Weekend sewing

This week, I've been pretty busy with "real life" stuff, so it was great to work only a half day on Friday. After running some errands, I settled down to quilt my Michael Miller challenge quilt.




I thought about quilting each section individually - the half circles with fans or spirals, the negative space with large circles or pebbles, and the striped area custom, but ultimately decided against it. When Barbara Persing came to the CJMQG last year, she advised that we consider the quilt's use before quilting it. This one is being given as a baby gift, so I thought simple, striking quilting would work best.

The quilt reminds me of the sea, with the blue solid and the Violet Craft Waterfront fabrics (bridges, birds, etc.), so I chose to quilt "improv" waves with my FMQ foot. I didn't mark anything because it's a lot more fun that way, and I love the whimsy it brings to the quilt. I was inspired by this pin - apparently a quilt by Denyse Schmidt (I pinned it from somewhere and didn't realize until now that the link doesn't lead anywhere :( ).

 Some of the waves are long and some are higher, and I quite like it that way! My method wasn't without mishap, though; this is a crib size quilt, so it's pretty big and difficult to maneuver with a large scale design. This is one of those times I would love to use a long arm. :D So, I'll finish quilting today (another plus: this quilting is pretty fast!) and bind it!



One more order of business: my sister is out of school, so she's not stressed... SO, she was able to hang out with me last night! She had mentioned a couple of weeks ago that she really enjoyed taping all of her pictures on her wall and fitting them into place, which gave me an idea: she could lay out her own t-shirt quilt! That's what we did last night. The top is *almost* done! She's going to come back tonight to work on it.

I hope you all have some sewing time this weekend, too!

Linking up to Sewjo Saturday @ My Go-Go Life.