jenna brand

Don’t tell me what I can’t do!

I'm doing it!

People told me it couldn’t be done… they said I was crazy!  Eat it, nerds!  I’m doing it!

My biggest venture ever into machine quilting is going swimmingly.  I’m going slow, fixing my mistakes as I make them, checking the backing with almost every line of stitching, and yet – it’s going so much faster than I thought it would.

I’ve got about 8 blocks in the center completely done.   Wahoo!

THIS is a great post from over at Shelly’s Quilts blog that really inspired and informed.

This quilt is basted!

I followed the instructions posted on Oh, Fransson! for how to make a quilt sandwich. Except I screwed up and laid my quilt top down first, instead of the batting, resulting in me rolling it awkwardly backwards when it came time to place it upon my backing.

Regardless – it got done!

Here’s a picture of the top laid down (wrong side up) in the middle of my living room.  Please ignore all the toddler toys tossed about.  At this stage I ironed it to the best of my abilities and snipped the seams that weren’t laying flat.

I’m pretty excited and definitely scared about quilting this bad boy.    But I’ve been pumping myself up by LISTENING TO THIS – so grab your air guitar and put on your best snarl face and join me!

I’m collaborating with a friend on a HUGE quilt for our dear pals who are getting married this summer.

Yesterday I finished assembling the top:

This thing is a monster!   In the picture above it is laid out on my King Size bed.    (BTW – like my pink walls? That was a painting mistake we made 3 years ago and are hoping to remedy this weekend.)

We were inspired by THIS QUILT from filminthefridge.com.

We asked all of our friends who sew to donate a green or blue fabric scrap for us to incorporate.  Then we went to work assembling linear, modern, scrappy blocks.  It’s 5 x 7 blocks that were cut to 12 inches (so 11.5 inches squared after assembly).   A monster!  But isn’t it fun?

Now for the punchline – I’m going to attempt machine quilting this mo-fo by myself.  I’ve never machine quilted anything larger than a table runner, but I BELIEVE!!  Wish me luck and stay tuned…

My wonderful mother, Sharon, taught me this pattern.    It’s a quilt-as-you-go type technique that makes an orange-peel pattern.  The resulting quilt will have a tactile, three dimensional feeling and scalloped edges.

Keep reading for full instructions on how to make this quilt.

Continue reading →