Threads, threads, threads!

Today I spent a little time auditioning threads for this quilt.  This is the quilt from last year's Quilt Quest.

I would really like to finish this quilt before the new shop-hop begins, so here I am looking at my quilt top and all these threads.  I don't usually do color-work with the quilts.  I pick one that matches the backing and just go for it.  This time, I may challenge myself.  I'm still thinking about it.  So many choices!

All these amazing threads are from Superior Threads.  I love them all.

Do you change your threads often when quilting?  Or, do you just pick one and stick with it?  If I do change the colors, how custom should the quilting be?

Modern Quilting for The Bitchy Stitcher

WARNING:  If you think quilting isn't funny, or are easily offended by (im)mature language, I recommend you stop reading now.  You've been warned.

Back in April of this year, The Bitchy Stitcher wrote a fun post that tickled my funny bone.  I set out to make some of her amazing modern quilts.  In miniature.  I also found a short thread (that I can't find now) over on the Quilting Board where there was some butt-hurt that lasted about three posts until someone pointed out that her new book, Modern Quilting:  F*ck Yeah!, was a joke.  The original post was posted on April 1st, after all.

First I picked out my solids, because everyone knows that modern quilting demands solids.  Lots and lots of solids.  These are all Kona Cottons from Robert Kaufman that I had in my stash.  I have so many of these because they are quilting staples.  I also have batting by the roll and thread in colors the rainbow never heard of.  Don't judge.

I was going to use Kona white (there are actually several shades of white/neutral in this line) for the backing and the background for some of these.  I ended up changing my mind on the backing fabric since I decided to print the label directly on the backing fabric.  I used the prepared fabric you can get at quilt shops for printing with your inkjet printer at home.  I've had these fabric sheets for a long time and decided that I should use them.  It is only a matter of time before the sticky backing either doesn't come off or falls off before I can print on it.

To get the shapes for the front of the quilts, I went with English paper piecing.  I have an unnatural (and disturbing) urge to do this sort of sewing.  It goes against everything I am when it comes to quilting.  I am a machine sewer.  I am a machine quilter.  I finish binding by machine.  But... English paper piecing is a topic for another blog post.

I attached the shapes to my white background fabric.  Sometimes, my hand work is better than others.  The hexie was fine.  That quadrilateral challenged my sewing ability and my inner calm.  I decided to just let that one ride.  Life is too short to rip.

The quilting is where I really let this project take off.  First was Far From the Madding Crowd.  I sort of let the walking foot do the work.  This is another thing you see a great deal of in modern quilting; long parallel lines that use some of the piecing as a base and just take off across the surface of the quilt.

Here we have Dream Your Explosion Tiffany.  I used one of the fancy stitches on my sewing machine to balance the feather I put in the white background.  That feather isn't perfect, but I love it anyway.  Sometimes the feather, an heirloom quilting motif, is stitched into the negative space of modern quilts because, well, feathers are awesome.

Finally, we have Meadowlarking.  I love the quilting on this one.  Each of those little clams challenged my free-motion quilting abilities.  Overall I like this one the most.  The quilting is perfect!

I trimmed and added the binding to each tiny quilt to contrast the quilt and really help the design stand out.  Nah, I just sort of followed the book on this one.  I still love the effect.  Megan picked great colors.

Each back was printed with the label prior to quilting.  This is a great way to label your mug rugs.  I should use some freezer paper to do this sort of thing with other mug rugs.  Sometimes I'm such a genius!  (One millisecond is all it takes.)  I suppose if I do that I should also share a tutorial.

 Far From the Madding Crowd

 Dream Your Explosion Tiffany

Meadowlarking

These quilts were a blast to make.  After they were done, I bundled them up and sent them to The Bitchy Stitcher.  I can only hope I did her patterns and designs justice.

As I mentioned before, The Bitchy Stitcher is collecting quilt blocks to create the Laughter Quilt.  This is a great way to share something that makes you laugh with the quilting world.  Seriously, lend a hand.  Remember, if you can't laugh, you'll cry.  There is no crying in quilting, especially modern quilting.

The Laughter Quilt

I've been following Megan The Bitchy Stitcher (yes, that all gets capital letters) for a while.  Not forever, but long enough to know that she has a great sense of humor and wants to share it with all of the quilting world. She recently asked for some blocks to make a quilt.  I finally set myself the task of making some of these blocks.  I know, how hard can it be?

I won't go over the instructions.  You can find all the instructions over at The Laughter Quilt blog post.  For the record, one 3.5" strip cut width of fabric will square up into 12 blocks.

If you decide to join in, you'll have to go there to get The Bitchy Stitcher's address anyway.  I paired my Kona White with some leftover charms from the Fossil Fern collection.

I even used my new thread snipper to snip apart those units.

She asked for bright and cheery colors.  I hope I managed to stay within the guidelines.

Again my piecing skills were saved by the Tucker Trimmer.  I love this tool!  Sometimes quilting is like writing.  It isn't about the first draft, it is about the editing!

Before I knew it, I had a cool dozen of these cute little blocks.

I backed them with a piece of freezer paper to stabilize them while I wrote on them.  I didn't back all of them at once since I had things to say early in the process and freezer paper is easy enough to move to the next block once it has served its purpose.

I won't share what I wrote on these until much later.  Heaven forbid I ruin the surprise.  I am looking forward to the finished quilt.  This will be a wonder to behold.  Or, it will just be a bunch of snarky blocks sewn up into a quilt.  Although, I think that would be pretty awesome, too.

Are you joining in the block-making?  Do you have something that makes you laugh that would be a good addition to this quilt?  I know I have more to say.