I knew that!

Peachy Keen/Jelly Beans

Look what I found in my drafts: an old post that’ll be a month old tomorrow! Sheesh.

I finished my Peachy Keen quilt for DQSII last week. Whew! What a relief…for a minute or two. THEN I remembered that I’d committed to making a “fairy” quilt for another swapper whose partner had to drop out.

I finished binding the Jelly Beans fairy quilt this afternoon,  washed and dried it, and then hotfooted it to the P.O. minutes before they closed. Last-minute Lisa strikes again.

I forgot to put the walking foot on my machine for a few rows of quilting both horizontally and vertically. Gah. Didn’t have time to rip it out; I never would have made the post office on time.

All of the fabric came out of my stash. And yes, it’s the Plain Spoken quilt again from the Modern Quilt Workshop. I love that design. It almost makes itself. This is my 3rd or fourth time making it, although I halved the finished block sizes, making this piece 19″ x 21″.

Today was the deadline for sending quilts, so much of the work is done for the other Swap Mamas and me. A few swappers here and there need a little extra time, but all that’s really left to do is sit back and watch the little packages show up on blogs and of course on the Doll Quilt Swap photo pool on flickr. We’ll track to make sure that everyone gets something. Then it’s on to planning Doll Quilt Swap III! Maybe the other Mamas and I can get together on IM to toss some ideas around for the next round.

Now that my swap projects are done, I finally get a chance to play with a few quilt tutorials shared by some very clever ladies.

Liz posted this technique on Whiplash for their miniature quilt contest. It’s since been adopted by Kim and the gang for the July Doll Quilt Challenge. I want to try it in brights on a black background.

Sarah G.’s swap quilt employed some cool and wonky Log Cabin blocks. Here’s a link to her tutorial on flickr so you can try it yourself. I have to warn you: it’s very addictive. I’ve tried it out on a several blocks, with varying degree of success. It has motivated me to tidy up my scrap basket, though. Now I don’t have to paw my way through piles of scraps to find the right size or color anymore. I’ve made a few and multiplied them in a graphics program to see how a quilt might look:

And look at Amy’s swap quilt! Isn’t it cool? I stared at it for a while wondering how she made the blocks. Luckily, she posted the technique tonight. I’ve made up a block, and people, it is fun! And fast, too!

A day late and a dollar short

Yesterday, fellow Doll Quilt Swapper Kathy and I had an all-afternoon-and-evening push to complete our quilts for DQSII. I’m happy to report that, one day past the sending deadline for the early wave of swappers, I’ve finished hand-quilting and binding Peachy Keen. It’s on its way to a far, far away country and a lady I hope likes it very much.

As I mentioned before, the design for the quilt came from Denyse Schmidt’s “What a Bunch of Squares.”

I named it “Peachy Keen because it reminded me of these:

Its final dimensions were 19-1/2″ wide X 23-3/4″ long.

I found hand-quilting it to be quite enjoyable. I love the way hand sewing really demands that you slow down and focus on the project – the stitch, even – at hand. I felt successful with even two good (okay, passable) stitches in a row and immersed myself in the process, rather than rushing through every seam. “Done” is a delight, but “doing” was just as much so with this!

I have a few blocks that didn’t make it into the quilt. I want to include them in Denyse Schmidt Sampler. And hand-quilt it, of course.

All Doll Quilts, All the time

I just posted an announcement over at the Doll Quilt Swap blog that we are ending the registrations early. At 100 swappers! I hate for anyone to be disappointed at missing the signups, but I had noooo idea that the swap would become so popular. I’d hate more if the swap experience was lessened or compromised by us not being able to keep up with questions and stay on top of the swappers’ progress, so it had to be done. Boo! Please help spread the word on change if you happened to post about the deadline on your blog.

In much, much happier news, I received my swap quilt from Michelle last week.

Isn’t it pretty? It was showcased on Whipup for their May miniature quilt challenge, and rightly so. All the stitching: the piecing as well as the quilting, was done by Michelle’s own two talented hands.

 The binding is stitched and mitered so beautifully, it’s ridiculous, and I mean it in the nicest possible way.

It took a while for me to recognize that the rows progressed in rainbow order. I was just so agog at all the fabrics and handwork. The quilt includes batiks and calicos, a mix of new and vintage cottons. This is one of my favorite sections.

I’m humbled and grateful at having received such a work of art. What a treasure. Thank you, Michelle.

Doll Quilt Swap II signups start TOMORROW 6/3

Thank you for your patience! And thanks to those who commented on what you’d like to see in the next swap.

Go to the Doll Quilt Swap site tomorrow for the swap guidelines and instructions for signing up.

dollquiltswap.wordpress.com/

Woo, hoo!! I can’t wait!

Strawberry Rhubarb Πr2

That’s what I’ve named this quilt, which I just completed for our little Doll Quilt Swap. The colors reminded me of the fillings in my husband’s favorite pie.

I’ve quilted grids between the circles that look a little like a lattice crust. And of course the formula for the area of a circle is πr². Guess I’ve been teaching too many math classes at the ol’ children’s museum :o)

The design is based on the Mod quilt in Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr’s book The Quilter’s Color Workshop. They’re the fine folks at Funquilts who also authored the popular book The Modern Quilt Workshop. I thought a lot about color when choosing the fabric for this quilt. The middle section of the quilt is supposed to look as though a translucent white square lies lays sits atop the “original” darker colors, seen along the edge.

I love, love, love the binding. It’s a couple of taupes and a salmony-rosy color woven together.

This is my first time making a doll quilt. I was really amazed at how much more quickly and easily it seemed each step was completed, compared to making a larger quilt. It also took so little fabric and very little space to work on it (marking, layering, pinning).

That being said, I did hit a couple of speed bumps. Since both of the circle fabrics had directional prints, I had to be super careful when cutting and piecing them. And I challenged myself to try out curved piecing, thinking it would be easier on a small project. It was hard for me! I drafted the templates for the circles, which was a little tricky, but they worked out. The curved quilting gave me fits, too. Luckily the majority of the quilting is straight-line grid and channel quilting, which is easy-peasy with a walking (even-feed) foot.

I’m a little sad to pack it up, but I guess I have to: the deadline to send quilts for the swap is Monday! Hint, hint, Swap Dolls!!