Blue Ice Laughing Out Loud

 

in 2009 I made this quilt, Laughing Out Loud. It is a takeoff of the "Reading in Bed" quilt in Freddy Moran & Gwen Marston's book, Collaborative Quilting. 

It was the first quilt I ever made with sashing and cornerstones, and it taught me something. If one fabric is used for the sashing, and if it is used well, the blocks appear to be floating above them.

When I started laying out the blocks for the Blue Ice quilt, I saw the two darkest fabrics wouldn't work the way I wanted, so I decided to use them as the spacers between the blocks, but when I stepped back, the dark solid looking fabric looked dead. Notice them around the block with the dragonfly in the center, above. Notice how the other spacer blocks with the deep space "stars" in them, appear lively by contrast, and they seem to connect to each other. 

I decided to use only that fabric for the spacers, but I didn't have enough. So I have placed an order for more of that fabric. As long as I was at it, I ordered the backing fabric, and something I might use for the binding.

The Giants - Part One

When I talked about my stash the other day, I mentioned I use large prints on the back of my quilts. It's a funny thing, but when I take photos of my quilts I don't take photos of the backs, which is a bit of a shame because I choose the backings so carefully. I never just use what I have hanging around.

So last weekend I set up my quilt stand and remedied that situation. Some of the photos have a blue cast because they were taken in the shade on a sunny day, but you get the idea.

In 2009 I made this quilt, Letters From Home as a sample for Tonya Ricucci's book, Letter Play Quilts. Tonya had stipulated the quilts had to be quilted. I had never had one of my quilts quilted before and was wary to let somebody else loose with it. Fortunately Julie Sefton intervened and recommended Chris Ballard.

When I talked to Chris on the phone she said, in her inimitable Southern accent, "I don't know how I'm going to quilt your quilt. I'm going to hang it up on the wall. Your quilt will tell me how it wants to be quilted."

Right then and there I knew Chris was the one, and she has quilted all my quilts since. I let her do her thing and it is always perfect.

At that time I had been reading Julie's blog and saw how Julie used a lot of pieced backings for her quilt. So I assembled this out of a Kaffe and some leftover bits. As you can see I added a cat emoticon.

When the quilt arrived at Chris's house she gave me a call, "I like the way you didn't drop the ball on the backing."

I've never forgotten that, and make every effort to "not drop the ball" on every backing of every quilt I make.

 Here is The Quick Brown Fox, also made in 2009.

And here is the back. Generally I feel backings are a great big space, and need something equally big to fill it up so it doesn't look stupid. I guess I just don't like a lot of empty space.

 
In between "arty" quilts, I make "normal" ones, or my version thereof. I made this because I wanted to see how many so-called rules about placing fabrics next to each other that I could break. I was going for broke, and ended up with a jewel box. The result is my quilt "Laughing Out Loud."

Here's the fabric I chose for the backing. It's an eye-popping Philip Jacobs print I was lucky enough to get on sale. I figured if I was going for broke on the front, I had to go for broke on the back. I gave this quilt to my Mom, so I don't have a "proper" photograph of the back.

My son asked me to make him a yellow quilt.

 Really.

(An aside: The tutorial for this quilt, Slashed Squares, is here. It's an easy quilt to make, and has lots of possibilities. It is the single most popular page on my blog, having over 27,000 hits since I wrote it in 2008.)


He said he wanted a "Quilt of Sunshine" so when he took a girl to the fireworks they could lie on a nice quilt and he could make a good impression. You can read a bit more about it here. My son gave me all kinds of grief about the fabrics I selected, but I have "Mom Armor" and I ignored him.  He was, originally, quite dismayed at what I selected for the back.

Giant Magnolias.

I had asked him if I could make "to Paul from Mom with love" in free pieced letters on the back of the quilt. He said "NO WAY" so I just made "XXX..." which is the way we sign letters to each other. (Tell that story now, however, and he slaps his forehead and says, "I was WRONG! I should have LET YOU") This is the same son who's getting the Petals quilt. I only have one child.)

