Major May Finish

Last week I posted about February's False Starts and Flimsies  well, the quilt in question was going to be my second finish for the Roma Show.

I had 3 days until the deadline and all that I needed to do was quilt and bind.

WRONG... this quilt did not have a backing, so I needed to make one (it was also Sunday and the shops were closed).  Thankfully I had a bolt of white fabric that I picked up on an amazing sale so I could create the right look. (Finished photo at the bottom of the post)

O-me was having a big week and she didn't let me down.  The quilting went very smoothly, thank goodness.

As the quilt is a star, I quilted swirls & stars as an all over design.

 I love the feeling of the last stitches.

Then I created a red binding from assorted red fabrics in my stash and bound while watching more evening drama & crime shows.  

I present "Exploding Star"  60" x 60".  

(Photo is a little dark as it was almost midnight when I took the photo)

 and the back of "Exploding Star"

I am so very proud of this quilt.  I am so excited I was able to design something that worked.  A few tweaks along the way, but that is an important part of the design process.

My boys inform me this is my best quilt yet - but they are also fairly sure they will not be permitted to use it.

So this is OPAM # 2 for May and entry 2 for Roma Show.

See you again soon.

Debra ~ Outback Crafter

September OPAM 1 of 4

Wow, another month has come to a close.

I missed the end of September / 1 October due to a wedding and here it is the 3rd October already.

I have sewn this month.  Sewn a bit actually 4 finishes. 

So here goes #1 of 4

Ryan & Rachel's Wedding quilt.  Like all good quilts, a labour of love.  Unlike many quilts I make a surprising challenge.

The bride requested navy & white.  Now these guys live on a farm with lovely RED dirt, so you can understand why I was worried about white.  But I got over that after I got the design together.

The quilt started out at 9 x 10" squares across & down.

 

I laid it out on my bed & hated it, so we played with some other ideas.

Maybe adding smaller blocks between the 10" blocks?? - NO too busy.

 

The thought what about smaller blocks?   Ahhh, much more pleasing to the eye.

 

Mathematically much more sewing.  

The quilt went from being 100 nine inch squares 

to 421 four & a half inch squares. 

That is a huge psychological difference.

However I have recently learnt how to 'web' quilts together, so it was joined in a matter of hours (6 approximately)

  

Before I could quilt I realised my backing was rather scrunched up so I had to work out how to iron the 2.75m2 piece of material.   Thankfully my bed doubles as a great ironing board.  A bit low, but very helpful in this case.

 

 Next up was quilting.  After giving O-me a good talking too, I decided on an allover swirl with loop design within each 4.5" row. 

I was posting sneaky shots on my Facebook page and didn't want the bride to see too much, so I posted the 'sketch' image.  She had no idea.  (The 3rd photo is "the last stitch")

    

I like to quilt messages into my quilt.  So in the squares near the bottom right corner I quilted... 

Ryan & Rachel (shown here in 'magic pen' to make it easier to read)

and on the next row the date of the wedding  1 Oct 2016

This quilt finished 89.5" square & I really like it.  I would happily keep it, except our names are not Ryan & Rachel.  LOL

  

Bound in the navy 'quatrofoil' print used in the body of the quilt it has a striking edge, and of course a personalised label.

 

My boys & I took it to our local nursery for a photo shoot.

I love the photos.

 

  All packaged ready to gift.

Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of the quilt with the newlyweds but I did get go give it to them personally.  They love it (always good) and they've promised to send me photos of it on their bed. 

Till next time.

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A new friend, Optical Illusion and quilting

I'd like you to meet a new friend.

This is :"O-me".  Some may consider this short for Janome, but I have named this beast of a machine O-me due to the number of times I have said "O-me, O-my, what have I done now"

 Now O-me has lived in our house for over 12 months (probably more like 18 months) but we have not particularly been on speaking terms.  That changed this weekend.  I sucked it up and just got in and got to know her.  Now like all females she can be a bit temperamental, but so can I.

 O-me helped me quilt 2 quilts that had been sitting & waiting and a third is ready to go, I just need backing fabric.  Now I am not claiming that O-me and I are having no issues, but we are definitely getting more comfortable with each other.

This photo is just for my Mum as she mentioned that I never appear in any photos on the blog.   As I was not planning on photos, I am in my best outfit with 'perfect' hair.

 And as hubby wanted to be artistic with the camera, this is the view of O-me from over my shoulder.

PS. That quilt you see on O-me is my Optical Illusion quilt.  Should have the binding finished tonight, so I can post a finish for you.  YEAH.