Gigantor - a Friday Finish

Surprise!  I have a finish for today.  Yes, I am on vacation, but thanks to a couple nights of pre-trip insomnia, I actually finished up Gigantor the day before we left town.

Quilting this king sized Impromtu quilt was a huge experiment for me. I really wanted to see if the Janome Horizon I bought last July could handle a quilt this size.  I can honestly say, yes!  I worked in quadrants around the entire quilt, but all that extra throat space really made it doable.  I doubt I will make a whole bunch of king sized quilts, but it feels good to know I can if I want to.

Another experiment was in the photography of this big quilt.  Gigantor is for my own bed, but it didn't make a particularly striking photo in our room primarily because we have a distractingly large and colorful quilt on the wall in there.  So the girls and I set out to find a good spot or two for pictures of this big quilt.

It was a struggle.  The picture above shows only 1/4 of the finished quilt.

Here are my assistants laying out the quilt in a grassy field.

Then, clearly exhausted, my assistants had to lay down.

Finally, my assistants realized they were also in the photos and saw an opportunity to try out modeling themselves as well has the quilt.

Those silly girls!

Some quilt stats:

Pattern is Impromptu by Rachel Griffith
Fabric is Good Fortune by Kate Spain and Kona White
Size: 110 inches square
Quilted with an all over flower pattern found in Angela Walters books and Craftsy classes


Thanks for reading today,

Jen

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Quilt weights - Building Blocks Tuesday

Sorry, I am late.  Clearly vacation is already having its effect - I forgot what day it was!

Tired of your quilt getting away from you while you are quilting?  Perhaps it falls off the back of the table and pulls the quilt out of place.  Well, then Quilt Weights are for YOU!

You've heard of pie weights, right?  You put them in your pie crusts to make them stay put in the pie pan and not puff up.  Quilt Weights work in a similar way, holding a section of your quilt in place on your quilting table.

Quilt Weights are multi-functional.  They are excellent quilt testers, can contribute added warmth to quilts while on your bed, not to mention the added "batting" of shed hair!  They are also good for other crafts.  Perhaps you are into crochet or knitting, well!  Quilt weights are also notorious for redistributing your yarns and threads!

Don't you want one?  Don't you need one?

A very special Quilt Weight, similar to the one above, can be yours for a nominal fee at your local animal shelter.  Go get one today!

I have no new blocks to show you today, but I am interested in what you have been making.  So what have you been working on this week?  I want to know!

Link up your fabulous blocks.  You put a lot of hard work into them - show them off!  This free linky will stay open for a whole week.

Rules:

1) Please link up only to the page in your blog showing your wonderful blocks, not just the blog homepage.  Flickr pictures are also OK.
2) Make sure to put your blog name as the description so people know where they are going or the name of your block!
3) Please grab my button and post it in your blog post or sidebar.
4) Visit other linky participants!

Thanks for reading!

Jen

Gigantor basting day - WIP Wednesday

Today, I basted, the quilt I am now calling "Gigantor".  It is my Impromptu quilt that I made more king sized for my bed.  It is huge!  Just look at my poor little basting table...it's drowning in quilt.

In case you missed it in the picture above, my assistant was at the ready.

I don't think I ever showed you guys the finished disappearing nine patch blocks.

I really like how they turned out, though that skinny sashing was a little temperamental.

Ah yes, a parting shot of my lovely assistant doing her job.

Now that is a pose for "Pets on Quilts" if I ever saw one.

This Wednesday...

Completed Projects:

• Bee Blocks - Simply Solids (1 block), Make it Modern (2 blocks)
• Handstitched Medallion Quilt - I'm just did the SID this month, hand quilting will still be in progress

On-going Projects:

AKA - "stuff I plan to touch this week or next".

• Bee Blocks & BOM blocks - We Bee Learning (1 block done, 1 to go) , and Lucky Star BOM (2 blocks), 
• Star of Africa Bee - March, and April, and now June blocks need to be completed.  
• Gigantor aka Impromptu QAL - Top is done! Oh my is it HUGE! Basting in progress.
• Swoon - cutting has commenced!
• June for Jen items - ironing board cover, sewing machine mat and cover.

Back, Back, Back Burner:

These will likely be touched sometime in the future - I should really rename this category to "I want to remember that I have these projects, but realistically they won't be touched till 2015 because I'm too busy doing other stuff"

• Beginner Quilt Along at Quilting Gallery - Piecing the backing is in progress
• Discontinuity 2 - gotta make it bigger for big girl bed.  On hold for now.
• Curves Class goodies - there are a few more projects I want to try, but they are on hold for now.   

