done Good.
After envisioning and gathering and planning and stitching and struggling (mainly with binding), I can now present to you the first fruit of
do. Good Stitches.
I'd say we've done good, friends! This happy quilt, which I've named our Red & Aqua Sampler, is the collaborative efforts of 11 ladies who make up the Love circle at do. Good Stitches. It'll be off this week to Wrap Them in Love, an organization that ushers homemade quilts to children in need in countries around the world. At 58 x 46", I think it's sized just right for a child.
This was the first quilt I've made with the help of a bee. It was so exciting to receive each set of blocks! But, I have to admit that along the way I really started to worry about how the different shades of aqua (which is such a relative term, I've found) would work together in one quilt. Some seemed so blue! Some seemed so turquoise. And was there a difference between aqua and turquoise? What on earth had I meant by aqua and red!?!
I couldn't begin to decide upon a layout until all 24 blocks arrived mid-September. After a lot of shuffling, I chose the 20 blocks that mixed best as the quilt top and put the remaining bluer blocks aside for the back.
There were 4 extra blocks - partly because we have 11 members in the Love circle and partly because a few had been made in the wrong size, which I had promised to incorporate into the quilt back. I had my heart set on using the large star block as the center of the quilt back. Since the remaining 3 blocks were different sizes, I could think of nothing better than this diagonal layout. I don't love it, but I hope it works! I had to remove a border around the 2 blocks at the bottom left to achieve more of a true diagonal. I hope the maker doesn't mind!
After spray-basting this quilt, I opted for a simple quilting pattern to restore my faith in my ability to straight-line quilt. Then the quilt was finished with rich red Kona binding a la Red Pepper Quilt's binding tutorial. I can see that machine binding will be pretty fast, once I get the hang of it. I'm glad I'll be binding my next Colorbrick quilt within a month, so I'll have the chance to give it another go before getting rusty.
So, aahhhhhh, another big project complete! I'm so very, very excited to be finally cutting into Modern Meadow for my next quilt. And while that's in the works, I'll be running through smallish projects because I crave some non-quilty sewing at the moment something fierce.
Happy October to all! This is the biggest pumpkin in our patch. I can't wait to see it carved! And, believe it or not, this picture is taken inside our gated vegetable garden. You can tell I've kept is immaculately weed-free.
I'd say we've done good, friends! This happy quilt, which I've named our Red & Aqua Sampler, is the collaborative efforts of 11 ladies who make up the Love circle at do. Good Stitches. It'll be off this week to Wrap Them in Love, an organization that ushers homemade quilts to children in need in countries around the world. At 58 x 46", I think it's sized just right for a child.
This was the first quilt I've made with the help of a bee. It was so exciting to receive each set of blocks! But, I have to admit that along the way I really started to worry about how the different shades of aqua (which is such a relative term, I've found) would work together in one quilt. Some seemed so blue! Some seemed so turquoise. And was there a difference between aqua and turquoise? What on earth had I meant by aqua and red!?!
I couldn't begin to decide upon a layout until all 24 blocks arrived mid-September. After a lot of shuffling, I chose the 20 blocks that mixed best as the quilt top and put the remaining bluer blocks aside for the back.
There were 4 extra blocks - partly because we have 11 members in the Love circle and partly because a few had been made in the wrong size, which I had promised to incorporate into the quilt back. I had my heart set on using the large star block as the center of the quilt back. Since the remaining 3 blocks were different sizes, I could think of nothing better than this diagonal layout. I don't love it, but I hope it works! I had to remove a border around the 2 blocks at the bottom left to achieve more of a true diagonal. I hope the maker doesn't mind!
After spray-basting this quilt, I opted for a simple quilting pattern to restore my faith in my ability to straight-line quilt. Then the quilt was finished with rich red Kona binding a la Red Pepper Quilt's binding tutorial. I can see that machine binding will be pretty fast, once I get the hang of it. I'm glad I'll be binding my next Colorbrick quilt within a month, so I'll have the chance to give it another go before getting rusty.
So, aahhhhhh, another big project complete! I'm so very, very excited to be finally cutting into Modern Meadow for my next quilt. And while that's in the works, I'll be running through smallish projects because I crave some non-quilty sewing at the moment something fierce.
Happy October to all! This is the biggest pumpkin in our patch. I can't wait to see it carved! And, believe it or not, this picture is taken inside our gated vegetable garden. You can tell I've kept is immaculately weed-free.