Curvalicious Quilting for the Finish!

Well, I didn't quite get my quilt for the Island Batik Ambassador challenge finished in July, but it was pretty darn close!  (If you want to see the start, click here)  I added the borders early this week, but had to finish several other projects before I could actually start quilting it.

Yesterday I managed to get all the curves quilted and part of the border, but as close as I was, I had to let the rest go for today.  The quilting was really fun, kind of a sampler of different free-motion fills.  They are all done with Aurifil thread, mostly 40 and 50 weight, but I did use 12 weight for the straight line quilting in the border and in one of the dark blue arcs.

I finished up the borders this morning, and added binding.  I was a little sad to see that it is a very friendly quilt.  Yes, the borders are waving!

I added more quilting to the border, and even gave it a wash and dry, so it's a bit better.  I suppose I should have quilted that border more because it really did lie flat before quilting :(  I might try blocking it next to see if I can get it to lie right.

But look at all that lovely texture!

It was really fun to come up with all the different quilting designs.  I love it as a sampler of different motifs!  Not one thread break even with all the tight quilting and different weights of thread, either.  Batik on the top and bottom, with cotton batting.

This was a fun challenge - it was really great to be creative and do something out of the routine for me!  The July Challenge is Oh, Baby!   I've got a plan for that one, so I'm ready to get started.

Isn't that a cute graphic?  Totally adorable!

I'm spending my weekend adding labels to a pile of quilts.  One of these days I'll make sure to label as I go.  While I'm at it I'll have to make a label for my Curvilicious quilt, but I need to figure out a name for it.  Any suggestions?  Thanks for helping!

Curvalicious Quilting with Island Batik

This month's challenge to the Island Batik Ambassadors is Curvalicious Quilts!  I love the challenge of piecing curves.  I was all set to make a great little quilt using the Quick Curve Mini ruler.  That is, until I realized that I didn't actually own it!

Turns out that I only own the regular size Quick Curve ruler...oops!

There I was with a whole day free to work on a project, a box of lovely fabrics, a ruler, but no pattern.  Darn.

Luckily the Quick Curve ruler comes with a pattern for a table runner.  (There are also several free patterns on their website.)  Unluckily, I didn't have quite enough fabric for the background.  Now what should I do?  

  

I decided to start cutting some fabric and make some units, then figure out how to put them together after I got a few done.  I found that you can get 4 arcs out a 5 inch strip (pulled from the Stash Builder rolls I received in my box!)  When I started sewing I found that the gentle curve is really easy to sew.  You just put the concave part on the bottom (it caves in) and the convex part on the top, line up the edges, and start sewing!  As long as you don't pull too much, or sew too fast you end up at the other end with a matching seam.  I think working with batiks makes curves come out really well because they are very stable in their weave.

Aha - I realized that if you sew a background section to the top of one arc and the bottom of the next one they make a complete arc as well - makes me think of waves.

Looking good!  I decided that this would make a nice wall hanging.  I ran out of 5 inch strips in the colors I liked, so started digging through my container with the leftover fabric from previous Ambassador boxes.  I found some nice additions in the colors I wanted.  I think I've got a little something from each of the collections I've received in this quilt!  That's another great thing about batik fabric, they blend so well from collection to collection!

  At first I didn't think I was gong to use that light yellow piece at the bottom right, but I decided if I add a row to the bottom that I can use the periwinkle color at the top and bottom of my quilt, then add side borders of the same.

And here all all my curves sewn and now I am ready to start sewing the sections together!  

I'm looking forward to seeing how this quilt comes out, it's been a lot of fun so far.  Thanks to Island Batik for the fun fabrics and the challenge to sew some curves. I finally broke that Quick curve ruler in, and can't wait to make more fun projects with it...I'm wondering how I could use it to make a cool border now!

Linking up with Connie for Linky Tuesday

Freemotion by the River