This week's stats:

Completed projects - blocks plus SID
New projects - 0
Currently in Progress - 5 ish

Don't forget to link up any blocks you have been working on to the Building Blocks Tuesday post.  It stays open for a whole week.

Oh!  And, I put together a Facebook page for Quilter in the Closet.  I am up to 3 likes!

And as always, thanks for reading,

Jen



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New beds need new quilts, right? - WIP Wednesday

It's been a few weeks since I gave a WIP Wednesday report and I have a whole bunch of things going on right now.

I've spent the last few days preparing Olivia's room for some new furniture.  That entailed moving some furniture to storage, a few trips to the Salvation Army donation site, and a lot of just moving stuff around.  I've now added a couple of Advil to my daily diet.

If you ask her, Olivia says she's not ready for a big girl bed, but she's getting one anyway.  She's been in a toddler bed for almost a year.  Between the recommendation that we show that room with a real bed in it when we are ready to sell our condo, and a perfectly timed visit from my mother (who needs a bed to sleep in too), we went ahead and bought beds (yes bed(s)) for her room.  I am an advocate for buying bunk beds, but then keeping them as twin beds until your kids are old enough for bunks.  Since I only have 3 kids, this gives us an extra bed for sleepovers or guests of the larger variety.  Hmm, new beds need new quilts, right?

I'm also teaching my last two art classes for the year at the elementary school this week.  My kids will finally learn how to paint like Picasso!  We are emulating some of his later work when he painted views outside the window of his Cannes villa.  Oddly, there are more birds painted inside the window, than the view outside and they are part of our study.  I will post pictures when Ashley's class is done.

What little sewing time I've had the past few days has been spend on the Impromptu QAL.  I got all my cutting done, the larger blocks complete, the 9 patches complete and have just started making them disappear!  Here are some not so special pics of the blocks so far.





This pattern is coming together so quickly that more than once I've thought about adding a few blocks to make it king sized for my bed.  It would certainly go with the June for Jen theme as I currently don't have a quilt for my own bed!  And I just adore this Good Fortune fabric by Kate Spain, even the orange in it.  I guess I will see how the rest of the construction goes and contemplate whether or not I can really quilt a king sized quilt with my machine.

This Wednesday...

Completed Projects:

• Bee Blocks - Guild BOM blocks (2 blocks)
• Star of Africa - February Block is DONE!
• Quilt for Hands 2 Help Charity Drive - DONE!
• Item for the "Say it with Flowers" Blog Hop - DONE!  see it here

On-going Projects:

AKA - "stuff I plan to touch this week or next".

• Bee Blocks & BOM blocks - Simply Solids (1 blocks), We Bee Learning (1 block), Make it Modern (2 blocks), and Lucky Star BOM (2 blocks), 
• Star of Africa Bee - March, and April, and now June blocks need to be completed.  I ran out of Steam a Seam (my go to fusible) and Joann's was actually OUT of it.  I bought something else, but I am not sure how it will go.
• Handstitched Medallion Quilt - I'm just doing some SID this month, hand quilting will still be in progress.
• Impromptu QAL - Cutting is done, piecing is in progress.  This one is really coming together quickly!
• Swoon - cutting has commenced!
• Do I want to make a mini for the Modern Mini challenge??  That's just crazy, right?
• June for Jen items - ironing board cover, sewing machine mat and cover.

Back, Back, Back Burner:

These will likely be touched sometime in the future - I should really rename this category to "I want to remember that I have these projects, but realistically they won't be touched till 2015 because I'm too busy doing other stuff"

• Beginner Quilt Along at Quilting Gallery - Piecing the backing is in progress
• Discontinuity 2 - gotta make it bigger for big girl bed.  On hold for now.
• Curves Class goodies - there are a few more projects I want to try, but they are on hold for now.   

This week's stats:

Completed projects - 2 plus blocks
New projects - 4 WOW!
Currently in Progress - 7 ish

Don't forget to link up any blocks you have been working on to the Building Blocks Tuesday post!  Oh!  And, I put together a Facebook page for Quilter in the Closet.  I'm not entirely sure what I will do with it yet, other than post random thoughts, but "Like" it if you want.

And as always, thanks for reading,

Jen



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