I went with orange on top, aqua on bottom.

It was going great until I ran out of thread.  Off to the store....

So I have been practicing free motion quilting...

I am pretty happy with how I am doing.  There are two things I need to work on.  The first is speed.  I have a tendency to go fast and I do better when I slow it down a bit.  And second, I really need to chalk lines so I can keep things straight.  Easy enough to fix, I think.

The quilt is sandwiched and ready to move to the machine.  I am hesitant, though.  I cannot decide what color thread to use for the quilting.

Here's a peek at the quilt sandwich.  The top is the aqua print with a large red applique.  The back is orange gingham with a patchwork strip (aqua, red, orange, yellow, gray).  The binding is going to be a red and white large scale print.  So what do I do?  My original thought was to use white on top and red on the back, but now I am wondering if that is wise.  Other options include orange on top, aqua on back or maybe red on top, aqua on back or red on both top and back.....Suggestions, anyone?

Thanks for all the elephant quilt love.  I must admit, I am going to have a hard time parting with that one.  He turned out exactly how he was in my mind and I am smitten!

The quilting bug seems to have bitten hard.  I've already started another one.  Once I have the batting and the right color red thread, I am going to quilt this one.  I am leaning towards free motion, but I am scared.  I think I will spend a good part of the day working up the courage to jump in and just do it.  Maybe I should warm up with some practice squares?  Back soon with a report - fingers crossed it is a success!

It's finished!

I sat in front of the TV last night and hand sewed the binding to the back of the elephant quilt while watching back to back Law and Orders.  For once, the hand sewing felt good - my stitches didn't show so much, my wrist didn't hurt too much.  I guess I was in my groove.

This quilt is for my nephew Ian.  Get this.....Are you ready?

It is his Christmas present.  Not the one that just went by.  No, I actually made something in 9 months in advance.  Go ahead, be amazed.  I am.  One down, about 6 or so to go.

The finished quilt measures 52" wide by 37" high.  The front is quilted with brown thread (which I also used to stitch on the applique.  The back is brown quilted with gray thread.  I added the patchwork strip because I was a bit short on the brown fabric.  Ahem.  A happy accident, if you ask me.  The squares are about 2".

I would love to get into all the particulars of how I made this, but you will have to wait.  See, before this gets put under Ian's tree in December, it is going to Lark Books to be part of a baby quilt book.  The book comes out sometime in the fall and that's where you will find the pattern.  Mean of me to tease you, I know.  But really, could you resist sharing?  I didn't think so.

Happy Easter to those of you celebrating.  I'll be back next week.

My week has not gone so well and I have spent the past two days whining about it.  No more.  Today I got my sorry ass moving and accomplished something.

I had finished this quilt top over the weekend.  Today I pieced the back, basted and then quilted it.

If all goes as planned, I will get to the binding tonight.

It feels good to be excited about something.  Now if I can just keep up this momentum.....

I finished my outside inspiration project yesterday.  (You can see a photo that isn't cut off here).  This little quilt is 9" wide by 8"high.  The fabrics were all tea dyed  - I used different teas for different colors.  I used wonder under to applique the tea cup and then stitched it on using free motion quilting.  I also wrote the words free motion style and added some loops for good measure.  The binding is sewn by hand on the back.

It took me a good long while to figure out exactly how to interpret this word.  I thought about tea leaves, all the tea in China, tea houses, tea bags, tea pots, tea cozies, high tea, afternoon tea, Boston Tea Party and more.  Tea, tee and T.  But, really, the quilting thing, especially free motion (which I was so scared of just a few months ago) is just my cup of tea.  Plus, I am a fan of idioms.  And I would be kidding myself if I thought the word I gave Tracy (piece) didn't play into this either.  When I gave it to her, I was thinking of the verb, not the noun.  Quilts on the brain, I guess.  I can't wait to see her interpretation of piece.  There are so many possibilities!

This was fun and a good exercise for me also.  I liked having an assignment.  Tracy and I are planning on doing it again, but the format is going to change some and we have a new partner joining us!  Stay tuned for more Wordplay.

Wow - thanks for all the quilt love!  I am super excited about how it came out.  Now I just need to work up the courage to actually quilt it!  All in good time, I am sure.

One of the things that was so satisfying about making that quilt top was being inspired to just do it.  I think I am most creative when my brain is working over-time, analyzing color and pattern, thinking about scale, wondering what I can make out of a particular material.  Sarah's gocco swap is a perfect example of that.  I had to think outside of my comfort zone to come up with something mid-winter.  But you know what?  I love how it all came together.  Finding the inspiration to go with the theme, pondering the possibilities, planning, mixing ink and printing those note cards was actually fun.  I was inspired and in the end, I think it showed.

So to keep myself creating outside of my comfort zone, I asked Tracy if she would give me a word or phrase or image to use as a jump start for a new gocco project.  She readily agreed and asked me to do the same.  We gave ourselves a month to complete this project.  The month is almost up.

This is what she gave me:  tea.

I am not doing a gocco print because pushing down to print hurts my wrist (which is slowly getting better).   Instead I am working with fabric.  I am excited about this collaboration and about what I am making.  Thinking it through has been fun - I have come up with all sorts of scenarios, but finally settled on one.  I am inspired again.

In the end, I just hope it shows.

And I am dying to see what Tracy has done with the word I gave her: piece.

2000 meters of white thread later, I finished the top.

It definitely needs to be pressed, but there it is.  Phew.