Finish Line: Quilt Edition

They're finally done!

These quilts have been taking up most of my sewing hours for quite some time, comprising all in all about 37.5 hours of work, nearly 12 hours of which went into sewing the binding by hand, but they're finally taking a last spin in the washing machine before I can send them to their new owners. I hope the boys will be happy, well the bigger one at least, the baby brother, I guess, is more taken up with a cuddle, eat, sleep, repeat routine.

Last weekend I had high-flying dreams about a picture session outside. Our apartment block has a pretty nice courtyard with a big oak on a huge square of grass which looked just perfect amongst tons of sunshine and with dozens and dozens of dandelions in full bloom. Unfortunately, this weekend the dandelions already have seed heads. Now, this could make for a pretty backdrop, too, alas, the temperatures have dropped significantly and the days are cloudy-grey, cold, and generally uninviting. So I reverted to taking snaps on the balcony and inside. Can't have the weather spoil all the fun, right?

Warning: indulgence in not quite perfect pictures.

That's it for today. Work is calling me. Alas.

Linking up to Jenna's Manic Monday Linky Party tomorrow.

May Day

I'm aware that today isn't an official holiday for most people, but is is in these parts. Before any envy finds time to creep into your hearts, though...despite the holiday and the oh so tempting sunshine I confined myself and tried my best to get some work done in the morning and over noon as I did on all of Monday when many others were enjoying a so-called Brückentag (literally bridge day.) We don't have bank holidays but when a holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday, like Ascension Day, for instance, we often get a long four-day weekend. Alas, I didn't and couldn't really set work aside entirely today, either, so it was only later in the afternoon that I was allowed some play time.

I really shouldn't complain too much here, though, as the holiday meant I got to play with my machine on a weekday at all. Usually that kind of fun is restricted to the weekends or I'd never get any work done - I'm convinced of that. Hand sewing to wind down in the evening is allowed, maybe a little knitting, but no more. Only exception: December present finishing mania. Of course.

Initially I'd set the afternoon down to tackling the quilting on the toddler quilt which I'd managed to get half done on Saturday noon before dedicating the rest of the incredibly sunny and warm weekend to a visit by my gran. Initially.. I just had to start a new project first to get myself motivated properly. Can you guess what I'll be making? I first saw these popping up maybe two weeks ago and knew instantly that they'd have to go on my to-do list.

 

After cutting these pieces I finally went back to my quilting. Working psychological tricks on myself! You see, I have to finish the quilting in order to be able to piece these. Sometimes I simply cannot be bothered to change my thread all the time to work on different projects at the same time (wouldn't a second machine be great in these situations?), so I need a little push to get one done so I can tackle the next. ;)

Anyway, right now the quilting is nearly done, lacking only a few more diagonals. Friday evening or Saturday morning I can attach the binding to the top and my machine will be free to embark on my latest project. You will excuse me now, I`m off for a little telly and the last bit of hand sewing on the baby quilt. 

Hope you had a good day wherever you are and whatever you're doing.

Quilt Tops Progress

Starting on Thursday evening I managed to finish both quilt tops over Easter and I must say that I'm pretty pleased with their look so far.

They'll now have to hang side by side for a while until I can make time to quilt and bind them, very likely a fortnight. Shame, really, as I enjoy this project despite the amount of work going into it, but this gives me time to consider two important questions. 1) What thread colour to use for the quilting? The backings will feature the train and helicopter prints on white respectively. 2) How to quilt them?  I certainly want to keep it simple but cannot really make up my mind at this moment. Stitch in the ditch or beside the seams? What do you think?

With all those hours of piecing and ironing and more piecing I needed a quick fix project, too, and decided to make something for my mum. Her living room got a bit of a makeover recently and she asked me for one or two table runners. I knew exactly what I'd make and that I had to use an Echo print.

The back is all brown and I sewed the binding by hand on Saturday and Sunday evening. I love it so much and would totally keep it to myself. Generally, I'm not into table runners at all and my tables go bare, but this one could make me change my mind about them.

Did you find time to sew anything?

WIP - Baby and Toddler Quilts

Pretty much no sewing took place this weekend. Disappointing? Not really because I had a great birthday party on Friday which included quality time with wonderful friends, amazing presents (many sewing related), tons of tasty food, and some rocking karaoke. Saturday was spent lazing about, although I managed to squeeze some fabric shopping and washing into that. A gift card for my favourite shop convinced me to brave the awful weather and I needed to buy batting for the quilts, anyways. Yes, I spent my birthday gift card no more than 18 hours after receiving it. New record. To my excuse, it paid for a much needed re-stash of the little yellow florines from Lotta Jansdotter's Echo collection - I'd only stashed half a yard as I'm usually not that much into yellows, but I love these and have already so many projects on my mind and cut into what I had so I absolutely had to get more. A row of typewriters on teal from the Ruby Star collection was also added to my stash. They're just too cute and I've been eyeing for a while. You see, I practised constraint, only a further brown and red solid found their way into my bag because they are needed for a birthday present and table runners for my mum/Echo pillows for me.

Today was dedicated to cutting the fabric for my current project, two boy quilts. More than 3.5 hours of cutting, pretty exhausting but it's nice to get it done and move onto the sewing stage quickly.

It took quite a bit of time trying to come up with satisfying layouts. The baby quilt - please imagine blue borders on top and bottom, too, my table is too small.

 

And the toddler quilt. I like it but might change it a little, mixing the prints a bit more as I did on the baby quilt. We'll see. I will definitely swap the two misplaced white trains on the left for blue ones. Rather glad I took this pic and spotted the mistake before sewing!

The only sewing this weekend: assembling the 6 cm wide binding, seven measly seams. But it's all pressed and folded and wound up, already, 4.4 metres and 6.6 metres, respectively.

I'm prepared for the next stage, the rows are compiled into numbered stacks, and I might sew a couple of them together in the evenings should I find the time.

An awesome weekend full of laughter, smiles, and fun. How did you spend yours?