Project Modern Monochromatic Challenge

The project modern monochromatic challenge is over, and my friend and fellow PMQG member Jill is one of the winners for her awesome yellow quilt.

Congratulations Jill! Well done and well deserved!

In fact, I think the PMQG put together a lot of great quilts for the challenge.

Here is my quilt. It's about 72 x 88.

I really enjoyed the process of making this quilt, even if I don't love everything about the final outcome.

I really wanted a certain range of blues, and to get that I pulled probably every bold of solid blue fabric at Joann's, regardless of what the fabric was made of.

To make the arrow shapes, I used an overhead projector to trace the shapes onto pieces of fabric.

This is where I'm glad my building has a meeting room, because there is no way I would have been able to do this in my narrow apartment!

I quilted it very simply. I appliqued all the arrows on as part of the quilting process, which worked out pretty well. I used wonder under for the shiny fabrics, but I sort of wish I had used it for all of them because some of the cotton fabrics, especially the large pieces got some tucking going on with the quilting. If I were going to do a project like this again, I would definitely use fusible or interfacing for all the applique pieces.

For my first applique quilt, I think it turned out okay.

Taking pictures of the quilt was pretty fun, and this time I made sure to take a photo of everyone who helped me hold it up.

Thanks guys!

Lady Fingers

So, when it snows in the Willamette Valley, people lose their minds. There are a lot of reasons why, like the fact that it rarely snows, there usually aren't the resources in place to deal with any sort of snow fall, and people don't know how to drive in any kind of snow. This particular snowfall, it seems like people were so desperate for a day off that we just went for the snow day, even though it was at most 2 or 3 inches of snow. Not that I'm complaining. I'm just glad it only lasted for a day.

My Building looks pretty in the snow.

I took advantage of the lazy of a snow day, and finally finished the quilt for my dad's girlfriend. It was meant to be a Christmas present, so it's only three months late. Better late than never! I've had it basted for a long time, so it was just a matter of quilting it. I decided to use a shape which I'm sure has many names, but to me, looks like Lady Finger cookies.

Yes, I did buy these cookies so I would have a picture for my blog. In my defense, they were on the day old shelf, and also, they were delicious.

It sewed up quicker than I expected. I'm not sure I love it on this particular quilt, but I would definitely do it again. I used orange thread for a little bit of contrast.

I lady fingered the heck out of this quilt.

Once I started actually quilting the thing, Fritz decamped from the bathroom. He hadn't left it for anything other than eating and using the litter box in days, so of course he needed to sit on the quilt I was working on. I had to convince him to get down. Warning, there is music in the video.

In the end, I'm quite pleased with the quilt. It's not the most exciting design I've ever done, but my dad's girlfriend really likes it, and that is the most important part.

My dad's girlfriend is on the left, and is standing on a table to hold the quilt high enough. The  finished size is somewhere between a twin and a full sized quilt.

When I went to take the above picture, I was sheepishly tried to explain that there was a right side up, even though it was all in my mind. My dad surprised and delighted me by saying "Of course there is a right side up! The lady fingers go down". I was so pleased that he understood that there was a right way up, and why I had picked. Like father like daughter I guess!

My dad's girlfriend wanted some action shots.

I'm glad that my dad's girlfriend likes it, and I'm glad that it's done! Now I can move on to other projects that I felt to guilty to work on because I hadn't finished this quilt.