Quilting my WISP

I was able to baste my WISP before moving and get started on the quilting.  It has two layers of batting: Hobbs 80/20 and Hobbs Wool.  I am quilting it on my Tiara and love how it is turning out.

I am trying to sneak in some quilting time amidst all the moving and settling, but it is slow going.

XX,
Jasmine

Moving

I am thrilled to say that my new house is finished.  Just a few things need fixing, and we have already started the moving process.  Needless to say that things have been a little crazy over here.

Here is a sneak peek at my craft room over the garage.  :)  We have three tone paint throughout the house.  The wall color is Sherwin Williams  Accessible Beige.  It is a chameleon kind of color, sometimes looking beige and other times looking gray.  I love it!

This is my future design wall, sewing, and ironing area.

I will set up my quilting machine (Tiara) in front of the window and may have a play area for Monkey.

It is a big, beautiful room about 14 by 20 feet.  (Big enough for a long arm in the future.)  I will probably have a home tour when we are more settled.

Thanks for visiting and sharing in my excitement!

XX,
Jasmine

Spring Addition: A Finished Quilt

I recently finished this plus quilt which is a gift for a friend.  It was partly inspired by this quilt at A Maidenhair Fern.  While the greens and blues remind me of summer, they remind my friend of spring.  So I have named this quilt, "Spring Addition."

This will definitely not be my last plus quilt.  I already have plans (and fabric) for a "Valentine Addition."

I quilted this on my Baby Lock Tiara in my little sewing area at my mom's house.

The back of this quilt is a nice spring green minky.  The color is a little darker than shows up in the picture.

I always love how the minky shows off the quilting design.

My friend chose the quilting design which is just loops and lopsided flowers.

I have decided that lopsided flowers are much cuter than perfectly even flowers.  ;)

I bound the quilt in a navy blue textured fabric.  I love how it frames the quilt.

My friend is excited to have her own minky backed quilt after having made four quilts (all with minky on back) for everyone else in her family last year.

I love simple quilts!

Quilt Stats #178
Name:  Spring Addition
Pattern:  Plus quilt from 6 inch cut squares
Fabric:  Scraps from three quilts
Amount Used:  6.5 yards
Size:  About 55 x 77 inches
Batting:  Hobbs 80/20
Date Finished: March 2016
What I learned:

• Don't forget to have a range in values on plus quilts. (I needed a couple more darks.)

XX,
Jasmine

P.S.  I will be linking up with some of the fun parties on my sidebar including Oh Scrap!

Plus Quilt in Progress

This navy, aqua and green plus quilt is made with the scraps from A Day in the Country.  I had bought quarter yard cuts, but ended up only using 3.5 inch strips of each fabric.

I cut the squares out at six inches because that is what was left of the original quarter yard cuts.  Knowing I wanted to make a lap quilt I did purchase a few more sixth yard cuts last year so that there would be some fabrics with more than one plus.  I started out laying the fabrics on the design floor and realized that I needed a little more variety.  So I pulled out scraps from three other quilts.

The extra fabrics really helped a lot.

I marked the rows with pins, stacked them up, and pretty soon had a finished quilt top.

You can see evidence of the quilt inspector in the picture above.  The monkey feet would not move for the picture.  ;)

XX,
Jasmine

P.S.  I will be linking up with Oh Scrap today.  Check it out to see more fun scrap projects.

Flower Pot Mini: A Finish

I decided to do some more testing with a double batting on a mini quilt made from a panel.  I bought the small panel for 25 cents at my local quilt shop a couple years ago, so it was perfect for a test quilt.  I used a layer of Hobbs 80/20 on the bottom and a layer of Hobbs Wool on top.  I quilted it with Floriani's polyester embroidery thread.  I love how the thread sparkles in the sunlight.

The first thing I did was outline the prints in the panel.

Then I quilted in the background with small spirals.

I used a scrap from the backing of Floating for the binding on this quilt.  While I do a lot of bindings by machine, I like to sew the binding down by hand when there is a high contrast with the backing fabric.

I love how it turned out and can see more simple panel quilts in my future.  I had so much fun playing with the free motion quilting.

I think I like the Kona Snow backing as much as the front.

The puffy batting almost acts like trapunto without all the extra work.

This mini quilt finishes about 11 by 20 inches.

What surprises me with the double batting is how much stiffer the quilt is.  It is perfect for a wall hanging, but I don't think I will do it on a cuddle quilt.

XX,
Jasmine

Double Batting Test

I want the quilting on my WISP to really show, so I have been contemplating using a double batting.  I decided to test it out.  This is made with a layer of Hobbs 80/20 batting and a layer of the Hobbs wool batting. This sample measures 8 inches by 14 inches.

I put it in the washer and dryer with a load of whites to see how it would look after laundering.

It now measures 7.5 by 13.5 inches, not bad shrinkage with the cotton/poly blend and the wool batting.

The back of the sample (80/20 side) looks good too.

I love how it turned out and think I will be using it in my quilt soon.

Have you ever done a double batting like this?

XX,
Jasmine

Tammy's Second Quilt

I am happy to say that the quilting of Tammy's second quit went much better than her first one four years ago.  This is due in part to a better quality minky and the Hobbs 80/20 batting which acts as a stabilizer for the minky.  The minky on her first quilt was much more stretchy and the thin polyester batting did not stabilize it.  Basting the quilt with my basting spray also helped a lot.

This time I attached the ric rac while quilting instead of having her sew it on.  It is much easier to add it with a free motion quilting foot than a regular presser foot because I didn't have to turn the quilt with every curve.

It is hard to tell from the picture above, but I set up my Tiara in my mother's basement for the quilting of this quilt.  It was a really tight fit in my sewing space at the bottom of her stairs, but so worth it.  I was really missing my own quilting machine.

After quilting the quilt, I squared it up and added a traditional machine binding in blue.

I love how the quilting looks on the minky backing.

I also love how the ric rac puffed up a little bit because of the quilting.

The ric rac looks really neat on the backing.  I outlined some of the butterflies in the center stripe and love how it turned out.

Tammy was very pleased with this finished quilt.

She made it to coordinate with her first quilt because that butterfly fabric is the dust ruffle on the baby crib.

I hope this quilt is loved by her new granddaughter as much as the first.

XX,
Jasmine