I think basting is my least favorite part of the quilting journey.  (Ha Ha, big surprise)  I've heard a lot about basting spray, and I've been toying with the idea of trying it, but it's just one of those things that hasn't happened yet.  I do all my basting on the kitchen floor because I tape the backing down, and the kitchen is the only tapeable surface around here.  Baby tries to grab the pins, and 3-year-old must have some tape of his own to put onto every surface.  I suppose I should do it during nap-time.  But I love the way my boy's face lights up when I say "we're gonna pin a quilt now".  He loves to hand me pins, and pulls the tape off the edges when we're done.

The other day I returned from the nursery after changing a smelly pamper mid-quilt.  I noticed the sun streaming in on this partially basted quilt and my little orange pin canister sitting there so happy.  I had to show you this picture, not because it's anything special, but to me it signifies everything I love about this hobby of mine.  And it's a sneak peak of Rainbow Quilt #2.  (Those big empty brown spaces are getting some happy-colored hand stitching)

I have another toddler bed/lap size quilt basted and ready to quilt...
...piecing the back for my Hopeful Circles...
     ...and dreaming of new projects...I hope I have the self denial to finish these up before I even LOOK at anything new!

Should be back with some finished projects soon.

An Evolved Rainbow Quilt

It started out with an idea to make a rainbow quilt.  I sewed 3" x WOF (width of fabric) strips together .  I didn't take a picture, but here's the little bit of leftover.  (After I had changed my mind and cut it all up into more strips, but more on that later)

I had envisioned a big happy stripey rainbow, with a small black applique down in one corner.  But once I had all the strips sewn together, it was just too....much!  Somewhere along the way I had the idea to make a few quilts out of this big rainbow chunk.  A mini 'series' if you will.   I thought I'd make one really simple quilt, and one with more complicated piecing, and maybe one with improvisational piecing.  Each quilt would use a different colored solid as the background.

For the first quilt, I cut three strips 6" wide and used Kona Snow to make a classic coin quilt.  

I did crosshatch quilting with double lines in one direction - Ashley's signature style.

Here's the back using Kona Aqua, another rainbow strip, and Kona Spearmint.

Next I pulled out some chocolate brown to make another quilt top with some more strips from this big hunk of rainbow.

I'll show you more of this one soon.  I'm thinking of backing this one with a snuggly pink flannel.

And here's the third one on the design wall right now.  I have enough rainbow fabrics left to make another quilt top, but we'll see.  I'm hoping to finish these up soon, but first on the list is a dress for my little girl's birthday.

A New Love

A quilt-as-you-go has been on my list of things to try for a looong time.  I read that Heather would be starting a new quilt along with this method, and maybe that was what inspired me to try it now.  I was hesitant to make a big quilt right away, because I wasn't sure how if I would like a finished quilt done this way.  Would it be soft and cozy, or would it be stiff because of the dense quilting?  And I could never be sure how to do the backing so it wouldn't look funny.  I was concerned about the difference in shrinkage from front to back.  Because of the dense quilting on the front, I thought it would shrink quite a bit more than the back, and thus give the back a funny loose look.

So I started out making 12.5" blocks and decided to do a 3 block grid to make a small baby quilt.  Let me tell you.  These blocks are FUN!  Talk about instant  gratification.  I disciplined myself to use ONLY fabrics from my scraps, and I just love the bright funky look of all these clashing colors together.

I also had the brilliant idea (we'll see!) of using a non-prewashed flannel for the back.  I'm not a pre-washer, but I always pre-wash flannels, because they shrink more than cottons.  So I thought this might work out nicely since hopefully the heavily quilted front, and the unwashed flannel will shrink a similar amount.  I'll let you know how this works out.  And I'm so hoping that this quilt passes the snuggly baby quilt test, because I want to make more like this!

And does anyone recognize that chocolate brown owl print?  I had this one tiny piece that I received in a scrap pack that I bought once.  I always thought it was really  cute, but now it hit me that it would be PERFECT for some of my friend's babies.  Somehow I think it's exactly up their alley.  I'm having a bit of a hard time finding it since I have no idea of the designer or manufacturer.  Or maybe it's a JoAnn's special!  I found some on Flickr that a lady wanted to swap, but I haven't heard back from her...  Oh the joy of the hunt!

Hopefully...

I can soon have some time to get this baby quilted!  I'm so excited to have the top put together.  It's going to be my own personal quilt to snuggle under, and it helps that it's just the perfect rich, saturated colors for my living room.

Looking at the whole Hope Valley collection together, one thing that surprises me is the way that one rich reddish brown print stands out as being so differernt from the rest.  I pieced this completely randomly.  I was waaay too lazy to lay it all out on my design wall, and it's kind of interesting to see how all the colors are quite well mixed in.  Although seeing it in the photo here makes me see that there's a fair bit of that dark brown in the bottom left hand corner!  

I'm happy I added this all time favorite print, as it adds a bit of fun and whimsy to this very 'grownup' fabric.

And of course I have to flaunt the wee tiny bit of Flea Market Fancy that I own!

Now I just need to decide on the backing.  A cozy flannel would be nice for cuddling, but a vintage sheet would be economical and fast.  And then there's this quilt back which I'm crazy over...