Tag Archives: Zoom Zoom

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I'm so happy to be sharing this finished quilt. I bought the race car fabric quite a while ago and hadn't found a reason to use it until recently. I designed this quilt to feature the race cars without chopping them up to small. There are a fair number of partial seams, but I already mastered those while making my Purple Ninja quilt. I love bright colors and enjoyed pulling together the blender fabrics to accompany the race cars. I ordered the Ta Dot print in Apple and Crosshatch Sketch in Tangerine since I didn't have the right green or orange in my stash. So five of my seven fabrics are from my stash.

Each section is quilted in matching Aurifil thread (Red #2250, Burnt Orange #1133, Canary #2120, Spring Green #1231, Turquoise #2810). I chose to use the same motif in each matching section of the layout, and I wanted a variety of curves and lines. The cars each have a freeform, flamelike pattern (in Natural White #2021). The square sections each have a square spiral. I used large pebbles (I like to think of them as river rocks) in the top of each pair of rectangles and switchback quilting on the diagonal in the lower rectangle. The long, skinny rectangles were each quilted with a curvy zigzag that ended up looking like shark fins to me. It's been a while since I've done much free motion quilting, so it was fun to get back in the groove. It's so much more fun than quilting a bunch of parallel straight lines (that quilt will be done soon so I can share it!).

I had a great stripe in my stash that I chose for the backing, which drove the size of the quilt. It finished at 34" x 40". I think it's a great baby quilt size, even though this one will be going to a 4-year-old. It's still a great size for cuddling up with at that age. Certainly big enough to cover himself on the couch for reading or TV watching.

Since the quilt was full of color and the backing was, um... loud, I decided to bind it in a black and white. It's the first time that I have made a straight grain binding which I found a little more picky to work with, but I wanted to keep the crosshatch pattern on the binding on the diagonal.

What do you like best about making quilts for kids?

Thanks for visiting!

I'm linking up to Finish It Friday, TGIFF and Needle and Thread Thursday, as well as the Q3 Finish Along finishes party. See all my Q3 WIPs in my goal post.

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First, the migraine report: They haven't been quite as bad overall this week. Time is still getting away from me as I play catch up, hence the late post. It's totally still Wednesday in my time zone. ;-)

I've basically been a free motion quilting machine this week. Last week, I'd just started the quilting on Zoom Zoom. It's now fully quilted and bound! Woo hoo! Full reveal on the blog tomorrow, but here's a peek.

 

I also completed the quilting on Caterpillar Fizz, my baby size Very Hungry Caterpillar quilt. No binding yet.

 

Then I moved on to my Star Light Star Dark quilt from the quilt along at Quilty Habit. I'm quilting each quadrant with a different color thread, and I'm almost done with the yellow thread section. I just need to quilt the large star.

 

In case you haven't seen my last two posts, I've entered quilts into the Original Design and Home Machine Quilted categories of the Blogger's Quilt Festival. Voting is open through Friday if you'd like to check out the many beautiful quilts being shared and vote for your favorites. There are links to the categories I entered in my last two posts and you can find all the categories on Amy's main post.

AmysCreativeSide

 

Thanks for visiting! I hope you're having a great week.

I'm linking up to Midweek Makers and Needle and Thread Thursday.

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Most of the past week was spent stitching my block and preparing my post for the New Block Hop I participated in this week. If you haven't checked out those posts, we have some amazingly talented participants with some really awesome blocks. (Links to day one posts and to the hosts can be found in my last post.) Beyond that, everything has been about preparing to quilt a number of quilts. That number happens to be five.

The Quilts

  1. I helped my daughter baste her doll quilt. She's getting very excited to give her gift. Here's the front view and a peek at the backing/label. I love that she's named it Striped Quilt.
  2. I have a secret project that is basted and ready for some straight line quilting. No pics.
  3. The race car quilt is basted and ready to quilt. I'm going for some Jess inspired free motion on that one. 
  4. My sister and brother-in-law requested another quilt for my baby nephew to play on so I'll be finishing up Star Light Star Dark for them. I've chosen backing (see below) and binding fabrics for this one, and made the label. (Edited: I'm linking up to the Star Light Star Dark Final Linky Party with my finished quilt top.)
  5. I hope to crank out a fast finish on a Very Hungry Caterpillar baby quilt to deliver this weekend. It's all ready to baste. I love that it's small enough to not need a pieced backing. The label is above. 

Now I'm hoping for some great sewjo and a few really productive days of quilting. Fingers crossed.

 

A Little Bit About My Quilting Process

I start by working on my hardwood floor to baste, using blue tape to tape down only my backing fabric. I pin baste. I like to use Clover Flower Head Pins and Pinmoors. I am very generous with the number of pins I use, pinning every 3-4" to avoid shifting. Generally, I put all the pins in, remove the tape and then sit in a comfortable seat while I put on the Pinmoors. (I love how fast and easy they are to remove during quilting.) I use Quilter's Dream cotton batting exclusively. My quilts usually stay in California, and it doesn't get that cold here. My preferred batting weight is Select. I use both walking foot and free motion quilting, all done on my domestic machine, which has a 7" throat (the space to the right of the needle). The largest quilt I think I've quilted on it to date is Bold Blooms, which is 65" x 83". Our king-sized bed quilt is the one quilt I've sent out to a long arm quilter. (I just wanted it done!) I use a closed toe darning foot for free motion quilting, but wish I had an open toe darning foot. I think that's about it. Let me know if I missed anything you'd like to know about!

Thanks for visiting!