Monday, September 5, 2016

Starburst - Baby Quilt Flimsy

I finished this flimsy back in June. Yeah, June. I told you I have been sewing. . . ;) This is a two birds, one stone kind of quilt. Back in June I set up a day of quilting with Gina Perkes at her new shop in Payson, AZ. You know I am a total Gina fan girl. She sells Innova long arms. You know I have been tossing around the idea of buying a long arm. . . So I scheduled a day to finally make the decision. My niece was having a baby and said baby was due the end of August. This is the two birds (purposes), one stone (or quilt) comes into play. I decided to make a baby quilt to quilt on while I was quilting with Gina. Crazy? Yeah, probably so, but I've never been quite normal, right? Here's the finished flimsy!
I'm going to walk you through the process of making this flimsy. I found a bunch of patterns and put them together. Here's how four different patterns from four different blogs came together in what I think is a pretty cool quilt. Yes, lots of negative space. I did that so I'd have room to practice! I'll tell you about my day with Gina at The Copper Needle at the end of the post. Links to the patterns/tutorials will be in the picture captions. I'm going to let the pictures tell the story :)
These were easy and fun to make! I don't even remember how I found the tutorial but when I did, I knew I was going to use them in the quilt! :) It's called Migrating Geese.
LOOK at those points!! Not ONE pin used in the making of these flying geese! Did I mentioned there was a video link in the blog post linked in the above picture?? Yeah, check.it.out!
You can find the instructions for this star block here. This was the last block that I found and I was kind of wishing it were the first. . . because I totally would have made four of these to make a quilt top. There is a picture in the tutorial. SO COOL!! Yes, it's on "the" list!! LOL
Trinity Star Block, McCalls Quilting. This block finishes at 16" x 16". Tedious. Worth it! :)
Star Cluster, Judy Martin. Wins the prize for tedious! But also very worth it! I would NOT want to make an entire quilt of these. . . although it would make a pretty awesome quilt! LOL
Here are the various different layouts I played with before finally deciding on the one at the top:
Seemed a little too weighted down on the left side. . .
I wasn't sure why I was not 100% pleased with this one, but I wasn't. I really did/do like that star block on point though!!
A reminder of the finished flimsy :)
OK, so that is the story of the making of Starburst. Oh, so you want to know how my day with Gina went? ;) In one word, fantastic! I've obviously had some time to process the adventure and here are my takeaways from the day:

1. I am confident that with time (and not as much as I thought), I could get as good on a long arm as I am on my domestic.
2. I have tried several brands. If I buy, I will buy an Innova. I quilted ALL day and only had two thread breaks. Both times they were caused by operator error, like forgetting to reset the stitch speed when going from micro quilting to quilting larger motifs. Stitch quality is freaking awesome. NO tension issues. I could go on, but in the interest of getting this posted at some point this week ;) I'll stop.
3. My husband has a way of planting me squarely back into reality. :) When I got home, I was flying high. I was ready to order. I gave 'the number' to my reality check. . . I got the look. You know the look. The "Are you @#%#@ crazy??" look. . . Hmmm, I didn't think I was crazy ;)

Bottom line, there's lots of craziness happening here and the bottom line is that making this purchase now is just not a wise move. So no, I will not be purchasing a long arm. . . yet! ;)

Oh, and as for the baby? His name is Benjamin and all 9 lbs 1.2 ozs of his incredibly precious self is here and he is happy and healthy. I just finished quilting his name in the quilt. The final step in quilting it. So yes, this quilt is finished and will be mailed on Tuesday. But you can see the quilt quilted soon. I'm going to try to keep this roll going! I have another finished quilt and cushion cover to show you. It.will.happen!

Linking up with DWM and MCM. Until next time, keep on quilting!!






16 comments:

  1. What a lovely gift, Judy. Thank you for sharing the pattern links, and your whole process. I'm looking forward to seeing the quilting soon too.
    As for your long-arm: all the best things are worth waiting for (also the ones in LARGE packages!) Keep saving and you'll get there soon.

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  2. I am SLOWLY returning to the lovely world of fiber after a wild and crazy summer! My return treat was to open your post----WOW you doing amazing. Love this quilt and might be demoing these geese in the near future. In fact--can I show them this quilt? I see pattern making in your future. And as for Innova---I LOVE--LOVE mine!
    I quilted,sold and made many quilts before owning mine---someday we need to talk (especially how to talk to Mr Reality;). Beautiful

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  3. Beautiful baby quilt. I really like the gray background with the blues. My Guy would let me get a long arm, but we don't have room for one. Maybe that's why he says I can have one?

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  4. This is an interesting quilt. i especially how you did the flying geese. I love it when piecers do these creative leaps. I also hear Innovas are super!

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  5. Love your quilt! Can't wait to see what you quilted with Gina! Can you convince DH that you could quilt for others(or don't you want to do that).

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  6. The migrating geese look really interesting and I will definitely be going to check out that tutorial. I was supremely confident that using a long arm would appeal to you, and I am excited to see how your FIRST quilt on a long arm turned out (amazing, I'm guessing)!

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  7. Thanks for sharing your thought process as you contemplated various layouts. I can see why you chose the one you did for balance. I love all those star blocks. Glad you had fun quilting this quilt!

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  8. The flying geese pattern really is interesting. I love the fabrics you chose for this quilt. What a fund day!

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  9. Wow! I like the straight set of all the blocks, it is super. The migrating geese is one tutorial I have had pinned for awhile but not made. All your points are razor sharp :) Congrats on a plan coming together. Wish I had room for a long arm, not to mention the $$$ to buy one. Someday?

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  10. Sounds like you had a really fun day playing with Gina! Your baby quilt is awesome. Thanks for providing the links to the blocks. I'm going to have to try the migrating geese. It looks like a great technique to have in my repertoire.

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  11. You. You could FLY with a longarm! I hope that dream/goal comes true for you. (Would a secondhand price tone down the "areyoucrazy" effect?) In the meantime, I know you will continue making magic with the tools you have. ♡ Can't wait to see the finished baby quilt. :-)

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  12. You. You could FLY with a longarm! I hope that dream/goal comes true for you. (Would a secondhand price tone down the "areyoucrazy" effect?) In the meantime, I know you will continue making magic with the tools you have. ♡ Can't wait to see the finished baby quilt. :-)

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  13. What a gorgeous baby quilt, and beautifully put together! You are certainly not alone in that longarm dream, but at least you can 'practice and perfect' on someone else's for now.

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  14. Those migrating geese are great! I've had a few of those 'are you crazy' moments myself. :) You do such fantastic work with your current machine and I'm sure you would create wonderful pieces on a longarm. I love looking at your work - it's always so inspiring to me. I can't wait to see how you quilt the baby quilt!

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  15. I love your design and can't wait to see the quilting on this baby quilt. I'm glad you have a plan about a long arm for when the time is right.

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  16. Love the migrating geese tutorial and, as always, love your blogging on process and design decisions! So happy to hear your day with Gina went well. Yup, LA is a big decision to justify for a hobby. Even with "customers", it takes a while to recoup thise costs..and potentially sucks the joy out of what you love. I once asked a (much younger) kid whom i worked with why he did not go into business for himself working on computers (he had recently bought a "one bedroom, three computer lab house-heeheehee). He told me that if he did that, then it wouldnt be a hobby anymore...and THAT is something to think about as well.
    You do beautiful work AS ALWAYS and looking forward to seeing this quilted. I see a design vision already!

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