Secret Quilt Blog

OMG Citrus! Aka, Dewey’s Victory. Our chuppah is going to...

eyelidpictures — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 01:39:40 -0400

OMG Citrus! Aka, Dewey’s Victory. Our chuppah is going to hurt to look at.

5 more wedding quilt squares.

eyelidpictures — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 18:09:57 -0400

5 more wedding quilt squares.

3” square scrap quilt.

eyelidpictures — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 17:25:42 -0400

3” square scrap quilt.

Wedding quilt update - two more blocks!

eyelidpictures — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 19:09:00 -0500

Another Star

Monkey Wrench

Wedding quilt update - two more blocks!

On the left - laying out my postage stamps to see how many...

eyelidpictures — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 18:55:00 -0500

On the left - laying out my postage stamps to see how many unique fabrics I could pull from the bag - I’m up to 172 - on the right - 25 6x6 postage stamp squares.

As I cut things for other quilts - I take and cut my scraps into either 2” or 3” hunks - anything bigger than that, I put back into the cupboard for later use. Last winter, I made 25 5x5 squares from the 2” scraps. This year, I’ve upped those to 6x6s and now have 32 of them. The plan is to eventually make 49 8x8s so that there are fewer repeat fabrics. (just over 3100 squares planned no big deal, right?). I think I probably have at least that many in my scrap bag, but a lot are from the same projects, so I’m waiting to make the next set until I have a few more different colors in the bag. I’ve also joined a charm swap that the curious quilter is hosting and am looking forward to April when the next exchange is. http://thecuriousquilter.wordpress.com/postage-stamp-2012-charm-swap/

I’m joining this! So far I have two sets of 100 and a set...

eyelidpictures — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 18:45:09 -0500

I’m joining this! So far I have two sets of 100 and a set of almost 200 (working on it) to swap! My goal is at least one more set of 100 before the next round begins in April!

Caltrand wedding quilt microcosm. Pennsylvania and Louisiana...

eyelidpictures — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 18:33:51 -0500

Caltrand wedding quilt microcosm. Pennsylvania and Louisiana representing.

Toddler quilt - done!

eyelidpictures — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 18:26:44 -0500

Toddler quilt - done!

Trying to decide if this makes my eyeballs explode.

eyelidpictures — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 03:40:49 -0500

Trying to decide if this makes my eyeballs explode.

My Quilting Aunties

eyelidpictures — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 01:08:24 -0500

I stopped into Button Box in Wellesley today to grab another half yard of a fabric I was short on for Aidan’s quilt and to have a chat with one of the many little hens who work there about a conceptual problem I was having with the wedding quilt.

Enough people have given me significantly more fabric than I need that I was thinking of backing the quilt in spare fabric from people and emblems from T-shirts like the one that Debbie gave us - and maybe a few others we have laying around that we don’t wear. The problem I was having is that, for quilting purposes, I’d like the fronts and backs to line up. I’d thought of about a hundred ways to accomplish this and they all seemed super complex and/or impossible…but after a bunch of brainstorming, they suggested a technique I’ve never heard of and that I think solves several problems about this project.

Quilt as you go!

So basically you quilt every block and the backing piece that goes with it individually and *then* you assemble it into the big thing once it’s all done.

1) This means that I can make sure that back and front squares line up.

2) This means that I don’t have to assemble the whole front and the whole back and then assemble/sandwich/quilt/bind under the gun at the end - I can make pieces as they come in and then just assemble at the end - or even assemble as I have enough to assemble - which is brilliant.

3) I have a ton of batting chunks laying around and this will use them up nicely!

4) I can do it with or without sashing - but I think that sashing an otherwise super crazy quilt will unify it nicely.

This is all very exciting. I have three blocks done and conveniently three blocks of backing cut - so as soon as I get my sewing machine back from its warrantied cleaning/repair - I can start on this!

With Jonah’s finished, I got to work a little on...

eyelidpictures — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:45:00 -0500

With Jonah’s finished, I got to work a little on Aidan’s. Big boy bed quilts all around!

Not the best picture, but here’s Jonah’s toddler...

eyelidpictures — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:42:00 -0500

Not the best picture, but here’s Jonah’s toddler quilt, all pieced!

Wedding Chuppah Quilt

eyelidpictures — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:58:38 -0500

For our wedding in June, I’ve asked our friends and relatives to mail us fabric with their RSVPs. Now invitations haven’t gone out yet, but I’ve gotten a bunch from people I see regularly so that I could begin already. In my mind, I need a minimum of 25 blocks, I have a goal of 36, and the most I could do without it becoming ridiculous is 64.

There are 200 invited guests and they’ve been given the prompt to “send fabric or fabrics representing yourselves -or-send a pre-made 12 inch quilt block” - if everyone does the assignment, there are 112 physical invites going out - so that means with 2 color blocks - 56ish possible - so far we’ve gotten one fabric per couple - athough I think a friend is planning to send fabric to represent each of her, her husband and her kids, which if people go that route would change things - I also am really hoping that someone sends us a quilt block because that would be pretty cool - but if they don’t I can handle it. :)

So far we’ve gotten some purchased fabric and also some clothing - a friend tried to give me a silk robe - which was pretty, but not washable. Jersey and nylon are *super* hard to work with in this context. I’ve been sure so far to match up stretchy and floaty fabrics with really stiff counterparts - but you can see from the paperpinwheel that it doesn’t always go as planned. That block is actually a little smaller than the others, I might have to border it honestly - something about the silky fabric in the middle changed when I cut and sewed it. I love a good challenge, though!

