Teal Vomit ~A Finished Quilt~

Finally a finished quilt in 2014!  Only took me 10 months (I actually finished it in October.  That counts!).  

This was pre-wash, so you can still see some of the pencil marks :)

Here is the picture that inspired the name... I basically went through my stash and pulled out anything that resembled "teal" (you can see the story here: http://hipsterquilter.blogspot.com/2014/09/teal-vomit-quilt.html).  And this isn't even a fraction of what I used.  Would't you know, I have a LOT of teal!!

  

By the time I started to arrange the blocks, I was SO sick of teal. The binding is really the coup de grace, since I thought for a few minutes and quickly decided that there was no other option than a beautiful Alison Glass teal; in other words I really just gave in to the inevitable.  I did go easy on the backing, which is an adorable print called "Suzy's Dollhouse" from Robert Kaufman.  As always, now that it's done, I love it, but I'm not sure there's another monochromatic quilt in my NEAR future.

Here is me arranging the blocks with other 12" ones I had on hand, so I could visualize how it was coming together:

My friend gets it next week at her wedding shower, and I can't wait to see the look on her face... I will know in a second how much she really loves teal! :)

September Lucky Stars Block

My September block for the Lucky Stars BOM.  I'm amazed at how clean the center seams look... a far cry from my first blocks!

Three-quarters of the way through, I think it's starting to look pretty groovy.

Teal Vomit Quilt

Finished Top

Close-up

I'm making my friend a quilt for her wedding this winter.  She said her favorite color is teal... I really hope she meant it!

I used this great tutorial from Quiltville, with the larger 12" blocks.  I wanted to make an ombre effect from the center, so I took the leftover triangles from the pineapple corners and mirrored the ombre on the border.  I wasn't sure about SO MUCH TEAL (hence the name), but as usual it came together much better than expected.  I am now in the process of quilting straight lines vertically and horizontally to match the piecing pattern.  Still haven't quite figured out the border... not sure I'm willing to add another teal fabric.  Maybe navy blue?  I do have a lot of the Alison Glass teal Corsage left, and after spending so much time with this color scheme I don't think I'll be heartbroken to see it go.  We'll see what speaks to me after the quilting is done!

First finished project of the year

So anyone who actually reads my blog is probably wondering to themselves, "does this girl ever actually finish anything?"  Well the answer is YES!  Sometimes!!  Sometimes I finish lampshades!  

I finished a lamp shade!

I also did a little remedial crafty work on this lamp, which I bought on clearance at Anthropologie.  Bird on the Left was missing a nose and it really stuck out since it was the color of unfinished clay, but a few coats of Essie marshmallow and you can't tell a thing!  Plus now I have a great new color that the blogs tell me is really in right now :)

Happy Sunday!

More catching up

The other day I posted my progress on the Vice Versa Block-of-the-Month quilt, which I really like.  But it's been straightforward, especially with the color choices.  I don't really obsess over which combination I'm going to use every month because they are all very similar within each color scheme.  

My Lucky Stars BOM is another story entirely.  I can spend HOURS obsessing over the color combinations, trying to figure out how to make the "rays" pop, and which parts I want to be solid versus scrappy.  I think the first half has come together very nicely, despite some choices I really questioned.

Halfway through my Lucky Stars BOM

The bottom middle block (from March) has been a real pain.  I just really didn't like it when it first came together.  I thought the green in the corners was just hideous.  Here's what it originally looked like: 

Not quite right

I don't think instagram did it any favors.  I really thought about completely doing it over, and never mixing yellow and grey again.  But then I had an idea... it's the only one without any sort of "floral" pattern, and the green looks flat.  So I swapped out one triangle in each corner with a floral triangle and voila!!  I can't believe how much better it looks!  I may be imagining things, but it just gives it some depth, and maybe a little prettiness to go with the grungy middle.  I think I'll keep her.  Now the one on the bottom left is my least favorite, but she really goes well with all the others so she's here to stay for now.  The lesson here is don't mix light yellow with grey unless you're going for some weird industrial look.  And I need a few more blocks with small pops of black, I think the orange star looks so good with the contrast.  

Stars for the 4th- hope everyone has a good one!!!

Catching up

It's been while!!  I moved apartments and with all the packing, unpacking, sorting, etc, I haven't had much time to "waste" on sewing... but I'm slowly catching up!  Let's start with my Vice Versa BOM... I've managed to sew three months in the past few weeks.

And here's how it looks so far with all 6 months... halfway there!

Weekend Update

So it's been exactly a month since I last posted here.  Not on purpose... I just happened to look at the date and realize that I haven't written anything since EXACTLY a month ago.  What's NOT a coincidence is that I'm writing this on a Sunday, after a fairly productive weekend (I found a new place to live and just signed the lease!).  I also found some time to do a "little" sewing :)

First up, let's go ahead and show what I just finished... this month's Vice Versa blocks.  

 
I've never done the bear paws before, but I already love HSTs so these were just fun!  The bold colors also really make me happy.  Here are the close-ups:

It's going to be such a happy quilt!

Next up is the other BOM I'm working on, Lucky Stars.  

I have to admit, I'm not sold on this one.  I actually don't like the match-matchy look of the grey and yellow, and I think the mint in the corners is kind of atrocious.  I am clearly still having challenges combining colors (something I spend a lot of time on, I'm not sure it really comes naturally for me).  However, when I look at it with the other two blocks so far, I start to like it a little more.  In fact, it's not so bad having this grungy block, especially if I end up adding a few more florals in future blocks.  I don't want the final product to look TOO pretty, and this block certainly does the trick there.  And at the end of the day, I'm not doing it again, so it's here to stay.  Here's where it breaks up the prettiness of the others... see?  Not too bad I guess...

And finally, I made a pillow!  I finally used the LouLouthi velveteen from Anna Marie Horner I've been hoarding for a while, and whadda ya know, it's not that hard to make a pillow.  And this fabric is GORGEOUS!  It really stands out on all my neutral old furniture.

That's all for now... happy weekend!