Wednesday, September 12, 2012

WIP Wednesday - Of Bindings, Bee Blocks, and More

Is it nerdy to gush about FMQ goddess Angela Walters and how awesome she is?   Her book, Free-Motion Quilting with Angela Walters, was the source of inspiration for the quilting on my Giant Vintage Modern Churndash Quilt.

FMQ Giant Churndash 1

Angela's philosophy struck well with me -- it seemed to be that you should go with the organic rhythm of the quilting and not stress so much about reaching perfection.  Despite repeating that mantra to myself, I did experience moments when I despaired that I could ever make a circle -- it's actually kinda tough to make a round circle.  At times, my circles/swirls felt more like squares with rounded corners.

FMQ Giant Churndash 2

FMQ Giant Churndash 3 Nevertheless, Angela was right.  At the end of the day, after I trimmed the excess backing and batting, I was immensely pleased with how this quilt turned out.

All this quilt needs now is the binding.  I was thinking that I would send it to my cousin who lives in Berlin, as a thank you gift for hosting us this summer.  I have to admit, however, that I'm so loving this top right now that it might be difficult to part with it.

I will post the finished quilt with binding later this week, hopefully.  I chose a cream and red striped binding WITH POLKA DOTS.  How awesome is that, stripes and polka dots in one print?  Pure genius, I think.

The next piece of news I have is that I finally joined a sewing bee, called the Stash Bee!  This is my first foray into any type of sewing bee.  This one happens to be virtual and seems to be relatively low key.  Each person is assigned a month where they are "Queen Bee."  The Queen Bee posts a tutorial of a block she wants the rest of the hive (20 participants in each hive) to make for her, using personal stash fabric.

This block is for Anneliese, who lives in Galway, Ireland. You can find her tutorial for this block called "converging corners" here.  The fabric is from a collection called "Just Wing It," by MoMa for Moda Fabrics.  Although the block looks relatively simple, it can be a little tricky.  I wasted some fabric and did some ripping until I finally figured out the dimensions.

Stash Bee - 9/12

Finally, here is my latest crush. This is Chicopee, by Denyse Schmidt. I love the mixture of modern and retro that is evoked by the prints and colors in this collection. You can get the entire collection (26 prints, 2 colorways) here.

Chicopee by Denyse Schmidt I'm linking up to these blogs today! Have fun sewing, everyone!
  WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

10 comments:

Danie said...

The free hand work on that first quilt is just absolutely breathtaking! I mean it breathtaking. I really wish I had that talent. I have to say you have really inspired me to keep practicing my freehand.

Aletta said...

I've recently started machine quilting too. Although it isn't perfect, I love it! Yours is very pretty! I guess I would keep the quilt for myself too! ;-) But I'm sure that your cousin is going to fall in love with it too.

deborah said...

Wonderful job on the Vintage MOdern quilting! I haven't tried free-motion quilting, but this makes me want to give it a go :)

Anonymous said...

So pretty, I'm sure the cousins would love it if you decide to send it to them. Love the color combination.

Anonymous said...

Your post has inspired me to make this block/quilt for my step son who is 20. I was looking for something that would be not so frilly looking, but wouldn't take me forever and I love the open space to try and do something interesting with the quilting. I'm going to wait for Parson Gray's new fabric line to come out next month and find a good grey neutral for the background. Wish me luck and thanks for the inspiration!!

Julie said...

The quilting on that vintage modern quilt is amazing! I don't see any squariness to it at all. Before I read what you said I was thinking it looked so fabulously round and I wondered if I could ever get that good. I'd have a hard time parting with it too!

Melissa Corry said...

Your quilting is beautiful!!! I have heard so many wonderful things about that book!!

What Comes Next? said...

great job on your quilting of your Giant Vintage Modern Churn Dash! Angela is so inspiring - I gush, too. I love this quilt, maybe I'll manage to get mine started this weekend

Marit said...

Wow, your quilting is amazing! May I ask how long that took? I really need to get that book you are referring to...

cheeky monkey said...

Thank you! The block arrived save in my house today. Just the kids were disappointed that it was "fabrics again".