Finished Summer Solstice Quilt!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally I took my own sweet time to finish the quilt top I made at Melissa's Quilt Along.
I blogged here for the finished quilt top.

For the background, I wanted to use a beautiful bird and butterfly fabric. But that was used in my son's quilt and I had a small remnant of it. I ended up using a 6 yard fabric bought from JoAnn 2 years ago (to use as a background fabric but never used it). This was the time to use that fabric. Also, I wanted my quilting to show-off to feel myself better.  I used up all the remaining drunkard path (curved) blocks. My son wanted to be involved..so I asked him to come up with a design and here it is (the center row). I love his creativity when it comes to the color schemes. I used some of the printed fabrics to fill the gaps.

To have the wide enough backing, I used the remnants of my birds and butterflies fabric too.

When it came to threads, I couldn't use red, which was coordinating with the top but was looking very bad over the light backing fabric. So I had to go with the milder multicolored thread. Which made me to be extra careful with the quilting. This is the second quilt I did using FMQ in My Juki TL 2010.

I wanted to participate in Melissa's Quilt Along parade. So I hurriedly did stipples quilting all over.  I did get some sharp corners here and there, whenever my shoulders,face turned stiff, which was quite often ;-). Somehow I wanted to fancify (pretend its a real word ;-)) the borders. So I did some ugly swirls on the sides. Somehow they didn't convince me and I ripped off all those quilting. Then decided not to participate in the parade.  Finally did the rain drop patterns- called choker pattern in the beads world - to the borders.

 

Here is my pretty lady (hanging 90"x 90" wide)quilted and bound :-). She is ready to be washed and used in my bedroom :-)).

 

 

I badly needed my husband and some sunshine for the photo session. Unfortunately both were unavailable ;-). Hence not so good quality pictures.

Here is the "little man Behind (literally) the Quilt", my 8 year old-always a big helper :-). And the little one (3 yr old) is going to the preschool 3 half days and hopefully more sewing time for me :-).

 

Thank you for stopping by and you have a wonderful weekend :-).

Love,

Jyothi

Linking this to: 1. http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/

2. TGIFF (Thank Goodness it is Friday Finish)  @ crazydutchbirdquilts.blogspot.de/

 

 

Finished QAL Quilt Top!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally!!!!!!!!! we are at the final stage of Happy Quilting Melissa's Quilt-A-Long.

Its here....the quilt top I was dreaming of. I was apprehensive about my selection of background fabric...bright red. Once we started piecing, I was repenting that I would have used some other colors. I had to go with it because already 6 yards of that fabric was cut :-). But once all the blocks were put together...it looked awesomy...awesome :-))). I know..Doesn't it look great?????



The picture isn't that great. I am saving the good quality pictures for the final post in this Quilt Along.

A huge thanks to Melissa as it is not easy to do tutorials. It hogs up a lot of your time and she is very patient in responding to all the posts and comments. I am so glad that I went with a queen size and I can't wait to practice my newly learnt FMQ skills all over it. Hop on to Melissa's blog to look at some other gorgeous quilt tops HERE.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jyothi

Linking this post to: 1. http://www.happyquiltingmelissa.com/2016/09/summer-solstice-quilt-long-piecing-top.html

2. http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/

Quilt Along Update

Phew.... that was a lot of sewing and pressing for the step 5 assignment. I am making a queen sized (3x3) quilt. It was a LOT of sewing and pressing for this step of the assignment. I loved the sewing part..but not so much the pressing part!!!!

I am done with all the sewing part. But pressed only 3 of those blocks so that I could blog about it before the deadline for Melissa's link up. Also I don't want to reveal the entire blocks yet ;-) (that sounds fancy....than saying I didn't finish pressing those).

My blocks weren't perfect...I didn't stress over those imperfect corners..... But I love how well my hard work paid off and they look amazing.

 If you are interested in this Quilt Along, hosted by Melissa at Happy Quilting, You can still join and here is the link. You can hop over to her blog to see some other beautiful creations from all of the quilty friends :-).

I will comeback soon with the finished quilt top!!!!!!!can't wait to show it off :-).

Thanks for dropping by,

Jyothi

Linking this to:

http://www.happyquiltingmelissa.com/2016/08/summer-solstice-quilt-long-building.html

 

Quilt-Along Update and Paper Piecing!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally I am done with the hardest part of our Quilt-Along - Making Drunkard's Path (DP) Blocks. I finished cutting, pinning and sewing 144 little blocks!!!!! I guess some blocks ended up a little smaller. But I will deal with those pieces, next week. In the beginning those curved pieces were little frustrating. But after half way through I realized that they aren't so bad. I felt little better by thinking that "it is like attaching sleeves to the dress (but lots of sleeves at a time!!!!!!!!!!!)"



