Sea Glass Gifted

I gifted my quilt Sea Glass last week to my cousin - one very special guy. 

I named the quilt Sea Glass for a couple of reason.  The suggestion initially came from a follower and I quilted in to make sure the solids popped.)   I also like the name because it describes what my cousin does for people - he is always the person who is ready to help someone in need, help them move forward on the right path in their lives.  Sea Glass is the polished result of broken glass being tossed around in the ocean and now collected and treasured.  That is what he does for people.

The blocks came from the HST BOM from the 2012 In Color Order HST.    I quilted this myself on my home machine - the first time I've tried anything other than straight line quilting.  (My info on this blog post.)

It has been the busiest of times these last 2 weeks.   Last weekend was the big event in celebration of my cousin.  This week, both my girls are in dance recitals!!   While this leaves very little time for quilting or even for keeping up with my favorite blogs, it has been a fun busy time.

Happy Stitching!

Sea Glass - April ALYOF

My goal for April as part of  Another Lovely Year of Finishes was to get my quilt top sandwiched and quilted.

I did it!

The blocks came from the HST BOM from the 2012 In Color Order HST.  

The quilting was done on my home machine.  The border is all stitched in the ditch.  I find that all rather boring to do so I stretched it over a work week.  Each trip around the quilt took 15 mins so each evening I had a goal of at least one trip if not two.  That got the job done!

In the white section in the quilt center, I did FMQ.  Some feathers and some swirls.   I just went with it without marking the quilt.

I then outlined the colored HST in the ditch.  I had some fun on the back with some leftover HST.  I love the way the quilting looks on the back.

The quilt is named Sea Glass and is a gift for my cousin.   Next step is to trim, border and quilt label.  I've the month of May to get that done which shouldn't be a problem!

My FMQing isn't perfect.  I know my cousin will not care.  He is a great guy and deserves a quilt!

Happy Stitching!

The quilting is done!

I estimate that it took me 10-12 hours to quilt my HST quilt on my home machine.

I quilting all the white bits with feathers and fun loopy things.

I quilted in the ditch around most of the color HST.

I learned that if I quilt towards the left, I put too much stress on my needle and the thread shreds and either breaks or leaves a little birds nest on the back.   So I only went up, down or right.   Made for some awkward moves but I got it done!  (This is only the 2nd large quilt I've done on my home machine.)

More photos on a sunny day.

I've got to clean up the thread tails and then onto label and binding and better photos!


Happy Stitching!

Under the needle

My Sea Glass quilt is under the needle right now.

I debated and debated what to do.

My first plan was concentric circle(s)  - a single series of circles.   I got concerned however about all that turning of the quilt and whether they would truly look like circles at the end.  I also didn't want the quilt to be too dense.

I kept staring at the space and felt I wanted to really preserve the way that these colors jump out while at the same time soften the quilt.

I decided to put various quilt motifs in the white spaces and then stitch in the ditch around the color

The border will be all straight line stitching.

Under the needle it went last Sunday - I just decided to start..

At this writing, I am about 2/3s done with the quilting.  Here is a view of the back - I just love the way it looks.

Fingers crossed, I will end up with just the right mix of quilting to yield the look I want.

Happy Stitching!

My ALYOF goal for April

SeaGlass - onto the quilting adventure.

I've posted a lot about this quilt during the whole process.

There were the monthly block updates since this was a BOM from the 2012 In Color Order HST.

Finishing the quilt flimsy was my ALYOF goal for March and I had many a border dilemma that I posted on and got some great advise.

It is a gift for my cousin and will be gifted on or about June 1.

I am going to quilt this one myself so my April goal for ALYOF is to get the quilting done.  (This will leave me time in May to deal with the binding.)

My current plan - but given how many times I changed the border design means this is up for many alternatives as well - is to do circular quilting.  Not sure if this is one big spiral or is concentric circles - likely the latter.  I may carry that into the border or may do straight line quilting there.

I'm excited to be starting but also quite nervous as well.  I typically send my large quilts out to a LAQ but I wanted to do this one myself.  I did one other large - lap size - before and it turned out fine.

The first thing I need to do is to give the quilt top a really good pressing.  I hate that step.  (Perhaps I should have made that my goal for April!)

Wish me luck!

Linking up my April goal to complete the quilting with  Another Lovely Year of Finishes. 

By the way, if you've not entered my giveaway for a charm pack of Enchanted Garden, please visit my previous post.

Happy Stitching!

Sea Glass quilt top is done!

My goal for March was to assemble my Sea Glass quilt top.  I started the month with all the 12 inch blocks complete - so I needed to assemble the quilt top and add the border.  This was my March goal for Another Lovely Year of Finishes.   

The blocks are from the 2012 In Color Order HST BOM.    I really liked the blocks set together without any sashing so I set out to make a border.  (Rainy day didn't yield the best photo.)

I did audition a bunch of different borders on my blog but decided this simple border was best and didn't detract from the blocks.   

Now the dilemma.  This quilt measures 48 by 60.   It is slightly smaller than I would like it to be.  If I had more white, I would probably add another 3 inch white border all the way around the quilt.  But, I don't have any more white and I've tried unsuccessfully to find the exact shade of Moda white that I used.  I would have purchased the original well over a year ago.

So, what do you think?  It is a present for a guy who I think is roughly 5'10" (or maybe slightly shorter.)    My husband tried it - he is over 6 foot - and said it was fine but could be slightly bigger.

I made the quilt from a delicious pile of Kona fat quarters  that I won in a giveaway from Lily's Quilts.

Happy Stitching!

Seaglass - Need your help on border decisions!

I am working on border options for my quilt Seaglass.  The blocks are from the 2012 In Color Order HST BOM.  I really like the look of the blocks all set together but I want ithe quilt to be bigger.

To grow the from its current size (36 x 48) to desired size (48 x 60), I made a bunch more HST and then assembled this block:

This is where I need your help.  Which layout do you like best?

Choice 1: The Letter M  (not to be confused with a W - see the bottom row)

Choice 2:  Big Diamonds

Choice 3:  Big W  (not to be confused with the M, again see the bottom row)

Choice 4: All mixed up.  Border, what border?

Choice 5: Around the edge.

The last one is my current favorite.  What do you think?

Happy Stitching!

March Goal: A Lovely Year of Finishes

Shanna & Mellisa's A Lovely Year of Finishes is a real motivator.  Each month you set a project finish goal.  My finish goal for March is to finish the quilt flimsy for my Seaglass quilt.

This quilt is a gift that I need to have finished by May.  I have decided to quilt this one myself so I am setting a goal for March to build the border (flying geese) and assemble the flimsy.

I made a pile of HST this past weekend.

Seaglass is from In Color Order HST BOM from 2012.  I used Kona Solids.  Each of the blocks finishes at 12 inches.  Although others have finished their quilts with sashing, I really like the look of the blocks all set together. 

Happy Stitching!

Sea Glass block 8

What a fun BOM In Color Order HST continues to be.  Here is block 8:

Here are the blocks so far.  I will assemble them without sashing because I really like how this looks together.

Each of my blocks are 12 inches - four more to go.

Happy Stitching!

Sea Glass

Just finished block 5 from the HST quilt along from In Color Order.

The name Sea Glass was suggested by a reader in a comment.  LOVE this name!


FNSI coming up on Friday - don't forget to sign up here.


Happy Stitching!