Loosey Goosey Quilting

I finished quilting my Tea Towel Challenge project today! 

Because of the linen towel in the center, the whole project is pretty, for lack of a better word, loose. Basically, the hemmed edges of the towel were tighter than the center of the towel, so there are some spots that are almost baggy. (I'm really making this sound appealing, aren't I?!). 

Which just meant that when I quilted it, it still felt loose. Happily, it hangs pretty straight. 

As several people suggested, I quilted wavy lines below each line of text. I quilted along the outer edges of the towel, and then I did a few rounds of large zigzag quilting in the brown and and outer border, trying not to compete with all the piecing. I like it!

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict's Can I get a whoop whoop! and Crazy Mom Quilts' Finish It Up Friday.

Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat meets an Irish blessing

And if that's not the most unusual blog header I've ever written, I don't know what is!

Back in January, Victoria over at 15 Minutes Play put out a Tea Towel Challenge.

I bought this tea towel, which spend the next 4 months sitting in my studio, gazing woefully at me.

My husband's family is Irish, and I've always liked this blessing, and I had the vague notion of creating made fabric in various shades of green and thens sewing Drunkard's Path blocks that would frame the tea towel and represent the rolling hills of Ireland.

I got this far and it just wasn't working for me.

I think I may have been "greened out" after the Emerald Challenge. I was also struggling with adding brown and green so close to the brown and green border on the towel itself. 

So I decided to go bright instead. I pulled solids and wanna-be solids and (loosely) grouped them in warm and cool color combos.

I tried to do some wavy piecing of some of the strips--something I always admire and can't quite seem to make happen myself.

Building the border:

And more:

And more:

 I had planned on an inner brown border, but again it was too close to the border on the tea towel, so I created a tiny pieced border first out of the scraps from the outer border.

Seeing these tiny bright scraps chain pieced together just made me happy!

And the result:

Now you understand the title of this blog post--it's very bright and technicolor-y!

I am unsure about quilting this one--specifically the tea towel part, as it's a bit loose and stretchy, and I don't want to distract from the words. I'd welcome any suggestions!

Winner and Catching Up

First, let's start with a winner from my Kiss, Kiss Love post! (Thanks to everyone who stopped by and left a comment!) Random number generator chose:

 which is MoeWest, who said:

My sewing focus has been a bit all over the place since I finished the triple zip pouch over the weekend! 

Here's what I've been working on: 

1. Working on the straight line quilting and adding the borders on my snowman quilt (before the 28th...this is my February Lovely Year of Finishes project!) And yes, there's still snow on the ground here (or instead of "still," I should say "again," so the quilt continues to be relevant this year).

 (evening picture taking = dark pic! but I do love how the snowman scarves all look like they're flying away in this photo)

2. I finished the 15 blocks for my guild's Home of the Brave project, and handed them in. Done. The actual quilt will have the blocks set on point with sashing.

3. My almost 4-year-old son asked if we could make another quilt. (see the first here) Can't say no to that! He lifts and lowers the presser foot, presses the needle up/down button, and chooses the fabric. I chose the wonky log cabin--no measuring, no perfect piecing needed. He also currently has a whole list of people he wants to make quilts for. 

4. I'd mentioned a while back that I was going to be helping a friend make quilts for her two young children. The situation has changed a bit, and my mom and I are making the quilts, and making them quickly. Here are 12 blocks I finished today for the boy's quilt; 18 more to go! They do sew up quickly, and I love the fabrics.

5. Victoria over at 15 Minutes Play is hosting a tea towel challenge. She first mentioned it about a month ago, and I dragged my feet on it. The first two tea towels I'd admired on Etsy disappeared, but then I found this one. My husband has some Irish blood, so it seemed like a perfect choice. After I finish #1 and #4 on this list, I'm planning to play a little with my tea towel and some made fabric. 

p.s. It was a great mail week--I received the Irish Blessing tea towel that I'd ordered, and I also received my selection from the gift certificate I won to the Quilting Lodge (through Lovely Year of Finishes). It's a jelly roll of Cuzco! Two things I think are especially neat about this: 1) I've actually been to Cuzco. 2) Before this arrived, I was a jelly roll virgin. I'd never used one. I can't wait to decide what to do with this! Pre-cut strips...heaven! Thanks, Quilting Lodge!