Friday, April 8, 2011

postage stamp quilt top

quilt top p.s. i quilt postage stamp quilt along

It's been entirely too long since I began this quilt, but the top is finally finished!!  I followed along with Rachel of p.s. i quilt's postage stamp quilt along and finally have a quilt top to show for it. 

quilt top p.s. i quilt postage stamp quilt along

I had played around with making this quilt smaller than the suggested result, because I wanted to have some left over blocks to make a pieced back.  In the end, I do have about 15 extra strips, which will be enough to add a little extra into the quilt back, and I am glad that I went with the larger size.  The top measures 60 1/2 x 80 1/2 inches, yes that is 1200 tiny little 2 inch squares!!  I'm pretty sure this is the largest quilt I've put together as of yet, and I'm a little nervous how my little machine will handle quilting it.  I really don't want to pay to have it long arm quilted, and, well the quilting is my favorite part, so I don't want to give it up!  

quilt top p.s. i quilt postage stamp quilt along

Here are a few close ups of some of the blocks (please ignore the errant strings that I have yet to pluck off).  To make this quilt, I used a jelly roll of It's a Hoot by MoMo for Moda and a jelly roll of Bella Solids in Snow.

quilt top p.s. i quilt postage stamp quilt along

I really do think that these prints lended themselves very nicely to the smaller 2" blocks in this quilt, and even the little squares of the larger all over prints caught a few cute little glimpses of little birdies and cool shapes. 

quilt top p.s. i quilt postage stamp quilt along

This quilt top has been folded up and stashed away, and will stay like that for a little while.  I'm still deciding on how I want to quilt it, I really want to straight line quilt 1/4 inch from each seam, but my last session of straight line quilting has me paranoid of puckers!  I think it is my basting that is off...what are your tips for sucessfully basting  your quilts?? 




16 comments:

  1. The quilt top looks wonderful Jess! Have you tried spray basting? It pretty much rocks my world. :)

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  2. Oh my...it looks so crisp and fresh...perfect corners too...very nice job Jessica..lovely quilt...

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  3. Eeek! This is one of my favorite fabrics--I love it!

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  4. I love that fabric for this quilt. The colors are so fun and bright. You did a great job. Can't wait to see it done!

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  5. I have the same problem with puckers! I can't spray baste tho because I have no place to lay out the quilt where it wont get covered in dog hair and also be ventilated so I don't die of inhaling the fumes (it said I could on the bottle! lol)

    ... but I digress, the point of my comment was to say that I LOVE this quilt!

    I have this jelly roll and I agree, it looks beautiful in smaller snippets like this. Would love to make one of these quilts but those are A LOT of seams to match up, hrmm... scary :)

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  6. It's gorgeous! I absolutely love the bright colors with the white.

    I think it's fun having larger prints cut up into smaller pieces - it's more likely that no two are exactly alike!

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  7. I adore this quilt! It looks so wonderful!

    When I have a large quilt to baste, I take it to my LQS and use their classroom table to lay it out and do it. I pin baste, too.

    If you can baste on a tile floor or something else that's heat resistant, I've had really good luck with fusible batting.

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  8. Beautiful!!! Great job! I REALLY want to make one of these.

    I use packing tape to tape my quilt back to the floor, but I'll spend forever pulling one side tighter and retaping, then pulling another side tighter and retaping, etc. I just keep pulling sections taught and retaping until it looks right. I may not be doing it efficiently or "right," but it works for me. : ) I've also noticed that I get puckers if I'm using my walking foot and I push the quilt through the machine too fast (faster than the walking foot is going). So watch for that as well.

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  9. Love your quilt top! Mine is still on the design wall waiting to be sewn together.

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  10. Wow, I just love it, Jess!!! Great job!! As for basting, I'm a super big fan of spray baste right now, but I agree with Lee about moving the quilt faster than your machine's going, that can also cause problems. I can't wait to see this one all put together :)

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  11. It came out beautifully! I'm going to straight line mine, but across the diagonal on the whites. At least I think that's what I'm doing. I spray baste also! Use the purple can from Joann's. It has changed my life! :) For something this big, you need a basting helper to grab the other end and help get everything smooth. And then I recommend sewing around the edges right away so everything is held in place.

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  12. Oh, I'm totally in love with Its a Hoot at the mo and this is so pretty and fresh. I do a good bit of straight line quilting and you really have to let the machine pull it through with the walking front, all I do is support the weight of the quilt so it doesn't drag (which affects my stitch length terribly) and guide it gently, I find if I am moving it myself (rather than letting machine move it) then I get the puckers. I have a quilting extension table which really helps.

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  13. Try this :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwV8tUkhxUM

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  14. Your quilt is amazing! Somewhere recently on the blogs I saw folks swear by a certain kind of basting spray (I've always pinned) - It sounded foolproof, but alas, I can't find it again. Great quilt, tho!

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  15. Beautiful!
    I've seen a few of these on different blogs but yours is really wonderful, your fabric choices are wonderful!

    I never spray baste -- for environmental/health reasons!
    I also use packing tape, to tape the quilt to my wood floor before pinning. And usually I have someone help me pull it really tight prior to taping it down. This works great without (too many) puckers!
    Good luck!

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  16. One word...gorgeous...(as always)...great work

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