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Basting Fail

I have been sewing for about 2 years.  I am working on my 5th and 6th quilts. One is for my son and the other is my Joshua's Angels/Cystic Fibrosis quilt.  I have been on the hunt for the perfect fabric to back this...

Sorry for the repeat photo from my last post.

After searching my local fabric store and the internet, I still couldn't commit to a fabric let alone a color.  I had moved on to grey instead of orange. (That I planned on using that for the binding now, thanks to Randi from i have to say 's recommendation.)

 

I took another trip to my local JoAnn's and finally found this...

 

Not the greatest picture of it, but I was sure this was perfect. Well, ok, I was sure after I spoke with two random ladies I saw in the store and heard them talking about backings and bindings...I knew they work working on a quilt too.  They loved it.  And I was even able to help them out with a suggestion for the backing of what they were planning.  Yay!

I hadn't considered green before.

 

I'm sure you notice the four little charm patches on it...I had those left over from the front and thanks to my oldest son's idea decided to place them randomly on the back.  I love it.

 

I almost forgot to tell you... I got a phone call from a Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Development Manager last week.  She wanted to meet with me! Me! Can you believe it?  I was so excited. She thanked me for being such a great fundraiser and wanted to get me some posters for this years upcoming walk and chat.

 

Now I had a goal in mind, I wanted to bring my first finished Joshua's Angels/CF quilt with me and share with her the idea, finish this quilt by Tuesday night. Totally doable for me.

 

So I started...  you know how it goes...taped my backing to floor, them put down my batting and them laid on the top.  I had forgotten to get more spray adhesive again.  So I took out the safety pins and pinned away.

 

 

Unfortunately my tape was not sticking to the backing very well.  I found myself reapplying it at times.  Uh Oh...

 

I kept on plugging along though.  Thinking that it would be ok.  It was looking great on top.

 

 

I finished, pulled up the tape and turned my quilt over.  Boy was I wrong.

 

Look at all those bumps.  I was so disappointed.

 

 

Horrible angle, but you get the point.

 

Major FAIL!

 

My first major fail.  I was so disappointed.  All that time wasted.  I picked up the quilt, sat on the sofa and proceeded to take all the pins out and separate my layers. 

 

I was done for the day. I had other things that need to get done and I was so frustrated to look at this...

 

 

We had another big storm here on Tuesday.  My local fabric store closed for the day due to the snow.  No getting adhesive spray there on Tuesday.  My husband could tell I was feeling down and out about the whole thing and told me to make the trip to JoAnn's.  Would you believe it if I told you they closed early because of the storm.  It wasn't that bad out!!

 

Now I was feeling totally defeated.

 

I had my meeting the next morning (this morning actually) and brought my finished quilt top and she loved it.  Wish I could have shown her the whole thing.  Shrug. Oh well, next time.

 

Please tell me this happens to you. 

 

 

 

P.S. I bought spray adhesive today...never again will I not use it. 

 

 

 

Linking up with i have to say...



Comma

I am excited to share with you that I completed the top of my first quilt for my Great Strides/Joshua's Angels project!!  You can look here if you don't know what it is.

 

 

Now I need to figure out what to do for the backing and the binding...

 

And it is here that I ask for your help!!

 

Backing: 

 

I originally wanted to use mini chevron in orange, but the border is Kona Bone (it matches the Comma collection perfectly)... I don't want to combine bone with the white of the chevron.  What do you think?

 

After a trip to my local fabric store to get my Kona Bone, and hunting for an orange fabric to back it with (no luck), I thought maybe I could find yardage of the Comma Nigella - Multi online. (It is the tiny little square of fabric on the bone below).  I love how it has all the colors. But I kind of wanted to bring in a different print. Definitely hoping to go with something orange.

 

 I need your help.

 

I am don't know what to do.

 

I find that the Comma collection doesnt really go with flowers. I could maybe do a polka dot but I will run into the white issue again.  Is it really an issue?  Would you use bone and white in the same quilt, one on the front and on on the back?

  

Binding:

Then there is the binding.  I haven't given it much thought yet because I have been too worried about the backing. Sigh.

 

What do you think about a black print? But again, I run into the same thing with most having white in them rather than the bone color.

 

So there is my problem...

I am such a perfectionist.  And I am finding even more so with this quilt since I plan on selling it.  I want it to be perfect (as perfect as I can get for it only being my 5th quilt ever).  So I beg you..

 

Yes, I am down on my knees begging...

 

Please, please help me.

 

Can you give me any suggestions as to what you would use?

 

Thank you so much.

 

Linking up...

 

Next step

It has been a week since I have posted.

 

Life has been amazing.

 

I am happy. Truly happy.

 

After making the decision to try to sell some quilts, I couldn't wait to get started. I told my boys (who have been very patiently waiting for me to make their quilts) and they were ok with me fitting some other projects in between working on theirs... again.

Didn't want my Little Man to think I was completely forgetting his so I pull out all his blocks and we started laying them out.  This was our first try:

 

 

Pretty random. Tried to keep colors away from each other, but something about it wasn't feeling right.  Even with the Little Man. So we picked them up and tried again.

 

(Yup, I am short a few squares...good thing I have more fabric.)

 

 

We are liking this much better.

 

And I realized that I don't only need 3 more blocks on the right but I need a whole other row.  Then I think it will be big enough for a twin size. 

 

Since taking these pictures, I have sewn one row together.  Turns out it is further from done than I was thinking.  The finished blocks are suppose to be 8x8 and mine are bigger than that so I have to square up each of them before sewing them into rows.  Oiy, this is a lot of cutting...and measuring...not something I have had to worry much about in my other quilts. But this one I want perfect (surprise, surprise...I am a perfectionist).

 

I also went out and bought some charm packs of Comma for moda to make my first Joshua's Angels quilt.  I have been eyeing this collection since I first saw it.  I have 6 rows done and need to get a solid for a border to make it a little bigger.

 

Here is a peek at 3 of the rows.

 

 

Not the best picture, sorry.  I promise to have better when it is all done.

 

I am trying to keep track of the amount of time I work on it and definitely the amount of $ that goes into it.  I may ask for a little help on how to price it when I finish.  I want it to be reasonable especially since it is going to the CF Foundation.  But I don't want to sell myself short either.  This may be my biggest struggle with selling quilts.  Will there be a market for what I do and do people have the money to spend. Even if it is for charity...

 

 

 

Linking up again

 

 

 

  Wow....it is Wednesday not Tuesday!   Guess I will link up here too then.