Churn Dash Cosmonaut {a finished quilt}

Here are the final photos of my Modern Quilt Guild Michael Miller Challenge quilt.

The pattern is called “Unchurned” and comes from the book “Accentuate the Negative” by Trisch Price.  I followed the dimensions for the quilt but made the corner pieces 4 inches bigger than necessary and cut them wonky, but maybe not wonky enough for it to really show.

I tried to include selvages from every fabric used in the quilt.

There are many pieces that read Michael Miller or are the color dots from selvages. 

I thought it would be cool to include the color dots because really this quilt is about using all those colors—from new Michael Miller fabrics like Petal Pinwheels and Just My Type to mixing in Madrona Road and Whimsy Windows.  If the color worked, I tried to incorporate it in the quilt.

Using solids was also a goal for this quilt.  The solid dark gray is Michael Miller cotton couture in charcoal.  The coral is also Michael Miller.  The provenance of the green, grays, cream, and aqua is unknown.

The gray rectangles are quilted densely with back-and-forth lines. 

And each of the gray half-square triangles are quilted with big and small circles.  The top thread is dark gray and the bobbin thread is light aqua.  Getting the tension right took a lot of practice, but overall the stitching is really good.

The rest of the quilt is stippled densely with aqua thread on top and bottom. 

The different quilting styles give the quilt a nice texture that is not stiff at all.

I tried to get creative with some of the piecing.  This flower is pieced from yellow and blue fabrics.

There are several fussy cut cats.

And one bird.

A fun little curved piece.

A pretty yellow flower.

And some flying geese.

 

The back has a pieced section…and quite a few puckers.  It was a major disappointment on my end.  I made the mistake of quilting the solid sections before the center section, and ended up with too much backing fabric in the center.  The good news is this quilt is going to hang in my living room, so no one will be the wiser, and it’s a lesson learned to always quilt from the center out.

The quilting on the back through these flowers is my favorite part of the quilt.

This quilt is entitled “Churn Dash Cosmonaut” for the fact that it’s a micro and macro view of a churn dash and the cat fabric is called “Atomic Tabbies.”  The song “Low” by Cracker may have had something to do with it too…

The finished size is 72” square.  I’ll be linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts and Fort Worth Fabric Studio.

MQG Michael Miller Challenge

Finally finished up my quilt for the challenge today…whew!  It was a whirlwind of sewing and I’m hoping to get some good photos of the quilt tomorrow.  Unfortunately the rain kept me from getting any today.  So in lieu of good photos, I thought I’d share a few process photos from along the way.

It all started with putting up a temporary design wall.  I marked out the sections and sizes with painter’s tape so I had a good idea of the spaces I needed to fill with patchwork.  Immediately my human helpers started using the wall for their very own projects.

I really wanted to use some text fabric in the quilt.  The rules state you can use any kind of Michael Miller fabric, so I dug out some Madrona Road from last year’s challenge and decided it added just the right dark depth to the Petal Pinwheel collection for this year’s challenge.  Then I had what I thought was a brilliant idea.

Why not use some “text” fabric in the form of selvages?  I’d never sewn with them before, but it couldn’t be that hard, right?

The pieces were teeny tiny, plus keeping the letters lined up was easier said than done.  But overall, the effect is what I was going for.  My husband had the piggy-back brilliant idea of putting a huge strip of “Michael Miller” across the quilt.  I was digging through my stash trying to come up with enough pieces, but I settled for this strip, about 12 inches long in the finished quilt.  Unfortunately, a few inches of the original strip had to be amputated while trying to fit together the center panel.

I tried to pay homage to all the designers of the fabric I used in the quilt.  Patty Young’s name got bisected, so one selvage reads “Young Michael” but I thought that was kind of funny and left it in.  You can see I gave Violet Craft a shout out this year.  Too bad I didn’t think of this last year…

I got pretty excited when the pieces started going together and I could get a feel for what the quilt was going to look like.  My daughter made me a cute “good luck” sign that she pinned to the design wall.  I wanted to make sure a few signature pieces were included in the quilt, like a bunch of wonky churn dashes.

