Finished: Donut Quilt

Yay, another finished quilt!  For those of you who really don't like patchwork, bear with me, I promise we'll move onto clothing soon!  (I just ordered a pencil skirt to go with that Hawthorn I have planned, so I probably need to sew it...)

I used Johanna Masko's Donuts pattern for this, but altered it slightly.  I started with the throw size, and decided, instead of borders, I'd add two more rows of Donuts.  I didn't repeat any fabrics , which is something the pattern recommends.  I also originally didn't want any left or right borders, but without them, the quilt was way too long and skinny--it just looked bizarre!  I added six inches to either side.

I'm completely unable to resist fall (or Christmas, but that's another story), and wanted another fall quilt for the collection.  I grabbed fabrics I loved that felt more like autumn for whatever reason--oranges, reds, and browns were prevalent.  I threw in some purples, blues, and greens for some pop, too.

I also used Essex Linen in Flax for the background.  I've only used Essex before in my Super Tote, which I loved.  Well, Essex is quite different to quilt with--I had a lot of shifting and stretching, which was a bummer.  I did, however, pre-wash my linen so I wouldn't deal with shrinkage.

Quilting this was pretty intense; I think I spent a total of nine hours working on it.  I straight-line quilted the donuts, 5/8" inside and outside and inside the donut holes.  I think quilted chrysanthemums in the spaces between donuts using the tutorial from Stitched in Color.  That really wasn't difficult, and I just practiced by drawing flowers in my work notebook between emails.  I also quilted with a loopy design on all borders and sashing--practicing it the same way as the mums!

Mums are so fallish to me, so I had to include them.  I used variegated 50 wt. Aurifil for the quilting, and I love how it blended in.  I thought about using orange Aurifil at first, but I already had the variegated in my stash, and it ended up being perfect.  There's texture, but you (hopefully) don't notice every single mistake I made.  I'd say I'm getting less horrible at free-motion quilting.  I'm not even somewhat good yet, but I'm getting more confident and trying new things.

PS--my Camille Roskelley Aurifil set arrived yesterday, so I really couldn't be more excited to try more patterns and open all that shrink-wrap on each spool.

The quilt is backed with two Dear Stella prints, and bound with another, all from their Piper line.  I originally bought both of these yardage cuts for clothing, but as I make more quilts, I'm using quilting cottons for quilts and apparel fabrics for apparel.  I'll probably have exceptions to that, but it's how I'm leaning now.  I used the Sprinkle print for one of the donuts too.  I thought it tied things together well!  Also, helicopters and confetti, what could be better?

This boy loves his quilts.

I also machine-stitched the binding!  That's unusual for me unless I'm in a hurry or am displaying something instead of using it.  However, I'm realizing with every binding that our couch is on its last legs and I end up in pain for days from the lack of hip support.  I was looking at hours on the couch with this quilt, versus 30 minutes at the machine, so I went with the machine.  I know a lot of quilters will cringe at that, but to them I say, you're welcome to buy us a new couch.

So that's the latest!  What have yall been up to?  I heard that new Robin Thicke song on the radio twice on our way home from Barnes and Noble this afternoon, so I've been singing it to annoy Nick.  Fun times!