Double Wedding Ring Finished

It's finally finished and photographed! Those of you who have been following me for a while got to see quite a few work in progress photos of this quilt.  (I let hubby take the photos and he didn't warn me there was a big shade stripe!).

I followed The Plaid Scottie's Double Wedding Ring QAL for this quilt. Some things I learned:  curves aren't that hard!  As I mentioned during the process, one place I deviated from her directions was once I sewed all the arcs on the paper templates, I found it easier to sew everything together with the paper removed. It was nice to have the fabric give a little for the curves. I just pinned the center and ends together.

Also - it feels really good to cut into the stash you've been hoarding! I used my Neptune (and Prince Charming) for this and it was nice to get to sew with it. If you've been saving something, use some of it!

Finally, when I did my binding, I didn't miter the curves. I just sewed to the center of the curve, stopped needle down, shifted the fabric and pivoted the quilt.


When I was done the quilt top I knew I couldn't quilt this one myself. So I sent it to my amazing quilter Margaret. She always does a fantastic job. What do you think??

I had no idea what I wanted, I just knew I didn't want traditional feathering. She sketched and quilted these amazing flowers for me when I suggested floral. I love them!

And the swirls!!And don't forget she quilted on every patch in the arcs. I know this quilt will last because of it, thank you Margaret!!

 

I had to include a close up of my intersections because I'm so proud of them.

 

 Here's another shot we took in the shade and I attempted to brighten up.

I don't know where this quilt is going to live yet, but it's definitely mine all mine!

Quilt stats:

Size: 55"x 55"

Pattern: Double Wedding Ring

Fabrics: Tula Pink's Neptune and Prince Charming, Kona Charcoal

Quilted by: Margaret of Mainely Quilts of Love

Finished: 3/28/2012

At least I got a good laugh

Just a quick little post to share my funny screw up. I'm all about doing stuff while I quilt, especially when I have to pin. Love to watch shows on the computer, listen to music, podcasts etc.  But let me say this. If you are  really  into a show, it might not be a good idea to pin while you watch it. Case in point...

Whoops! 

Thankfully it was a pretty easy fix and I didn't have to rip the whole row.

The other thing, if you are not watching Revenge on ABC, you should be. That is the reason for this screw up. You can catch it from the beginning online here.

A sewing night

Last night was another fun sewing night with Philly Modern Quilt Guild peeps. I forgot to bring my camera but including myself there were 9 of us at Sew Smart Fabrics. 

The first thing I got out of the way was my miles of binding for the king size Aviary Birdbath quilt. I still haven't attached it to the quilt though. But this was almost an entire yard of fabric!

Then I finally got down to the Double Wedding Ring arcs I've been avoiding. As I had posted on flickr, I was struggling with these big time. I was beginning to wonder if I could finish this one. But thankfully there were several people at sewing night who all had experience with curves. They all agreed that the paper backing needed to come off the arcs to make it work. Once I tried that, they came together so easily!

I got a bunch of half melons done and about 4 whole melons done. It made might night!!

Of course there was shopping. I picked up more of this print from 1934.

And a couple fun christmas prints.

The most exciting shopping for me was food related. When we went out to pick up dinner, we found the best Olive Oil store ever. If you are local to Doylestown or even anywhere nearby, this place is worth a visit. It's called Olive Oil Etcetera and they had the most amazing different olive oils and balsamic vinegars. So yummie!

Overall, a fantastic night with friends!

WIP {38}

Another Wednesday already!! Here's what's getting worked on in my sewing room.

Finished this week:
Kitchen Curtains
Aviary Birdbath top - is now at the quilter!

The final burp cloths for myself (I have quite a pile now!)

In progress:

Finished all my arcs for the double wedding ring quilt. Now I need to get the templates going for all the center portions.

Made myself a custom jelly roll for my baby boy quilt. It really made me appreciate how much time actual jelly rolls save! It took me quite a long time to cut all these strips. But, I didn't want any coral in this quilt so it had to be custom. I decided to keep the yellow in then and I'm glad I did. It adds some extra pop that is definitely needed.

And I cut all the pieces and started construction on my Everything Bag. aka - the Amy Butler Diaper bag. I'm always amazed at how many pieces go into one of her bags. This one had 46 pieces!

I also made progress on my hexagons but don't have a photo. I finished all the hexagons and need to get started on the apron portion.

Total WIPs: down to 4!





As usual - check out the linky party over at Freshly Pieced and add your WIP's to the list!

WIP {36}

I have to start out this post with a big Happy Birthday to my daughter who is 3 today! A lot of my works in progress this week have been party related. We took these Micky Inspired cupcakes to her school yesterday.

 

I did some cleaning of the sewing room since we have people coming this weekend. I'm back to my old method of working with several projects going at once, but I'm still trying to keep it clean!

I finished putting together the center of my mom's Bird Bath quilt (for those who are curious, the pattern comes from Practical Guide to Patchwork but I've upsized it). The center of this is 72"x72". Now I just need to add the borders. My mom wanted as much white as possible so I think I'm going to do solid white borders.

 

I also started piecing my hexagons. I'm not 100% sure what I'm doing with these, but I'm thinking maybe the bottom of an apron?

 

I made a push on the double wedding ring arcs and got done the first set of 40!

 

And I've started on the 2nd set of 40....

 

And I've been doing some burp cloths for me to use for my little boy.

 

And I need to do some scrap-booking (I used to do so much of this before quilting found me). When I had my daughter I signed up for Scrap a Faire (i think it was 2007) and took a baby book class with Janna Wilson. She taught this great baby book where you make everything for baby's 1st year in advance and then you just add the photos later. I made this for Samantha and loved it so I'm making another for this baby. I managed to pull everything I need from my stash!! I printed some of the needed transparencies and got that started too.

So that makes 5 total WIPs this week. Oh, 6 if you count my curtains that still haven't been hung! 

Head on over to Lee's at Freshly Pieced and link up what you are working on too!

Sewing Night Results

Last night was another sewing night for PMQG. We got together at Sew Smart Fabrics in Doylestown. I had a great time with the ladies who came. I think there was more shopping and eating than there was sewing. At least for me! So let me show some of the fun stuff I got.

I picked some fabrics for my new diaper bag. Yeah, it's girlie and I'm having a boy. I'm the one who has to carry it though and none of the boyish stuff was calling me. AND I really wanted to use a laminate on the inside.  I haven't worked with it yet so I'm excited to try that Soul Blossoms laminate out.

A couple yards Kona Charcoal for the baby's quilt.

Some cute fabrics for embellished burp cloths.

Fun grays for my stash. Can't resist!

And, check out that rainbow zipper! Yes, the teeth of the zipper are all different colors! I'm beyond excited about that and I don't even have a project for it. haha! And the shop owner was super generous and let us all pick out a free fat quarter. I just had to have that purple!


So when I finally did get down to sewing I was working on my Double Wedding ring. I managed to get 9 more arcs done.

*disclaimer - this is a recycled photo. I didn't get one this morning and it's pretty cloudy and dark out now. But it happens to be 9 arcs in the same fabrics!


Thank you to the ladies who hung out with me last night! Looking forward to the next one already!