WIP Wednesday - Twist and Shout

Eeeks, time just flies by in summer. I can't believe it's been a month.

Basting in progress

So, at the start of August, I gave my mom a new pattern to test out. She gave me the finished quilt top a couple of days ago, and I'm currently in the process of quilting it.

Twist and Shout - as I've named this new pattern - is based off a Moroccan tile (again!). I'm reasonably sure this is the easiest pattern I've ever designed. I'm hoping to have it complete and published this Friday, but worst case - next Friday. (I'm off to New York for an extended weekend, so not much work will get done in that time, I'm afraid!)

Before I publish it though, I need to quilt it, and as you can see, I have a helper. Or rather, the exact opposite of a helper. It's adorable when Biscuit jumps up on my sewing table to keep me company, but less adorable that she lies right on top of the quilt I'm working on.

Nah, she's just too adorable. Also, I should clean this space.

Now available for sale - Finlay's Stars

Yes! I did finish the quilt in time! (I might have given myself carpal tunnel syndrome or something in the process though - my right hand is very sore. Ugh.) However, I love making baby quilts as gifts - they are super-distinctive, but piece up and quilt up a lot easier than a larger size. I even got to baste this on my dining table, vs. on the floor, and my back was thanking me!

With Finlay's Stars, the most work was trimming the half-square triangles to the right dimension, but apart from that, pretty smooth sailing. (Quilting was a lot of work though - I painstakingly outline-quilted every windmill-ish shape as well as every star - which makes the quilt look fantastic, but was a lot of work!)

Of course, I did have a lot of help with this quilt - my cat Biscuit was intimately involved in both the quilting and the binding process!

Lots of pictures to follow - this project pretty much took over my life for all of the last week, so I'm going to show several photos of it!

All pieced-up, before adding a border 

Basting on a dining table...

Biscuit *helps* with the quilting...

Quilting detail. With bonus bits of thread, which hopefully came out in the wash... 

|Biscuit *helps* with the binding... (don't worry, I washed the quilt prior to giving it to the mom-to-be!)

Another photo of the finished quilt. I'm pretty impressed with my quilting diligence. 

(I did just mostly steal this post from my regular sewing blog - weekendcrafting.blogspot.com. I rarely cross-post, but this actually is both personal sewing as well as a Global Nomad pattern.)

The pattern's available right now through my Craftsy store - Etsy to follow after the long weekend, I think. (I have to pack, but if I have time, I'll put it up on Etsy tomorrow morning.)

Sneak peek - Finlay's Stars

Dear readers, in my last post, I mentioned I had a baby shower to go to, and a quilt to make for that, inspired by a Moroccan tile.

This is it - Finlay's Stars! (Finlay's the name of the wee one.)

The colours are rather un-Moroccan, since I thought this would double as a rather fabulous Fourth of July quilt. There's one planned blue (the dark one) and several bits of scrap blues, which is a good way to use  your scraps, while still keeping the look of a planned quilt.

Finlay's Stars will go on sale next week. I've no time to write instructions right now, since the baby shower is on Sunday! Eek! I better get to attaching the borders and quilting it. (My least favourite bits of the process, I'm afraid.)

As an aside, I need to learn how to work the settings on my camera. I took photos outside, but it's a cloudy day - the brighter pictures are the manual setting, the darker ones are the automatic, and the true colours of the quilt are somewhere in between.

Moroccan Morning - now available for sale!

I finished binding the quilt yesterday, and promptly took some photos in my backyard in fading daylight. But so pretty!

The pattern's available on my Craftsy store right now, and I'm putting up an Etsy listing as well today.

Moroccan Morning - the sample is done!

ETA: Linked to TGIFF at Celtic Thistle Stitches, and to Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

As background, my next quilt pattern  Moroccan Morning is inspired by Moroccan ceramic tile. I kid you not, every time I see tile, I either pull out my camera to take a photo (phone cameras - so useful!), or sketch it out (if I happen to have pen and paper with me.)

I've been on the phone with my mom daily, badgering her to complete this quilt quickly. I'm quite sure she's very tired of me by now, but she did send me this photo the other day.

I love the bright cheerful colors, and I also love how the yellow bits come together to form a star.

Anyway - this quilt top will be on its way to be quilted next week, and once it's back, I'll take photos and put up a pattern on Craftsy and Etsy. First week of February, if all goes well!