First Finish of he Year

Get ready for a gazibillion photos of the quilting.





















H'okay! The dots are from two polka dot charm swaps I participated in last year. One was with my guild and one was through Flickr.




It's a good size at 54" x 72". The backing is flannel dots as well but its a hot mess with the grey thread in so many different designs. I meant to donate it but am currently hanging on to it as a quilting design sampler.

I quilted most of it with the frame set up half size but finished the edges in the new location.

This quilt made possible through the generous support of Jim's garage.

Backing for Polka Dots Whirlygiggle

For the Polka Dot Whirlygiggle, I decided to pull put whatever dotted flannel I had around and see what I could come up with. So I went from this -




to this, note the pen and paper for math -



with some precise-ish cutting to this -



Which has just the right amount of overage to fit on the frame. Mostly. Sort of.

Third Round

I did well in the second round of the Finish Along. Five of the seven projects that I listed are now done. So this quarter I'm going big. Not just quilting projects but a few other projects in process.


1. For hopefully the final time, Arabella Diamonds. It really is just a little more quilting in the borders and ditches, binding has been ready for ages.



2. Lightning's quilt from Salt Air


3. Polka Dot Whirlygiggle



4. Hometown 1



5. Hometown 2



6. Greek Crosses


7. Receiving Squares 2


8. Kitchen curtains - these are two contenders for the job. I have the measurements from deconstructed panels that came with the house.


9. Fiori pouch



10. Studio

Irem Label

Irem Label, a photo by shanleytulip on Flickr.

This quilt finally found a home and what a lucky home. I tagged along on Amy's trip to Turkey in April and our travels were made much easier by her friend from Ankara (capital of Turkey). He provided us lots of great advice and a wonderful list of vocab including pronunciation. I was lucky enough to meet him this weekend as he's in CA on business. His daughter was born just a few months ago and there was just enough time this weekend to stitch up a little label. Her name is Irem and the meaning is Heaven's Garden. She's a darling little girl and I hope she likes this fun little quilt.

Now I'm encouraged to keep a couple of small quilts on hand all the time. They are quick and fun and eventually find just the right baby for a snuggle.

Really Good at Math

White Stack, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

I am, as the title of this post suggests, good at math. Ask my mother. Mom, you can comment directly on the blog instead of emailing me if you want to back me up on this one.

So with my math skills and my rotary cutter, I misjudged the number of squares one might need from the rolls of fabric and I know have enough 3 inch squares (in pairs) for a 70 x 85 inch quilt

AND

a 40 x 63 inch quilt

AND

a 28 x 18 doll quilt

at minimum, since I suspect the number of squares out in the sewing room will have doubled by the time I get out of work tomorrow.

I also found the rest of the backing flannel for the Whirlygiggle II, which is another showcase of my math skills because for the last two weeks, I thought I was short a bit. Nope, I have close to a yard remaining. Not counting the big scraps. Ah well, if I don't get 6 yards to back a quilt (even a baby quilt) I'm sure to run out.

Whirlygiggle - One Done!

Whirlygiggle, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

I finished the binding on the drive up to snowboard in Mammoth this weekend and got it washed and dried, this is the stage officially known as crinkly goodness. The backing is flannel of course. After washing this one in comparison to the guitars, I noticed a huge difference in the amount of shrinkage depending on the quality of the fabrics. Don't get me wrong, I'll still buy fabric based on colors and patterns. I am that kind of crazy.

IMG_1964, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

I did freehand flowers and little leaves in the binding.  I definitely need to get the hang of this a little more.  Also, I've realized that the big machine is super picky about the type of thread and no amount of tension adjustment is going to change that.

IMG_1963, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

Bits and Progress

Mostly bits today. First off we're still waiting on red thread to finish off the border on the Whirlygiggle. It's waiting on the frame with the center all quilted up and the secret message hidden-ish. Look closely in the yellow pinwheel.

Waiting for Red Thread, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

Then there's the last placemat for my birthday set waiting for the binding to be sewn on. And since I had a big strip left, how about the first coaster of a possible set of coasters?

Last Placemat and First Coaster, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

Then there's the first log cabin that I made a zillion years ago waiting patiently for it's turn on the frame, I have a good idea of how to quilt it but no batting for now.

First Log Cabin, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

So with all that I spent some time cutting out 36 squares for a new quilt. At least I had all the pieces for that part, right? If all goes according to the instructions I should have some cute blocks in the next day or two.

Cut Stack for New, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

And last, I am going to re-purpose some old templates that I had for cutting paper shapes. They seem to be just tall enough to trace the big quilter if I hold it with one hand and drive with the other. Kids, don't try this at home. Or at least not until I give it a whirl.

Repurposing, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

Whirlygiggles - One Border to Go

photo.jpg, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

I've got the tops put together as far as I can on both whirlygiggle baby quilts. I am one border short for the second one but am hoping to get enough from my BFF (batting my eyes furiously) to finish up. She's using the same fabric but with another really fun pattern. Check out the BHP here.

I'm also stacking fabrics for another quilt top starting soon. No cutting until at least one of these is quilted up though.

Edit: Well, I don't have a red thread for quilting the borders of the first quilt so I've had to order some. And I'm out of batting for the log cabin I could quilt. I guess that means that I just have no choice but to give this pattern at Oh Fransson a try, right?

Love U Cut Stack

IMG_1908, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

The colors of this collection are just fun. I'm pretending to branch out to white fabrics by using the white with red dots as the background fabric for the whirlygiggles.

White Stack, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

All the charm squares are cut and about half the little squares are together.

IMG_5362, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

See how much better this looks than the mockup? I think with the number of squares that I will end up with and some judicious cutting of the backing flannel, I might even end up with two good size baby/kid quilts. So should I make them mix-y or one cool colors and one warm colors?

IMG_5364, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

Or mix up the fabrics in the whirlys and have two matching quilts?

Thank goodness for magnetic design walls.

I tried, really I tried

IMG_5355, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

I was sort of trying not to buy any fabric this month. Just to see if I could possibly do it. Turns out I couldn't. So here's what I got today to keep my projects rolling. Some green polka dot flannel for the back of the Bleeker St. A different green for the binding since my folding of the Dimples fabric was a little too neat and I didn't realize that there were huge pieces cut out. I found lots of that fabric pattern but none in quite the right green. The red with skulls is a little something for my brother who is in Afghanistan.

IMG_5360, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

This is the border and backing for the Whirlygiggles. It's just giggly and the yellow is flannel. Yes, this brings me up to 95 yards of flannel. Ah well, it's cold in San Diego right now, down in the 50s.

Love U Whirlygiggle Mockup

Love U Whirlygiggle Mockup, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

I cut a pink block and a red polka dot block to see how I liked it and because I'm having a hard time with the measurements of using charm squares for the whirlygiggles. I just added in some randomly recolored blocks although they aren't close at all.

So no, I'm not quite nerdy enough to take photos of all the blocks and slice them on the computer.

At least not today.