Friday Finish! - Houndstooth for Isaac!

Can I just say... I love a finish! And there haven't been so many of them lately, so I love this one even more!  It's Houndstooth for Isaac, the newest addition to our extended family.

That's Kona Steel and Kona White playing so nicely together in this top. You can read all about this quilt's early days in this post. Isaac's mama fell in love with this pattern, so it was meant to be. Most people though this quilt was a lot bigger than it is... it's just regular 'ole baby sized (42 by 60 inches-ish). Those solid blocks are just over 3 inches square!

Honestly, though I love a good batch of Kona solids, the thing that probably makes me smile most about this quilt is the backing! It's from Fox and the Houndstooth by Robert Kaufman. Can anyone resist a fox with a houndstooth bow-tie? Not I, to be sure. For the quilting, I went with my old standby - diagonal lines - in aqua. It just seemed to work with this straightforward quilt top.

There was a great deal of discussion on my last week's post about the two options for binding. I agree with all of you! The Kona Poppy was awesome, and if it had been staying at my house, you'd be seeing some different pics here! But the Kona Robin Egg is a favourite colour of Isaac's mama (it matches her KitchenAid mixer!), so it just seemed right for this one!

Psst... don't you just love that quilt label? I know, I know, I'm shameless. But that little tag resulted in my first hashtagged Instagram pic (#quarterinchfromtheedgequilts). If you'd like to see Baby Isaac smilin' away and lounging on his quilt, give it a shot! I'm not on Instagram (yet), but it made me smile nonetheless.

So happy to add another quilty to this special little family's collection!

J

P.S. Woot! I finally have a Friday Finish again - I'm linking up with Georgia Girl Quilts for TGIFF!

WiP Wednesday - Deadline approaching!

Well, it's not like I didn't have 9 months or so to get myself together and make a baby quilt for the newest addition to my extended family, but now I'm scrambling just a little. His welcome party is on Monday and I've gotta get movin'!

Thankfully, the order from Hawthorne Threads that I crowed about last week was all washed and mostly ironed, so could layer the quilt on the week-end. Apparently, there's been some rumblings out there about spray basting... I love using it for small projects like mini quilts, placemats, and baby quilts. I'm still a dedicated safety pinner for bigger stuff... what's your poison? Ever had any issues with spray baste? It's always worked perfectly for me...

On to the quilting... and the dorky gloves. I went with a thread that matches the aqua in the backing perfectly. I didn't want the quilting to stand out a great deal, but I did want to emphasize the diagonal trend in the top. You can see better pics of the finished top here!

The quilting went so quickly on this one! Before I really even got into my quilting grove, I was done! I'm pretty pleased with myself that I remembered to topstitch my quilt label onto the backing. I don't like for the stitching to show on the top, so I pin the top out of the way and only stitch through the batting and backing. The trick is that I have to remember to do it before the project is fully quilted! ☺

Now to choose the binding... we're not talking majority rule, dear readers. But I would love to hear your opinions!

Option 1: Kona Poppy - it really pops, but I'm worried it will be too much with the grey and white top. It's already pretty stark.

Option 2: Kona Robin Egg. It blends pretty perfectly with the backing and matches the stitching on the top. Where this is a quilt for a little boy-o, there's no issue with blue! 

Who knows - I might even have this one done for a Friday Finish! It's been a while since one of those! ☺

I'm linking up with WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced, as well as The Needle and Thread Network!

Have a great Wednesday... and wishing the happiest of birthdays to my fabulous quilt-y pal, Adrienne!

J

Long time, no sew!

It's been a while, huh? Oh well. Don't worry I haven't been sewing in secret and not sharing... I know you were worried. ☺

A new little one arrived in my extended family a few weeks ago... he's a really cutie! And since I've made quilts for his parents and for his big brother, I don't really see how he can do without! His mom is a pinner too and chose this pattern a while back. She was thinking gender neutral top with a pop of colour once we knew if the little darling was a he or a she. It's not my usual type of pattern, but mama's heart was set on it. Why not!?

So, the thing about buying a pattern on-line that you're really invested before you actually read the instructions. On the up side, you can buy it, download it, and get to work in a matter of minutes. Turns out that those blocks with the diagonal lines are made of 1½ inch strips. Yikes! The pattern recommended starching. Let me tell you, I took that suggestion!

The actual construction was pretty easy. Sew a light and a dark strip together. Press 'em then sew 'em to another strip set. Something a little usual was that the pattern called for you to sew up both sides of the strip set. I was skeptical, but did it anyway!

This is when I discovered that a special ruler was called for in the pattern. Ooops. Chalk that up to on-line purchasing again! I made do with the 45 degree line on my mat and a trusty straight ruler.

The small section of stitching on the tip of the triangle got picked out. Tedious, but effective.

But then came the pressing of over a hundred 3⅜ inch squares. Ugh.

All pressed and clipped!

Just add some solid squares and the first block is done! I discovered fairly quickly that the striped blocks really did need to be trimmed to 3¼ inches before construction could continue. Not called for in the pattern, but necessary. Guess that ruler might have helped after all...

I do love sewing the top together... so satisfying. Almost as satisfying as hand-stitching those bindings!

But somehow I managed to put the last couple blocks together incorrectly! Thank goodness I saw it and that it was a quick fix!

Himself really loves this one... though he advises looking at it from a distance. You really see the pattern that way! I recommend the squint test.

And see those little crocuses sprouting up in the background? Proof positive that it really is springtime!

Hope you got in some sewing over the long Easter week-end! Happy Easter and Happy Spring!

J