TGIFF! - October Sky

It may be November, but I'm celebrating finishing October Sky (formerly Layers of Leaves).

I'm very,  very happy with this finish. Major happy dance happening around here!

This quilt has had quite a journey. It evolved quite a bit from the original design, then there was a lot of deliberation over the colours, and finally undergoing a lot of hand stitching and machine quilting.

Even the blocking process proved eventful when the backing fabric started to run -- grrr! A good wash with some colour catchers solved that issue thankfully.

The quilting is about 1/8" to 5/8" max. I'm thrilled with the movement that the quilting and hand stitching gives it -- like air currents.

Hope you don't mind a LOT of photos. ;)

Final size: 24" x 44.5"
Fabrics: Kona solids
Threads: DMC embroidery threads and Aurifil (50wt.)

Happy, happy, joy, joy! I'm linking with Lynette @ What A Hoot Quilts, who is hosting TGIFF! this week.

TGIFF! - Best Laid Plans

Welcome to TGIFF! Where every finish deserves to be celebrated. This week, I'm celebrating...this block from Tula Pink's City Sampler book!

Oooh, purple! Okay, while I'm glad this block is finished (it has been for some time, but I forgot to share it here), this was not what I was hoping to share this week. I was hoping to show you a finished Layers of Leaves or October Sky, which is what I'm going to call it now. 

Thank you all so much for the encouragement on my last post! You guys are the best! I worked late into the night every day this week trying to finish it, but I knew last night when I was still doing the hand stitching that it wasn't going to be finished in time. Not only was there still the machine quilting to finish, but then the quilt would need to be blocked and then the binding added. No possible way, even if I pulled an all nighter and could just work on this. Sigh.

Oh well, I'm disappointed, but I'm loving the piece so far and can't wait to finish it. It will be worth the extra effort and the wait. Here's another progress shot. 

So...while I don't have much to celebrate, I bet you do! 

An InLinkz Link-up

It Seemed Like Such A Good Idea At The Time

The hand stitching, I mean. At first it was just going to go here and there, but then I liked it a lot. So I decided to do it for all the pieces. And then machine quilt ~ 1/8" apart. Yeah. That's a lot of hand stitching AND a lot of machine quilting...for a project that I'm hoping to have finished for TGIFF!, which I'm hosting this week.

Even though I'm cursing my decision because of the lack of time, I'm loving the mix of the hand stitching combined with the machine quilting. Will I get it done for Thursday night? Any wagers?

Layers of Leaves - A Finished Top

I finished the top for Layers of Leaves. Yay! Thank you so much for the feedback on my last progress post. I loved reading your comments and saw that a lot of you had the same thoughts and comments that I had been thinking of when looking at the different options.

I ended up going with option 5 ie. finishing it off with the same grey as the top grey.

I don't think there will be that much grey at the bottom when all is said and done, but I envision a lot of quilting on this piece, which will shrink it so I'm leaving a lot extra in for the time being.

It's also taken a bit of a departure from my inspiration photo and design so the name is 'leaving' a lot to be desired. Ha ha. I'll be trying to think of a new name. Any suggestions?

Started pulling some threads...liking it so far.

I'm also thinking that I'd like to add some hand stitching. Yes, you heard me. Hand stitching. Moi! Should be interesting ;)

Have a great weekend! It's snowing here...

Making Progress - Layers of Leaves

I'm sure you've probably heard the news of the events here in Ottawa on Wednesday. It was a rough day to say the least. Our hearts are broken for Cpl. Nathan Cirillo and his family. So very sad! Many Ottawans, yours truly included, were in buildings on lockdown for most of the day. It was scary, but we're okay. I'm so proud of how our military, police and Parliament security reacted to and handled the situation. We're trying to get back to normal today, though with Cpl. Cirillo's sacrifice front and centre.

As always, quilting is my therapy for stressful situations so I was pretty happy to spend Wednesday evening sharing my quilts with the Arnprior District Quilter's Guild. What a great group!

I have also made good progress with my Layers of Leaves piece. Here are a few photos of some of the design choices I've been considering tonight.

1) Go dark at the bottom?

2) Try some green?

3) Green and dark grey?

4) Green and brown?

5) Finish with the same grey as the top?

6) Finish with a slightly darker grey than the top?

What do you think?