Happiness in Bubbles

Stardate 2017.67.1

Finally…a breather.  Work being a bear, is finally taking some level of hibernation, and so, I get to come to the surface for air and chat about some of the quilting I’ve managed to do in what little spare time there has been.  Funny how time flies…when you start a project then actually get it nearer to completion (notice, I said, “nearer to completion”…there’s still more to do), how excited you can get over seeing the small moments you have to work on the project actually start to add up and you have a quilt ready for the next phase.

Here's the finished quilt top...all getting ready to be sandwiched and quilted...

I think about 2 years has passed, and over 1500 pieces cut apart and sewn back together has now materialized in the bubble quilt I adored when I saw it in the magazine.  I spent a fair amount of time just gathering fabrics that I could use in the quilt.  The hardest color to gather was pink.  I think I’m just not a pink person.  But, I thought the pink would lend a nice spark to the quilt overall.

On the design board...ready to sew together. 

For a while I was thinking this was a new pattern, and then one day while thumbing through books at a local thrift store, I found a quilting book with the exact same pattern (I didn’t buy the book.  Yep…I don’t know what I was thinking, either…).  I now know the pattern name is “Offset Log Cabin”, and of course, depending on how you set the individual “logs” together, you can end up with the bubble quilt I’ve assembled.

Mine is a bit brighter than the version in the magazine and I included additional colors, but I love the energy the quilt has and just the pure smile it puts on the face when looking at it. 

I learned a few things on this one while piecing it.  I’d use a styrofoam  block -  which came as packing in some large item – as a staging area.  I’d cut all the pieces for a 9” block and place them in sewing order, then they’d be ready for stitching together when I had time.  And the styrofoam kept the wind from blowing the pieces around when I left the window open…now, that was helpful!

Here's my staging area...cut pieces, all ready to be sewn together.

The next step now will be deciding how to quilt it.  I have thought of taking it to a longarm quilter and just get it quilted, but with all my quilts, I have a deep desire to quilt them myself so I can enjoy that part of the process as well.  Right now, I’m thinking modern feathers in the white/negative spaces…and for the bubbles…not really sure yet what I’ll do there.

It’ll be a bit before I get this bright spot quilted as I have just sandwiched a quilt to start doing all that fun stitching on, plus I need to find some backing fabric.  I just had to share, though, as the quilt feels nice and bright like Spring.  Until then, I hope you have fun discoveries in your quilting adventures.  

Linking up with folks this week...Have a great quilting week!