progress...

My quilt is taking much longer than expected... I now have it basted. pin basted.

XO

Maren

Wheels Quilt Finished!

I just finished binding Dean's quilt tonight and what a relief! Now I can finally do something else! (I have a one big project at a time rule so I'll actually finish projects!)

So for the details. I used this tutorial from Heather Bailey Design and actually found it more helpful than the Crazy Mom Quilts one I originally linked with the quilt challenge. I did 2 1/2 in. strips of the width of the fabric and I needed almost exactly 1/2 a yard of fabric. I sewed it with the machine to the front and hand stitched the back. My binding skills have vastly improved from my first quilts I made you girls for your babies. Sorry about that. =)

I originally chose a blue for the binding, but when I brought it home, Matt suggested a dark green might look better. I'm so glad I went with his advice. He has a better eye for design and color than I do, so I went and bought this dark green fabric. I love how it looks.

I do have the material to make Walt a similar quilt with brown cars backing, but it will be awhile before I can psych myself up for it I think.

Almost made it!

I really wanted to have this completely finished by tonight, but the binding just wasn't happening for me. But I am proud of what I have accomplished so far. I was inspired by the figgy pudding quilt in design, but I wanted it a different size, so I just kind of made it up as I went along. This was definitely on the edge of my sewing capability! I used the basting technique from crazy mom quilts (she's blogging again! yippee!) did the straight line quilting from tallgrass prairie studio. The material is Riley Blake's Wheels collection and I bought it from The Dizzy Daizy. She shipped it super fast and it was all in perfect order.

After buying some totally over priced thread at my quilt shop, I looked online and bought way more of the same type of thread for way less at ConnectingThread. I took the other stuff back. I'm happy with the thread. It's even cheaper than the Coats and Clark you'd buy at Walmart if you buy in bulk (to offset shipping).

I thought that I would do the cross quilting, but I tell you what, I'm pleased with how it looks right now, and I don't want to spend any more time sewing straight lines! It wasn't hard, but it was way more time consuming than I expected. This quilt also took more fabric than I expected. (4 yards of the green, 2 yards of the blue cars, and 1/2 yard of the roadway, and less than 1/8 yard of the others.)

I used a 80/20 cotton heirloom batting from Hobby Lobby. I like the feel of it and it was easy to quilt. I bought a queen size and I'll be able to use it for both quilts (I'm making one very similar but with brown car backing for Walter. Eventually.).

The final size is 49 X 78. Larger than toddler size (~45X60), smaller than a twin comforter(~65X88). I'm hoping he'll be able to use it on a twin bed eventually, though.