WIP Wednesday - 3/20/2013

This is a sort of work in progress. I finished the binding last night and now it just has to be washed and needs a label. This is a gift for a couple that has a baby due in a few weeks. They haven't picked out a name yet so I haven't decided what to write on it. (Any ideas? I am lost without a name for the baby.)  I also made a cute tote that the quilt fits in out of the leftover fabric. The pattern for this tote was in the same free Craftsy class I talked about here. I changed it a little so I could use those cute owl squares.  I had actually cut those squares up to use in the quilt instead of the white but it was just too busy.  I am glad I went with the white.  

I am also going to make a cute little zipper pouch that a trial pack of wipes should fit in. I am going to stop at Walgreens tomorrow and pick one up so I can be sure.

I machine quilted the swirls in the center with some detail on the applique.

The inner border is a ribbon motif.  The outer is some feathers.  I make my feathers bump bump style and no pre-stitched spine. I mark it with chalk and then make it as I go.  It's easier for me this way.    

Guess I missed a string I need to trim.  Some veins quilted in the leaves.

I made the feathers too close to the edge and the binding cut them off.  :(  Oh well.  I will learn for next time. This is the first time I have made feathers on a quilt to give away.  I have always been to hard on myself thinking they weren't good enough.  

The cute back!

Linking up to Freshly Pieced!  I can't wait to see what everyone else has done this week!

Update on owl quilt!

Yesterday I posted about some frustrations I was having with my baby quilt.  Last night I decided to make two mini quilt sandwiches, one pin basted and one spray basted.  I had not one issue with the pin basted one.  I only had a couple skipped stitches with the spray basted.  Not nearly as many or as bad as with the owl quilt.  So I think its definitely the spray.  I think I may have sprayed too much.  I have used this spray before with no problems so I think its just user error.  :)

So short of ripping it all out, I have to deal with it.  I did find that if I went slower I could feel when the needle was starting to stick.  In these areas I made extra sure I held my quilt securely and as flat as possible and that seemed to help.  It cut down on the times I needed to rip thread out and restart.  I did read that a larger needle might help so I ordered some yesterday to be here today.  I love Amazon.

I am glad this quilt is going to a baby.  It's not my best quilting work.  If the baby destroys it I won't be sad. And to be honest, if this didn't need to be done in two weeks I might just start over.  I should be done the middle of the quilt tonight and then its on to the borders.  I wanted to do feathers there so hopefully I didn't over spray the edges.  I can't wait til this quilt is done!

P.S.  I got so many visitors to my blog yesterday from Freshly Pieced.  And more comments than I ever have!  Thanks everyone.  So glad I decided to start linking up with Lee.

Frustration In Progress

I have renamed this weeks post from WIP to FIP.  I have been working on machine quilting this quilt for a few days now.  For some reason I keep getting skipped stitches.  I have changed my needle, cleaned my machine and tried a new spool of thread.  I tried quilting a sample I made up and my machine worked fine.  The only difference between the sample and the quilt is that I did not use spray baste on the sample.  So my conclusion is that something is going on with my spray basting.  I have used this kind before with no problems.  It's the June Taylor quilting spray they sell at JoAnns.  Maybe it was just a bad bottle or I used too much.  At this point I think all I can do is muddle through and keep fixing it as I go.  Luckily this is just a baby quilt so it won't be quite so dreadful.  UGH.  I just need to get it done.  The baby is due in about 3 weeks and I still have to ship it.

The skipped stitch is hard to see on this one but is on the white part.  

A little more obvious here.  I see three in this picture.  

A bigger picture of the quilt.  

Just showing more of the quilting design.

This week I am linking up to Lee at Freshly Pieced.  

Lauryn's Doll Quilt

Lauryn's Doll Quilt, a set on Flickr.

My 8 year old, Lauryn pieced this quilt together using some left over blocks from a quilt I made last spring. She asked me to quilt it for her so I used it as an opportunity to practice some feather work. I definitely feel more confident at them. I had a hard time with the smaller feathers but finally had the hang of them by the time I got to the end.