DQS9 Reswap

Remember my DQS9 swap quilt?  I wasn't very happy with the overall experience, and I think my blog post made that clear.  Unfortunately, I made my partner really sad.

Not my intention, please believe me.  But, I understand her feelings.  I was pretty negative about the whole deal, and I can see why she would think I was pretty negative about her, too.

I was always taught to make my wrongs right, and so I begged Michelle to let me reswap with something I love and am proud of.  Essentially, she gave me another chance!

Michelle has a really fun sense of color and uses beautiful fabrics in all her projects.  The items she's made for swaps are extremely cute!  So, I decided to use one of my favorite, fun color combinations-- orange and pink.

The patchwork top is piece entirely of 2.5" hexagons; I used the English paper piecing method, which I think is easy and fast.  The fabric is an excellent cheater cloth that someone sent me in a swap-- perfect for this task!

I quilted this top three times-- yes, three times!  The first two attempts were ugly and sloppy looking, so I picked them out.  Instead of doing something complicated and cutesy, I settled on a diagonal straight line grid.  Personally, I think this quilting is immaculate.  The stitches look beautiful and the overall pattern is simple but visually impressive.  I've never done this pattern before, but I will definitely do it again, and probably on another hexagon project.

The backing is a print from Riley Blake's Summer Song-- once again, another perfect fabric for this project.  Honestly, with this print and the quilting, I think I like the back more than the front!

Lastly, I bound the miniquilt in my favorite pink fabric-- Lakehouse Antique Dots in Berry.  I have a limited supply left from my fabric crisis search, so it was a sacrifice to give this up.  But, it was too perfect a match, so I bit the bullet.  Looks good, right?

I made Michelle quilted hex needlebook with some more of my Timber stash.  I love this calm, botanical line.  Very opposite of my miniquilt, but I'm sure she'll love it all the same.

Of course, now that I've finished all these goodies, I realized I don't have Michelle's mailing address anymore.  Bummer.  I sent her an email; hopefully she'll respond.  I really want to give her these goodies!

Neon Houses

My Modify Tradition Swap quilt is finished and out the door.  I mailed it on Thursday; hopefully it has already arrived (because I'm revealing it right now)!

This quilt measures 13.5"x13.5" and is constructed of four paper-pieced house blocks.  Fabrics used include a selection of batiks and Kona cotton solids.  I machine quilted this quilt in an orange peel (also known as pumpkin seeds) pattern over each block.

After a binding mishap (cutting it too small, attaching it, realizing it was too small, and ripping it off), I hand-finished the binding in one short sitting.  The corners are perfect, if I do say so myself.

To create my label I used the Electric Quilt Co. printable fabric in premium cotton lawn.  I first used a word processor to design my label.  Then, I printed it on printable fabric and cut the label in one long strip.  Finally, I pinned the label into the corner of the quilt and trimmed it down to a proper size.  I attached it when I finished the binding.