A Finish in August

August 19, 2014 Ana Mo Shoshin

Finally!

My last finish was way back in February of this year, and that's too long ago!

Stars for NFG 2014 (quilt for Crimson) is my version of a baby quilt. It's quite large but I forgot to measure it! I'd guess it was about 55" square, so large enough for a lap, or small throw, but great for a baby mat or snuggly small child blanket.

I knew this quilt was for a baby boy, and although none of my quilts are gender specific in my opinion, I tried to make it a bit more boyish. I'm not sure it worked, exactly, but I like how it turned out. I also felt like my usual more muted tones would be too drab so this is my attempt at "bright" colors.

I'm going thru a traditional quilt block phase, and this is my first completed quilt using a classic block. I believe it is a variation of a sawtooth star, but quilters, correct me if I'm wrong. I made the four large stars first, then used the scraps to create the middle small star. And then I realized that if I didn't add some neutral solid fabric the quilt would just look like a messy jumble. I used one of my favorite go to grays (Connecting Threads Charcoal). to balance out.

Besides the gray, there is a mix of new and vintage fabric in Stars For NFG. All the gingham is vintage from various places and finds over time, as well as the light blues, rich green, and purpleish strips. The green dots and deep purple are from the same great ebay lot. All the bright greens, blues and teals, are parts of FQs from my favorite quilt shop in VT.

The vintage gingham had some flaws and one became a tear. I patched it using a smaller piece of the same fabric.

The back is mostly vintage green gingham with a diagonal patten using deep purple, rich green and charcoal gray. The purple and green backing is a nod to my favorite band who I've been to see with the baby's uncle.

I used a new cotton batting and dark blue cotton thread, doubled, for the quilting. I stitched in the ditch for most of the front of the quilt, except inside of some of the stars and the borders. The back really shows the quilting bc it is light colored and mostly one solid piece of vintage green gingham fabric.

I rolled the back over and quilted one line of quilting to make a sturdy binding. I have used this rolled method before, which is slightly different than the fold over method in most of my quilts. I wanted the backing to show only a little on the front as to not add too much more busyness to an already busy quilt.

This quilt has a lot of firsts. It is my first traditional block quilt, my first finished commission, the first quilt that I have sold, and my first quilt that has a label.

I used a stamp I had recently made and more of the gray fabric for the label. The stamp is a mad cat, a portrait of Flounder. I used sharpie for the quilt title. I sewed the label on the back of the quilt thru all the layers of the quilt the same way I did the gingham patch on front. I like that it gives it a bit of a punk patch feel, like the ones I used to wear on my jackets.

It was hard to get the detail of the patch label. I pre washed the label and it faded a bit, but I like the results.

This quilt had a quick time line going from request to finished quilt in three months (May 13 - Aug 8th). I haven't kept track but it may be the fastest I've made a quilt. Bippi was most helpful on this quilt, sitting under it on even hot Summer days. This quilt also did some traveling as I took it along on a few trips to the beach in order work on it.

Stars for NFG top hanging out at the beach in NJ!

Bottoms Up Bunny Quilt

February 9, 2014 Ana Mo Shoshin

My second finish for 2014 started way back at the end of last Summer in Vermont.

I still haven't figured out the best way to photograph quilts in my house. This works for now... At least you get the idea!

The Bottoms Up Bunny Quilt actually started as a quilt back. When I was making Peach Sideways Cities I had gotten a yard of this Windham Fabrics retro print that I thought would be perfect for the back. And I made the back... but ran out of the fabric before completing it. Wanting to see PSC mostly done before I left Vermont, I put the bunny back aside and created a whole new one. It was similar in design but, of course, not quite the same. The more I looked at the original incomplete back, the more I enjoyed it and realized that it could stand on it's own. I had fallen in love with the bunny fabric.

A lot of hand stitching went into this one.

Back in Brooklyn, I tracked down the fabric. It wasn't easy as it had been discontinued. I only managed to get a yard and a half, but that was more than enough to finish the front. (I used some for the back, as well, and still have about a yard left. Yay!). But I didn't pick the quilt up again until January 2014.

Bottoms Up Bunny Quilt has a cross type design for it's front with the bunny fabric as negative space. I quilted three lines down each fabric in the cross and then quilted the negative space diagonally. Some of the lines get a bit wonky, as I didn't use any markings. The body is quilted using vintage embroidery thread.

This quilt differs from most of my others bc it uses almost entirely new fabric. Only the small pink and peach dot fabric is vintage. The back is peiced with material from the front cross, new orange stripes, and of course, some bunny from the front as well.

I actually like not marking my hand quilting lines. It's great exercise for me to try and get my lines straight.

It was bound with my fold over method that I use for most of the quilts I make. The binding was mostly stitched with plain white cotton thread. But where bunny meets bunny I used teal embroidery thread.

I thought the blue went perfectly with the inside of the flowers and that it would break up the bunny on bunny a little.

This quilt measures about 43 1/2" x 43 1/2" and is almost perfectly square (ha!). My cat Bippi sat under this quilt pretty much the entire time I was hand quilting, so she thinks it's a great couch or lab quilt. I think it would be great for a baby, or play mat, as well.

I'm linking up with Kathy's Quilts today. Check out her blog!

First Finish of Two Thousand Fourteen

January 27, 2014 Ana Mo Shoshin

What does one do when a quilt spans the years? If most of a quilt was created in one year, but completed in another, what category do we put it under? This is a new dilemma for me, and I'd like to know how others tackle it!

Although most of the work on my latest quilt was done in the latter part of 2013, it was technically finished in the early days of 2014. I struggled with whether to call this a 2013 quilt... But I decided that it will be my First Finish of 2014!!

I really thought this quilt was going to be a regular rectangle. But they always somehow get out of control and go all wonky. That's what I get for not measuing. And I wouldn't have it any other way!

This is one of my Squares and Strips quilts, which is what I call my version of a crazy patchwork. I used many browns and blues from my stash, mostly vintage and thrifted. It also contains new fabric. Although the front is mostly brown, it also contains white on white and black. Some of my favorite pieces are repurposed black jeans, some tree fabric that my mom and I thrifted last summer, and a swatch of brown and gold that came to live with my when my husband did.

There is a patchwork patch of blues on the front that contains some of my all time favorite anchor fabric that I bought new.

Sometimes not having enough fabric for a backing makes everything more interesting.

The back has a reverse style design. Mostly blue with a patch of brown patchwork. The main bit of blue comes new from Brooklyn General. The binding on the front also follows this "reverse" theme, blue where the front is brown and brown where the front is blue (pretty much).

I used some of my favorite precut squares in this quilt. Both vintage and new.

This quilt is completely hand pieced, basted, quilted and bound. It's my largest to date and has the most quilting. It was a blast to make and it might be one that I keep for myself.

My cats Bippi and Tom spent a lot of time with me on this one. It's pretty fun to snuggle under!