Curio Hourglass Quilt: A Finish

The Beginning

I went out to Holly Hill Quilt Shoppe with mom for the first time quite a while ago and they had a collection from BasicGrey that I had not seen before, Curio. I loved the yellows in it and definitely wanted to add this collection to my stash.

There wasn't a lot left yardage wise, so I decided to pick up a layer cake. When I was browsing around on Pinterest, I cam across this quilt complete with video tutorial. Perfect! Over at Fabric Depot, I picked up some white from the Moda Grunge line for my neutral because I liked the way it complimented the collection.

The process didn't go as fast as I thought it would but all in all wasn't too bad.  Before long I had a completed quilt top.

The backing went together easily and I am quite pleased with the print I ended up with the main part. It has a tiny script on it but reads mostly solid without being boring. I also used up the rest of the layer cake squares to add some interest. And let's face it, what do you do with random left over pre-cuts? I mean, throw them in the scrap box for sure, but I always struggle with how to use them. Though, I am getting better at this thanks to all the scrappy inspiration out there in blogland.

Crappy photo trying to get a feel for how the back would look.

Let the Madness Begin

I knew that I wanted to keep the quilting simple and planned to just outline each of the hourglass shapes on either side. I picked out a medium colored brown Aurafil thread and set to work. This is where things got crazy and this quilt started it's journey to the long wait in the UFO pile.

As I was quilting, I felt like my stitches were bunching up strangely, but there weren't any wrinkles or puckers in the fabric, so I forged on. The quilting was going quite quickly so it was when I was OVER half done that I got the bright idea to give the stitches a little tug. I instantly heard, SNAP! POP! and thought, NoNoNoNoNo!  Yep, the thread broke, in many places. I kept tugging. It kept popping. It was painful, but I knew the quilt wasn't viable as it was. I still have no idea what caused it. The thread, the machine tension, the batting (which was a new kind for me)?

To the UFO pile it goes. I needed to pull out nearly ALL the stitches and start over. I had no idea when I would get around that unpleasant task.

One day when I was thinking I wanted to do nothing but watch TV and feeling guilty about it, I decided the pull the quilt out and rip stitches while keeping an eye on what Castle and Beckett where up to. It wasn't quite as painful as I had imagined, though it did take a good long while.

Back at It

After another good long wait in the UFO pile, I was ready to give the quilting another shot. I hadn't done any re-pinning or anything after the pulling the stitches out. I loaded the same thread into the same machine and set about my business. It all went beautifully. Before I knew it, I was done and the quilt was ready for binding!

Without procrastination, I went and cut out my binding, sewed it together, pressed it and got it sewn onto the quilt. I am on a roll!

To continue my progress, I made the gutsy decision to take the quilt with me to the agility trial that weekend. There is a fair amount of down time, but it isn't the cleanest place to take a not-yet-finished quilt. I managed to get half the binding hand sewn over the weekend without incident.

I was on a roll! It didn't take very to finish the sewing the binding and just like that, I had a finished quilt that I was darn pleased with! So far, I managed to keep it from mother's clutches and have it listed in my Etsy shop. SOLD!

Hidden Stars Quilt

Remember this UFO?

This quilt was by far the closest to being done out of all the UFO's on list (you can see the full catalog of UFO's here).  

A Bit of Backstory

I was making this quilt for one of my aunts that had not so subtly hinting that she would like a quilt from me.  My aunt Connie is an awesome lady so I was happy to get started on something for her.  Connie is an artist and likes to paint with a lot of bright, bold colors so I knew that I wanted to factor that in to my fabric choice.  I ended up going with Cuzco by Katie Spain.

I bought a Layer Cake since there were so many good fabrics in line and headed straight for my pre-cut quilt pattern book.  There were a couple of things that I really liked about the Hidden Stars pattern.  One was the finished size, 50" x 60", quick and manageable.  Second was that I felt like it would really allow the saturated colors of the Cuzco collection to shine.  I choose a medium grey for my stars and got cutting.

The top went together pretty easily and quickly.  I was really pleased with how it turned out.  I chose a bright teal that has a tone on tone pattern and mostly reads like a solid (in the above photo it is the bottom print third from the left) for the backing.  I also picked a fun multi-color variegated thread for the quilting!  

My quilting plan was to just outline each element.  As an added bonus, the different thread colors really came to life against the solid grey stars.  I made a pretty good push and got about a third of the quilting done and then my motivation. just. ran. out.  

