QST Rainbow Quilt

 I started this quilt back in January I think.  I was inspired by this rainbow quilt, but decided to make it out of quarter square triangles (QSTs) instead of half square triangles (HSTs).  The solids are a mix of Micheal Miller Cotton Couture Solids that I got on clearance last fall.  I Love them.  They are so soft and have a much finer weave then some solids (K---).

Each QST is 8" square and the quilt measures 56" x 72" - almost bed sized.  (After some piecing issues I had to trim the blocks smaller than I had planned.)  After more pondering why the QST units didn't turn out well (not all of the seams run exactly from corner to corner) I think I have figured out why.  I had made HSTs and cut them in half (on the bias) and then laid all of those units out, moved them around and made my final layout.  Then they got all mixed up and I had to do it again.  I think that handling them so much might have distorted some of the units and contributed to their wonkiness.  That and I was in a hurry when I was sewing.

Since it was fairly large and had the thicker flannel backing, I rented time on a long arm machine (specifically made for quilting).  I thought briefly about changing out the thread color as I went across the quilt, but decided it was too much trouble.  So I decided on a light gray thread.  I wasn't sure about it at the time, but it is perfect.

I Love this quilt.  It is so happy.  I had planned on giving it to my sister, but now I am not so sure.  Maybe it will just live on our couch for now and if I am feeling less attached and more generous at Christmas time and if she Really likes it, then I will gift it.  :)  It is nice to make something that I really like.

I bought some fabric this week for a new quilt.  I usually shop from my stash when I am making quilts and buy what I don't have on hand, but I really wanted a specific look, so I splurged.  I cut out some blocks yesterday and hope to be able to sew them together this weekend.  If it turns out as well as I imagine it is going to be great!

I hope you have a great weekend and get some sewing in too!

English Paper Pieced Ball

This just might be my favorite thing I have ever made.  Love.  Love.  Love it.  I love the fabrics, the rainbow of color and each and every little hexagon and pentagon.  I first saw a ball like this at Lily Quilts about 5 years ago, but had never made one until now.

The modern quilt group in Des Moines is having a pincushion swap at our April meeting and I was starting to stress out about what I was going to bring.  I had pinned tons of ideas but was really nervous about working with all of the curved little pieces most of them use.  So I stayed in my comfort zone and made an English paper pieced ball that can be used as a pincushion.  No inspiring overcoming-your-fears post today.  But why overcome fears when you can make something this cute?  :)

I used this tutorial by Kristy Daum that includes the hexagon and pentagon templates.  (For more step-by-step instructions on how to English paper piece visit my Hexagon Flower tutorial.)  Construction was fairly straight forward and is put together like a soccer ball.

The hardest thing about making the ball was picking the right fabrics so that the ball blended from color to color.  (I know, life is full of hard things.)  I started a little heavy on the reds and oranges and so I ended up light on the cool colors.  But that is a minor thing.  When I make this again I will also pay more attention to matching thread color with fabric color.  I switched out thread regularly, but used gray a lot and it didn't blend as well as I was hoping.

Here is a shot of me holding the ball for perspective.  It fits nicely into the hand.  I've been trying to cut down on the number of toys we have, so I am not sure if I will make any for my kids, but I have already told them that I will make a set for each of their kids.  You know, when they are the ones that have to police picking up toys.  Cause that's what grandma's do, right?

Linking to Finish It Up Friday.

My QST Rainbow Quilt

   
I have a few things that I would really like to do, two of which are to have something published in a magazine (money and glory!) and have a quilt in a quilt show (but once that happens I will probably want to win a prize or something).  I recently had a quilt accepted for publication and it should be coming out soon (!!!) and decided that I wanted to make another "magazine quilt" and this quarter square triangle rainbow quilt was going to be it.

It all started with a stack of Micheal Miller Cotton Couture  that I got on sale at Pink Castle Fabric.  I had recently seen this quilt and knew that I also wanted to make a quilt with solid fabric with a rainbow gradation.  I decided to make it with quarter square triangles (QST) instead of half square triangles (HST).

I knew it was going to be totally cool and had visions of the magazine wanting to make kits for it or something, but then I got lazy while chain piecing the QSTs.  I thought, "No big deal if the seams aren't totally perfect.  I'm going to trim them down to size anyway."  What I had forgotten is that trimming works when you are working with HSTs, but QSTs have two diagonal seams and it is almost impossible to line up the seams at all four points if your piecing is sloppy.  Really, if I had want to submit something to a magazine I shouldn't have be sloppy at all, but I was.  So....some of the points are 1/4" off (or more!  ouch!)

And that is really embarrassing to admit but at the same time it was really freeing to realize that I wasn't going to try to make something perfect to submit.  It made the trimming easier (I had frozen when I realized that trimming wasn't going to make the QSTs perfect) and now I am less stressed about doing cool quilting.  It is rather nice to not have to be perfect, but embarrassing to admit that I am not perfect.  Not that anyone (including myself) thought I was.

I already have the backing - some cool coral floral flannel (say that 5 times fast!).   I am excited to finish it up.  I love how the colors play together.

Waiting on the banister to be quilted.
8 inch blocks
56" x 72"