Whisper

 A few weeks ago, I decided to make a lap quilt for my sister. She was in the midst of a kitchen renovation. With her open floor plan, that meant new family room furniture, too. I texted her daughter-in-law to get a picture of the new sofa and chair. So sneaky! Anita is a neutral girl. No crazy colors like in my house.

I had a pile of low volume prints still out from the trivet project. I added a few grays and solids and started cutting. In no time, the scrappy trip around the world blocks were done and ready to assemble. Wow, are they fun! 

It was super hot that week, so I needed to carefully move everything from the design floor in the living room to my air conditioned bedroom.

 I knew I wanted to quilt a spiral from the center of the "trip" and go around and around. I put on the walking foot, drew a starting circle and got started. I knew the center would be the toughest part, but I was really struggling moving the quilt along. Guess what? I forgot to re-engage the feed dogs after the free motion class the day before. How embarrassing! It's a little wobbly in the center, but not bad enough to rip out for a quilt that I know will be used and loved and washed often.

 

I tried not to post much of this project to Instagram, because I wanted to keep it a surprise. She did comment on a tight pic of the center quilting that the grays and yellows matched her new chair. Is that so? What a coincidence!

The next lesson I learned was that my needle was too small. I usually use a size 80 with 50 wt thread, but I was all out. I put in a 70 and my thread kept breaking. I was finally good to go after changing to a 90. With the feed dogs engaged!

 

I found the binding in my deep stash. I hope the little sparkle will compliment the mica flecks in her new granite counter tops. The backing should bring together her gray and beige paisley chair and brown leather sofa. Everything came from stash except the backing and batting.

 

Whisper

60" X 72"

Started: July 11, 2016

Top Done July 17, 2016

Quilted: July 23-24, 2016

Bound: July 25, 2016

WIP Wednesday

 I'm still making progress this week, but not quite at the breakneck pace of last week. 

Finished:

Low Volume, Bright Hopes- I really enjoyed this little piece and I think it is a pattern I would like to teach at my LQS. There is a pretty fat quarter bundle in my stash that may become a class sample soon.

The guild raffle quilt is finished (except for the label). Julia and I will be taking it to the beach today for a photo shoot. That should be interesting!

In Progress:
I pulled out the Mod Bento swap quilt from the UFO pile last weekend. My LQS was having a huge sale, so I picked up a few yards of this gorgeous Amy Butler Love print for the back. I pieced the back and pin-basted yesterday. Now I'm trying to decide how to quilt it. I'd love to get it done by this week for the first quarter of the Finish Along.

Fabric box  - made one for a gift, but no time for process photos for the tutorial.

Friendship Star Mini - cut batting, chose backing.

On the near future list:
Swap Soup- quilting (backing already pieced)
Three by Three- fix borders

Time to link up!

Low Volume Bright Hopes

 I'm not sure what's gotten into me. I finished another quilt today. OK, it's a small one, only 36" square, but I just started it on Monday.

When I was attaching the binding today, I was struck by the irony of using low volume prints in Bright Hopes blocks. It was the perfect finish for today. My day started out pretty low, but I knew there would be a bright spot to look forward to. My son presented his portfolio, a high school graduation requirement in our district. He did a great job and my mother and I were proud to be there to support him. His future certainly is bright!

Fabric used:

72 charms from the low volume swap

36 bright squares from the scrap bin

DS Quilts print from stash for binding

1 yd of low volume backing from stash

scraps of batting, stitched together
Aurifil 50 wt cotton thread, #2000

Low Volume Bright Hopes

36" square

Started 3/18/13

Completed 3/21/13

WIP Wednesday

 I have had a super quilty week! I finished projects, started projects and went to a fabric shop sale with a friend.

Finished:

Emerald Selvage Spiderweb. Read more about it here!

Low Volume Mini. Inspiration to completion in 4 hours!

New:  As if one low volume project was not enough for one week, here's another! I kept looking at the remaining low volume charms trying to decide how to use them up. The Bright Hopes block came to mind (although I didn't know that was its name).  The top came together so quickly! It is 36" square right now. Border or no border? I hope to have it quilted soon and get back to the UFO pile.

In Progress:

I underestimated how tedious it would be to hand stitch the back of the binding on the raffle quilt. I can finish one side a night while watching TV, but some nights I'm just not into it. I'll get it done this week. I'm really looking forward to taking this quilt on location for a photo shoot!

On the near future list:
Fabric box tutorial
Swap Soup- quilting (backing already pieced)
Three by Three- fix borders
Friendship Star Mini - quilting

Time to link up!

On the Design Board

I've been piecing low volume blocks in between cookie business. Now that I have everything cut and kitted up, I can sit for 5 or 10 minutes and piece a few blocks. Now every block is a winner. I will have a few extra, so some blocks will not make the cut. (Third one down on the far right- your days are numbered.)

I don't know what to call this block. It must have a name, but I won't have time to look it up until next week. If you know, please share. I am using 2.5" X 4.5" bricks cut from charms and 2.5" squares.

Edited: Sophie provided the name of the block: Bright Hopes. Thanks, Sophie!

More Low Volume

 I'm playing with low volume charms again today. After finishing this mini quilt a few days ago, my friend Jessie suggested that I keep going with low volume and she would take Sugar Wave off my hands! Well, I will keep going with the LV, but I think I'll keep Sugar Wave.

The rest of the LV charms looked so sad sitting in their pile. I went browsing my PInterest boards and came across this amazing quilt by Tanya. I made a couple of smaller sample blocks, but I don't have it in me to start a new paper piecing project right now. I'm sure I'll come back to it someday.

I started thinking about what I could do with bricks (2.5" x 4.5") cut from the charms and a bright square. Yes, there is a partial seam, but it's easy. This could be it.

Thank you to Karen Griska for posting my Emerald Selvage Spiderweb on her Selvage Blog!

How low can you go?

I was reading blogs last night and came across Amanda Jean's low volume mini. I loved it so much, I immediately dug out my pile of low volume charms from a swap last year. That was at 8:30pm, while watching the Les Miserable 25th anniversary concert on PBS.

Once I had selected some charms (25, to be exact), I figured I might as well start cutting.

Then I had to piece some sample blocks. They were so quick, I kept piecing!

I texted Julia a picture of the completed top at 11:00pm. I couldn't stop there!

At 16" X 20", it was easy to grab a low volume fat quarter for the back. There were some batting pieces laying around from earlier in the day.

The free motion orange peel quilting was quick, but far from perfect. The thread broke a couple of times, which was just annoying. I think I need to change the needle.

I headed back to the stash for binding at 11:30pm and chose a tiny check in citron.

(I chose two more charms, folded in half and stitched into the top corners to hold a dowel for hanging.)

I sat down to watch David Letterman and hand-stitched the binding to the back.

The final stitch was taken at 12:30am, watching the Dropkick Murphys, not a low volume group!

My version is lower volume than Amanda Jean's, but I really like it.

Have you ever been so obsessed about a quilt that you couldn't sleep until it was done?