Ben's Quilt Finished :)

This quilt never a real name beyond just "Ben's Quilt" and so it will stay.  Ben is my good friend who fixed my sewing desk back several months ago so the machine is recessed flush with the desk. And he's just an all around good guy who deserved a quilt :)

Ben said he likes "all the colors" and patterns like stripes, plaids, and paisley. When I asked him to choose a fabric he really liked from my stash he chose a hideous rainbow stripe that I must have found in a remnants bin.  Sigh.  So I made an executive decision on a loose color scheme that seemed to work and started cutting!

Ben is 6'2" or so, so the quilt finished at 72"x81".  I knew I needed to use something really soft on the back, so I found two fabrics on sale at Hancocks. The Longhorns fabric is fleece. They had several Longhorns patterns and I picked the most attractive one, but it was a stretch. The brown fabric is a kind of fleece too I think, but more minky like. Someone described this as like someone skinned a chinchilla :)  Very very soft, deep pile.

For those of you who don't live in Texas, A&M and UT are the two big state schools and they have a fierce rivalry. I went to A&M, Ben went to UT. I did the majority of the backing in his school colors but I had to add in a little A&M patch, since it's coming from me and all!

I was worried about how the quilting would go with the stretchy, fluffy fabrics on the back but it was fine. I had no puckers, folds, nothing! Plus the quilting shows up so nice on the back. I did FMQ square spirals in all the blocks, which made it easier to tackle such a large quilt. One block at a time!

Wilson really enjoyed the fluffy brown fabric. I've since made him a cat bed covered with it in the vain hope that he will sleep on it instead of in my lap when I am trying to sew!

Labeled, folded and ready to go.  It was received with much excitement and it already being used in its new home!

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it Friday!

WIP Wednesday- Basting Party!

I have recovered from my cold, I have a week off work, and I'm back at the machine again! Here's my sewing area this morning. Wilson was insisting on being in my lap, so I brought over a pillow and he consented to stay on that.

I have sewed together 2 quilt backing this morning and today's big project will be getting them basted.  For this LARGE quilt is used an unusual and very stretchy material for the back, so I opted to weigh it down with cans rather than taping it to the floor like I usually do.

We'll see how it quilts, I have my fingers crossed!

Linking to WIP Wednesday.

WIP Wesnesday

Remember these HSTs on the design wall?  Well they were finally sewn together, then cut back apart with some easy curves.

This quilt is also back on the wall. I need to get the second half of it sewn together.  I showed what I have so far to its future owner the other night and he LOVED it, so maybe that will give me the motivation to need to get done!

Finally I've been working on more batik scraps, this time in a pretty girly palette.

Linking up to WIP Wednesday. What are you working on this week?

A Very Busy Design Wall!

It's been a fun, busy few days of sewing around here. First up on my design wall was half of a quilt I am making for a friend.  He said he like "all the colors" and especially plaids and stripes.  My mother kindly pointed out that while all these colors/designs may go together, they might not go together in the same quilt :)

Next up I started working on my crumb paint box blocks again. I am surrounding them with a black and white crossweave (reads as grey) to bring them up to 15".

Then, because clearly I don't have enough WIPs going I started paper piecing a double-size version of the TartanKiwi's panda block.

Which has now turned into this baby top, a la the Fat Quarter Shop's Jelly Roll Jam 2. (Apologies for the crappy nighttime picture.)

Busy and fun, I can't wait to turn some of these WIPs into finishes!

Linking to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.