When I gave him the quilt, he carried it home and placed it on his bed. He's never once let it touch the ground on the beach or at the fireworks. It's on his and DIL's bed as we speak.

BTW, the other print on the back, a small Japanese design printed in metallic gold, was chosen by him against my advice. Gold sparkly stuff on quilts WILL wash off eventually. So now the back of the quilt is flowers, and gray.

He loves the flowers, and he's graceful enough to admit he was wrong about them.


More backings and more quilts later!

Finally, Laughing @ Home

My quilt, Laughing Out Loud, is all finished.
This morning I folded the binding over to the front, pondering which thread to use, black or white. The quilt, of course, had the answer. Chris had quilted it with a yellow green. There on my thread rack, this spool of thread called my name, and said "Me! Me! Use me!"
Once I was finished, and I pulled out all the pins, and signed the back, I folded it up, and brought the quilt to its new home.

When I told my Mom and her husband I was gifting them with the quilt, they were both speechless. They both cried, and my Mom asked, "Really?"

Yes, Mom. Really.

Quilt Wrangling

I've trimmed the Laughing Out Loud quilt, made the binding, and have sewn it to the quilt. This quilt will be used and loved, so I'll machine stitch the binding.I think "Quilt Wrangling" is a proper term for working with such a big quilt. Laughing Out Loud measures 82" x 100" (208cm x 254cm)

Laughing @ Home

After spending a few months in Tennessee, being quilted by the awesome Chris, visiting friends and enjoying life as a minor celebrity, my Laughing Out Loud quilt has finally arrived back home to soggy New Hampshire.
LOL has decided traveling is very nice, but there's nothing like sleeping in your own bed.

I still have to bind the quilt, but that can wait. I want to enjoy sleeping under this quilt first.

Critical Mess

I've had it. It's time to clean the sewing room. But first, I have to organize all the scraps of fabric by color.

Chris tells me the white Rules quilt is quilted and she thinks I'll love it. Woo Hoo! Can't wait to see what she's come up with. Next she'll work on Laughing Out Loud, and I am sure that is going to be quite the knockout!

Never Say Never

This is my quilt, Laughing Out Loud, when I finished it in the summer of 2009.And this was my quilt last Saturday, as I cut out the ties, and unstitched the binding.
Here is the backing, as was ironing it on Sunday.
I'm going to send it out to Chris to be quilted. Why?

Why did I suddenly decide to take apart this quilt and have it be quilted? Was it because of Letters From Home? Was is because of the Exquisite? Was it because of No Rules for Julie? Was it because of The Quick Brown Fox?

No, no, no and no.

It was because of this one, Obsolescence. I told Julie I'd use it as a throw in my living room, for winter evenings when I got a bit chilly while watching TV, but in reality, it's spent every night on my bed.

Every night I sleep under it, and every night I touch it. Finally last week, when I was changing the sheets I decided I wanted Laughing Out Loud to be a "real" quilt. I wanted it to be quilted. So I took it off the bed, and started taking it apart.

Mea Culpa.

Exit, Laughing

After I finish tying the quilt, I usually trim the excess fabric to 6" wide. In this case, I added the striped fabric to the quilt backing, so I didn't have to trim anything.
I fold the raw edge over to match the edge of the quilt top, then fold it over again until the edge covers the raw edge of the quilt top by about 1/2"; it's usually about 1-3/4" or so. In this case, it's 2". I miter the corners.

I machine stitch the edge down.
Then I iron the quilt, pressing the edges nicely.It's all finished.
Here is the back. You can see where I had to add a bit to the sides.When I have help, I'll photograph the quilt in natural light, so you can all see the entire thing. In the meantime, here is what it looks like on the bed.And under the crocheted bedspread.Yeah, I know all you "it's-not-a-quilt-until-it's-quilted" folks are rolling your eyes and shaking your heads... "she must be crazy, hiding this under that bedspread..." but, that's exactly why the quilt is called...

