6x6 Finished

 

Well, 6x6 is now officially finished and even more importantly: LeeLoo-Approved™.

I used self-threading needles to bury my thread ends. There weren't a lot of them as I went from edge to edge with the quilting lines.

There it is, all finished, but not yet washed. Consider this the before picture.

Here it is post-washing. So much more texture, but not too much due to pre-washing the fabrics used. 

There's a side-view of the quilt surface.

And that's my #6 done for the CQFA UFO Challenge, hooray!

6x6 Quilted

 

Diving back into the diagonal walking foot quilting on the 6x6 quilt.

How the quilt looks all squashed up on the table while I'm quilting.

There's all the diagonals done. I like the X's that show up in the solids a whole lot.

Now for the binding.

6x6 Diagonal

 

Time for more quilting to get done on the 6x6 quilt. The back shows the square grid that I've done following the blocks of the front of the quilt.

I'm going diagonal in one direction over the whole quilt. Using the Hera Marker and ruler to keep my quilting line straight.

The next quilting is going well, but my machine is acting up. Sometimes the walking foot isn't engaging, and the feed dog don't seem to work correctly so the stitches get way too small. I think I might switch it out for my old one to get it finished.

Here's how it looks with the diagonals quilted in just one direction. I think I might do the reverse diagonal to finish the quilting off.

6x6 Anchor Quilting

 

Time to get this quilt sandwich set up on the sewing machine. I've got the right thread colors in the top (orange) and bottom (lime green), the walking foot is on, a new needle is installed, the surrounding surfaces are cleared off and flat.

Starting with the center vertical line going mostly along the block edges. Not quite in-the-ditch, but close to that.

In some cases, the vertical line doesn't carry on continuously, so time for some Hera marking to get from point A to point B.

I marked as I went down each line, using my wonderful American Vantage point turner/Hera marker that friend Jaye gave me. It makes a really good visible line in both prints and solids. Very easy to follow while quilting.

Here's how it's looking after quilting both vertical and horizontal 4" spaced out lines. I think I might go on the diagonal now to add interest. Or maybe just split up the squares into 2" spacing vertically and horizontally.

In-between Sizes

 The 6x6 quilt top was just a little too big for the smaller batt size, so Queen Size it is. The hard part about using this fusible is peeling it apart from the tight roll it comes in. You don't want to yank it apart too much because that distorts the batting.

Cutting it down to size is the next step, it's a bit too unweildy with all the excess.

Had to cut along the bottom on the floor as the quilt is draped on the ironing board.

Now for the actual hardest part, all the steamy ironing required to activate the fusible part of the batting. Glad it isn't too hot today.

Six by Six Back

I used the "leftovers" from making the Six by Six quilt top to piece the column that's floating in all that green. Not a great picture, I didn't smooth it all out and pin it up correctly. The green is not the same exact solid green as I used in making the quilt top but it's close enough on the back. The strip of print along the top of this backing is going to mostly not make it into the back. But it's the same print as the one used in the quilt top with the blue background, Quite a different look to the fabric with that red-purple instead of the blue. I was considering using it for the quilt binding, but no decisions on that.

Now for the hard part...layering and pin basting. Or maybe I'll do the fusible spray method. I have to see which quilt batts I have to chose from.
 

Six by Six Top Complete

 

The last parts of the assembly of Six by Six went pretty quickly.

I love the little orange triangle in the seam line.

And there it is! Now to get the backing ready, sandwich it and start the quilting.

6x6 is Mostly 4x4

Got a lot more of the Six by Six piece together, now most of the pairs of blocks are sewn together in four block chunks. It will be very tempting to play around with these four block chunks and move things around like they're the original smaller quilt blocks. Or maybe I should just go with this arrangement and carry on trying to get this done by Sew Day.

I'm starting to consider how I will quilt this. I have a great big spool of orange thread that would work well. I don't think I'll do free-motion quilting and just do a walking foot grid sort of stitching. The question is, do I use something cool and/or boring on the backing?

 Every time I walk in my work room, I have a Woah!sort of reaction.This quilt is A Lot.

Now Six by Six

 

I've now moved onto working on my BAMQ UFO Challenge for the month, my #6 which is the 5x5 class quilt. I started this in a BAMQ online class with Carole Lyles Shaw in 2022. Right on schedule. 

I made three more blocks to fill in the left side column. This quilt was initially titled 5x5, and it is now 6x6. This is how it looks in black and white.

I think this is the final form. I've started sewing together two blocks at a time. Will I be able to get this quilted and finished by Sew Day? We shall see...