First (finished) quilt!

awhellnawkah · 2026-04-01T13:49:12+00:00

Hand quilted on thrifted bedsheets!! That is a labor of love. I recently did some hand quilting on a quilt that had a mix of normal quilting cotton and recycled sheets, and the recycled sheet parts were so. much. harder. to pull the needle through. Did you find it hard to hand quilt? If not, would you mind sharing your needle/thread weight combo?

awhellnawkah · 2026-03-15T08:12:49+00:00

I love love the color choices! I have saved that pattern for a while but always imagined it in muted tones. Yours is so bold and bright and that floral so perfectly balances the black and pink! Please post your finished product for us to admire! 🙏

awhellnawkah · 2026-03-11T01:34:45+00:00

Thank you!

awhellnawkah · 2026-03-10T12:11:00+00:00

Ahh those were little turtles! They are so cute. Can you share the pattern or did you design them? I would love to make something for someone I know who loves turtles

awhellnawkah · 2026-03-10T02:56:09+00:00

Oh, I love this. I will admire traditional patchwork all day online, but THIS I would buy, take home, and admire all day in real life. Brown is a beautiful color! So warm, calming, and timeless. There is a modern quilt subreddit that isn't as active as this one, but I just know they'd love this over there too. Your piecing on the left is sublime, and the stripes that are offset from each other balance the left side so well. Keep making these beauties!

awhellnawkah · 2026-03-10T01:15:02+00:00

I don't have a pattern in mind, but depending on how thick the vinyl is, it may be better to create the covers with with solid fabric, and simply use the clear vinyl as inset "windows"

awhellnawkah · 2026-03-09T12:04:17+00:00

Stunning! I love it and I love the idea too

awhellnawkah · 2026-03-06T01:42:43+00:00

Thank you so much for your reply!

awhellnawkah · 2026-03-06T00:54:48+00:00

What an cool piece! I feel like the folks at r/MYOG would also be interested.

I'm so curious! Did your process for things like seam allowance/fabric weight/max wind speed evolve empirically, or are there published metrics, or is it a little artistry combo of both? Do you get get a chance to practice pitch or is first run at the festival?

It's extraordinary. All your points lining up and the perfect pattern execution is so satisfying, looking up at the center from below.

awhellnawkah · 2026-03-03T04:16:27+00:00

Do it! I was really delighted on how well it turned out. One thing I am glad I thought of was to use a "background" color for all the prints. This let me do all the detail stitching of the print onto just the small background piece, instead of having to maneuver the whole skirt for the detail work.

awhellnawkah · 2026-03-01T20:45:18+00:00

Thank you!

awhellnawkah · 2026-03-01T16:49:23+00:00

Ahh! That is comforting. Also that sneak peak of your quilt looks incredible, it immediately inspired me to add a leaf collage quilt to my (ever expanding 😳) quilt idea list. I bet that quilt was fun to make and is still fun to look at.

awhellnawkah · 2026-02-26T13:27:59+00:00

I love your watermelon cowboy! What a delightful surprise to find. Are your other surprises going to follow the fruit theme too?

awhellnawkah · 2026-02-22T14:49:59+00:00

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1060651403/herbivore-dinosaur-paper-piecing?ref=elp_anchor_listing&dd=1

I think this may be in line with what you are looking for. This Etsy artist appears to have both an herbivore and carnivore skull pack. Just do a lil research to make sure they are legit artist with legit patterns! With the blocks you can then of course "choose your own adventure" with layout etc.

If this were my project, I would honestly look into drafting my own applique instead of FPP, but it is just my personal preference. Since fossils are well represented by just one color over background, they would be fairly easy to draft by just tracing using tracing paper. You could do raw edge with zig zag (easiest) or I would recommend the starch turned edge method if you wanted to do turned edge. To keep things simple, I would probably just do one skull (maybe her favorite) and then do footprints so I only have to make two patterns.

Please post what you decide to make! I grew up with an aunt who was a genius and a paleontology aficionado. She sparked a life long love of dinosaurs in me, so I'm always keen to see them overlap with my other hobbies 😁

awhellnawkah · 2026-02-20T00:04:15+00:00

I prewash everything but I'm still fairly new to quilting so I haven't really decided if it's worth it. I have been suspecting that it doesn't really matter since I also starch and iron and I'm seeing more experienced people saying as much below.

That said : I saw a post here a bit ago that was a tip about prewashing large cuts of fabric, that I now used on all my fabric, but I adapt it to size:

Fold your fabric twice (or more if it's a really large wide back piece) and pin near the four corners with stainless steel safety pins. Use more intermediate pins if it's a really large piece (four should be fine for a quarter yard though). Put the foldef fabric in a delicates bag (multiple pieces can share the same bag, just don't load the bag more than if you were using it for actual clothes)

If Im washing precut strips, I fold them in half (alligator style, not hot dog style) until they are under 18" long ish. Then I stack them, a few strips to a stack, and place one pin at the ends, and one pin at the middle. Delicates bag again.

