My first FINISHED quilt!

I started AND finished a quilt this week! I usually just start quilts and never finish them. It was a gift for my brother's birthday. I would have started it sooner but I couldn't decide what to make him and then I had to wait for some fabric to arrive. I wish I would have gotten a better picture but I finished at the last possible moment and didn't have anyone to help me take a picture.

This is actually officially my first finished quilt. I have several tops pieced but haven't finished them mostly because I have been afraid to ruin them. It is difficult to quilt large pieces on my machine and this quilt ended up with a few tension problems because of that but overall I'm very pleased with the way it turned out. 

Here is a close up of the blocks. I used Heather Ross LBAOM dogs in orange. My brother has two dachshund's so I fussy cut three of them from a fq I had and then used other orange fabrics for the remaining blocks.

I had the intention of using a single color for the binding but of course didn't have enough of one color remaining so I pieced together what I did have left. Also, in the interest of time I machine sewed on he binding. I made three passes that meander around the quilt so it looks like it was intentionally supposed to be sloppy.

The back of the quilt is Riley Blake flannel.

The finished size is approx. 50x72 and was intended to be a couch blanket. I wasn't sure if he was a blanket on the couch kind of person and luckily he is! I guess that runs in the family.

Folksy Flannel

THE FABRIC

THE PLAN

(colors are not representations of the actual colors to be used in the quilt)

By the time I finish this post it will be about 9:30am Chicago time. I plan to spend the entire day working on my Folksy Flannel quilt. There is going to be a lot of cutting and sewing and possibly (no probably) swearing as I have quite a intricate plan laid out for myself. Hopefully it comes out of my head like I want it too.

WASHED vs. PRE-WASHED

Just thought I'd share a picture of how much the flannel does shrink up. Both are 1 yard cuts of fabric. 

I am normally not a pre-washer but I read somewhere that flannel shrinks a lot. The top is pre-washed (I swear the other two sides line up perfectly) and the bottom is brand new. Selvage to selvage a fresh off the bolt piece is 44" and washed it is just shy of 41.5". 

So for any of you thinking of making a beautiful quilt... you might want to pre-wash. The designs aren't as crisp when you wash because the flannel gets so fuzzy but the good news is that it is still as soft as can be. 

Ok no more internet for me... it is quiltin' time. Or well I guess cuttin' and sewin' time... quilting will come later... whatever! 

It has been a busy mail week...

I started swapping fabric on flickr the other week. It was the first time I've really done it and I'm obsessed. If found some great stuff. I got 3.5 yards of Michael Miller Mirror Ball Dot fabric that is out of print! I also acquired a 1/2 yard of Heather Ross dots that are out of print. I found some shot cotton and some hard to find Alexander Henry Farmdale too! I also swapped with Kelly the small parts on the far right which are a 1/4 foot for my sewing machine (which silly me I didn't even know existed) and a metal bobbin that might help out with some machine tension problems. Hopefully both will improve my sewing!

I also got this sweet necklace I ordered from the Ukraine off Etsy from a shop called Beautyspot... FREE SHIPPING! It looks like something I would make so maybe I take credit for it... just kidding. 

I also received my Charming Mini Quilt swap from my partner, Terrie. I sent her some scraps and she sent me this back:

She sent me some scraps and I sent her this last week:

And my last block arrived from my quilting bee group Sew 2 Speak for this quilt top. I have a little more work to do but maybe I can get this finished up next week.

I've got to make a post office run yet today as I've got several fabric swaps in the works. I better run... 

Quiltstory Block Party

I entered some blocks in the Quiltstory Block Party.





There are some great prizes and some great competition. There are three categories (traditional, modern & creative) and you can enter one block in each category. I thought I'd give it a shot here are my entries:

Traditional

I made this block for Elizabeth in the Quilting Journey Bee.

Modern

This block was made for Amy in Sew 2 Speak.

Creative

This is a block I made for Jennifer in The Stitchin' Bee.

Luckily one of the rules was "ironing optional". I really do iron everything I own obsessively so I'm not quite sure why so many of my blocks get photographed not ironed. Maybe I'm too excited to share. 

Snowy Day Fabric Purchases

Maybe you heard but Chicago got a little tiny bit of snow last Tuesday and well it sort of ruined my birthday plans and made for a not so happy birthday girl. Which is why we have Fabric Therapy and boy was it an expensive session. But it made for a much happier person the next morning...

I started my day (just before the snow began) at my favorite place... The Needle Shop...

                                      

Followed by an online visit to fabricworm because I decided that I deserved that half yard cut collection of Anna Marie Horner's Folksy Flannel... and of course more birthday bad news... it was sold out!!! Which in the end was good news. I decided that I'd much rather get the warmer tones in the collection because it will make a quit that is more my style.

I was only able to get 5 of the 6 prints I liked from fabricworm (all 1 yard cuts). Because I really wanted Diamond Mine in yellow which was sold out I headed to my pal google and had him find it for me. He lead me to a place I'd never visited before... Banberry Place. I found what I was looking for and then some. It seemed that they had a number of things that I'd had my eye on but are sold out just about everywhere else so I couldn't pass them up. Oh and free shipping on purchases over $100 (not that I would know or anything...) Ok so enough rambling I'll show you the goods.

Also until last week I had yet to start fabric collections, but now that I've caught the swapping bug and fallen hard for certain prints... I'm becoming a collector. My first collection is going to be Henna Garden by Sandi Henderson besides the three pictured above I have melon and a fq of turquoise I acquired in a swap earlier today. I also think I might try to collect all the FFA2 prints as I already have a number of them. Hmm maybe I'll just stop with what I have.

Ok since I ordered these last week it doesn't count as breaking my fabric diet this week. Hopefully I can get back on track and make some pretty things!