Thursday, May 25, 2017

A Finish: Bright and Wild


Bright and Wild
42 x 63
A donation quilt

Long ago I used to swap Happy Blocks quarterly with a group of ladies until the group kind of fizzled out.  These blocks have 4.5 inch centers and 2 inch sides so finish at 7 inches.  Each quarter there was a theme and the theme for these was Bright and Wild. 


 I have a box of various sized and themed Happy Blocks (I call it the Happy Place) and when I was digging in it I came across this pile and  I found I didn't have enough for a donation quilt for kids which I usually make at least 40 x 60.  So I made several more blocks to fit the theme. And then made a quilt. Now the box is just a little lighter and I have a quilt to donate. 




I quilted with spirals on my DSM.  I used all the bright and wild pieces of leftover binding to bind the quilt.   Most of the places I donate request the binding be sewn on by machine but I really have a problem with this on my Brother. (It was never a problem on the old Janome so I might have to go use it from now on.)  Anyway, no matter which stitch I use  - in this case zig zag- stitches get skipped at irregular intervals and I don't know why.  It's kind of strange.  There's stitches there they just don't zag when they are supposed to all the time.   The same thing happened when I tried the blanket stitch  on a quilt. 


I used the other half of the thrift store sheet leftover from backing a different quilt a few months back. 



15 comments:

---"Love" said...

Some kid somewhere is going to love that quilt! The binding stitching will never be noticed when it's wrapped around a happy child, of any age. ---"Love"

Julierose said...

You have SO MANY novelty prints--I love how this came out! Some lucky one will just love it to death...hugs, Julierose

barbara woods said...

I love that!

LIttle Penguin Quilts said...

Bright, wild, and definitely happy! The perfect donation quilt! Your happy blocks are such a good idea.

Quilting Babcia said...

Such a joyful quilt! Some lucky little one will treasure it. Three of the new quilters in our ministry group all bought Brother machines last spring, and one is experiencing the same issues that you are. She has tried several stitches to machine quilt a couple baby quilts, using the walking foot, and the stitches just don't remain consistent.

Connie said...

That is a quilt to fall in love with. I love being wrapped up in a quilt that draws me into it's warmth and beauty by being filled with interest. Gorgeous!!!

Ariane said...

This quilt is beautiful!! Congrats on a wonderful finish!

Sue SA said...

Another beautiful quilt, well done.

Kat said...

Another great finish! It's so bright and happy!

Anonymous said...

I love this quilt. Thank you for sharing the block sizing.

margaret said...

cheerful works well for this quilt it is so bright will brighten up a sick child I am sure. Have never machined the binding so cannot help with that, I enjoy the hand sewing of it shame if they insist on machine don

Linda said...

This quilt is SO my kind of quilt! I love all the colours, the different fabrics with their exciting borders, totally zany. Whoever receives this donation quilt will love it and spend ages looking at all the blocks. I have been doing just that and I only have a photo in front of me, just imagine how exciting it would be to investigate the actual quilt. You have fired me up to make a collection of Happy Blocks from some of my set-aside squares of scrap fabrics.

Crystal_235 said...

Love the quilt!!

I sew binding on with my brother all the time. I don't have it skipping stitches, but my manual says not to do a zigzag stitch with the walking foot....

gayle said...

ANOTHER beautiful quilt!! You continue to amaze!
(Since you've finished another quilt, that means I can start another one, right? Just to maintain balance in the universe?)

Louise said...

I love all those bright colors! What a fun quilt for a kid or for someone young at heart.

I read recently that skipped stitches like that can be caused by a bad needle. Either the needle is too small for the thread, or there might be a rough spot inside the eye that causes the thread to occasionally catch. Who knows? Maybe a quick needle change will help. Last time I had that problem, I had just switched to a different brand of thread that was slightly thicker and the issues went away when I went back to my thinner thread. It's frustrating, that's for sure!