Cute, Fun, and DONE!

My twister quilt (started two months ago, almost to the day) is finally finished!  I'm actually a little embarrassed to admit that this little quilt took so long.  For some reason I have been super distracted in the last few months- wonder if getting sick twice, going on a few vacations, and planning a wedding... had something to do with it :)

I tried something a little different on this quilt and decided to try machine stitching my binding on (thank you to redpepperquilts for the tutorial!).  I can't say I am in love with this method- yet.  I feel like it took me just as long as if I had stitched it on by hand- but the fact that I actually had another binding fabric on and then took it off and started all over again may have had something to do with that :)  I thought I wanted something bright and colorful, but in the end the gray with white spots added just the right frame- subtle enough to let the pinwheels stand out but enough contrast from the border to frame the quilt nicely. 

For the most part I managed to catch the binding on the back while stitching in the ditch on the front, but there were four small spots I had missed and needed to go back over.  Not too bad for a first attempt though.  I think the key is definitely a good pressing and good pinning.... I might have slacked on that last one.  I hate pins.  I used binding clips, but the metal ones that look like hair barrettes.  I haven't pulled the plug and bought the Clover Wonder Clips yet- they are so expensive!  Are they really so great that they are worth the price? 

While I was washing the quilt I decided to toss my pillow cover in too.... turns out my sergered seams did not hold up as well as I expected :(

*Sad*  Hoping it is just a case of user error.  My guess is I did not catch enough of the fabric in the seam- not an uncommon problem for me.  Will try again- still love my serger, just have to learn how to use it, perhaps I will actually read the manual :)

Pinwheels and Propellers

I finally got my lil' twister quilt (started back in February) sewn up...

 Basted it...

 

Quality control gave it a through once over..

 





And then it was time to start quilting.  I'm calling this propeller quilting (though looking at the photo now I'm not sure how well the quilting is showing up for you, sorry).  I followed the straight line on the long side of the twister and then did a curved line from the point of the twister back to the center.  I like the movement it is creating in the quilt.  It is simple enough quilting that it is not making the quilt look too busy, which I was a little concerned about.  The only problem with the quilting is that it involves a lot of stops and starts and therefore a lot of burying threads as each pinwheel is quilting individually.  There are also a lot of color changes as I am trying to match the quilting to each fabric.  I got the white and pink pinwheels quilted yesterday and started the purple but had horrible tension issues and took that as I sign that I should be done for the day.  The purple thread was very old though (decades), could that have something to do with my tension troubles?  The white and pink threads were only a few years old and I had no problems there...

Let's Twist

Remember that quilt I was making for my mom?  The one she was so excited about?  I went to visit her the other day and when I walked into the living room I saw she had redecorated it again (the third time in as many months) and the quilt she wanted so badly is now the wrong colors.  On the bright side, it meant that 1) I get to keep that quilt, 2) I get to keep all the fabric which I love, and 3) we went shopping for new fabrics for her and I managed to sneak two charm packs for myself into her bag.  One of Vanessa Christian's Simply Color and one of Kate Spain's Cuzco.  I sewed them up into a simple patchwork...

then added a 3" boarder (white with gray polka dots, from Jo-Anns)...

and then took the Lil' Twister tool to it! 

I haven't decided if I like this look or if I wish I had kept the simple patchwork.  It is awfully busy now with the pinwheels and the patchwork was so clean and classic and made such a nice impact.  I do have the small 2" squares that were leftover after the Lil' Twister, so I can still do a small patchwork project with them.  Too late to second guess myself on the big quilt now, I suppose.  The picture above is before I had sewn the blocks together.  I have a few together now and like it a little better since the pinwheels are smaller.  I'm still not convinced I love it, but I will finish it.  It could look cute and bright hanging over my couch for a pop of color, or it could always go on the wall in the sewing room- bright, scrappy, and colorful always looks good there!

Where is your go-to spot for hanging a quilt?  Do you have them around your house?  Or confine them to a sewing/crafting space?