Finally I am glad that I am in time for Melissa's link-up!!!!!!! Here is the link for this quilt A long if you are interested.

To take my mind off of those frustrating curved pieces, I did some paper piecing too. This is the first time ever I tried paper piecing and it is amazing to get those sharp points. At the end I might have messed up the block a little bit by starching and ironing :-(. But I will finish this block and make a little wall hanging for sure.



Isn't it pretty????

Thank you for stopping-by. Enjoy the rest of the summer/monsoon days :-).

Jyothi

Linking this post to:

http://www.happyquiltingmelissa.com/2016/08/summer-solstice-quilt-long-drunkard-path.html

 

Summer Quilt Finished!!!!!!!!!!

Hello there,

Hope everyone is withstanding the summer heat/monsoon rain.

Finally I got some time to do my part of my 8 year old SON's project - quilting and binding. Here is the finished quilt - front and Back. The finished quilt turned out to be approximately 63"x63" perfect size for his LEGO building.  The backing looks so beautiful with birds, flowers, butterflies and dragonflies prints. We used "Susan Winget's Birds of a feather Scenic" fabric.

 

Since I couldn't do free motion quilting (FMQ) using my regular thread with my Juki TL-2010 sewing machine, I had to buy quilting thread. So I wanted to buy neutral colored quilting thread to hide my hideous quilting LOL!!!! :-). But interestingly, my son insisted on using the bright rainbow colored thread spool. I used 50 wt cotton clarks and coats, the only available brand for quilting threads at our local Jo-Ann. This is my FIRST EVER FMQ project. The machine is very smooth and I could do the FMQ very confidently!!!!



I did (practiced) some spirals and meandering stitches. Whenever I hit those lighter blocks, I was little nervous and was getting some sharp corners. Seriously...it looks like a child's doodling. But anyway it is a child's project :-). Hopefully I will get better in my upcoming projects.

 

My son was very happy and amused with the texture of the final quilt.



Here they are - maker of the quilt and admirer of the quilt (little one).



Very proud moment for my son to show off his quilt to everyone...hopefully he will have many more of these moments :-).

Thank you for stopping by. You have a wonderful weekend :-)

Jyothi

Quilt Along Step-3

Hello there,

Finally got some time to blog.  As I mentioned in my earlier posts, I am participating in a  quilt along hosted by Melissa at Happy Quilting.  Our step -3 of the summer Solstice Quilt Along is Half Square Triangles.

I was dreaded of half Square triangles after my last project of Big star quilt, which had lots of half square triangles. At that time, I learnt that half square triangles are not that fun if you don't have proper tools. I had only two rulers  at the time (6" x 24" and 2"x 14"). It was a hassle to square up those 5" blocks. At that time I decided that I would never start a new project without proper tools.

This time, having 91/2" square ruler (Omnigrid) made my job much much easier. I finished trimming 216 blocks in 2 afternoons. I don't remember how many times I thanked myself for buying that ruler :-)).  (By the way, I got it at 50% clearance at Walmart!!!).



Well...We have only one more set of blocks to finish this quilt. Can't wait to do Drunkards Path blocks, which will be posted this week on Thursday in Melissa's blog. Hopefully, it will be challenging. If you are interested in this quilt along, please visit her blog - happy quilting here.

Thank you for dropping by. I will be back with more new posts about my son's finished quilt and a quilt show at Ann Arbor-Michigan. Until then be good :-)

Jyothi

Linking this to: http://www.happyquiltingmelissa.com/2016/07/summer-solstice-quilt-long-half-square.html

 

 

 

 

Summer Quilt top- finished

This week my sewing machine was little busy. Last month, soon after turning 8, my son asked me if he could work on some summer project with my sewing machine. I was very glad, thinking that I could get rid off a  bundle of half yard fabrics I bought 2 years ago at Joann. So I gave him the option of making a quilt for his play area or a tote bag. I was very glad that he picked a quilt. He selected the fabrics. I helped with cutting, pinning and pressing.



But it was hard to refrain myself from suggesting when he was deciding the lay out :-). It feels very uneasy when they leave same colors nearby. But I definitely did a good job in that area (after he reminded that its his project!!!!) ;-).  Here is the finished quilt top.





We are having a hard time on picking the background fabric. He has eye on my butterfly fabric and I was holding on to that to use for my new Quilt Along project. But I think I have to give-in. Let him enjoy his summer project after all!!!!!

I will soon update with his completed quilt. I am definitely planning to practice my newly learnt free motion skills on it.

Also, I have these beautiful flowers in my garden.

 

This was planted by the previous home owner. But they look so beautiful. I am very curious to know the name of this flower. If any of you know what it is I REQUEST you to leave the comment with its name.

Thank you for stopping by. You have a great weekend :-)

Jyothi

Linking this to:

Finish it up Friday at http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/