Then I wasn’t sure if I had enough recognizable “blocks” included in the quilt top, and I added flying geese even though they aren’t part of a churn dash.  I wanted the judges to see that I could piece points very accurately.  These babies are pointed (except the top point, which had to be sacrificed to make it fit).  There’s also an impromptu curved piece I made just winging it.  Just so they know I can actually sew…lol!

Then it was finally time to sew the nine patches together!  My trusty non-human helper inspected all the seams and fastidiously cleaned up any errant threads.  The bird fabric in this quilt reminds me of him, so this quilt is dedicated to him in thanks for all the quality control support he’s given me on this and many other projects.

Yay!  The top was finally done and I could sit back and relax, maybe enjoy a celebratory glass of wine?  Uh oh, not so fast, this was Tuesday, and the quilt had to be finished by Friday…

I got the backing on the long arm.  The center strip of the backing is pieced with the label in another churn dash and the two fabrics other fabrics are Michael Miller Birds of a Feather “Tweet” and Atomic Tabbies.

See, this quilt is dedicated to a cockatiel, but also to a cat.

The photo is a little fuzzy because it was taken around 6am this morning as she was helping me finish up the quilting.  She loves scraps almost as much as my children.

And that’s the end of the story.  Oh, and here’s the finished quilt right before it started raining again this afternoon.

Thanks for stopping by!

Nested Churn Dash QAL

I love a good quilt along!  Last December my sister, my daughter, and I did the Penny Patch QAL together, and boy was that fun!  We used Skype to help my sister, who was new to sewing, and her quilt turned out so pretty!  Now she’s a quilter too, with several more quilts under her belt since then.  And this past spring, CeLynn’s quilt inspired me to jump right into the Triangle QAL.  So it doesn’t surprise me that a few weeks ago I saw Izzy’s Nested Churn Dash and I was ready to start another QAL!

While my husband was away, one of my tires sprung a slow leak (of course) and I had to fill it with air a few times myself—let’s not even go into how the first time the air pressure kept going down as I was filling it, because I never pushed the button on the pump!
Luckily there was a Good Samaritan in the parking lot who showed me how to do it.

Yesterday my husband took the car out for an oil change and to get the tire fixed.  He took one of our kids with him, the other two were watching a movie.  Could I get the 24” block made before he got home?  It was a race against time!

Cutting the pieces was a snap!  I easily followed the chart in the pattern.  Having some quilting experience really helped here because I totally understood what I was cutting and how it would go together in the end.

Making the HSTs was a breeze too.  The directions allow a lot of room for trimming.  This is where a white marking pencil comes in handy.  I think the background color is Kona charcoal, but I’m not 100% positive.  It’s a very dark gray.

And there you have it—I got exactly halfway through the piecing before I heard the garage door open, which was about 90 minutes.  Not too shabby!  I wasn’t thrilled to be stopping, but I knew there’d be more sewing after bedtime.

I love the way it turned out!  It’s kind of like looking into a tunnel.  I was thinking coral for the binding.  What do you think?

The points came out nice and crisp.  After making this block I can say that it is the perfect project for someone learning how to do patchwork.  From deciphering the cutting chart, to following HST directions, to piecing the block, the basics are all covered and the end product can be used in a quilt, for a pillow front, or as a wallhanging.

Info on the QAL can be found on Quilt Jane’s Blog.  There are so many gorgeous photos of nested churn dashes from many talented quilters showcased there.  The pattern is only $2, worth every penny, and there’s still time to join in!  2-3 hours is probably all you’d need from start to finish to get the block itself done. 

Thanks to everyone who left feedback about my scrappy quilt.  I feel much better about it now.  It’s all pieced together and is ready for quilting.  Hopefully some crinkly texture will make it even better.  Have a wonderful Fourth of July week!