A New Kick in the Pants

An impending trip to the east coast finally spurred me to action.  I was going to Lake Placid, NY for a week for a work trip!  As soon as I found that out about the trip I knew I would be staying a few extra days to see family.  I was really happy when I found out that people were actually going to travel in from around the state to see me.  This included my Aunt Connie.  What could be better than getting to give her the quilt in person !?!

So I picked up the quilt and set back to work.  Once I finished the quilting, I thought, “Shoot, I don't have any binding fabric, and if I do, I don't know where to look for it.”  The trip to Fabric Depot was quick but then I realized that I two nights at the agility barn ahead of me, then Wednesday night I would need to pack for my Thursday morning flight.  Hmm, when was I going to bind this quilt?  

I managed to get the binding cut out and sewn together on Wednesday night and then at 5am on Thursday morning I got it stitched onto the quilt, eek!  After having carefully inspected the TSA website, I was pretty sure that I could get embroidery scissors, needle and thread on the plane :)

It was cramped quarters but sewing the binding sure made my six hour flight Dulles go by quickly!

P.S. My aunt was TOTALLY surprised and absolutely loved it!

Unfinished Business

A Confession of Sorts

The idea of starting a super awesome and fun brand new quilt for me is very tantalizing.  However, fresh off the finish of my second Lisa Lam Diaper Bag, I have found myself wanting to continue the high of finishing things.  As a result I have been eyeballing my pile of unfinished quilts.  I have quite a large pile of unfinished quilt tops and blocks.  For hopes that public declaration will spur me to action here is a complete list with photos of the current state of progress:

Mom quilt

I started this for my mom well over a year ago.

Excuse:
I don't have the skills to finish it the way I want

I really want to learn how to do free motion quilting and am close to working up the nerve to try.  I want to work on something small first, so I may take some of my Jitterbug blocks and practice on those.  They would make cute pillows, even with sub-par quilting, they themselves are sub par afterall :)

Pinwheel quilt

My mom won a stack of fat quarters of Denyse Schmidt's Hope Valley
when we saw her at a book signing. I stared these blocks the next day!

Excuse:
I'm mad at the blocks

I definitely need some work on my flying geese construction and my poor execution is one of the reasons I got mad at the pinwheels.  The other reason is that I just could NOT decide on a layout, so I put them down and never went back.

Chevron quilt

For my shop.

Excuse:
Just plain not excited

Honestly, I have never been excited about this quilt.  I made it only because I thought it would sell and I quickly learned that is not a good reason for me to make a quilt.  I am just not as motivated by money as I thought I was when I opened my Etsy shop.

Elephant quilt

Also for my shop.

Excuse:
I don't know how I want to quilt it

Originally I thought I wanted to do something loopy to add some softness and girliness, now I'm just not sure.  Again, I really want to do FMQ but in the interest of finishing in this millenia, I may do a tight grid pattern like this.

Choices choices.

Star quilt

A gift that is now well overdue, but the intended recipient do not know this.

Excuse:
It got too darn hot to quilt!

It just so happens that my craft room is the hottest room in the house and after the brother moved out, I relocated my machine out of the dining room back to its rightful home.  I had no interest in having a quilt draped over my shoulder in a hundred degree room.  But Fall is coming . . . and the husband gave me a new fancy fan . . .

Reed quilt

There are still two rows of blocks on the ground!

Excuse:
It's so big that I am totally intimidated by the prospect of quilting this thing!

Um, its. just. so. big.  I did take a class on using a quilt frame that is available to rent by the hour, clearly the best option for this monstrosity.  I just need to get motivated and make it happen.

Hopscotch

For me.

Excuse:
I'm mad at the blocks

When I laid out Hopscotch I realized that I was missing blocks, and managed to tackle that hurdle.  However, I also realized that this quilt is going to be LOUD, which normally I love . . . but, not loving it here.  I do generally go through a phase of not liking a quilt and thinking it won't turn out, typically when I get all the blocks done, so I should probably just forge ahead so I can get over it.

Phew.

Wow, I am full of excuses.  Some more lame than others.  Now that's over with, let's get on with some finishing!  What to tackle first?

All Quilts Have a Story

The News

Maggie is pregnant.  Hooray, the brother's best friend's wife is pregnant!  Someone to make something for, and the best part, they are having a girl.  To this point, all of my friends have had boys, which is great, but I was so ready to make something super cute and girly.  And there's the rub.

