Quilt Challenge Day 9

For day nine, I'm showing this quilt that I made for a granddaughter. Marley chose the colors and asked for "something zigzag." I think she must have seen another chevron quilt. I needed to play a little, so the compromise became two sizes of chevrons in three colors. They lost their home to mold several years ago and all of their quilts were lost, so this one is in a landfill somewhere. But that does not take away from the fact that it once existed as a silly quilt for a little girl who loved zigzags just because she had learned a new word. Marley has made two quilts since they built their new home (one the other side of our house) and is likely to find an excuse to make yet another, perhaps one for her mom and dad since they lost a quilt also.

Pin It Weekly #255

I imagine it's time to get back to pinning. Question: was I on a herringbone/chevron thing before the computer crash? Well, whatever happened, it was hefty because there are easily 15 chevron quilts in one small section of my "heart, quilts" board. 

Aren't they pretty? Also on the board are lots of easy scrap quilts. Something we all need if we're ever going to get those scrap bins under control, am I right? Here are a few:

Yellow Chevron ~~ Finished!

A few weeks months ago I made this yellow chevron quilt to test a pattern, which I've written about a few several times. This one is a smaller, crib quilt that did not take long at all. It may have been one of the first quilts that I made with my "In One Day" pattern. This is the pattern that I used for "That Big Chevron." Of course, this top sat on the growing pile of tops waiting to be quilted. I just wanted to test out the pattern in a variety of sizes, so finishing was not a priority. 

I think I like this one because it's so bright. That yellow and black are pretty fantastic together and, let's face it the polka dots pull it all together.  I quilted pebbles in the solid yellow and easy stippling in polka dots. For the black, I dropped in a loose, loopy rope design. All easy, quick quilting!

 Although the quilt looks okay turned on its side, to form a Streak of Lightning design, I still prefer the way it looks in the horizontal chevron pattern. 

As I think about it, I don't think I've seen a quilt with a Streak of Lightning design that I've liked a great deal. So maybe it's me. Maybe I just have a default design preference that I can't help going back to .

Oh well, if that's the case I am only now becoming aware of it, so apparently it hasn't hurt me very much. I guess I should pay attention to this idea. Well, maybe.

	Quilt Stats
Name:	Yellow Chevron
Size:	45” x 50”
Fabrics:	Stash fabrics-- Kona black, Kona bright yellow, polka dots
Binding:	Kona black
Pattern:	In One Day pattern
Quilting:	Custom Free Motion Quilting – stippling and pebbling
Completed:	September 2016

How about you? Do you have a default design sensibility that you can't seem to help liking over other designs? 

Linking up with

Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts

Kelly at My Quilt Infatuation

Fort Worth Fabric Studio

TGIFF at Rainbows, Bunnies, Cupcakes

"That Big Chevron" and Bloggers' Quilt Festival

Early this month I finished the king size quilt that I had started for our youngest son and his wife. You can read about it here and here. They recently bought a house and, because they have the space, they replaced their bedroom suite. That meant the queen quilt that I gave them right after their wedding is not big enough.

Enter the biggest quilt I've made to date. I had just designed a new pattern which can be used to create a chevron design. Happily it's in vogue now and the kids must like it since they often wear clothing with a chevron pattern. I took my cues from that and pictures the couple sent of the colors they wanted to have in their bedroom. (Pictures of the paint chips are in the collage above.)

Rory sent pictures of the quilt after they had washed it. Thank goodness I recommended that they toss in some Color Catcher sheets. He told me later that they worked really well and apparently there was lots of bleeding from the burnt plum color.

It turns out that the original wall paint--a neutral light khaki--is perfect for the colors in the quilt, and they've decided not to repaint, at least for a while. 

I had promised myself that I would include one quilt in the Bloggers Quilt Festival this year. I almost missed it, but when I read about it on a couple of blogs last night, I decided that it's really time to keep some of my promises to myself. 

Since this is my absolutely largest quilt ever, it deserves a little recognition. There ya go! Problem solved, promises kept, person relieved. 

Soon I'll start the quilt I will make for the oldest son and his sweet wife. I've been delaying that in the hopes that some inspiration will strike and I'll be off and done in no time at all. It's another king, so expectations may be rather high.

Go by the Bloggers' Quilt Festival to see some amazing quilts. You can also vote for your favorite in each category. Have fun!

That Big Chevron ~~ Finished!

Yes indeed! It's done! It's big, but it's finished! 

I was beginning to think that I wouldn't get to the end. And even when it was off the long-arm, there was all of that binding to cut and sew. Four-hundred inches of binding. Guess how I applied it. Can a girl say, "sew on"? There were two reasons for sewing it on. First, the amount of binding. Second, it needs to be durable. 

