Unintended ~ A Mini Haphazard

If there's one part of the quilting process that I hate more than anything ... it's loading a quilt onto the longarm. After quilting Modern X, I realized since Modern X isn't a very big quilt, I have a little bit of room to put another quilt on there! That's what I call a freebie, since I didn't have to load it.

The only quilt top I have that actually fits is my mini Haphazard quilt that I made late last year. I named this quilt Unintended because it truly was unintended. The fabric came out of my Rock Star quilt, because I made a mistake reading the instructions and ended up cutting twice as much of the black and white fabric as I needed. The fabric was too special for me to put aside, so I made them into half-square triangles and then loaded up my Haphazard generator to get a nice 36" x 36" arrangement.

For the first time ever, I decided to try matchstick quilting on my longarm. Nancy from Grace and Peace Quilting had previously given me some advice for how to do it, and I'm very grateful, because otherwise I would have totally messed it up! Just like free-motion is not as hard as it looks, matchstick quilting is not as easy as it looks.

Matchstick quilting isn't particularly exciting to do, but there's a sort of zen-like calm to it. I think it turned out really well, and I'm very happy with it. It is so striking, and the quilting adds such a lovely texture. I'm not sure yet where it will go, but I think it will look great hanging up in my quilting room!

But after making this quilt, I realize that I really want another black and white Haphazard quilt, except throw-sized. I guess I'll have to do that one soon.

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Linking up with: My Quilt Infatuation, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Powered by Quilting, and Meadow Mist Designs.

Modern X

I'm asked a lot what I do with my finished quilts. The truth is ... not much. I've given a few away to family and friends, and I usually have one draping on the couch that I snuggle under (and which I swap out once every few months). I don't even sleep under my own quilts! I know, I know ... but I don't have much of a say in that.

So I'm excited that this new quilt I've just finished, I do have a use for! It is a wallhanging that is going to go in our side entrance hallway.

This pattern is called Modern X by Christa Watson, it is a simple half-square triangle quilt, but made interesting in the fabric choice and fabric placement. That pop of wasabi is just so beautiful!

Since it's a super modern wallhanging, I kept the quilting very, very simple with all straight lines that basically follow the angles of the triangles. In other words, I used the same design that was on the cover of the pattern. But I didn't feel a need to improve on what's already perfect.

I absolutely love this, and I'm so excited to see it hanging in my hallway! But that's not enough ... now I'm thinking I want to make a throw-sized version of this quilt. It'll be quick and satisfying, exactly what we need in times like this.

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Linking up with: My Quilt Infatuation, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Powered by Quilting, and Meadow Mist Designs.

Moon Dance ~ Ready to Quilt

All quilts are special. But some quilts are more special than others.

I still remember the first time I saw Moon Dance by Sew Kind of Wonderful. It was during QuiltCon 2018 in the booth of You + Me for Hoffman Fabrics. I stared at it for a good while, completely in awe.

When the pattern was released a few months later, I bought it immediately. But I sat on it for 2 years. I wanted to make sure that I had the right fabric, the right skills, was in the right mood, everything. As usual, fabric is where I tend to mess up the most, and have the most amount of quilter's regret for. I decided to use Observatory by Alison Glass, one of my favorite collections ever.

Cutting and stacking took a long, long time ...

Sew Kind of Wonderful is known for their rulers and their patterns, but my favorite thing about them is that their patterns include a lot of leeway. I consider it curved piecing for people who can't do curved piecing (like me). When the blocks come out, they look pretty awful and skewed. But once I do the trim-down, they actually look pretty good!

The moment of truth comes when I finally place some of the blocks on the design wall and decide whether I like it or not. Usually by this point, even if I don't love it, I'll still finish it. However, I definitely breathed a sigh of relief when I realized that I really, really love this fabric with this pattern! The fabrics truly seems to glow.

Assembling was a bit painful but I got through it by doing it in small chunks. And anyway, the end result is worth it. I'm so in love with this quilt top! If I finish it this year (which is not likely given how much I need to emotionally detach myself from it), it has a good chance of being my favorite finish of the year.