Thursday, September 20, 2018

Jolly Rancher


This is Jolly Rancher, another scrap vortex made from my cool color solid scraps.  I pieced it back in July right after I pieced Starburst.  Now I just need to finish a scrap quilt called Skittles.  (I really do have one planned and maybe started.) 


I quilted it on the Bernina Q24 in an open combined quilting design.  I quilted feathers, flowers, hearts, leaves, paisleys, and spirals.


It took me longer to quilt than Starburst because it required more thinking.  I love the results from the improv quilting on an improv quilt.




It has purple minky on the back.



Bunny loves to feel the fuzzy, fuzzy, fuzzy minky.


I bound the quilt in navy blue leftover from my niece's quilt.


I had enough scraps to make it 58 by 72 inches without borders.


It is fun seeing how different Starburst and Jolly Rancher turned out.


Jolly Rancher is living in this cabinet for now. But it is always ready for a snuggle.


This is my ninth quilt finish for this year.  That is about one per month.  Quilt production has definitely been slower this year, but there is a time and a season for everything. 

XX,
Jasmine

P.S.  I will be linking up with some of the fun parties on my sidebar (including Oh, Scrap).  Check them out for more quilty inspiration.

Monday, September 17, 2018

Quilting Spirals and Paisleys


Some sweet people have mentioned that they liked how I combined spirals with paisleys on my Starburst quilt.  They even said that they might want to try it sometime.  I wanted to put some of my thoughts together on the combined design to provide a starting place.  I think that machine quilting is a lot like handwriting.  We write the same letters, but put our own slant on them. 

I think that spirals and paisleys combine so well because they are both rounded and both have points.  Plus the way I quilt them, they both echo inside and outside easily.  I call these my open design spirals and paisleys because each motif is not closed like images in a coloring book. 


First, paisleys are not tear drops.  They are more like a plume with a curving arc.  I like to think of the yin and yang symbol, how the black and white curve around each other and fill the space.  When I do paisleys I stitch the outside first and then echo inside once.  I feel like I end up with a prettier paisley doing it that way. 

Second, I like to think of cinnamon rolls when I quilt a spiral.  To fill up the space I frequently add hooks to my spirals.  Sometimes I add more than one hook. 

Third, with any design you quilt you need to know how to travel to get to another area.  I echo around previous motifs to get to another quilting space.  You also need to know the best place to stop and plan your next quilting direction.  Stopping at any of the points in either spirals or paisleys works well to hide those start and stop places. 

When combining designs I first like to look at each motif separately. 


Paisleys are fun even by themselves.  Melissa Corry from Happy Quilting has a great echoed paisley video which helped me a lot. 


With paisleys you can make butterfly wings, hearts, vines, groupings of three or combinations in random directions.  I have drawn them out in the image above.  The asterisks is my starting place. 


Hooked spirals is one of my favorite designs.  Angela Walters has a great swirl hook video tutorial


When quilting or doodling spirals just remember to leave room to come out after you have quilted to the center. 

As I mentioned earlier, I combined the spirals with the paisleys to quilt Starburst. 


I mostly combined them in a random fashion like in the picture below.  I never counted how many spirals or paisleys I did in a row.  My goal was just to fill the space evenly with both designs.  I naturally quilted more paisleys than I did spirals. 


However, there were two combinations I especially liked. 


I quilted a spiral at the top of a paisley vine.  It reminded me of a flower above the leaves.  I also quilted paisleys in the same direction around a spiral.  It reminded me of feathered spirals. 

Starburst (which measures about 58 by 72 inches) was quilted in about two hours on the Bernina Q24 longarm machine.  It went quickly by leaving the designs open and echoing to move around them.  Here are a couple more pictures which show the quilting a little better. 



 I always recommend doodling designs before actually quilting them on a quilt. 


Have you ever quilted a spiral and paisley combo?  I would love to see your work if you try it or have already done it. 

XX,
Jasmine

Thursday, September 13, 2018

Starburst


I was able to finish up this quilt during nap time and father/daughter time.  I decided to name it Starburst after one of Cheetah's favorite candies.  My niece Miss S suggested it.  My original name for it was Flamin' Hot, but I decided against it.  I pieced it while the Dollarridge Fire was burning less than a half mile from my father's cabin. I am happy to say that due to the amazing efforts of the firefighters my parent's cabin and those surrounding theirs were spared.


I quilted it on the Bernina Q24 in a new to me quilting design combination.


Spirals and paisleys.  :)



I really like the combo and will be sure to do it again.  My sweet little Bunny gave this quilt her stomp of approval when I showed my husband the quilting design.



It is no surprise that she loved the fuzzy minky backing.


Then I bound it in the same red as the border.


I totally love it! It finishes about 60 by 70 inches.


My sister-in-law asked who it was for.  I said, "Well, it matches my September Decor."


(Complete with rainbow baby gate.)


I think it may be a keeper.


However, my husband isn't that fond of throw quilts.  He likes things put away, so it may stay here until ready for a cuddle.


I now have a post about how I combined the spirals and paisleys in my quilting. 

XX,
Jasmine

P.S. I will be linking up with some of the fun parties on my sidebar including Oh Scrap. Check them out to see what other quilters have made.

Monday, September 10, 2018

Introducing Bunny


I would like to introduce you to Bunny.  I don't mean this kind of bunny, but my new adopted daughter who I will call Bunny here on the blog.


My husband and I had been working since March to get licensed to Foster to Adopt.  Our goal was to be licensed by the end of September after my sister-in-law and niece moved into their new house.  We told many of our local friends what we were doing.  One of our friends told us about an opportunity for a private adoption, and we decided to try that first.  Everything went smoothly and we have now added Bunny to our family.  We feel it was meant to be.

Bunny is such a sweet little girl who has quickly become an integral part of our family.  She loves her protective big brothers.


She also loves minky just like them.  (Sneak peek at a quilt I hope to finish soon.)


I loved seeing her nuzzle the minky the second I laid this quilt on the floor.  Some of you may remember her brothers always doing that.

I can tell you that it is already so much fun having a daughter.  I have pulled out little girl things I have already made.  We have started decorating her room.


I look forward to spending lots of time with my darling daughter and making her more quilty items.

This sweet little poem has been running through my mind lately:

Cleaning and scrubbing 
Can wait till tomorrow.
For babies grow up,
We've learned to our sorrow.  
So quiet down, cobwebs.
Dust, go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby,
and babies don't keep.
~Author Unknown

As you can imagine, our adoption of Bunny has greatly changed our schedules.  So until things become more routine, my quilting time is greatly reduced.  Blogging will be pretty sporadic.  I'll be rocking my Bunny and enjoying our time together.

XX,
Jasmine

Thursday, September 6, 2018

August Table Runner


After I finished the last wedding quilt for this year, I pulled out my aqua, green and navy scraps to make another table runner.  It matches my August mantle and decorations. 



It is so much fun changing things up every month. 

I quilted the table runner on my domestic sewing machine with a hooked spiral. 


The back is a solid aqua color, so the runner is nice and reversible. 


In fact, I put the solid side up for a baby shower for my soon-to-be-born grand nephew.  :) 

The scraps were left over from these two quilts. 


Spring Addition which I gave to my friend Alissa. 


And A Day in the Country which hangs up upstairs in August. 

I still have plans for a green table runner using this same pattern.  I love how well it fits on that quilt cabinet. 

XX,
Jasmine

P.S.  I will be linking up with some of the fun parties on my sidebar including Oh Scrap.  Check them out for more quilty inspiration.