Sunkissed Trails

I have been calling this quilt Sunny Trails from the beginning because that was the name Corey used when she made it for Moda Bake Shop and since I was using the Sunkissed line by Sweetwater it worked.  But as I was sewing on the binding I decided Sunkissed Trails was just as appropriate of a name and I just liked it a little better.  So I have now dubbed this one Sunkissed Trails.

So much prettier than my typical laundry

Finished front of quilt

Overall this quilt was fairly easy to put together because Corey has a great pattern written.  One thing I will say is if you are using directional prints make sure you pay attention before you sew all your blocks together. You actually end up rotating every other one.  I tried to be really careful to have all my words running the same way but in the end I still ended up with a few rouge pieces.

Binding going on-back fabric

I used the great polka dot line for the backing on this one.  I have to say I love this line as much now as I did when I started this quilt back in 2011.  It has one of the softest hands of any Moda fabric I have ever sewn with.  And it is just so bright and sunny and happy.  I had this one quilted by a longarmer with a pattern called Daisy's Galore in a soft yellow thread.  I think that's just the right touch.

Close up of the daisy quilting

If you want to read more about the journey of this quilt you can find previous post here, here, and here.

WIP Wednesday

So we finally moved into our new digs at work.  I can't even begin to tell you how nice it is to be out of what was defiantly a sick building and into a nice new space that is clean.  Better yet it's not an old warehouse so there is this thing called sunshine that actually makes it into the building.

I made a lot of good progress this week in the way of sewing and actually managed to finish up the top to my Sunny Trails quilt.  I really like this pattern and I'm a little disappointed that it's only baby size.  I don't know how I missed that when I decided to make this way back in 2011 but I guess now I have another baby quilt that will be finished and waiting should someone I know decide to have a little girl.

A few things about this pattern that aren't deal breakers but good to know.  The blocks actually rotate direction every other one but this isn't spelled out in the directions.  So if you are using a directional print like the text prints in the Sunkissed line I used you could end up with words going every other way.  Lucky for me I'm not the most patient person so I tried laying out my first row once I had four blocks made and saw the error.  So I made 10 blocks one way and 10 blocks the other so that the top went together nicely. There are photos of both blocks in the pattern but if you don't catch it you could wind up in trouble.

This was right after it was hung so I still have a lot
more treasures to fill it in

In other news the hubs helped me hang up the shelf in my sewing room.  It's hard to tell that it is a beautiful shade of pale aqua in the photos but I love it.  It gives me a place to put my quilting books and some gifts from some of my sewing friends.  I want to hang up a photo or two but it really does add so much to the space.

I was having a little too much fun on PicMonkey this week trying out the new Halloween effects and since I won't be back from Canada until the day before Halloween I thought I would go ahead and share my Zombie photo.  Besides Walking Dead is coming back this Sunday and its a favorite show for both the hubs and me so it seemed like a appropriate.

No we aren't really gray and covered in blood.

Be sure to head over to Lee's and see what everyone else is up to.

Not So Sunny Trails

My birthday is in a little over a week and for some reason for the last few years I have freaked out about getting another year older.  Maybe it's because things are different then I expected them to be not bad just different.  Maybe it's because I start obsessing about all the things I still want to accomplish.  At any rate I tend to freak out.  Part of this years freak out has included this overwhelming need to finish outstanding projects.  I don't know why-maybe because I feel like I can't start new projects until some of the old ones are finished.

One of those projects that has been lingering around is my Sunny Trails quilt.  It's hard to believe I first started sewing these blocks back in 2011.  Sometimes I am amazed at just how long things have been sitting around unfinished.  I really thought this one was no more than a year old but in searching for the original post I found it in January 2011.  I started this quilt such a long time ago and unfortunately it has those stupid stitch and flip blocks in it and mine don't seem to be lining up.  I think that is one of the reasons I put this away to start with.  But now I have about half of the blocks made so I am sure I can finish this.

I think one of the hardest things is to pick up a project you worked on a long time ago.  As your skills improve you know these blocks aren't great.  But I love these fabrics and this pattern so I am just making it work.  Hopefully the quilting will make it a little less obvious and it won't be all bumpy lumpy.

WIP Wednesday

It's hard to believe that it is already Wednesday again already.  I made some great progress on a few things this week.  I finished up the baby quilt top that I was working on thanks to some unexpected time on Friday afternoon.

Then I decided that I was going to start knocking some of those WIP's off my list.  I looked through my pile and decided that it was about time I finish up my Sunny Trails quilt.  I started this quilt back in January of 2012 and after sewing up 15 of the 20 required 16 patch squares I stalled.  Maybe because cutting fabric is my least favorite part of the process.  However, when I looked at my stacks of half finished projects I thought it was about time I finished this one up.  I quickly sewed up the 5 remaining  16 patch blocks.

After that it was simple enough to cut the strips from the solids and after a night of TV watching I had the lines drawn on the backs of the solid yellow and gray squares.  Now that I have all of the smaller parts done it is just a matter of getting the blocks sewn together.

I managed to make just one of these blocks this week which turned out to be a blessing.  I have really paid attention to making sure that the text prints are all running the same way.  The instructions call for making 20 blocks and then laying them out in a 4 by 5 layout.  But as I was looking at the layout again last night after finishing the first block I realized that every other block is turned.  So I need to adjust the position of the text in those blocks to account for that.  It makes a ton of sense but had I just made all 20 of my blocks before laying them out as I had planned to do I would have had text going all sorts of crazy ways.

Be sure to head over to Lee's to see what everyone else is up to on WIP Wednesday.

Step 1: Just Sew Something

After setting such a lofty goal for 2012 I knew that if I dragged my feet I would never be able to accomplish 12 quilts in only 12 short months.  So after giving Bertha a good cleaning and a fresh needle I changed the blades in my rotary cutters and got down to business.  Since I have almost everything I need for Sunny Trails and the pieces are small enough to cut in my tiny sewing space I thought I would start there.  For this quilt I am following Corey's Moda Bake Shop Tutorial.  So far things are going well.  I did a little rework of the math since Corey advised she had a lot of extra pieces left over.  After I took out the solids and duplicates as Corey suggested I had the same 37 layer cake squares left.  From this I figured out that I could cut three 2" by 10" inch strips from 18 of the squares and four 2" by 10" strips from the remaining 19 squares.  This left me with a larger piece left from some of the squares which I plan to incorporate into the back of this quilt. 

All of the pairs sewn together and cut back down.  Now time to sew the four patches.

I knew I wanted all of my words to go in the same direction so I took special care when sewing together the pairs and then separated out all of the pairs with words when cutting down the strips.  The next step is to sew all of the pairs into four patches which is where I am now.  I had to order some Bella White since none of the local stores carry Moda.  So once I get my four patches and sixteen patches done I will be putting this project on hold for just a little while until the White fabric arrives but have no fear I have Farmer's Wife Blocks to make to get back on track and ready to start with the group again at the end of January.  That means lots of sewing and lots of projects to share.

Almost done making four patches.