All That Work

I think I finished this wedding ring quilt back in 2003. I am pretty sure I cried after the first time I washed it. You can see there was this one particular blue fabric I used that bled allover the quilt. :(

All that work!! Ruined by what was probably a cheap fabric I bought. Fabric that I had been collecting and hoarding just for this project. This would have been the time to be sure and prewash all of my fabric. Oh well, stitch and learn.

TBT Amish Pinwheel Quilt

Found another Throwback Thursday quilt. This is the third quilt I made called Feather My Nest. Finished it back in 1990. It's an Amish inspired quilt with pinwheel blocks and hand stitched feather quilting in the wide black border. In the center of the quilt, you can see broken diagonal stitching lines. I learned the lesson of not using cheap or old thread! It wasn't too many years before these diagonal machine quilted lines broke apart with daily use. The quilt could use more quilting in general in the center of the quilt and I didn't do any quilting in the turquoise border. Someday I need to fix that.

I think I sized this one for a waterbed.  ~~~  Anyone remember those things? They were cheap and warm for the Oregon coast. But such a pain to have to move.

xoxo, Happy Stitches!

Fleet Week quilt

This is a graduation quilt for our oldest son. Why is it so hard to make a quilt for guys? Chambray Union is gorgeous and adds a bit of texture. Something I think my son would love. I used the free Ship-Shape pattern by Alice Kennedy for Timeless Treasures. I'm naming this one Fleet Week. As a US Coast Guard family we got to experience many Fleet Weeks. NYC in 1995-96 and New Orleans 2012 are the most memorable ones for me. We were lucky enough to be stationed on Governor's Island, which is just a ferry ride away from Manhattan. Our building is gone now, but it would be nice to go back and visit the island again someday. It was one of my favorites! 

His favorite shape is a triangle. It must be true since he tied this triangular rock up during a beach vacation and dragged it back to the car! He loves sailing too. So, a nautical quilt was an easy choice. 

I wanted to use a RK Chambray Union, Parson Gray World Tour linen/cotton, and a mix of whites for the sails. Except for three sails. I saved those for his school color, garnet. I pre washed all of the fabrics since I was using linen. Here's a close up of the smaller block below. I had a really hard time getting good pictures of this quilt! Especially after it was quilted.

I think this was the most difficult quilt I've ever made! The chambray is gorgeous and light weight which is what I wanted. But I didn't realize how it would shift around. And fray! I was calling it chamfray the whole time. In the end it was still worth using it.

I used Seven Wonders Wind on the back with a couple of rows of half square rectangles on the back. I love using little bits of fabric that are significant to who I am going to give it too. This time it was plaids, travel, mice, greens, books, keyboard, and even a little steampunk.

I stitched semi-straight lines all across for the quilting. Not an easy task for the chambray! The first half went ok and then I tried more basting spray, more pins, and eventually lots of hand basting with dissolvable thread!! Did I mention this is the most difficult quilt I've ever made?

All that basting & machine quilting was worth it in the end. The light fabric & polyester batting give it a wonderful drape and texture!

Finished off with garnet binding of course! Cotton Couture is a wonderful weight for binding. It's so easy to work with. Almost like a voile.