I finished the giraffe quilt on Friday night.  Yes, a giraffe.  I think she is pretty cute.

Taking photos of quilts is kind of hard.  Maybe even worse than taking photos of windows.  I am just saying.

I made the applique the same way I did on the elephant - lots of Wonder Under.  On this quilt, I embroidered the mouth, though.  It is kind of hard to see in the photos though.  Trust me when I say that it adds to the charm.

The backing was made with a patchwork strip on purpose this time.  The orange gingham is 60 inches wide so I didn't need to add it.  But I really had to have it.  It is my favorite part.  I dig the back side so much that I think I may make a similar one with the strip on the front.  I also love how the stripes of free motion quilting make the fabriclook kind of like seersucker after I washed it.  Another happy accident in my mind.

I know many of you told me not to use different thread colors for the quilting.  I didn't listen.  There is a bit of orange thread pulling through to the back, but I am OK with it.  Because the gingham is orange, it is not so noticeable.  I think the key is having the top thread match the backing fabric here....if I couldn't do that, I think I would have just used the same thread on top and bottom.

I added a little house on hill road tag to the back corner of the binding.  Tomorrow I am going to fold this up nicely, wrap it lovingly and send it off to a new baby.  Then I am going to start planning my next quilt(s) and think about actually quilting the string x one.  Against my better judgement, I think I am going to tackle that one myself.

I went with orange on top, aqua on bottom.

It was going great until I ran out of thread.  Off to the store....

So I have been practicing free motion quilting...

I am pretty happy with how I am doing.  There are two things I need to work on.  The first is speed.  I have a tendency to go fast and I do better when I slow it down a bit.  And second, I really need to chalk lines so I can keep things straight.  Easy enough to fix, I think.

The quilt is sandwiched and ready to move to the machine.  I am hesitant, though.  I cannot decide what color thread to use for the quilting.

Here's a peek at the quilt sandwich.  The top is the aqua print with a large red applique.  The back is orange gingham with a patchwork strip (aqua, red, orange, yellow, gray).  The binding is going to be a red and white large scale print.  So what do I do?  My original thought was to use white on top and red on the back, but now I am wondering if that is wise.  Other options include orange on top, aqua on back or maybe red on top, aqua on back or red on both top and back.....Suggestions, anyone?

Thanks for all the elephant quilt love.  I must admit, I am going to have a hard time parting with that one.  He turned out exactly how he was in my mind and I am smitten!

The quilting bug seems to have bitten hard.  I've already started another one.  Once I have the batting and the right color red thread, I am going to quilt this one.  I am leaning towards free motion, but I am scared.  I think I will spend a good part of the day working up the courage to jump in and just do it.  Maybe I should warm up with some practice squares?  Back soon with a report - fingers crossed it is a success!

It's finished!

I sat in front of the TV last night and hand sewed the binding to the back of the elephant quilt while watching back to back Law and Orders.  For once, the hand sewing felt good - my stitches didn't show so much, my wrist didn't hurt too much.  I guess I was in my groove.

This quilt is for my nephew Ian.  Get this.....Are you ready?

It is his Christmas present.  Not the one that just went by.  No, I actually made something in 9 months in advance.  Go ahead, be amazed.  I am.  One down, about 6 or so to go.

The finished quilt measures 52" wide by 37" high.  The front is quilted with brown thread (which I also used to stitch on the applique.  The back is brown quilted with gray thread.  I added the patchwork strip because I was a bit short on the brown fabric.  Ahem.  A happy accident, if you ask me.  The squares are about 2".

I would love to get into all the particulars of how I made this, but you will have to wait.  See, before this gets put under Ian's tree in December, it is going to Lark Books to be part of a baby quilt book.  The book comes out sometime in the fall and that's where you will find the pattern.  Mean of me to tease you, I know.  But really, could you resist sharing?  I didn't think so.

Happy Easter to those of you celebrating.  I'll be back next week.

My week has not gone so well and I have spent the past two days whining about it.  No more.  Today I got my sorry ass moving and accomplished something.

I had finished this quilt top over the weekend.  Today I pieced the back, basted and then quilted it.

If all goes as planned, I will get to the binding tonight.

It feels good to be excited about something.  Now if I can just keep up this momentum.....

There isn't much I feel like talking about.  Here are some of my recent flickr favorites.  I am hoping they will brighten my day and yours, too! (You can click on the mosaic to get the individual photo credits.)

Today is just one of those days.  You know the kind I mean.  It's rainy and gloomy and crawling back into bed seems like the best idea.  Until I remember that there is physical therapy to do, groceries to buy, help needed at school, miles to run (most likely on that awful contraption known as a treadmill), laundry to fold, a house to clean.  So what do I do?

Play with fabric for a bit, ponder choices, wonder why there is no grayish blue fabric in the stash.  Find a spot next to a window, take some photos, rearrange the fabrics, think of the different possibilities.  Look at the clock and snap back to reality.  On with the sneakers and the rain coat, up with the hood and out the door.

What are you doing today?