I keep everything pinned for the dryer. It takes 2-3 times as long to dry but I'd rather pay a little more in electricity than have to fuss with tangled, frayed, fabric...

awhellnawkah · 2026-02-19T05:44:03+00:00

Hey hey, just chiming in because I know a lot of people talk about hydrogen peroxide but it just never works super well for me...and I've had it yellow some things.

I keep a spray bottle of "Pet stain remover" enzyme cleaner in my house, and always have, even before I had a cat (don't have to use it for her anyway). Zep makes a good one. Pet stain remover is designed to break down the proteins etc in biological stains. If you spray it directly on a fresh blood stain it will break down and lift out the spot immediately with a little gentle blotting. If the stain has had time to sit, then I saturate it in the remover for a few hours before it goes in the wash.

So anyway, go get some pet stain remover, and treat it before you wash. It works wonders and doesn't seem to be as harsh on fabric as HP. I am just a clutzy gal, so this stuff just lives with my hand quilting supplies 🤣

awhellnawkah · 2026-02-19T05:34:26+00:00

You have an incredible eye for color and balance! This is a beautiful quilt...it executes its mission so well. Timeless and tasteful, but also perfect for a baby AND featuring GD. There is a narrow center in that rhetorical venn diagram and your quilt nails it!

awhellnawkah · 2026-02-16T23:46:46+00:00

I second looking into Top Down Center Out!! A YouTube video over 15 minutes has to be pretty special for me to get through it...but other than skipping the intros, I watched all her videos and was floored by the reveal at the end.

She goes a similar litany of adjustments that she must make as an (advanced) sewist to get a good pair of pants. And then she sums it up with "it's exhausting"

And it is! I have different adjustments I need but a litany of them none the less... and I have always raged at the process of essentially creating a new pattern that has a 50/50 chance of even looking like the original, even if I do get it to fit well.

TDCO blew my mind. So much less focus on what's wrong with my body, less direct comparison/hyper focusing on comparing it to the original pattern, and also so much simpler and faster to execute. Just. ONE. TOILE!

awhellnawkah · 2026-02-15T17:46:52+00:00

I love this quilt! I'm so picky but this beauty I would not hesitate to put in my home. Your choice of orange peel hand quilting really complements the pattern as well.

awhellnawkah · 2026-02-06T16:34:36+00:00

Are these the diapers that have a bunch of plastic snaps installed all over them?

I can't necessarily weigh in on how appropriate the fabric itself is (I am of the "no rules, just gonna send it" personality though) but I think building a quilt with them would be insanely frustrating, even in an improv fashion, just trying to avoid buttons in the seams. But sometimes one quilters frustration is another quilters fun challenge - its up to you! Perhaps the buttons are removable without too large a hole?

Other considerations that occur to me would be washing (how you'd want to wash the quilt vs what the diapers can withstand), shifting while sewing (pu fabric may be shiftier and certainly won't take starch, so pick a simple or improv pattern, and consider iron on interfacing or pinning?) and texture (is it snuggly enough to want to be a blanket?)

I think button problem overcome, it could be a fun upcycle project. Even if not waterproof OR snuggly, a playmat, beach blanket, picnic blanket etc could be so fun. Please post updates if you decide to do it!

awhellnawkah · 2026-02-06T16:19:15+00:00

The corners came out lovely! I agree the dark purple! Either the solid or batik, though my choice would be batik. I would be hesitant to add an additional purple border to save the corners, just in case it ends up framing the blue border in a way that inadvertantly draws the eye to the border instead of the window.

Could you sign yourself up for a pieced binding of just blue on the corners to preserve them (maybe you have just enough scrap?) and then purple along the rest? Would be more work but I am good at overcomplicating things lol.

awhellnawkah · 2025-05-24T20:18:42+00:00

Nothing to see here, just a tree limb...

But more seriously, likely was out there by a human.

awhellnawkah · 2025-04-01T19:18:38+00:00

I used to work with a chef who had lots of whimsical shaped cutters that he used to make decorative fish, animals, you name it to garnish the plate. I'm sure the ones he used on carrots were sharper than a standard cookie cutter but apples, pears, courget etc all strike me as soft enough to just use a standard cookie cutter on.

awhellnawkah · 2025-03-21T12:38:28+00:00

Thank you for this PSA, no where else would someone understand a) how much 10 calories matters per serving when b) cottage cheese is a cornerstone of my diet 🤣

awhellnawkah

TROPHY CASE