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Linking up with Manic Monday over at Sew Happy Geek.


 




Thing the first: my first free motion quilting! 




I’ve got so much sewing done this week! They’re all small projects. Hmmm. Perhaps these facts are related…

Let’s start with the WIPs (it is Wednesday, after all).

And FOs galore! I’ll do some individual posts for these later, but I have a bag, an accidental basket, a fitted sheet and some pillowcases. All done since Friday. Not too shabby, eh? Linking up with WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced, hosted by Bethany this week.




Yes, that’s right. Wednesday’s WIP is Friday’s finish. Tiny quilts are clearly the way of the future! A variation on Hexagon Park by Lynne from Lily’s Quilts. I reduced the size of the hexies (I started with charm squares, not a layer cake), and I changed the size of the strips between them too. I also made fewer blocks to finish up with a quilt approximately 20″ square, which will be headed to my local branch of Project Linus for a preemie baby. Hexies are Pezzy Print, surrounded by Moda Bella Snow. The binding is from Happy by Me and My Sister from Moda (22315-14), and the backing is a ‘waves’ print from Fabric Freedom. Machine quilted down the zig-zags between columns of hexies in a thread that toned with the background fabric. I love that backing fabric. It makes me want to sew a bunch of fishy blocks using it as the background 🙂

Lessons learned:

I learned a lot with this one, too. Spray starch helped so much when cutting those bias edges. I don’t think I got much stretching at all – I think I’ve conquered by fear of angles! Not all of my points match, but they’re a vast improvement on my first quilt. Pinning and accurate cutting helped a lot (imagine that!). I squared up my blocks at a couple of points during the construction process, which also made a big difference for how accurately they came together at the end.

I mostly used this technique for machine sewing the binding. I was a little apprehensive, but it worked a treat – you really can feel the back of the binding from the front. It also gave me lots of practice at stitching in the ditch, which I’m getting better at. I only went up onto the binding in 2 or 3 places, which I’ll count as a win! Next time, I just need to adjust the width of the first binding seam (attaching the binding to the front), because it’s a little wider at the back than I’d prefer.

It was really nice to see how much I’ve learned so far, compared to my first quilt. This is only my second complete quilt (the third top I’ve pieced). And just like last time, the machine quilting was so much fun!

I have the thread to quilt Quilt 2 now, but first I need to whip up a little bag for a birthday surprise. I’ve got the pieces cut, I just need to sew it together (my first adventure with interfacing!).

And finally, but certainly not least, I got lovely fabric in the mail today! I won a giveaway at Very Kerry Berry this week, and got these gorgeous Art Gallery FQs in the mail today. The pale one on top has got the better of my camera, I think – it’s very pretty in person. I think I might need a pretty lunch bag of my own, too! Linking up at Confessions of a Fabric Addict for my Whoop Whoop!, TGIFF at Missy Mac Creations this week, and Richard’s LAFF. Also linking up with Quilts are For Giving’s Tuesday linky party, and 100 Quilts for Kids.







