Peekaboo Blush

Saturday morning, I finished piecing the quilt top that I started at our family quilting bee last Saturday, Peekaboo Blush (which is what I'm calling this quilt with a square in square design using a Blush layer cake). I had finished all the blocks last Sunday, pieced them into rows on Tuesday, then pieced the rows together and added a two-inch border Saturday morning.

To make the blocks, I separated the layer cake into high-patterned and low-patterned prints. Then I cut the layer cake squares so that the border or outer square of each block would be the same fabric. Halfway through, I thought it would add a bit more visual interest if I used four different fabrics for the outer square on the rest of the blocks.

One of the solid outer squares.


A high-patterned, scrappy outer square.


A low-patterned, scrappy outer square.


When I pieced the top, I tried to alternate between solid outer squares and scrappy outer squares, but it didn't turn out that way. I thought I had the same number of each type, but I had some spots where I had to put the same type of block next to each other. Oh well, I think it turned out just fine.


For the back, I originally planned on just using the fabrics below, but then opted to add some red. Cutting the correct sizes for this was a challenge this time around; for some reason I kept miscalculating and had to add more to the ends here and there. This back is definitely more "pieced" than it should have been.



My mom recently got new floors put in her kitchen/dining room so I headed over there yesterday to take advantage of a non-carpet place to baste this quilt (I usually baste on my living room floor). Oh man! What a difference it makes to have a hard floor surface for basting. My sister helped me and I think we got this whipped out, ready to quilt in about 30 minutes.

As of now, it's ready for quilting. I hope to get to it this week. I'm doing free-motion again to see if I can get more practice. Plus, free-motion seems to go a lot faster than straight line.

Finally Finished: Life Is What You Make It

Sunday was a great day! I got so much sewing done. At my family quilt bee on Saturday (more on that when I get the pictures from my sister - I forgot my camera!), I didn't do a ton of sewing on my own projects as I was busy helping others or letting others use my machine. So on Sunday I wanted to make up some of that time. I finally finished my Life Is What You Make It quilt. And just in time for Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival, and I'll have something to contribute to Amylouwho's sew & tell this week too!








This quilt measures about 67 by 84 inches. I opted to use a wavy stitch in parallel lines about an inch and a half apart for the quilting. I really like how it turned out. I'm learning though that the "quilting" part of quilting is not my favorite because of how time-consuming and awkward it can be. I love the look of it and feel that the scrunchy look is what makes a quilt a quilt, so I guess I just need to keep practicing and hope that I improve my technique over time.


And here's the back.


I did the binding a little bit differently this time. I made it 2 1/4 inches wide instead of 2 1/2. I definitely liked the smaller binding, but it was a beast when I got to the corners. Two of them I had to stitch by hand because the bulk wouldn't fit under the foot. I also found it helpful to make the binding ahead of time - not at the beginning of the process, but after the quilting was done. In the past I've pieced the binding, pressed it, and added it to the quilt all in one night. But this time I made the binding the day before and then wound it up. Then, the next day, all I had to do was pull out the roll and get to work binding the quilt. I think I'll do it this way from now on.


I really love how this quilt turned out. I was starting to get sick of looking at this fabric for so long and on a few separate projects. But, now that this quilt is finished and put to use (first time snuggle on the couch with the mister last night while we watched the LOST series finale), I love it as much as I did when I first saw it. Thanks Missouri Quilt Co. for the quilt idea.

Quilt Story

I'm being featured today on Quilt Story. If you have a minute, head on over and check it out. Heather and Megan saw my Make Life baby quilt and thought it would be fun to hear the story behind it. After all, every quilt has some sort of story, right? They created Quilt Story and will feature a new quilt mostly every day.

The Process Pledge

Sometime last week while I was perusing the World Wide Web, I came upon R0ssie's blog and read about her Process Pledge. I decided this would be a great way for me to document my quilting processes.

Basically, the pledge deals with talking more about how you go about making your quilts (choosing fabrics, design inspiration, decisions made along the way, etc.) rather than just showing off a finished quilt and doing a little write-up about it. I especially wanted to do this so I can learn more about photography and get in lots of practice by taking pictures of each quilt-making step. The mister is an amazing photographer, so I make the excuse that I don't need to be. But, there's nothing attractive about a quilt when the picture of it was taken by a novice. The challenge for me lies in the time of day I do my sewing. With two kiddos underfoot, I don't quilt until they're in bed, which means less natural light. I'm still brainstorming how I can overcome this so I can capture more in-process shots, but I'll be sure to discuss all these challenges and the solutions I come up with along the way.

I've started two new quilts while finally finishing my Life Is What You Make It quilt. It's in the dryer as we speak. Over the next couple of days, I plan to talk about the finished quilt, our family quilting bee day, as well as some process posts about the two new quilts I'm starting.

And, here's just a cute picture for you. My little three-year old makes a great baby quilt model, don't you think?

Wrapped in Make Life baby quilt.

This week's sewing review

I had so much fun with the giveaway this week, but reading all those comments and entering in giveaways myself really took it out of me. And I've got some sort of cold to boot! Needless to say, I didn't get much sewing done this week.

I managed to make a nametag for our quilt guild meeting last night that I was actually rushing to get done Wednesday night. I needn't have stressed though because I was the only one who remembered the assignment for the month.


I used some Make Life scraps and opted to hand stitch my name. I'm not really pleased with the way it turned out and will probably redo it for next month. There wasn't enough contrast between the black thread and the blue fabric. I ended up writing my name on the back with a Sharpie just so my name would at least be visible somewhere.


The rest of my sewing time this week was used on verifying my instructions and diagrams for making a square in square block. My sisters, nieces, and a cousin are getting together tomorrow so I can teach them how to make a quilt. I thought it would be a piece of cake because I'm a technical writer by profession, but it was a little tricky to make sure I had all my measurements right and included every step (even the little things you don't think about when you're a step above beginner).

I'll make sure to post about our family quilting bee day. But for now, I'm off to get rid of these annoying highlights I got done a few months back. Wish me luck that my hair will return to its natural dark brown color...