Plaid Quilt Completed...2008-2012

Yes, this plaid quilt is finished: quilting and binding...all done! Hooray!
I started this quilt in 2008 and blogged about it here (includes cutting instructions for different size blocks), here and here. Why did it take me so long to quilt it? Well, when I finished the top in 2008, it looked like this:

The border bothered me-I had sort of run out of plaids (which actually include some stripes and even a tiny polka dot) and I had pieced the inner border...if you look at the bottom right border you can see how the "stripe" in the plaid is not aligned and doesn't look good...so the top sat in the closet. Plaids don't show up in our LQS and I'd forget about this project when I was in the US. I thought about looking on-line but never did. So it sat...waiting for inspiration or a new border.
Finally inspiration came. In many antique quilts, the binding is simply the backing fabric folded over the front-why not use the the inner border as the binding and fold it over to the back. So I took off the outer green border, trimmed the corner squares and quilted. 

I folded the "border" out of the way and trimmed just as with a regular binding.

Then I folded it over to the back...its wide on the back because I liked it-I could have trimmed the border.

 Did you notice the football fabric backing? The quilt is going to DS the younger (he has his first solo-no roommates-apartment).
Here's the front-a nice 1/4" binding.

 I did simple straight line outline quilting-I thought it went best with this quilt design and to be honest, it was quick and I'm still treating my ankle a little tenderly.

                                  
Folded on the arm of our sofa-a great lap quilt rescued from the closet and much better looking than with the original border.


Stephanie at loft creations is hosting an easy does it challenge called PIPS to inspiring us all to finish those projects. My first PIPS finish!


I'm linking up to Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts and Sew and Tell at  Amylouwhosews. Stop by and see the first of 2012's fabulous finishes.

Plaid baby quilt/play floor mat

Look what I found in the closet...the first quilt I ever machine quilted-complete except for needing a binding. I guess I never bothered to finish it because I thought it wasn't very good...but now looking at it-I really like it. The back shows that I was solving tension problems while working on it !!:) I was able to find a piece of red plaid fabric just big enough for the binding and now its finished...the perfect size for a baby quilt/floor play mat!

The blocks are all made up of leftover bits and pieces from different plaid quilts I made over the years- the two snail trail blocks are from a quilt I made in the early 90s.
Most of the quilting is straight line walking foot or free motion meandering but I really like what I did in some corner triangles-I "let myself go"-something I really need to do more of. I especially like this little squiggle I got coming off the concentric circles...
and this leaf.
I'm linking to Finished for Friday at Lit and Laundry and Sew and Tell at Amylouwho. Hop on over there and see all the terrific finishes for this week.

Plaids, plaids, plaids-quilt top finished

It was great getting back into my sewing room after the oven drama, Thanksgiving and on Monday, our youngest's 21st birthday.

I finally finished the plaid quilt top-and I'm very pleased with it. I like the way there is a lot of different things going on-all this from just one block!

I had finished the half blocks for the sides
when I realized I had to make quarter blocks

for the corners so out came what was left of the plaid stash once again.

I kept the orange block and used the last of that fabric for one of the half blocks too. This is a special fabric for me-years and years ago I made a quilt for my Mom. It was my third quilt ever and the first machine pieced-I even took her with me shopping for the fabrics and she picked them out. I completed the quilt, she took it to Florida for the winter and well....it just didn't match her decor!! :) What to do...I went to a local quilt shop-a wonderful shop called Country Quiltworks now in Montgomery County, Pa then in Bucks, and they suggested buying 1/8 of a yard of each fabric I planned to use in the next quilt, keeping half the 1/8 yard and sending half to my Mom. It worked (on that quilt I used a rotary cutter for the first time! we are talking a long long time ago :) The orange plaid is what was left of one of those 1/8 yards.

Plaids, plaids, plaids continued again

I finished all the blocks and laid them out on the bed in the guest room.

I played with block placements (I'm not sure this is the absolute final spot for every block but its close) and then decided to check out what went best in the corners: plaid triangles or half blocks.

I didn't cut all the triangles in case I didn't like it -just enough to see what it looked like- and placed them on the left side.

I then did the same thing trying out the half blocks-I had left over blocks so I just folded them in half and laid them out on the left side.

Definitely the half blocks! Wow-they really look good-so its back to the sewing room to cut and sew the half blocks. I will cut these extra blocks and then just sew half blocks for the rest.

I almost never used to take pictures of my quilts finished let alone in progress but this is actually very helpful-there's a distance that helps me see the quilt more objectively. Maybe its because most quilts I look at on a computer screen aren't mine!

Looking forward to your comments...don't forget that orange block, what do you think?

Plaids, plaids, plaids continued

I got a little sidetracked machine quilting but now I'm back working with the plaid fabrics. I've sewn some more blocks and just couldn't resist trying out settings a bit.

These are the original blocks-definitely better on point-I don't know why the colors have changed a bit-that fabric really isn't orange.

Here are the second type of block-the X blocks and I think they look better on point too. That actually surprises me-I thought these would be more interesting set straight.

It certainly makes things easier if both blocks look good on-point-I wasn't sure what I would do if one was much better straight set and the other much better on point! Now I just have to finish sewing blocks and think about what will I use in the triangles: plaid fabric or half-blocks?

Plaids, plaids, plaids

Last week the weather turned cool and rainy (it rained for 4 days straight!) and it made me think Fall had arrived and turned my thoughts towards making a quilt from plaids and stripes. (The weather has since turned again back to short sleeves but at least we don’t need the air conditioner :)

I started making this easy 4-patch/9-patch block.
I like the “bow” effect when the block is on-point.

It’s a great block for scraps as all the pieces are the same width. I decided I wanted a 9” block so I cut strips 2 ¾” . The squares are cut 2 ¾” x 2 ¾” and the rectangles are cut 2 ¾” x 5”. Strips that are 2 ½” make 8” blocks with the squares cut 2 ½” x 2 ½” and the rectangles cut

2 ½” x 4 ½”. If you start with 3” strips, then the blocks are 10” in the finished quilt (squares cut 3” x 3”, rectangles 3” x 5 ½”).

Then I started experimenting with different placements of light and dark. I made this block which is a little boring

and then this one which is… I don’t know what... (ugly?)

Then I tried having both the light and dark squares making an X.

I’ve decided to make half the blocks the original "bow" way and half with the light/dark X and see how they look together. For me that’s the fun part-I always want to jump ahead to the setting before I’ve even made enough blocks to play around with!