I’ve also cut the the front and back motifs off of the t-shirt in 12.5 inch squares - and then cut 12.5 inch hunks out of the fabrics that I have enough of (some I don’t or haven’t - the vintage came in pre-cut squares and the spoonflower was just the sample swatch and I used *all* of it) and hope to make the back in 12 inch blocks that line up wiht the front - which sounds crazy, but I think is doable…so that when I quilt it, the stitch in the ditch lines grid up on the back.

I’m probably going to quilt it in a grid since it’s a sampler quilt and I probably won’t have much time in the finshing stages - this is a wedding and it’s gonna be my chuppah after all - must.be.done. So I’ll stich in the ditches and then I’ll just go down the middle line at 6 inches on each square. That should hold just fine and be easy enough to do.

3 down - 22 or 33 to go! Invites go out in a few weeks, so hopefully fabric will start piling in at that point…and also my birthday party happens about a week after the invites go out, so I hope I can encourage people to bring their RSVPs with them. This seems like a good idea. I guess we’ll all find out.

Streak of Lightning with Vintage Scraps & Spoonflower Custom

My Blue Heaven with a t-shirt & some quilting fabric.

Paper Pinwheel with silky shirt & cotton fabric.

Next big quilt, Spring wedding.

eyelidpictures — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:39:00 -0500

Next big quilt, Spring wedding.

2011 Retrospective

eyelidpictures — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 13:23:02 -0500

This is what I accomplished in 2011:

Rose’s 30th Birthday “Friendship Block” (January)

Taco’s “Trip Around the World” (March)

Tara’s 30th Birthday “Friendship Block” (March)

My Wool/Denim “Rail Fence” Monstrosity - which I should have a better shot of as it’s wound up on my bed - for chilly weather - but I don’t. (April)

My Girl Scout Camp twin cot blanket - “Morning Star” (July)

Nathan & Natalie’s Wedding Quilt - “Bridal Path” (September)

Lindsay’s College Graduation “Bear Paw” (December)

Shena’s 30th Birthday “Friendship Block” (December)

Bizarre graphic representation of my next big quilt - it’s...

eyelidpictures — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:19:00 -0500

Bizarre graphic representation of my next big quilt - it’s the traditional Louisiana block and the traditional Pennsylvania block - alternating. A friend from childhood (in PA) is marrying a man from Louisiana. Obviously, the fabric will be more coordinated than that - I just lifted the squares from a website I like to try out the concept.

Big Boy Bed

eyelidpictures — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:37:10 -0500

Over Christmas (and untouched since then, sadly) I also started a quilt for my nephew for a different type of graduation - he’s about to turn 2 and has a toddler bed in his future. His parents are big baseball fans - so I picked a pattern with a bit of a baseball diamond shape to it - this Snowball Nine Patch.

It may be a little hard to see the baseball diamond in the demonstration colors - but this is what it looks like with “grass” in the middle and “bases” on the outside.

Also, my toes. Hi toes.

The nine patch parts are all the same and pieced in strips - which makes the work-up super quick. That’s two rows of blocks - there are going to be 3 more and then borders like what’s on top.

I’m pretty pleased with it.

Lindsay's Graduation Quilt

eyelidpictures — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:02:00 -0500

Over the Christmas holiday, I made a quilt for my little sister as a college graduation/christmas present. After a triumphant victory lap, she graduated from Kutztown university with a Bachelor’s in Sociology - and I couldn’t be prouder of her.

The Kutztown mascot is the Golden Bear, so I went with this Bear Paw block.

This shot shows the motif in detail:

Here’s the whole quilt:

I used the fake panorama program on my phone to get the whole thing in one shot - so some spots look a little funny - but you get the point. It’s a queen (and maybe a little generously sized). I wanted to make her something that she could grow into. I also know that she likes aqua and lime green - so I toned those down a bit and took them as theme colors. I’m really pleased with how it came out. It’s the first time I’ve done anything “on point” and I think the border option I chose is a little elementary -but all-in-all I think it came out well.

Girl Scout Quilt All Done (ish)

eyelidpictures — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 00:56:00 -0500

Back in July, I finished this one (except for the free-motion-middles, ran out of time) and then took it right to Girl Scout Camp and used it. I was very pleased with myself.

Some day I’ll get to those middles…I hope. I figured out how to do them…I also figured out that it’s not as hard as I thought.

Nathan & Natalie's Wedding Quilt Done

eyelidpictures — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 00:54:00 -0500

In a spree in September I finished Nathan & Natalie’s wedding quilt, literally just in time to leave…actually I was still snipping threads on the car ride up and didn’t end up wrapping it. Worst, presentation ever- here’s your wedding gift…in this trash bag. For the middles, I ended up finding pictures of continuous line paths online, blowing them up in photoshop to the size I wanted and then printing them on drafting tissue paper…then sewing through them and ripping the paper out. It worked pretty well, and with practice, I think I could be pretty good at it.

I’ll get steadier with practice.

Looks better from a distance.

Looking as tired as I feel….stayed up all night to finish it!

My favorite part, the creepy ass matrimony patch. Secret joy.