Choo-choo!

I got the train quilt top done! This means I can move onto some other quilt projects that have been lurking in my head the past month. :)


There was 288 HSTs... just about wiped me out.

I timed myself, it took 50 minutes to just iron them open.


Then it took another 20 minutes to clip off the dog ears.

Good thing I didn't try king sized, it needs 972 HSTs.


24 blocks, and I managed to bust around 5.5 yards for this top.

I'm down to just inches on the blue, yellow and train fabric. That left either white or green for the binding... and any sane person would pick green!


I opted to put sashing on this quilt, even though the original directions didn't call for it. I just couldn't bear the idea of matching up all those HSTs seams. Yes, I'm a wimp. :)

I was hoping that the white in the quilt would give a railroad crossing look. Yellow yard, green shrubbery. Eh... pretty good for being all from stash except the train fabric. I really don't buy a lot of focus fabrics.


If we end up having a baby boy, I'll have a good quilt for him to grow into. It measures about 52x78. Not quite twin sized, but good for a child under 10. If I don't have a boy... we can always try again. ;)

Leah

Ann's NYE 2009 Mystery

Yesterday Ann had her New Year's Eve mystery. You got a teaser of the fabric back in November.

I'm pretty pleased with how mine turned out. The only thing I would have changed is the yellow for some light pink. No matter, a butterfly border should pull the quilt all together.

I've already started a twin size quilt with train fabric. I figured I better start making some more boy quilts, since my husband's family thinks that's what we're having. I think that since we're already going "against the grain" (midwife, no OB, no ultrasounds, etc) the baby might be everything they DON'T think it is. ;)

Leah

Ann's Summer 2009 Quilt

The top is all done! And on the mystery day to boot. ;)

My fabric choices don't photograph that well, but looks fantastic in person. It'll make a terrific baby boy blanket at 48x48 inches. No hearts, flowers or girly princesses in this one.

I don't know of any baby boys right now, but my sister-in-law is expecting a baby early 2010. She's the bride at the end of this post.

I better have a make a girl quilt, just in case! :)

Leah

Ann's Summer 2009 Mystery

Ann's at it again! She just posted the cutting instructions for her Summer 2009 Mystery. The actual clue-giving day will be some time in August. She's not sure yet. You can always join in through one of her Yahoo Groups - this one is pretty quiet except around mystery time.

I accidentally saw the finished mystery top... so I know what it's going to look like, but I'm still excited to play! It's a clever design and it'll work well for a boy's quilt. My background is going to be the circles, the blue fabric is going to be the "focus" and the green will be the binding.

I bought the circle fabric from Cowgirl Quilter who's trying to raise money for her son's school-related trip. She's got $500 of the $2100 they need by October. She's been offline for the past few weeks, so she hasn't been able to entice me with buying more fabric from her yet. ;)

Leah

Ann's NYE 2008

Another quick and easy mystery from Ann Smith. Well, it wasn't much of a mystery to me because I couldn't start on New Year's Eve like most other people. :)

The nice thing about knowing what the mystery is going to look like, you can more confidently select fabrics to compliment the pattern. I'm just so, so, so happy that I didn't need to use one SINGLE pin in the entire quilt top piecing! Oh, how I hate pinning.


Not only did my seams match up beautifully, but my sewing machine gave out lovely tension, no thread or needle problems... don't wake me up from this dream! ;)

Certainly not how I was feeling last March where I finally had to give in and take my sewing machine into the shop. I've noticed the biggest thing in helping me get good tension is doing a full oil clean in the bobbin area every time I go through 2 bobbins of thread.


Do you have any idea how neglected housework gets when you bury yourself into a quilt or two? :P

Leah