Ariana's Summer Snowballs Quilt and my newly established Etsy Shop!

     I took a break from blogging during August, but of course, didn't stop sewing or quilting.  My latest finish to share is a snowball quilt, make with 30's prints for my nephew's new baby girl, Ariana.       I had purchased a wide assortment of 30s reproduction fabrics earlier this year, and pulled some blues, yellows and reds for Pippa's Union Jack Quilt.  You can see that quilt here  I knew this baby was a girl before I started the quilt, so went very pinky - with orange and violet..  

    

     I was winging the pattern; I looked at some examples and tried to figure out my own sizes.  I started with 5 inch blocks of the 30s fabric, and then cut 2 inch blocks for the corners (in Kona Candy Pink and white).  After testing a piece, I decided I needed smaller corner squares, so trimmed those squares to 1 3/4 inches.   

The blocks with the 2 inch corners.  I didn't think they would make the squares look round, which is the point of the snowball blocks! 

The trimmings!   Note to self - test one block before cutting for 99 blocks! 

Once I got the sizing right, I marked the sewing lines and began sewing lots of little corner pieces accompanied by many Doc Martin episodes! 

    I alternated pink and white for the corners, which created a little hourglass design in the middle.  I spent some time laying out the blocks to keep it looking pretty random, albeit with the pink and whites in the right spots.     

     I wasn't sure if I had achieved the "snowball" effect, but once I had the blocks sewn together, I was happy with the result.  

The finished top

     I found a Kona printed wide backing fabric that I thought was perfect for this quilt, and had spent some time watching Angela Walters' tutorial on how to quilt a free motion flower pattern.    This is the first quilt I was working on with my Tiara II up on blocks to create a standing machine, so I did a sample block which turned out well, so I got started on the quilt. I was very excited about this design. That excitement soon turned to dismay.

Sample piece on the back

Actual back - disaster! 

     After quilting perhaps 1/8 of the quilt, I turned it over, and to my horror, realized that the tension was all off!  Eeeeekkkk!!!  For the first time ever, I had to undo all of the quilting.  I considered just reverting to a stipple or a meandering stitch, (let's face it, I also considered just ditching this quilt!) but eventually came to my senses, and decided to try again, with a bigger pattern.   Although I had some problems at the end, I eventually was happy with how it turned out.  

More problems to undo! 

     The backing fabric is just so cheery.  I am glad I stuck with the flower quilting pattern after all.  The binding is more Kona Candy Pink.   

     Here is a picture in the sunlight of the finished quilt.     The quilt finished at about 40 x 49 inches.

Finished quilt, trust quilt holder!

     I hope little baby Ariana enjoys her quilt as much as her big brother, Levi, enjoys his!  You can see his quilt here.

     In other news, I have finally gotten my Etsy shop up and running.   The link is on the side of the blog!   I started out with a few of my little novelty bibs, and have sold a few of the science baby bibs.     I have some more of those to offer, and will also be listing some baby quilts for sale, as well as offering custom designed baby quilts.    A guild quilt show is right around the corner, so I am busy getting ready for that.      Stay tuned! 

     Enjoy the end of summer and beginning of fall.
Take care,
Gretchen