Monday, April 23, 2012

Minutes for Me Adventure - Last Year's Quilt Along

Last year, during the May for Me Celebration, I wasn't able to finish my quilt from Tonya's Quilt Along.  I put it away and I chose to take is along and finish it at the Quilting Retreat.
I started with several blocks that were complete.  
I had to sew the rows together first.  I did not embroider my plain blocks as I am going to thread paint with my long arm quilting machine in the plain blocks.  I made a cutting error on the plain block for the third row, so I just added a plain block for now. I will re trace the "Tip Toe through the Tulips" wording and the little wooden shoes later. 
Tonya suggested border strips in between the rows as she said the seams don't match up at the same intersections.  I chose to add little squares.
I know that I should not use two different sewing machine to sew a quilt, but last summer I started this quilt on my sewing machine at the River, while I was sewing at our camper.  I completed the blocks on a different sewing machine this past weekend. It worked best to place the square strips uneven, starting halfway thru' a block at the beginning, as some of my blocks didn't measure up correctly because of the two sewing machines.  I think it made it look even more scrappy this way.
Here are some up close photos. You can see how I started halfway through a square and ended with it halfway through the square.  It's uneven and it is OK!
I added a strip of little squares all the way around the quilt top too.  
 I lined them up on the outside borders to end up with a whole square in each corner by cutting a square near the corner in half to make that happen.

I decided a solid border would look great but I didn't have enough of the solid green or the solid blue.  I added some of the green printed fabric in between the green solid fabric to extend it so it would go all the way around my quilt top. Again makes it look scrappy!
I did the same thing with my blue fabric and I will use it for my binding after I quilt it on my long arm quilting machine.
During May for Me I will take some personal time --- just for me and I will quilt it! I can't wait!
I will share more of the quilt projects I completed this past weekend at my Minutes for Me Adventure #2.

Again, thanks so much for all the wonderful comments.  I am way behind on replying. I will try to get back to all of you, when I sit down at the end of my quilting days this week.

Are you joining in the fun of the May for Me Celebration?
Here's what to do: 
Go to the May for Me page.
Add your a link to your blog.
Grab the May for Me Button to your blog.
Post at least one post about taking time for you in the month of May.
Join the fun!
Take time to enjoy the moments in your life...
Marcia

10 comments:

Miss Hillbilly said...

I cannot wait to see you thread paint this!! It is wonderful!

Vroomans' Quilts said...

What a totally different look to this - yes, the thread painting will be wonderful and can't wait to see this one progress.

Mike Pearson said...

Very nice. I just love the scrappiness!

Love Of Quilts said...

The quilt turned out really nice.

elizabeth said...

I also love all those scraps : ). Lovely!

Lesley said...

This is such a sweet quilt! Thank you for walking us through the process. It's certainly like a breath of fresh air!

Carin@Ullhärvan said...

That quilt top looks lovely!

Carrie P. said...

Yay! for the top being finished! It looks great.

Connie Kresin Campbell said...

Looks wonderful and I can't wait to see your thread painting too!

Dora, the Quilter said...

I love the interest the "uneven" blocks add to the quilt. Looking forward to seeing the thread painting too.