The Planning

First, I ask the brother if they have nursery colors picked out.  I receive a blank stare in reply.  So I decide to ask the sister of the brother's best friend.  She tells me, no nursery colors yet, but if you are planning something, just know that Maggie hates pink.  Hmm, okay, that limits things a bit.  Next stop is the mother-in-law of the expectant Maggie.  This time I finally get some color direction.  Fall colors.  MIL is knitting a sweater and Maggie picked out some lovely fall colors.  Well now I'm stumped, how do I turn fall colors into a cute, happy, baby girl quilt?

The Digging Commences

I start going through all my boxes of fabric looking for some inspiration and direction.  There has to be something in there, right?  I have been collecting fabric to last me through the next millennia (much to the husband's dismay) so I have to have purchased something that will work.  And then there it is.  This funky Alexander Henry mushroom print that I purchased as a remnant at JoAnn's for no apparent reason.  It's perfect, don't you think? The colors are fall but fun, now this I can work with.

Planning Phase 2

Okay, I have an inspiration fabric.  Now what am I going to make with it?  I didn't want to do anything too complicated because I wanted to finish it in time for the shower, which of course isn't even being planned yet,but for once, I am trying to be realistic.


I went to a book that I have started to consider a staple: Layer Cake, Jelly Roll, and Charm Quilts.  I will admit that I am not super crazy about most of the fabric choices throughout the book, but the patterns are fun and I love the cover quilt (which I have fabric picked out and purchased for, Denyse Schmidt's Shelburne Falls line, but I digress).  

I'm flipping through the pages she this quilt.  The intro reads, a fun, fast quilt for when you need a last minute gift (I don't really think of quilts as something you do last minute, but I did make one in three days once, but that's another story for another day).  Alright, this will work, off the Fabric Depot to pick out some fabric to make my own layer cake with, fun!

Picking the Fabrics

I spent a good long while at Fabric Depot picking out fabrics.  My quilt math told me that I should pick out three pairs of fabric for the dark colored diamonds and three pairs of fabric for the light colored diamonds.  That would give me three diamonds of each pair.  I quickly decided on orange and yellow, but when I got that in basket, something was missing, so I picked out a pair of dark brown fabrics also.  For the lighter prints I went with things that had white or cream backgrounds, or were lighter versions of the dark fabrics.  I thought this would make everything relate without being too matchy matchy.

BUT, when I got everything home and started looking at it, I did not get the happy, this is going to be great feeling.  It was TOO much and the citron was yuck and over the top.  So, digging phase 2 commenced.  I found three fabrics in my stash that really helped mellow things out.  With my new light brown pair and less intense pair for my white and yellow polka dots and no citron, I was ready to go!

The Making

The cutting and sewing of quilt top went pretty smoothly.  Minus the part where I didn't realize that you had to alter the direction of your cuts to create the diamonds since they aren't symmetrical, whoops.  At least I realized that before I had cut out all of my fabric, that would have been BAD.

I got all the diamonds together and wasn't really that happy with the quilt, it just didn't speak to me.  Boy was I surprised with what a huge difference adding the scrappy border made.  It was a whole new quilt!  I started to think this is going to turn out pretty good.

As I mentioned before, I generally don't buy backing for a quilt until I finish the top, so I took my top to Fabric Depot (I also like the positive feedback I get from other shoppers and the nice ladies that work there when I bring projects in, it feels good to get compliments doesn't it?).  It didn't take too much looking before I found the perfect backing.  I had already decided that I was going to purchase just one width of fabric in the correct length and then stretch it by inserting two rows of left over dark strips.  Clever right?  This is something that you can easily do with any quilt that is just a hair over 44" wide and it adds great visual interest to the back.

The Meltdown

So I had gotten behind in my timeline and the shower was rapidly approaching, as in, it was the next day and I still needed to quilt and bind.  Things are not looking good but all hope is not yet lost.  And then my machine decided not to cooperate.  It completely seized up with the quilt stuck under the needle, AHHHHH! Here is the husband working his heroic magic, but at that point, my nerves were fried.  I did get the quilting done, but  I did not make it to the shower.

Baby Olivia

She's here, welcome to world little one!  Wouldn't it be nice if you had a fun quilt to snuggle in?  Yes, it would you say?  I guess I should finish that then.  I do struggle when I miss a deadline like that, the sense of urgency is suddenly lost and I move on to other things.  It is something that I am working on.  Do any of you struggle with that too?

So swift kick in the pants received and noted.  I got things finished up quickly since there wasn't much left to do, just needed to get the binding on.  Here it is:

I kept the quilting simple and just outlined the diamonds.  Seeing the design come through on the back was really neat.

I am so so happy with how it turned out!  I never imagined that dark mushroom print could turn into this!  I think it is cute, happy and fun while still being something that Maggie will like, and hopefully use all the time.