Fireworks Quilt in Chicopee: A Finish

So the real reason that I wrote my catch-up blog post was as an intro for this post. I refuse to be that person and leave a cliff hanger in the blogosphere, no matter how delayed this post is. I am recording here, for posterity and the blogosphere that I did, in fact, finish my Fireworks quilt.

Now on to the fun bits. And by fun bits, I mean pictures. Well, that and my internal monologue.

Finally Finished

I love this quilt and it was a labor of love to bring it to fruition. I was so excited when I finally got the top done, but then things didn't really continue to click along like I hoped. As usual, I changed my mind and second guessed myself...

The Backing

If you can remember back, oh so long ago, I shared this plan for backing it binding.

BUT, the backing just wasn't doing it for me. I REALLY wanted to back it with a Chicopee fabric, but it had been so long since the line came out, I wasn't sure that was going to happen. I searched around on Etsy and there was some Chicopee fabric out there, but I just couldn't commit to anything. I eventually went to one of the smaller quilt shops in Portland, knowing that they rarely order full lines of anything, but since they do less business, often have things from older lines. I was in luck! I got a good piece of the blue and yellow paisley. I was going to need to stretch it though and opted for some solid shot cottons to compliment the other colors in the quilt. I tinkered quite a bit before landing on my design. It would look something like this:

The little quarter squares would be made from Chicopee scraps.

The Quilting

Even more than the backing, I was stuck on what I was going to do with the quilting. So I did something that I often do when I have a quilting dilemma, I Googled it. Looking at pictures of other completed quilts in the same pattern helps me see what different options will look like since I don't have any fancy software skills to mock things up. However, in this case, even though the pattern has been out for a long time, there are not a ton of photos out there of completed Fireworks quilts. Also, most of them that are out there feature free-motion quilting. I knew I wasn't up for tackling that on something I couldn't bear to "ruin" with sub-par quilting. However, I also knew that I wanted something with a little bit of movement without being too busy. There was already enough going on e with the fabric and the pattern. When I was bemoaning to myself that lack of finished Fireworks quilting options to peruse, I had a flash of an idea. I could look at Swoon quilts instead. Now if you a quilter you know that this pattern had a tight grip on the quilting community for several years so there are a lot of completed Swoon quilts out there. Swoon is by the same designer as Fireworks and is a similar large surround pattern. During my search, I stumbled on to a photo with a pattern like this and knew that was the direction I wanted to go.

A poor drawing, but enough to see the idea.

And I was off!

One of the few projects that I completed in the upstairs craft room.

Finishing

I actually used the binding the I originally picked out. I was nervous about the bright color but I think it turned out perfect with the grey background. Did I mention that I love this quilt? Cue gratuitous number of photos.

Of course Fractal had to make an appearance at the edge of the quilt. I like how much the quilting stands out in this photo.

I am so pleased with how the back came out. Totally worth the fabric hunt.

You can see some tiny puckers in the quilting here, but you what? I have never noticed in the year since I took this photo.

And there you have it, a finished quilt. All documented and everything :)

Two years, just like that!

Oh hi.

You may be wondering why I am bothering to write to this. I wondered myself if I should even pretend to try and keep this going at all. Then, I was reading through a blog that was several years old, following the bloggers progress on my newest quilting crush, The Farmer's Wife and boom, the blog was over. No more posts. But wait, did she finish the quilt?! How will I ever know?! Why does this always happen (this is not the first time that I have been reading a blog and had it end with a quilt mid-progress)? And in my agony, I realized that I had done the same thing. So I am here to rectify that.

Change

Things have changed so much for me over the last two years. Lots and lots of good things. Things that I am very thankful for. Let's just make a quick list shall we :)

1. Adding motherhood to the mix.

So this wasn't technically new since my last blog post but it is an ever evolving challenge for sure. It's funny how as kids go from being a baby to a toddler you find that they need more and less attention all at the same time. While I no longer have to chase Tate from room to room because I am worried he will fall and hurt himself, instead, there are very endearing requests to "C'mon. Play." Sometimes these requests are accompanied by a gentle push to get up off the couch.

2. I love agility.

Getting my second dog to be competition ready took a fair amount of time in 2016 and in 2017 we have been working really hard to come together as team. That was really starting to happen towards the end of the year and I think we can get out of Novice before Fractal turns four in May. It has taken a long time.

Add to that the fact that Dexter and I were getting ready to attend our very first nationals and agility figured big into 2016. Going to Cynosport in November 2016 was a huge milestone for me in my agility career. It went even better than I could have ever imagined. We actually won a ribbon when Dexter placed 5th out of 80 dogs in one of his runs! My heart was so full.

3. Moving

This one has been huge. The house hunting, actual moving and getting settled took A LOT of time this year, like most of it. While the move gave us more space inside and out (having three bathrooms is a beautiful thing!), we are further from pretty much everything. This means no more last minute dashes to the grocery store, there are not 50 restaurants within 15 minutes, drives to agility classes are up to twice as long and trips to Fabric Depot, or any fabric store, require some actual planning. Some of this has been very good for us, like eating out less, and some of it has been a tough adjustment. Overall, I am very happy with the move and know that the house and the property will only continue to get better with time as we continue our journey to make them everything we have in our minds eye.

5. Working

The true but un-fun fact that work has been busy and sapped a lot of time and energy from times I could have been sewing.

4. Adding motherhood to the mix.

Wait? Wasn't that #1? It was, but now Tate has a little brother! Which, of course, meant even more change. Good change. Blake is another happy, fun little boy. He is very different than his brother in many ways and in many other ways he is uncannily similar. I simply can't believe that he is almost a year old.

Sewing

So where does sewing fit into all this? Good question. It made me more than a little sad that even though as part of the move I got my very own sewing room again, I did not spend much time in it. And once we found out that we were expecting again, I knew that my time in that room was going to be short lived. Soon after the holidays, I began the process of moving out of my room and into the formal dining room to make way for another nursery. It is a little hard not having doors that I can shut to keep curious tiny people away from my work, but in the end being on the main floor allows me more sewing time. I have come to love my space in the dining room. It truly deserves a photo shoot and its own blog post.

This year I did more sewing than I did in 2016. In fact, I have dubbed this "the year of the baby quilt." Although, sadly, none of them were for Blake. Something that I must fix before his first birthday!

Other than baby quilts, in 2017 I worked an epic, year-long project called the Penny Sampler, by Rachel over at Stitched in Color. I have had a lot of fun working through the different techniques. Maybe I will find some time over the next year to share some musings about the project. Mostly, I hope to share a finished quilt. I just have to push myself to focus on it getting that done before getting swept away by another project or 12. Fingers crossed.

Thanks for listening/reading,

Whitney

P.S. I couldn't do a whole post without a single picture, so here is our family holiday photo. I had been begging to get a photo of all six us since Blake was in the womb. It isn't perfect, but it exists and that fact makes me very happy. Happy New Year!