Quick Sew Baby Quilt

So I've decided I want to buy the HQ Sweet Sixteen quilting machine. I need lots of money to do this. So I have a plan to make and sell stuff in order to get said money. One plan was to make some baby quilts to sell. I've been wanting to try this quick sew method and had a 5" charm pack that would be great for it. I've held off using pre-cuts cause I am a big fan of pre-washing. Firstly, I don't like colour runs in something I spent time and money making and secondly, I'm not a huge fan of the wrinkled look.

This project confirmed my policy of not buying pre-cuts. The quilt made up very quickly. Basically, you glue/pin the squares onto the top fabric, baste it to the batting and backing and then quilt the squares. So you are sewing the squares and quilting all in one go. It's a very quick method of putting together a quilt. I liked it. However, after binding and washing the quilt, I have to say I am NOT happy with the wrinkled look. I won't be doing it again.

On the bright side, I tried a couple of new techniques. I tried spray basting for the first time and it saved me SO much time!! Great for smaller projects. Not sure how it would work with bigger quilts, but I will definately be trying it again. The other thing I tried was machine sewing the binding on. That didn't work quite as well, but I think if I increase the size of the binding, it will work better next time.

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Great Granny Along Block One

I haven't done an "Along" before, but I've been wanting to do some Granny Squares for awhile, so this quilt along seemed perfect. I decided to use a Moda jelly roll of "Sunkissed" fabric for the squares. The ""finished block is around 8".

The first one is below. I will be posting at least one block a week, maybe more.

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Stash Reorganisation

I have only recently in the last couple of months really gotten back into quilting. So all my fabric was stored in plastic tubs. Not impossible to get at, but not easy either. I've had three of the below sitting in my kitchen taking up space while I worked on projects. It was annoying as I had to lift them off one another to get to the ones underneath! Also, they were taking up alot of room in my kitchen (only place with enough space to put them in).

I've been keeping an eye out for a system I liked the look of. The one I liked most was just using CD towers. The size is perfect for fat quarters and they are pretty cheap. I wasn't able to get the ones I liked best but the ones I ended up getting were perfect anyway. They were only $30 each and only took about 10 mins each to put together. The other advantage of the CD tower is that the are both the correct width and depth for a FQ, so they don't stick out too far into the hall like a book case would.

I am hoping that having it easily accessible and all in on spot will increase my productivity.

The first four towers are by colour, with a couple of complete collections together (hand dyed set etc). And the final tower is all my 1930's Repro fabrics. 

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