peel-like shapes in chalk.  They're a possibility....  but each time I lay the quilt out to see how I like my orange peels, someone moves in and makes a nest.  It's a weird reoccurring problem with this quilt in particular - she has a special affinity for the teal I think.

I am hoping to have this finished by the end of March (binding and all) so that I can enter it into our Modern Quilter's of Ireland exhibit.  Fingers crossed it's done in time!  A deadline might do me good here :)

Oops! Forgot this one!

I completely forgot to tell you about this bit of happiness.  A finish!  I have not had a finish in ages.

I had a orphan block from my Twinkle Twinkle bee quilt that joined me in Jen Kingwell's hand quilting class at the Fat Quarterly retreat.  I recently spent evenings echo quilting the star, straight line quilting the red boarder and then quilting triangles into the outer pink boarder.

I then was stuck.  The star needed more, but it took me ages to find inspiration.  Or for inspiration to find me.  Eventually I remembered that I had stencils for orange peels so I thought I would give them a try between the star points.  And they worked!

The back is an envelope closure of teal blue, coordinating with the front.  This is my first cushion cover, so I could not envision how it would come together.  Now that I have one down, I think I could try a zip in my next version. 

And so it lives on the living room couch.  It has been napped on, curled up on and snuggled by the dog.  It adds a super spot of color and makes me happy every time I see it.  Needless to say, I'm already plotting my next!

Finish Along Quarter 2: The Hopeful List

And the list making has begun!  It's time that we link up with Miss Katy and state out our goals for the next quarter.  I have been working from a relatively small project list lately, which has suited me incredibly well.  I love that I can see progress in each project, that I know what I should be doing the next time I can sit and sew AND that I have an actual hope of finishing these quilts before the quarter is out.  Stars all around.

1. Swoon

To not bore you with the same Swoon photo of my 9 finished blocks
on the line, I mixed it up a bit.  I just don't have a photo of my finished Swoon top.
It's so HUGE!

My swoon top is finished including sashing between the blocks and two additional borders to bring it up to size for our guest bed.  I have chosen the main backing fabric, but need to piece the back together.  This is going to be long armed (no way I'm quilting a 96x96 inch quilt in my machine!) in Cork and returned to me for binding.  That's the plan, anyway.

2. Twinkle Twinkle

This quilt is (lobby) layered and I am currently hand quilting in each of the stars.  Through the quarter I will need to finish hand quilting it, bind and wash.  Here's hoping my quilting will hold it together!

3. Medallion

I don't have a name for this quilt yet.  I guess that's on the Q2 to-do list as well!  My medallion needs this border to be finished (have 2 sides done, 2 to go with 4 corner stones) a small, thin "bonus" border to correct a few size issues (clearly a theme, there) and then one final 6.5 inch border to be added.  I have the backing sorted, so it needs to be layered, hand quilted and bound.  I know its quite a lofty list for myself, but I am so in love with this quilt I just may pull it off.

4. Spoolin' Around

Now here I have a quilt name (from Miss Anna) but not a quilt top.  I have piles and piles of spool blocks that have arrived from my bee buddies, so the top needs to be assembled, quilted and bound.  This is VERY lofty, but I can't be in the run for Katy's winnings if I don't list it here!

Katy, once again you're brilliant for having organized us.  I am hopeful this quarter, so let's get stitching!

Galway Stitching Meetup: April

The Galway Stitchers met up last Thursday in a bright, lovely, hotel lobby to chat about recent quilting classes, basting tools, stretches for your back/neck during quilting and batting options.  It's amazing how conversation flows from one topic to the next.  Before we know it, it's time to pack up and truck home for dinner!  Love those nights.

While we were chatting away I basted Twinkle Twinkle.  I figured the hotel had a huge clean floor space, didn't have little cat/dog "helpers" AND I'd be entertained with the chat to pass the time.  My little plan worked brilliantly.  Gave the hotel staff a little giggle, too.

Annette brought along her husband's knee pads to save my poor bones on the hard lobby floor.  They were FANTASTIC!  I need to get a pair myself.  

There was more than enough space once I (kind of) re arranged their furniture.  Bold, Cindy.  Bold.

In the end, I had a quilt basted and ready to go.  I am currently hand quilting with perle cotton inside the stars, echo quilting 1/4 inch inside the scrappy bits.  I am so completely in love with this process I don't see myself machine quilting another quilt in the near future.  I am nearly done the 21 stars now (4 left!) and will then move onto the squares and diamonds between the stars.  There's a plan formulating of how to tackle them, but I'll need to test it out first.  That's the news ladies.  Quilting away happily here in my part of the world :)

FAL: First Quarter Wrap Up {2014}

Way back in early January I wrote up an optimistic list of projects I wanted to finish in the first quarter of the year.  Here's a re-cap of what REALLY happened:

1. Swoon 2013
This is definitely NOT a finish. This past weekend I did get my sashing and one of the three borders added, so I hope to have a finished top to show you in the near future.  This will slide onto my Q2 list happily.

2. Home Sweet Bone

A finish!  This little cross stitch is now complete and hanging at my desk at work.  I absolutely love it.

3.  Modern Irish Bee Quilt: Twinkle Twinkle

It's a personal triumph that I pulled this out and started working on it again.  That said, it is 100% not finished.  I have the center blocks pieced and a plan sketched for the exterior 8 blocks.  This too will slide into my Q2 to-do list.

4. Mini Spools Quilt:

No progress what so ever.  Moving on....

5. Donation Quilt for Mexico City

A finish!  It's not my most favorite finish of all time, but I'm delighted that it's done and on its way to its new home.

Two out of five isn't brilliant, but it isn't a total failure.  Two of those that I haven't finished yet have a bit of motivation behind them now and that's what counts.  Linking up with Miss Katy and my FAL friends.  Katy, thanks a mil for organizing us!

Twinkle Twinkle Top In Progress

I am a bit embarrassed to tell you how long this quilt top has been in the making.  The idea to use this block as my bee block started rumbling around in August or September of 2012.  I think that makes it my longest standing WIP/UFO.  My bee buddies were super at sending the blocks in, so it must have been me holding up the show.

You see, the trouble was that these blocks came to me in a huge range of sizes.  Although it was to be a 12 1/2 inch block, I had some as small is 11 1/4 inches!  I pulled apart six of them to re-stitch and enlarge them, but it just drove me mental.  I put them whole pile of them away and they collected dust. 

However, when the FAL for 2014 kicked off, it was a great excuse to force myself to dive in again.  I am not going to finish this quilt off by the end of the month, but I am quite pleased to have even started it again!  You will surely see it again on my second quarter FAL list.  

I have been messing with the layout, finding one that would be accommodating of several different sized blocks.  I had 12-13 blocks that were 12 1/2 inches square, so I set them on point as the center of the top, as you see above.  I have another 8 blocks that will be positioned around the top as a border, four at the mid point of each side and at the four corners.  That's the plan anyway! 

Only the 8 blocks in the border to go, then.  I am really looking forward to layering this quilt.  It is going to be the first full quilt that I had quilt and I can not wait to get started!  I'll need your advice when I hit that point, so start having a think of a quilting pattern and perle colors.  Decisions decisions!

If you are into making a block like this yourself, I wrote a tute for it back in Oct 2012 for Rhonda's Finish Along.