Sunshine and Showers Baby Quilt, Part 2!

Yes, I have made this quilt before.  But I think it was worth it, as they are very fun to make.  I sold the first one *twice* over the Christmas holidays (yes, I really did) and needed to make another one for a customer.

The 1.5" strips, as you can see, are half "low volume" from my stash, and half bright rainbow colours from my scrap collection.  I sewed them together in a log cabin fashion and ended up with blocks 5.5 inches.  I do love log cabin quilts.

But, does anyone else get confused when sewing log cabin blocks?  I seem to need to do them all in a short span of time, or I forget.  I like the nice staggered blocks of colour, but I often end up starting to sew them incorrectly so that there is more like a square of colour with wings.  (See my previous post on the subject.)

I bound this one in a Kona Purple (that is precisely the colour) again as requested by the customer.  It is backed in a soft grey polka dotted Riley Blake flannel.

I've pieced it and quilted it all with Aurifil 50 wt.  The piecing was all done in white (2024) and the stippling stitches in the quilting are white in the top thread and light grey (2600) in the bobbin.

Oh, it is so squishy and soft.  So bright and happy.  I might have to make one for myself one day! Incidentally, as soon as I began this quilt I was invited to join posting pictures of it with folks also making scrappy log cabin quilts on Instagram using the hashtag #scrappylogcabinqal, which you should definitely check out.   And thanks for visiting me!

QUILT STATS:

Dimensions: 29" by 37"

Fabrics: scraps and various prints from my collection

Backing: Riley Blake Scenic Dot Grey in flannel

Binding: Kona Purple

Batting: Quilter's Dream Blend

Thread: Aurifil 50 wt in 2024 (white) and 2600 (light grey)

Farmer's Wife Quilt

Hey everybody!! I finished the Farmer's Wife Quilt this past week!  Here it is in all its giganticness in my driveway, being held up in -20 degree weather by my husband (6 feet, 1 inch tall) and my 19 year old son (6 feet, 3 inches tall) and standing on blocks of wood.

This quilt was conceived in 2011 while on a trip with my sister to Seattle. We stopped in a quilt shop, we stopped in a book shop and I found a jelly roll of Kansas Troubles Perennials and a copy of The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt. The colours are my mom's style and I was itching to try the sampler quilt - so it made a great reason to get started on a quilt for her. Obviously. And much more fabric than a jelly roll later, plus a few years, here we are!

I managed to quilt this behemoth on my little home machine (which has quite a small throat space) by doing it in two, separate horizontal parts. I joined the top pieces then sewed the backing together by hand and carefully quilted over the area right down the middle.

Astonishingly, I didn't get any puckers - which means that I must have been helped by a quilting fairy. (I was totally prepared for failure as events leading up to this quilting were decidedly not smooth. I reversed the direction of the two pieces, which meant that I quilted right to the edge of the WRONG edge on one piece. Which meant I had to pick out the quilting in about a two dozen different spots, re-quilt farther back from the edge, which meant I had to bury threads on the starting and stopping spots of the re-quilted sections - about 2 dozen sections as I said - and then go back to the side I left un-quilted along the edge and quilt that section. ALSO, while pressing a fold in the cream muslin backing to prepare it for hand stitching the pieces together after the quilting was done and the top was joined... I scorched it brown with my iron!! It was right smack dab in the centre where one might not ever see it, but I still needed to fix it and ended up making a 3" by 4" patch that I hand stitched over top of the scorched area, and then requilted over.)

Anyways, I am VERY pleased with how it turned out. And so is my Mom! And my Dad even picked up the Farmer's Wife Sampler book and looked at it while I was stitching down the binding over New Year's at our house and we chatted about quilts and quilt history and how they are made. So that was fun!  When can I start another one??

QUILT STATS:

Pattern: Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt

Fabric: Various lines from Kansas Troubles by Moda

Thread: Aurifil 50 wt in 2325 for piecing and quilting the top (2021 in the bobbin for quilting)

Backing: Kona Premium Muslin in Natural

Batting: Quilter's Dream Blend

Size: King

A Quilty Welcome to 2015

Happy 2015 everyone, and here is my look back at the quilts I finished in 2014.  I was not as prolific as in 2013.  And not NEARLY as productive as 2012!  But since I started "serious" quilting in 2011 with the beginning of my blog, I have made, um, several quilts.  Here's to another quilty year!!

(PS. I included my Swoon quilt in the mosaic twice to fill in a blank spot.  I think it earned it...)

1. Ombre Rainbow Stars Baby Quilt, 2. Apple Autumn Quilt, 3. Minecraft Creeper Quilt, 4. DS Handquilted Swoon Quilt, 5. Origins Quilt, 6. S'more Love Camper Quilt, 7. Lush Uptown Quilt, 8. Baby Boy Plus Quilt, 9. S'More Love Baby Quilt, 10. Scattered Flowers Postage Stamp Baby Quilt, 11. Half Square Triangle Quilt, 12. Sister's Paint Box Quilt, 13. Sunshine and Showers Baby Quilt, 14. Christmas Table Runner, 15. Hand Quilted Swoon Quilt