But it's all on and finished! Even the labels are one. I put my small label in the binding on the front, but I still added a big label with the name of the quilt, date, size, etc. on the back. It's important to me that there be some form of identification on the quilt for later. Hopefully this one will last a very long time, and I hope that my great-grands may one day use it. A girl can have a little hope, right?

One of the things that I really like about this quilt is its versatility. I call it a chevron, but turned on its side, it becomes "Streak of Lightening." It's almost perfectly square 101" X 102", so it will be easy to change it up now and then.

I skipped the slim lines when quilting, but each of the burnt plum and khaki stripes has a different quilting motif, and I changed thread colors many times. I'm hoping that adds to the interest since the grands love to touch and pet. I wonder where they got that from...

The back is pieced from lots of deep reds, almost brown, khakis, lighter reds. They are shades of the main colors from the front.

And that's it. Not difficult at all, but big. Really big. But, apparently, also doable--if you just keep at it even when it seems you'll never finish!

		Quilt Stats
	Name:	That Big Chevron
	Size:	101” X 102”
	Fabrics:	Kona Khaki, Raisin, red, olive, orange, yellow
	Binding:	Kona Khaki
	Pattern:	In One Day (my design)
	Quilting:	Custom Free Motion Quilting
	Completed:	Sept 2016

So what do you think? I'm curious. After weeks of working on it, I'm dying for some feedback.

I am pretty proud of this one! So much so that I'm 

Linking up with

The Needle and Thread Network

NTT at My Quilt Infatuation
Let's Be Social at Sew Fresh Quilts
Crazy Mom Quilts

Closer and closer to a finish!

I may get this one finished. This big, huge king-sized quilt. The one I've been working on for such a long time. Since July 23rd, in fact. Over a month. That's a long time for a quilt made entirely by machine. Especially for me. 

And it's not even finished. Yet. But I'm getting closer.  I took this picture to before pulling it off the machine so that I could show you just how big the quilt is. My machine is 120 inches wide, the quilt backing has a wingspan that stretches from one end of the machine to the other. It should end up about 105-110 inches.  And it's just as long. 

Oh wow, I just had a hint of the amount of binding I'll need. I may as well shoot for 450 inches--12 yards?! That just can't be right. I double checked my math. Then I had Richard do the math. Yes, 12 yards of binding! 

Each of the chevrons has a different quilting motif which really stretched my brain and forced me to work with a few motifs that I'm not entirely comfortable with. 

But somehow I managed to get through the entire quilt and took it off the machine. I hope to begin cutting out the binding tomorrow and perhaps sew it on over the weekend. 

On Sun Visors and Granddaughters ~~ an odd finish!

Dusti: Grandmay, can you please sew my sun visor?
Me: What?
Dusti: Sew my sun visor on my car.
Me: What?
Dusti: We are fixing my car and Dad took the visor off. And I want to cover it with fabric, but I need you to sew it.
Me: When? What? Now? 
Dusti: Dad is leaving to go to work and he's going to put the visors back on the car tonight.
Me: Really? Now? 
Dusti: But Grandmay, it's going to be so pretty. I got really pretty fabric, but I need you to sew it.
Me: Tonight? Now? Oh, come on. This is crazy. Come on.

visors in up position

visors in down position

So now it's 9 p.m. and I've just sent them on their way, two newly recovered sun visors done and supper included.  So, yes, we paid them for the pleasure of doing them a crazy favor.  Is it any wonder that they come up with this kind of insanity?  Well, honestly, Pinterest does not help my cause.

view showing the door panels and visors (with mirrors open and lit)

Will (dad) removed the visors and took them apart. Then I used one visor as a pattern cutting around the visor with a good inch extra to fold over. 

Once the fabric was cut out, Will and I pinned it around the visors to hold it in place. I had to sew the part that was cut out for the mirror first. There's also a bar that hooks to a plastic piece on the ceiling so the visor will stay in place. The visor has another hole for this bar, so I sewed around that section. 

the door panels on the driver's side

The fabric covers cardboard, and I sewed around the outside of the cardboard so the fabric would stay in place and be easier to handle. Then Will put all the parts back together: the bar that holds the visor in place and the lighted mirror plus its wires. The fabric covered cardboard folds around these parts, and I sewed another seam to keep it closed. 

Check out that happy smile! Actually, I wasn't as cranky as I felt, and the job wasn't as difficult as I expected. And now I'll admit that it was interesting to see how it would work. 

UPDATE 8-17-16: A couple of people asked for directions, so look in my response to Preeti for a breakdown of the steps. Now I wish I'd taken photos of the process!
All photos taken inside the car are from Will (Dusti's dad).

One more project for the Ford Escape--see it here.

Linking up with these blogs--go visit and see what others are working on / finishing up.

My Quilt Infatuation

Quilting is more fun than housework

Sew Fresh Quilts