Blogger's Choice Fat Quarter Bundle Contest

So I've found this fun contest!  It is called the Blogger's Choice Fat Quarter Bundle Contest from the blog Quokka Quilts.  The idea is that we've all seen the blogger's choice fat quarter bundles at the Fat Quarter Shop and wouldn't it be cool to make up your own bundle?  So each participant chooses 15 fabrics from the Fat Quarter Shop (3 solids and 12 prints) and posts about their bundle on their blog.

So here's my bundle:

The fabrics from the top left are: 1. Kona Cotton Black by Robert Kaufman Fabrics 2. Kona Cotton Snow by Robert Kaufman Fabrics 3. Bella Solids Silver Yardage by Moda Fabrics 4. Heart Garden Black Daisy Tiling by Robin Zingone for Robert Kaufman Fabrics 5. Paparazzi Black on White Wandering Florals from Paparazzi by Red Rooster Fabrics 6. Remix Red Fun Dots from Remix by Ann Kelle for Robert Kaufman Fabrics 7. Paparazzi Black Allover Flowers from Paparazzi by Red Rooster Fabrics 8. Black and White Black Random Pencil Check From Black and White by Michael Miller Fabrics 9. Celebrate Seuss Black and White Stripe from Celebrate Seuss by Robert Kaufman Fabrics 10. Alien Friends Red Geo Master by Hoodie for Timeless Treasures Fabrics 11. Rivoli Natural and Black Geo from Rivoli by Alexander Henry Fabrics 12. Celebrate Seuss Red and Black Wonky Dots on White Cotton from Celebrate Seuss by Robert Kaufman Fabrics 13. Alien Friends Black and White Bubble Dot by Hoodie for Timeless Treasures Fabrics 14. Alien Friends Black and White Nettie Dot by Hoodie for Timeless Treasures Fabrics 15. Alien Friends White Kiss Me by Hoodie for Timeless Treasures Fabrics 

I also decided that I would showcase my bundle by using the virtual fabrics to fill in a quilt I've designed. If I win I promise I'll make a real one!  Let me know what you think. -Andrew

I got pinned!!

I know it's silly.  But I was so pleased when I realized that someone had pinned my quilt in Pinterest!  If you aren't familiar with Pinterest.com, it is a social website where you can "pin" pictures of things you like and share them with other people with similar interests.  I just recently learned that I can look at the stats for my blog and see from which sites people are being referred.  I noticed that some were coming from Pinterest and when I followed it back, there I was on someone's "Quilt Inspiration" board.  It made my day and I just had to crow about it! -Andrew

The Super Hero Quilt

Back in October I wrote a blog post about a paper pieced quilt block that I was interested in (see it here.)  Since then I've done a couple more blocks which were my contribution to the quilt that the Block Lotto members put together as a thank you to our fearless leader Sophie.  You can check it out at Sophie's blog, Sophie Junction.
Here are the 2 blocks I contributed for that project:

Well I decided I wanted to try designing my own paper pieced star.  This is my first drawing, that I made on my iPad.

Then my partner Chris played with the block and came up with a color scheme.

And here is my first attempt at sewing it together.  The points don't all line up as well as I'd like.  But I think its a pretty good effort for my first try!

The first picture on this post is Chris' vision of the whole layout for what he calls the "Super Hero Quilt" because of the color scheme.  I think he did a great job!  Whatcha think?

FMQ Challenge

This year I'm working on learning free-motion quilting (FMQ) on my old Bernina Record 830.  To that end, I've joined the 2012 Free-Motion Quilting Challenge over at SewCalGal.

January's challenge is leaves.  Here's my first attempt:

As you can see I was also practicing my pebble making, too!  Looking through some of the other peoples' blogs, I'm feeling kinda pitiful.  I think I'd better keep practicing!

The Red and White Quilt

Here is my finished red and white quilt!  This is the quilt I made from my Block Lotto winnings in March.  I copied the layout from a post by another lotto member, Prayerful Threads.

I'm really pleased with how my black and white binding turned out.

A word of warning to anyone who won the red and white D4P blocks and hasn't yet washed them... they bleed!  I know Sophie has warned us before to at least throw a color catcher in the wash with the quilt the first time you wash it, but did I listen?  NOOOOOO!  I didn't listen.  Am I sorry?  YESSSS!  I did some reading online and found this blog entry: Stop the Bleed!  Here I discovered that Dawn Ultra Dish Washing Liquid does a pretty good job of trapping dye.  So I applied Dawn directly to the spots that bled and washed the quilt multiple times.  (Just be sure you don't use more than about 3 tablespoons in a load or you'll have a lot of suds.)  I did eventually get most of the red out.

Now that it is finished I'm going to give it to my partner's mom for Christmas.  Luckily we weren't doing Christmas with his family until next week, or I wouldn't have had the binding finished in time.  Hope she likes it!   -Andrew

Merry Christmas!!!

It's been a little while since I had a chance to post.  I haven't had much quilting going on except sewing the binding on my disappearing four patch quilt from my Lotto winnings earlier this year.  I hate sewing binding.  I hand stitch it to finish it off and it takes absolutely forever!  But I don't know a faster way that turns out as nice so hand stitch it is.

But I thought I'd share pictures of what I have been up to... Christmas!!!  

Merry Everything and Happy Always!!!

  -Andrew

Curved Rails & Curved Quilting

So I won the  BlockLotto for the second time in September.  I won 48 wonderful batik blocks!  I've gotten the top pieced and am working on deciding about the quilting.  It is against my nature to show an unfinished project. But since the whole point of this blog is to share the "evolution" of my process, I'm going to show you what I'm up to.  Here is the pieced top:

I hope it is apparent (since I worried over it forever :) that I arranged the blocks so that the top of one block is in at least the same color group (if not the same color) as the bottom of the block above it and the corner pieces in the sashing.  It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.  It was suprising to find that I didn't have an odd piece out.  Not every match up is perfect, but they really are all in the same color groups.  I was pretty impressed with myself! 

So now on to the quilting.  I'm learning free motion quilting.  So I made a set of 3 blocks to practice a few things before I try it on the actual quilt.  Tell me what you think.

As you can see I haven't hidden any of my loose ends yet.

I'm also trying to decide whether to take the pebbles (that's what I call them anyway) right to the seam or just an 1/8 of an inch away.

What do you think?

Here's a close-up of the front.

And here are some pictures of the back.

My curves are still a little jerky, but I'm getting there!

So leave me a note and let me know what you think.  Seeing these close-up pictures of my quilting just encourages me to practice, practice, practice.  There's loads of room for improvement!  I'll try and keep things up to date as I continue with this one.  If you have any suggestions, let me know!