Laughing Out Loud.

All Tied Up

Julie, this photo shows the easiest way to tie the quilts.(have somebody with a strong back and knees help you.)

Absent that, here's what helps me: a small pillow for my knees. And I do a little bit at a time. In between sessions, I cover the quilt with a sheet, so I can walk over it in stocking feet without worrying about getting the quilt dirty. You all know I tape the quilt backing to the floor to prevent everything from shifting.
When I'm done threading the ties (which is a lot like basting), I roll it up like a jelly roll,
and move it to my dining room table,
where it's much easier to cut the threads, tie the knots and trim the excess.The Laughing Out Loud Quilt is all tied now. I'll work on it later. I've got a birthday party to attend this afternoon (note to self: don't bake a cake when it's 90F if you don't have air-conditioning), so I am not sure I can finish it.

Laughing Out Back

Yesterday I moved the dining room table over and started getting the backing ready for my Laughing Out Loud quilt. I will not quilt this, and after I tie it, I plan fold the backing over to the front. If you look closely, you can see the backing is too small.
Here it is after I added fabric to all four sides and squared it all up.
Then I placed the top down on the backing. Now it is ready to tie and finish. I hope to have this on my bed very soon!

Enter Laughing

The top of my Laughing Out Loud quilt is finished. It's about 82" x 100", big enough for a queen-sized bed.
For comparison, the stockade fence is six feet tall, and that's my car on the left. I didn't compress the top picture, so you can click it to enlarge.

Laughing Out Loud Border Fabrics

These are the brights I will use with my black-and-white fabrics for the border of my Laughing Out Loud Quilt.
I am hoping to have the quilt top finished over the weekend.

Border Ideas

While I was at work yesterday I checked your comments, got some ideas and printed out a sheet of graph paper and started playing around. When I got home I refined some ideas, but still haven't decided what to do.

I did add the inner border to the fourth side of the quilt.

In between watching Roger Federer beat Gael Monfils rather definitively.

Inner Border

I finally got a little bit of sewing in last night... I added the narrow black and white border around 3 edges of the quilt. I still haven't decided how to make the outer border, but I'll work it out.

Laughing in the Sun

This is my wonderful son with the Laughing Out Loud quilt top. As you can see it was sunny and bright out, making it hard for me to frame the quilt (and my son) properly. This is for all of you who asked to see the entire quilt.It was a breezy day, and he was trying to keep the quilt from blowing away while he admired it. The color is very close to real life in the second photo, and you can click either photo to enlarge and get all the detail. I haven't compressed either one.
I want to thank all the wonderful women who left very thoughtful comments on yesterday's post. I really appreciate it. You ladies make up the best quilt guild anybody could ask for!

I will definitely be using the sashing fabric as an inner border. I liked Mimi's suggestion about using the jewel tones as the borders. I agree with Wanda and others who felt I needed three rows of strips. Those three rows of strips will have to be very carefully chosen and precisely placed. I am also thinking I might use the sashing fabric as the binding too.

Today, though, I've got catch up on housekeeping.

With or Without?

Gwen and Freddy's Reading In Bed quilt has three rows of random strips of fabric as a border. It's the inspiration for my Laughing Out Loud quilt, so I set out three rows of strips next to mine. I'm not quite sure if it works for me.So I tried adding a thin strip of the black and white sashing fabric as the innermost strip.I think I like it better. I think it's more unifying and gives the blocks a bit of space to breathe.
What do you think?


**It's got to have a border, it isn't big enough without one. It needs about six inches on either side. It's actually about 6" too long right now, so I may trim 6" from the bottom.

I want the top to "breathe" and I think a dark inner border would restrict it. I'm not 100% sold on the scrappy borders either.