A Finished Picnic/Whirlygig Quilt!

It's done!!  The Whirlygig Quilt is done! (Except for a quick wash and dry.  That part's easy.)

I decided to keep going with the circular theme and do spirals starting at the center of each pinwheel.

I then filled in between the spirals, copying the curves and getting smaller until the space was filled.

At the edge I also mimicked the spiral to fill in the space, so it looks like little curved pyramids.

The giant center pinwheel.  It was a little tricky quilting this one, at one point I had about 3/4 of the quilt in the throat of my machine. (And I have a Bernina 1008 - not a big throat!)

The pinwheels:

Pink - I love these fabrics.  The watermelon seeds and the pink hexagons! 

Supposed to be yellow - didn't find any bright yellows I liked at the store (the binding was bought later) .  Love the darker pattern, though, circles that make diamonds.

Purple - Love the contrast with the hard lines of the darker purple and the organic lines/seeds of the lighter.

Orange - Again, very geometric lighter and more organic dark pattern

Green - love the light, the random almost scribbled cross hatch.

Red - probably my favorite fabric is the light red.  I don't know why, but red is the hardest color to shop for.  It took forever to find ones that I felt were really red (and not maroon or what not) and not just polka dot or gingham.  Why is it so hard?

But look how pretty the flowers are! I know it's mostly white.  But it's my favorite. 

Blue - The darker pattern was probably a little too large for this, but it was the best color, so it worked out just fine!

This was supposed to be a slightly greener yellow - I love the lighter pattern.

Sneak peak at the back!

TA DAH! This pattern was so cool to me, and I didn't have a lot of green on the front and it's meant to be a picnic quilt, so it's good to be green - grass stains will be slightly less noticeable!  I just think the pattern's so cool.  From far away it looks more like flowers...

But closer in it looks more like interconnected rings.  So fun!  And yes, I took a picture of where my quilting was poorly done, because I'm ok with it!  It's the trouble with doing spirals.  This is where the two spirals met and so the fabric was being pulled in opposite directions.  Live and learn!

The spiral from the back.  I just used white quilting thread on the back. 

And then it was bound - I used the same fabric as the dark orange in the giant center pin, except I did it in bright yellow.  I thought in the sea of blue the quilt needed a hard, wide binding.  It's a double folded binding that I cut at 4", so the finished width is just a little under one inch.  And it's cut on the bias as well, so it could go around the curve.

I machine stitched the binding onto the front with the lovely walking foot my husband got me for my birthday.  And then my brain exploded and I decided I wanted to hand stitch the binding on the back.  It went quicker than I thought.  A few hours on Saturday afternoon/Sunday morning while my husband was out of town.  Not bad for approximately 18 feet of bias binding. 

This is also a gift, so the H is us, the B is the recipients, because we like them a lot!

I just love the circles/flowers!  And I love that I'm done!  I hope you love this quilt.  I do.

See you soon!

(...with another quilt project?)

A Finished WiP!!!

Thank you, Emily, (aka sister) for your awesome advice of how to sew this picture onto one layer of fabric!  I chose the option of placing regular printer paper behind the fabric and sewing through both layers.

Next time I'd use a slightly smaller stitch length to make ripping the paper out easier and create less pull on the stitches.  

I used my Computer Programming notes.  I didn't mind tearing those up.  Mostly because I didn't need them.  That class was so fun!

I did all the sewing on the machine with my regular, every day foot.  It was a lot of stopping and starting, lots of lifting and lowering the foot.

Once it was done I had to decide what to do with it!  I was planning on doing a border on it, but then realized it probably needed something to back it, since both the top and border fabrics were quite flimsy.  Since I am working on my first quilt that will have a binding on it, I decided I'd make this into a mini quilt and get a little practice in.

I had some leftover batting from my second quilt (a baby quilt for my niece) and it was the perfect width.  It was small enough to tape it to one cutting board, since my floors are mostly carpet.  I chose a musical fabric for the background because it was black and white, I had the perfect amount for the backing (though it's sideways to make it fit) and it was fitting for a dancing picture.

I layered my backing, batting and top and pinned.  I have a feeling my twin size quilt will take a little longer and a few more pins than this project!

I first sewed around the edge of the top.  There was a little bit of puckering.  Firstly, I don't have a walking foot, so the top dragged a bit.  Secondly, considering the first issue, I probably should have sewn the same direction down both sides.  Thirdly, I probably should have 'quilted' it first.  But I didn't, and I'm ok with it.  It's not quite as ripply in person as it looks on camera.

To quilt it, I just sewed with white thread all the way around the outline of the picture, usually about 1/8 inch away.  But down at the bottom by the skirt, I cut a few corners due to the difficulty of making small, tight corner changes with a regular foot.  

See, the puckering isn't quite as noticeable.  I love the orange border.  A little pop of color.  I also got the chance to practice my binding skills on a smaller project.  I need a little work on folding it over consistently, but that's why I practice!

I had a little scrap of musical fabric, just the perfect size to fit the 'quilt' except that it had to be placed sideways in order for it to cover.  But that's ok.  I thought music was appropriate and people won't be staring at the back when it's up against a wall, but I know it's there.  

See you later!

(with an older project?)