From Log Cabin to Urban Table: Part 1

I promised some pictures so here they are:

This is my Log Cabin after I completed the squares and sewn the rows together. I am so pleased with how both my piecing and the fabrics worked out.

The complete log cabin quilt top exceeds my expectations. I have several relatives that love purple so I'm sure someone will end up with this as a gift. One of my sister-in-laws had her birthday this week and I promised her her pick of the quilts from Freshman Year.

Here's a close-up of the center of the quilt top. I just love how you can see my perfect pressing of the seams. This is my favorite project so far.

Cabin is built

Tonight I finished stitching the my in-Patriotic Log Cabin. I need to work on making sure I am stitching straight. This quilt top reveals when you wander along instead of stitching perfectly straight. That's what I'm going to concentrate on this weekend as I stitch the next project. I'm not sure whether I'm going too fast or not feeding the fabric properly. Practice makes perfect so I'll just keep on practicing!

Continual Progress

I promised to upload some pictures of what I've accomplished. Well, here goes.

I used my Thimbleberries quilt with cheater fabrics to do a test run of layering. I had a copy of tucks appear so I did a better job of holding the backing still while I pinned Worldly Women. I think I understand layering pretty well now. I don't plan to do any more of that right away though. I want to work through the other quilt tops first.

Next was the machine quilting. I was nervous but I only did straight lines and it came out pretty well on both my practice and Women. Using a walking foot removes so much of the worry over fabric shifting. I know the starch also helps a lot with that.

I'm particularly pleased with my idea to do different color sticking in the black border of women. It repeats the fence post pattern of the blocks and their color.

Overall, Worldly Women became a terrific mix of traditional and modern just like the person I made it for. As you can tell from her smile, she really liked it!

One more post

I still have the other cheater quilt to do that I mentioned in my first post. I fell in love with some wildlife fabric and bought a kit online that will be perfect for our retirement home. Plus I started designing a quilt several years ago before I even had a clue. 

I sure have gotten bit by the quilting bug. I need to spend some time helping get our house ready for sale but playing, I mean working, on my quilting skills is more fun!

There are no guarantees but I intend to do better with updates!

Tough Choices

I have now planned out the fabric to use for the rest of the quilt projects in Freshman Year. I'm omitting two of them - Winter Wonderland and Asian Nights. I haven't selected fabric for Homespun yet. I'm planning to finish all of the others and then do that one from beginning to end in one fell swoop. That will make it a real final! 

I welcome any feedback you might have. I'm sticking with fabrics I already have so some of my choices are limited but so far my combinations have worked out.

Two More Almost Done

I've already completed the top for Triple Rail Fence. I think it looks spectacular and it came together extremely fast. My fabric has a holiday theme like Harriet's example. The work seemed very easy because I was comfortable with the steps that needed to be done. I plan to use this to practice other than straight line quilting. I'm going to try the design provided in the book. Maybe - if I don't chicken out.

Next up is Patriotic Log Cabin. My variation is not very patriotic. At least not for any country I know of - which country has purple, lime green and cream for their colors? I was intimidated by the little pieces of fabric in log cabin squares and couldn't understand why they are so popular. Having done them now, they are so easy and I can see endless design possibilities with the relative orientation of the squares, the number of rounds, colors, etc. I get it! Log cabin squares are awesome! I'm not going to linger over them though. There is too much else to learn about. My husband suggested that I add a green border to mine. I agree that would tie everything together. I also think adding four more inches (2 on each side) would make a nicer size.

Catching up with August

I've been remiss in updating this blog. My coworker's last day was yesterday. I finish her quilt on the 27th and brought it in to work on the 28th. I am very pleased with how it turned out. I know there are some flaws but overall it's terrific. I rushed to completion and would have liked to have gone back and fixed some things but I simply ran out of time. I learned a lot from the experience. I'll post some pictures later of the finished quilt and of giving it to her. This quilting thing is very rewarding. There is an art to picking the right combination of fabrics. There are skills involvedin executing the various steps correctly. I am well and truly hooked.

I reread a couple of old posts and need to provide some updates. I've decided not to make a version of Winter Wonderland. I am moving on to Harriet's Triple Rail Fence. My color sheme is similar though. The print fabric I am using is of presents so it will be Christmasy like hers.