Triplets!

I have some news!!!

I managed to get a spot at the Farmer's Market to sell my quilts today and I've been spinning in circles since I found out on Saturday, getting ready for the big event!

I decided 6 quilts for sale is not enough, so...

I made two more on the weekend :) There both floating coin patterns like the burgundy one I've made before (see side bar) and I had the 'coins' already cut out - very convenient!

Version 2 (after version 1 in burgundy): Moss Green


Version 3: Navy


I think this is the first time I've actually repeated an exact pattern - gosh, it goes a lot faster without figuring out the measurements!!!

*Grins*, now I have triplets of this quilt:



So, please keep your fingers crossed that my first business venture is successful!

I have two more quilts that are ready apart from the binding, namely the batik 9-patch and the rainbow stacked coins (see side bar). I'll blog about those later this week! The quilting - especially on the batik quilt - turned out just wonderful!

I'm so excited, I'm hopping on the spot!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Weekend Achievements - Rainbow Stacked Coins

I used up some more scraps last weekend in making this quilt:


It was probably inspired by this quilt but I can't remember for sure now. I struggled with a couple of colours because I tried to only used fabrics from my scrap pile. Of course, for both quilts I had to used non-scrap fabric for the sashing/in between blocks, but hey, win one, lose one :)

One Happily Finished Baby Quilt And Business Musings

I love it when plans work out. I brought this baby quilt along on a work trip last week, after a marathon-session on the weekend during which I quilted the whole thing, made the binding and machine-sewed it to the quilt top.


I finished hand-stitching the binding on the first evening of my trip, yay!


Here's the finished product, front and back:



I really really like this baby quilt, and here's why:

1) it has some neat fabrics:









2) the stippling goes very well with the backing fabric print, which is swirly:


3) the floating coins pop just as much as I had hoped:


4) but the best is this amazing see-through effect when I hold the quilt up against the light!


I hope some baby will have fun with this quilt some day.

I'm making all these baby quilts to sell and make a bit of money to pay for all my fabric purchases (though I haven't bought anything in ages after the buying frenzy earlier this year!).

I'm considering opening an Etsy shop but have some concerns about it:

1) customers can't see my work before they buy it; I mean, yes there are photos, but you can't check out every detail online, you can't feel the quality of the fabrics etc. I'd feel horrible if a customer is not satisfied with their purchase!

2) what if an order get's lost in the mail? I thought about this one and I could offer optional shipping insurance so that everything can be tracked (I've had some bad experience with an online order that never arrived...)

3) How do I know how much to charge for a quilt? Is there a formula? Do I just pick a number?

Do any of you have experience with selling quilts? I'd love to get your input!

Stacked Up And Gone

The binding is finished, the label is done, and the quilt is on its way to the little fella (born last Thursday). I was sad to send it off, because it was around for just one week (and only a couple of days in finished form) - very little time to bond and part with a quilt!

The quilt measures about 40" x 30" - I was told by my first baby-quilt recipient that that size worked perfectly for her new-born, so I'm sticking with it.

I put some of my favourite fabrics on this quilt, including the daft-looking sheep...

As mentioned before, it's stippled all over, but I promised myself to experiment with straight lines next time.


The back is light blue circus-themed flannelette.

Here's a close-up of the pattern; I used a neutral coloured 100% cotton thread for piecing and quilting.

And of course, invisible binding a la turning*turning:

Stacked Coins Are All Stacked Up

Finished quilting the stacked coins baby quilt. I really like it. I debated for a while what colour binding to use. I had some 2.5" strips of blue green fabric already cut from another project, and was going the lazy route, when I realized that I just didn't like that colour enough and went and cut dark blue 2" strips instead for a tighter and more masculine binding.

While I was cropping the quilt, I realized, shock oh shock, that I once again (grumble) had some of the overhanging backing slip under the needle and be incorporated into the stippling. Aaargh!!!


Last time this happened, I opened the stippling up and re-sewed. This time I tried picking out the fabric and leaving the stippling in place.


It worked except for one single stitch that ripped (probably because I was on the phone at the time and distracted).


So I had to get the machine out and sew over it anyway, sigh. But I think it'll be okay. Still though, annoying... maybe I'll learn from it this time. New resolution: crop sandwich to within 1" of top before quilting!!!

I'm doing the invisible stitch again, what a great method that is!

One evening of half watching a movie yielded almost half a quilt bound. Almost done!

Forgot The Camera

I was so productive yesterday but forgot to bring the camera to download the photos... next time! Instead, I'll give you a sneak pre-view of the fabrics for the bento box quilt that I'll write a tutorial for when it's done. Being finished is kind of a pre-requisite for a tutorial, isn't it? Otherwise it's more of a quilt-along. Those are a lot of fun too, I bet...

Bento Box fabric pairs

But I pinned and quilted the baby quilt (stacked coins) so it's ready for binding, and I also re-visited the pink quilt, as there was nothing holding me back from finishing it other than the deadlines for the bento box quilt (it's for a wedding in July) and the baby quilt (baby due this week, not mine ;). I even have the binding strips joined already! So I finished the backing yesterday, and I'll probably pin it today.

Here's an old picture to refresh your memory :)

Is it wrong of me to say that I hate pinning large quilts??? I always imagine my rented hardwood floor getting totally scratched from all the needles piercing through the fabrics on their way through the sandwich, but so far, I haven't found any scratches yet (after every quilt, I lift it off the ground with trepidation ;)

I know some of you have recommended the basting spray before, but I have to say that a) I'm (probably unreasonably) suspicious of spraying anything onto a quilt when it's so close to completion, and b) I like to use pins as I can re-use them. It's my minimalistic streak. I might try the spray on a baby quilt some of these days, though.

A propos the baby quilt. I really really didn't want to stipple it, and I started 10 cm of a different pattern, but hated it, so ... I went back to stippling. I need to come up with something else, but stippling just seems to be the fastest (other than straight lines with the walking foot) - an important factor when the quilt has a dead line - and looks nicest for the free-motion quilting.

If anyone of you lovely blog visitors and quilters has some suggestions, send them my way, please!

BC Is Beautiful!

I'm back from my trip, which was breath taking!

Living in flat PEI, the mountains out west are quite a sight...

My gracious hosts had to listen to so much talking about quilting that they dragged me to any quilt store they could find just to shut me up *grins*.

Here's my haul:

Some Denyse Schmidt Flea Market Fancy


Some Kaffe Fassett - less bright than usually

They came in really cute fat quarter packs with fabric ties and the store was really darling.


In Victoria, I found an "everything store" that had a fabric section containing these adorable farm prints (the pigs are a separate fabric).

... and these cute bugs on flowers.

These frogs are to die for, and this was the last fat quarter they had!


And a few more, including a bit of Moda Wonderland fabric, that will come in handy for the charm packs I bought!


The day I came back, I whipped up this baby stacked coin quilt for a friend's baby shower. The back is done too, so just need to sandwich, quilt and bind. The baby is due this week...


Once I have the Bento Box quilt done, I'll post a tutorial for my strange way of making it ;) Let's hope it works, haha!