Flurrying!

First of all, I'd like to welcome all the new followers who found this blog through the SMS Giveaway Day!  There's still time to enter - see my Giveaway Day post to win some of my leftover Flurry fat quarters and two pirate-themed fat quarters!

I apologize for not responding to any of the comments - it's just been too overwhelming!  There are so many of you!  So many comments have made me smile or chuckle - thanks for brightening my day! 

Since my last post about my Swoon quilt, I've completed Blocks 4 through 7!  Things have been slow going lately - other priorities... but I'm getting back on track since we're only 3 weeks from Christmas.  I don't see this one being finished for this year.  But the fabric sure helps make it feel like Christmas is coming (since the weather hasn't yet - it was probably 65 degrees here today).  Of course, tomorrow morning I have to go out on a field job and it's supposed to be cold again.  Sigh.  Why isn't it sunny and warm when I spend my days outside?  Oh wait, it's December...

Anyhow, here are the latest 4 blocks!  Again, I need to work on my photography.  These are crappy iPhone pictures taken under fluorescent light in my kitchen.  Hopefully we get some sunlight this weekend while I'm home and maybe I can snap a few better pictures outside!

Swoon Block 7

I love the blocks with bright red on them.  So cheery!  Block 7 is one of my favorites - the birds match the accent fabric so nicely!

Swoon Block 6

I will be using the red fabric in Block 6 for the quilt binding and probably some accents on the quilt back.  I'm not crazy about it paired with the light green, but it's too late now.  And it's really not bad.  Good enough :)

Swoon Block 5

Block 5 got pretty complicated - there are TWO directional prints!  It turned out pretty well, but I had to rip out a lot of stitches.  Late night sewing with directional fabrics is never a good idea.  And I'm also not too crazy about how the pattern looks wonky at the seamlines.  At least with the more mono-chromatic directional prints, it blends in.  This one looks odd if you stand and look at it from an angle across the room!

Swoon Block 4

 I really like the lattice-y 8-pointed star print in Block 4! 

Tonight I cut the fabric for Block 8 - unfortunately, on what should have been my VERY LAST CUT, I accidentally cut 1/8 too short! So instead of a 3-1/2" square, I have a 3-1/2" x 3-3/8" square :/  I think instead of adding fabric and cutting back down, I might cheat my seams on either side instead.  Close enough?

Overall, I think this is going to look awesome when I finish it!  What do you think I should do for the back?  Obviously, I should have a pieced back of some kind (as always!), but should I just go with solid white to match the background of the front?  Or solid light gray (think Kona Ash... but something in a Bella Solid or Cotton Couture - something softer)?

Since Christmas is fast approaching, I think my new goal is to finish the quilt top next week sometime (Block 8 should be done tomorrow with Block 9 to finish hopefully on Saturday morning) and then just let things sit.  There's a batik quilt I basted last week (I put it together in late winter/early spring) and I'd like to finish it up to give as a Christmas gift!  Hopefully Swoon will feature some bad ass FMQ if I let it sit for next Christmas!

In other news, I signed up for the MQG's Madrona Road Challenge!  Our fabric has arrived and we're trying to decide what we want our challenge to be.  Super exciting! 

This is my WIP Wednesday post for the week - check out all the other pretty WIPs at Freshly Pieced!

-Melissa

WIP Wednesday: Swooning and a Little FMQ

The Flurry of Swoon blocks has begun: two down... seven to go!  So far, I love it!  There have been a few headaches.  Especially with the directional prints.  The seam ripper has been my go-to tool for a few nights.  But I think I finally have the hang of it - and most of the mistakes are due to working too late at night.  Stop quilting BEFORE you get tired.  If you don't, you'll just end up tired and frustrated.

I shared my first block the other day.  It took me two evenings to finish my second block.  One night was cutting, the second night was piecing.  And ripping out stitches.  And piecing.

Swoon Block 2

 You can see that all the diamonds are aligned the same way - but the way the cutting instructions for the pattern are written, you can't get everything to line up properly (not an issue if you're using more flowing, floral type fabrics).  I found that out the hard way... but I managed to use the scraps to fix my problem!  Rather than use one big rectangle (with the diamonds going the wrong way), I sewed two smaller rectangles together to get the directional pattern to line up.  It's not the prettiest, but it's way prettier than having ONE rectangle going the wrong way.  It was so distracting to look at!

How to work with directional fabrics and the Swoon pattern:
two pieces oriented the correct way, sewn together.

So that's my Swoon Block 2.  It looks so pretty with Swoon Block 1!

Swoon Blocks 1 and 2 - so pretty!

I've got my other 14 fat quarters all paired up and ready to go - two of them aren't really in this photo...  But I'm really excited to see them all come together.  Especially now that I've got a grip on the whole directional fabric pattern thing!

Lovely Flurry fabrics all ready to Swoon!

I've been a little slow at work lately, so I wasted spent some time watching Leah Day FMQ pattern videos on YouTube.  I really liked one of her paisley patterns - I forget what exactly she called it.  But it looked fairly simple, so I thought I'd give it a shot.  First on paper, then with the sewing machine!

Paisley design - pen and paper

Paisley FMQ design

As you can see, it can use some work!  But I'm pretty happy with it for a first attempt.  I was planning to use it on the Swoon quilt, but I'm considering incorporating it into Christmas Ribbons.  More to come on that as things come together - I have been doing some more straight-line quilting on it, but it's going to require a little something else - too many straight lines!

I'm linking this post up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced - be sure to stop by and see some beautiful projects!

-Melissa

Swooning Over Flurry

Last fall, I snagged a fat quarter bundle of Flurry and stashed it away.  Christmas Ribbons really put me in the mood for some more Christmas quilting and the infamous Swoon quilt has been on my mind for quite a while now.

Last week, the pressing and cutting began for Block 1 and yesterday evening, I finished it up!  It's the most perfect block I've ever made - all my points are sharp (as sharp as they're getting for me).  The only thing that's a little sloppy is that the edges didn't exactly match up, as you can see.  I never take time to square things up as I go, that's probably why.  That and pieces probably stretch when I press them.  I know I do it wrong all the time!

Swoon Block 1

As I began cutting my two fat quarters for Block 2, I realized I was going to have a problem.  I'm using this diamond print where the red is in the above block.  It's a more directional print than you realize at first.  The way the cutting instructions are, this is going to present a challenge.  Today's free time will be spent combing the Swoon Along for information on how others dealt with this.  If you have any tips, please save me some time and share them with me :)  I only have FQs to work with, so that makes it a little more difficult. 

Needless to say, Christmas Ribbons has been sitting idle for a week or so...  I'm so excited about Swoon though!  But I should buckle down and finish up Christmas Ribbons - Swoon might not even be finished by Christmas.  Plus I have two other quilts to baste and quilt that are just sitting around.  UFOs just aren't as fun as starting up a new project.

Linking up at Plum and June - click the gray button on the sidebar to check out the other great projects this week!

-Melissa