Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Florida Quilt

Timing is everything...

I'm happily writing this post to coincide with the 2016 Blogger's Quilt Festival hosted by Amy's Creative Side and my entry - Florida - into the Home Machine Quilted category. Though to be honest, it was tough choosing the right category for Florida, which also fits Small Quilts, Modern Quilts, and Original Design.

So... presenting Florida. It measures 39" wide by 38" high and is made with lots of 1-1/2" X 1-1/2" solid fabric half-square triangles, and an ocean background of Grunge Ocean.

I domestic machine quilted Florida on my Janome 1600P using 50-weight Aurifil on the top and in the bobbin. The top color was aqua #5005, and the bobbin was light blue #2805.
  
Swirly quilting includes designs of snail trails, "C's", paisleys, bubbles, and swooping lines to get the effect of a tumultuous ocean.


While the quilting went along quickly, what I didn't enjoy was that by starting the free motion quilting in the middle, along the Gulf side of the land, I worked in a tuck as I quilted to the west, and then to the north toward the peninsula. Darn. Right away I unstitched quite a bit.
iPhone photo - Look how blue the water looks!
Then I straight-pinned the sandwich and quilted from the peninsula toward the south, working out the extra fullness. By now I should know that double-batting makes shifting more likely, and that I must be extra careful about where I begin quilting, no matter how many safety pins I use to keep the layers from shifting.
Canon Powershot S100 photo - This is the truer Grunge Ocean color.
All that unquilting made for lots of starts and stops to fill back in what I'd just taken out. That meant lots of thread-burying. It's an easier task when I use a Sench needle. I've recently starting using this needle which has a little slot along the side of the eye, for slipping thread up, then down into position. I'm a big fan. Sench needles are available from this Etsy Shop - DragonflyQuiltworks, here.


When the quilting was done I made single-fold binding, and applied it as usual by first marking a straight line around the perimeter of the quilt, machine sewing the binding aligned with the marked line, machine-sewing the four corners, trimming the excess batting and backing, and then turning under a quarter-inch fold and hand-sewing it into place.

This is a good time for me to mention again that I'm teaching this binding technique in a Modern Quilt Guild Webinar on Thursday, September 29 at 9 pm Eastern time. If you're an MQG member, you can register for free. Go here to do that, if you haven't already. Gosh, I'm getting crazy-excited about this presentation! Like chill bumps-producing excited.

But the rest of the story about that Florida quilt...

It still wasn't quite on-the-square after adding binding, so I pinned it onto carpeting, measuring the length and width to make each side even, and measuring diagonally across the back to make sure those two numbers were the same. Then I sprayed water on the quilt back - the cotton batting layer is on the bottom (wool batting is on top) - and patted it into shape. After drying, it's more squared-up, but about 1/8" off. I'm not sure I can do much else short of soaking the quilt and reblocking it.

How about that backing? Isn't it too perfect?

A special hello and thanks to first-time visitors to my blog. I appreciate your visit too! Linda

22 comments:

  1. Love this! The color and the quilting is amazing. Good luck!

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    1. Thank you so much, Carrie Bee! I appreciate your compliments. (I would have responded to you by direct email, but you are a no-reply commenter.)

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  2. Oh Linda, this turned out great! I've been following its progress on Instagram. You definitely achieved the ocean feel.

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  3. A Sench needle- I have never heard of one of those before! I admire your tenacity in completing this! Congratulations!

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  4. Yes, your ocean and the gulf do look tumultuous, and you've made Florida such a bright and happy state. Well done!

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  5. The quilting really does look like ocean currents and I love how Florida is made up of so many fun citrusy colors. I'm not sure you could have found a better backing fabric, it's perfect. Congrats on your finish and good luck in the festival.

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  6. This is SO fun! I love that you used the fun print background with the very modern front. That Ocean Grunge could not be more perfect for this project.

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  7. What a fun and unique quilt! I keep meaning to ask why you use double batting instead of just a thicker one, but now I see you use 2 different kinds! hmm.
    And good luck on your webinar! I babysit that night, but will watch once it's posted!

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  8. Your depiction of Florida is spot-on! Great choices of fabrics right down to the backing. I can see why it took some pondering to choose a category for this quilt as it does indeed fit several. You did a wonderful job.

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  9. Great to read the story of your Florida quilt from start to finish! And kudos to you for your upcoming MQG Webinar--you'll be great!

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  10. Great work Linda. Looking great!

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  11. This is such a fun quilt! Your colours are as sunshiny as I imagine Florida to be, and the ocean quilting was sure worth all the trouble you took to make it perfect. I couldn't be without my self threading Matilda's Own (Australian brand) needle for burying those pesky threads, so I'm glad you've found a US brand. I'm so excited to see your webinar next week! Yay!

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  12. This is so gorgeous! I love the variety of colours in Florida and the ocean colour is perfect. The quilting is gorgeous too :) All around excellent!

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  13. Gorgeous! You did a great job!

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  14. Your quilting is awesome, the color choices beautiful and the backing fabric is fun! I love how you write about "quilting to the west and to the north")))

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  15. Such a perfect little quilt for you now that you're a Florida "native" and also a wonderful way to show off your amazing to die for quilting skills.

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  16. As a first time visitor to your blog, I'm entranced with the Florida quilt! I used to live up in the panhandle but now am a Virginian. Any chance you would share the backing fabric info? It is "spot on" as my Brit friends would say.

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    1. Hello Bev! Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving a comment. I'd love to reply to you directly, but you're a no-reply commenter, so I have no way to reach you. I hope you see this! According to the selvage of my backing fabric, this is Wyndham Fabrics "State Cottons" by Whistler Studio. Partner 46509 "The Sunshine State."

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    2. Have been saving this post to read again trying to absorb all you did on this quilt. It is about to go off my feed so I marvel at the quilting attention you gave this quilt and the design !!!! Super cool.... thanks for the share.

      The festival is different from when I first found it. Having a quilt that fits 4 categories is hard. I don't read the new blogs as I use to.... but it is because of Blogger Festival that I ended up with 400+ blogs in my reader.... lost them all when I lied about my age and account was locked. bummer....

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  17. Just made your pattern to hang up in my office. Love it!!

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