ombre weave baby quilt - 26 in 21 quilt 2

a quilt! a quilt!
finally a quilt!
yes, i know it has been long overdue, but between deciding to vlog, a baby shower and now moving at the end of the month... sitting at my computer to blog clearly fell by the wayside.

but never fear... 26 in 21 is still going strong!

so let's backtrack to january, when i made this cute little number from start to finish... to go with a quilt that i STILL haven't finished...  insert facepalm emoji here.

lisa's caboose baby was born in october, so of COURSE she needed a quilt.  i was ready to get back in to some girly fun quilts after a wave of baby boys.  i had purchased 2 half jelly rolls from cali quilt co to make this ombre weave quilt, but it turns out... the "new colors" of the v and co ombre confetti fabrics just weren't all the fun colors i needed.  so i purchased a few more colors to punch up the variety, and well... this beauty was born.

punching it up with a few more colors really helped bring out the fun in this quilt... and it was SO EASY to make!  the trickiest part is making sure the different color chunks cut stayed in their zone to make sure each "circle" had one part of each section to get the matching effect.as far as the layout goes, i shuffled the colors around randomly, making sure the purples were spread out from each other, as well as the pinks, grays and such.  a few colors only had one or two blocks, so they were pretty easy to spread out throughout the remainder of the quilt without getting too much of a harsh diagonal of color... which is always something that drives me crazy when it isn't intentional.i used one of my favorite pantographs on this quilt, and it added the perfect amount of movement and texture to the quilt.  i actually used a goldish thread to coordinate with all the metallic dots (glide sand, if you're curious) and as usual... i was nervous when it first started quilting... but i LOVE it so much.

so much so, that i really need to hurry up and finish the second quilt, which is technically the first quilt... yikes!

but seriously...

just look at the minky backing too.

i'm glad i went with just the pink to bind it (which will also happen on the other quilt so they match that way) but it just quilted so fabulously on both the front and the backing!

this quilt is still just sitting at my parents, waiting to be shipped...
but word just came in that i *might* not actually have to ship it.  providing i can get the other one done in just 2 weeks.  here's to hoping!

and as always (since i'm saying it for the 2nd time now... so therefore, always) here's the current 26 in 21 playlist, which includes the videos from making this quilt!

pattern information: ombre weave by v and co

quilt count: 149

circuit board quilt - 26 in 21 quilt 1

 the first final project from the 26 in 21 adventure is here!

for being such a big project, it actually wasn't too hard to get going and keep going throughout.
i think having the fabric purchased already was absolutely helpful to make that happen, which was kind of my hope for this first quilt.

the circuit board quilt was one that i saw at some point last year, and knew instantly it would be the perfect quilt for my older brother.
in contrast to the 4732 quilts i've made my sister (okay... like, 3...) i haven't made a single one for either of my brothers.  with markham's birthday being january 12, this was the perfect reasoning to kick off 26 in 21 with this beast.after purchasing the pattern, i had collected the various black on blacks from two places in town.  swifty stitches and cali quilt co.  the green, which is i believe "kelly" in the grunge family, also came from cali quilt co, as it was my final piece to pick up after leaving work one day in december.  i had all my fabric pulled and ready, and things were set to kick off on january 1st!while it felt like a dozen other things were happening at the same time, i still managed to set aside time to work on this quilt most nights.  i started with the traditionally pieced blocks (the straight line ones were first) and then once i moved my way through everything (even while hunkering down at my parent's for an over night car repair) and on to the paper pieced blocks.  for being straight diagonal lines, i sure found that they had their tricky moments!it was pretty fun getting all these black on blacks to look as scrappy as possible.  it turns out i had a lot of different star prints as well as polka dot prints.  keeping them from clumping sure was a challenge!  but i think i did a pretty fair job of it, even with this beast not being able to fit on my design wall.  i seriously underestimate how big 76 inches is ALL THE TIME even though i'm fully aware 72 inches is 6 feet... someday it might sink in....
someday...i quilted it after work one day on the q'nique 21 that we have at the shop, which is fully computerize and AWESOME.  i had purchased a cat themed pantograph that i felt would be perfect for this project (and let's be real... probably many more to come) and it totally was.  i also backed this quilt in shannon cuddle for the first time, and i pretty much love how it turned out.  i love the feel of a weighted blanket (hence that i currently have 5 quilts on my bed right now) and this cuddle backing adds a little extra weight to it.  plus, the pricing wasn't far off from the 108" wide backing i would have used anyways.  
i had enough of my black on black fabrics initially that i was able to do a black scrappy binding on the quilt to frame it all up without having to purchase anything additional.  which was extra nice, since i'm trying to track my fabric intake and outtake this year.  go me!
here's a peek at how the cuddle quilted up on the back.  perfect and fuzzy to replicate those black cats that always seem to reside in markham's room.

speaking of black cats...

apparently veruca has already tested out the quilt and made sure it was up to her standards.

this circuit board quilt was a fun new challenge to take on, and i totally enjoyed it being something new and exciting to kick off 2021 and my crazy plans.  don't forget, the whole journey is on my youtube channel, which you can find here:  emily's 26 in 21

pattern information: circuit board by flying parrot quilts
quilt count: 148

26 in 21 - an introduction

 well here we are, in 2021.
yeah, i know i mentioned a quilt post after the 2020 round up, but new years day on a friday really threw me for a loop...
but it's coming tomorrow!

in the meantime, i'm here to share with you my newest crazy venture as a result of what 2020 put us all through.
through the 15 minute a day challenges, to the bullet journal trackers, 2020 left me with needing something big and bold to really push me out of my comfort zone.  block party with emily was doing that to an extent with cali quilt co, but i was really needing a personal challenge that would be all my own.
whelp.  here it is.

26 in 21 has become the reality of what my comfort zone pushing needed.
the plan:  26 quilts made from start to finish every 2 weeks in 2021.
you read that correctly.
one quilt, two weeks, start to finish.
from fabric pull & cutting to quilting and binding.
yes, my brain is about to explode on it's own, so you're in good company!

i created my intro video last week, so you can take a look at that here:

so now the plan is that on tuesdays, the videos will drop regularly.  each quilt should end up with three videos, that is only if i mapped it out correctly.  video one will be an intro video, video two will be an in progress update, and video three will be the quilting, binding and final reveal.

some of my projects i've already got planned ahead, and others might end up flying by the seat of my pajama pants when they roll around.  the good news is, that january is planned in it's entirety.  so that's 3 down, 23 to go!

oh, did you notice i said videos would drop on tuesdays?  did you also notice that today was tuesday?

well, here you go!

in reality, my plan is that this will keep me finishing projects all at once, instead of having a quilt top linger forever... such an example would be the great juniper berry quilt of 2020.  top was done in march, but for some reason, i didn't get it finished until DAYS before christmas.

and i have nobody to blame but myself.

so here's to a new adventure in 2021, unlike any i've done before.

i'll be making these 26 projects, block party projects, and even more exciting (and possibly even non-quilty) things to come!

i'm also trying to track my fabric intake vs. outgoing this year... 

so wish me luck on THAT reality check!