Instant Gratification

Well, I'm off porch cushions and back onto quilting for a bit!  I'm sure most of you are relieved!  Here are several pictures of a simple 25-patch quilt I finished up this week.  I am gearing up to machine quilt a top that will require a substantial amount of time, so I needed something to do quickly to get back in the groove. 

I had pieced the top back in April when I was on a mission to use up a bunch of leftover scraps laying around from another quilt.  I am considering this to be a "fall" quilt for me since I really don't care for the color orange in our house (but yet I LOVE Halloween, go figure!) and this is probably as close as I will get to a fall-looking quilt.

Here is the top prior to quilting.  The small squares finish out at an odd size at 1 1/8".  Since I was using up leftovers, it didn't matter to me since this is an easy pattern to adjust accordingly.  Sorry if the lighting varies from photo to photo, they were all taken at different times and in different rooms.

This is after I have marked the entire top and am pin-basting the layers together.  And yes, I do mark every single line.  I want my quilting to be even and uniform and following the lines exactly is the only way I can get that look.

And here I've completed all of the quilting.  I approached this very simply, quilting vertical lines through the entire quilt at about 7/8" apart from one end to the next, all with my walking foot.  The quilt is small, at approximately 50" by 60", so the quilting process went very quickly. 

Next I quilted a grid in the opposite direction, but only in the 25-patch blocks.  I did this by free-motion quilting the lines.  I started at the far left side of each block, traveling down the first line, then over to the next line by quilting in the ditch, then back up the second line, then over to the third line by quilting in the ditch, down the third line, etc.  I could actually travel from block to block within each row with this method without having to stop and start.  (In the photo above, the free-motion lines I am referring to are horizontal in the picture.) 

I used Wonderfil Invisafil for the top thread and Mettler Metrosene in the bobbin, both of which are polyester and very, very fine at 100 weight. 

So now that I feel like I finished a project and got a sense of instant gratification, I am ready to tackle my next machine quilting project.  I have been laboring over what to do on the quilt you see below for three years now.  I am finally ready to get on with it!  I have a couple of deadlines rapidly approaching so this is as good a time as any to tackle a couple of tops that have been in "waiting" mode.  Here is a peek of what I will be working on, below.  The half-inch grid stencil is from The Stencil Company and I am using fine-tipped blue water soluble marking pens to mark the quilt.

I may disappear for a bit so I can focus on getting this quilt finished, but don't worry, once this quilt is completed, I will share plenty of pictures!  Until then. . . .enjoy the rest of your summer and Happy Quilting!