Figgy Rail Fence Endings Part I

Remember the Figgy Rail Fence quilt I opened the blog with?

Well, quilting progress came to a halt when I realized that I cut the backing and batting too short. I got mad then stopped working on it. Typical.

I pulled it back out this weekend and analyzed the situation and it's not SO bad. I know I did a lot of things wrong with this quilt, so I am slowly getting over every little thing because the colors are so pretty. 

(I already know what is wrong with this picture. I made a conscious decision to NOT fix the batting and backing because I was too lazy. We will see what happens. Might be bad news.)

 (Gob enjoying my quilt sandwich!)

 (Excuse the floors! Doing a little basting..)

 (More basting)

 (Quilted the center, rail fence, portion of the quilt using a cross hatch that is about 3in x 3in)

I am not in an outrageous need to finish the rest of the quilting because I cannot find a binding fabric that I like. I searched through my stash and then stared at the fabric stacks at Joann's for about an hour on Sunday.


Does anyone have any suggestions? I want to find a light light yellow almost beige pin dot fabric. Not big dots, just little dots. Help?

xoxo

A finished Christmas Stocking!

I finished a Christmas Stocking and I am oh so satisfied!

In my last post, I showed you this finished stocking front:

Well. I am not ENTIRELY happy with it. Notice some dark brown spots on the nice white fabric? Well, it turns out I was burning my fabric! Ogghhh. I was SOOO bummed because I loved working on that stocking and it took soooo long to do because I am slowwww. Some of the hourglass blocks look OK, but there are 3 or 4 that just look bad I haven't yet decided if I can get over it enough to finish the stocking. So in the meantime, I started another stocking last night. 

Before I started the stocking though, I picked up some Kona Cotton from my LFS, Flying Geese:

  (Left: Kona Snow, Right: Kona White)

Then, the stocking making began (again). I started with a new template than the stocking from my last post. I wasn't entirely impressed with the shape of the previous stocking template, so I traced a neighbors stocking from Target and I absolutely love the shape and size:

Then, I cut out some wintery fabrics (same used in last stocking attempt):

I played around with the layout a little bit and finally settled on this one. I decided against the Kona Snow solids I already cut. I think the squares are just too big (4x4) to use an entire white-ish patch:
 

 

Then I did some sewing:

More progress photos:

(All pieced together)

 (Using the template to cut out the stocking)

 

(Made a quilt sandwich and quilted the front of the stocking using a crosshatch pattern)

 (Left to right: Stocking back, lining (2 pieces already sew together, stocking front)

(Sewing the stocking BACK to the stocking FRONT, right sides together. Note that the lining isn't involved in this)

 (The stocking!)

(Shoving the lining down in there. Next time I would definitely tack the lining to the inside of the stocking)

 

  (Sewed up a little something so it actually hangs from the wall. Almost forgot about it, woops)

And then ...

And then ...

(A finished stocking!!! YAY. What a hideous orange wall though. Let's just say that there wall was there when I moved in. It was painted to cover up someone's head going through it)

(Stocking back)

 

I am SO excited. I am pretty sure that the orange background doesn't do the stocking much justice. I plan on making many many more. As of right now, guess what? Another item off the BUCKET LIST! 

 

Things I would do differently:

- Use a smaller scale overall pattern. The 4x4inch blocks were just to big and I didn't get to see as much fabric change as I would have liked too. I guess I would like a stocking more like the one I BURNT in my last post. Woops. 

- Use a little white in the fabric front. I didn't use it intentionally because it looked a little weird on such a big scale, but next time I will.

- Tack the lining to the inside of the stocking so it doesn't move around. I would actually make the lining a little smaller than the stocking too, so it fits in better. 

- Figure out a different cuff. I totally forgot to take pictures of the cuff process because it was so hectic and I messed up a few times.

Overall, I sat and stared at the thing for hours on end figuring out what my next move was going to be. Now that I am totally satisfied with my process and overall result, I think I can whip up new stockings pretty quick!

Check out my Finished Projects Flickr album for more finished projects.

Now I am off to wrap Christmas presents and hopefully finish another stocking by this weekend (so hubby and I each have one).

xoxo,

Lauren