RAY

Remind me next year that December is the perfect time to hand-quilt a quilt. At least it was for me this year. Though it's been years since I hand-quilted a big quilt, it seemed the perfect choice when Carolyn Friedlander announced her RAY quilt along. I knew RAY's piecing would go pretty quickly, and I was thrilled to use a bunch of my CF stash as well as mixing in several other solids and substrates. Quiet evenings at home allowed for quilting a little nearly every day.

I've done a bit of an overkill sharing the progress on this one. But it was fun for a change, and good motivation.

The RAY Quilt Plan  +  RAY progress  +  RAY quilt top

RAY quilt back & basting  +  Quilting the RAY Quilt

I'm a little bummed that the forecast is just rain and more rain over here. IE. Not great photo weather. But that doesn't mean I didn't manage to get it done, and I'm happy about that.

The finished quilt measures 67" x 72", and is bound in Kona Ocean. I'm not sure if it's my quilting, basting, or what, but the quilt is a little 'poofy' in some areas. The quilting is a whole lot less dense than my usual, so that could be it too. Whatever, it's a nice, cozy quilt, and I'm plenty happy with it. Definitely a good way to finish up this year.

Quilting the RAY Quilt

After achieving the monumental task of making a backing and basting, my RAY quilt sat for a day or two but luckily I was able to reach my goal of beginning the hand-quilting before Christmas arrived. And it's going ok! The hardest (ie. part I like least) is the marking. Due to the range of  fabric colors in the quilt, I'm actually using three marking tools:

• Bohin Extra-Fine Chalk Pencil with blue lead
• Clover Pen Style Chaco Liner in yellow
• Sewline Fabric Mechanical Pencil Trio - specifically the white lead

That's all a little fiddly, but it's working. Like Carolyn did on her first RAY quilt, I'm marking several parallel lines, 3" apart, quilting them, then going back to mark more.

For the actual stitching, I'm using a Tulip Long Sashiko needle and perle cotton #8 in royal blue. I'm also not using a hoop, which I believe is my first time doing that on this large of a quilt. It's interesting! But doing big-stitch quilting using that large needle allows me to load quite a few stitches on the needle at a time. And I would have thought I'd have had to be really cautious with the tension of my stitches, but they seem to settling in just fine, albeit not totally straight and even. 

So I'm feeling hopeful about having the quilting done by the end of the year! Wish me luck!

RAY quilt back & basting

Well once I got my RAY quilt top done, I took a little breather to do other things, but eventually rounded back to making a backing for it. I began by sewing all my leftover cut strips in a loose courthouse steps design, taking liberties considering the fabric I had. That section ended up at 32" square, and then I just started adding fabric to bring it to size. And don't worry, I ran out between rain squalls to grab a photo, but since then it's gotten a really good press.

After that, I just kept moving, because it was time for basting and I really do dread that part! Considering that I had hand-quilting planned, I chose to forgo my normal spray baste, and started in with the pins, which I hadn't done for soooo long. And it was going great. Until I ran out of pins with half a quilt to go.

Lucky me, I had seen Bob Bosscher thread baste his quilts with a herringbone stitch, and I'd been keen to try it. Bob has a great tutorial in his Instagram stories, and before long I was underway. And I didn't half mind it!

So I've proven that a combo method does work - ha. And before you know it, I hope to be quilting!

RAY quilt top

Well when I posted my RAY quilt progress the other day, I wasn't sure if I'd have a finished quilt top to share any time soon or not. Luckily, the stars aligned to give me a couple of hours of uninterrupted sewing time, and that's all it took. Ta da!

Originally, I had chosen 18 fabrics, but when it came right down to it, one just did not 'fit', though I tried several time. So 17 it was. I have one little section - there on the center left - where several fabric junctures kind of bunched up, but oh well. I (obviously) can live with it. The top measures 67" x 72", and now I'm hoping to squeeze in making a pieced back so I can be hand-qulting by Christmas. Now wouldn't that be nice?!

RAY progress

Making the RAY quilt plan was easy enough. Finding the time and energy to sew the top together has been another thing. I got waylaid by the impromptu Luminaries (not complaining!), and otherwise, sewing time has just plain been hard to carve out. 

Don't get me wrong. Progress has been made. It's just been slow, like a strip or two at a time.

Finally, yesterday afternoon I managed to get the rest of my cutting done, and confirmed my layout. So now I just need to sew it up. Hoping that can happen in the next day or so!

The RAY Quilt Plan

I was mulling over what could be my next quilt project and up popped the announcement of Carolyn Friedlander's RAY quilt along. Perfect! It is fat-quarter friendly, so I can dig into my CF stash, it's simply pieced, and after finishing my Siddi quilt, I've been thinking I might like to hand-quilt again, and this project could be it.

photo by Carolyn Friedlander; used by permission

Inspired by the classic log cabin, Carolyn offers three variations of the RAY quilt, all of which I love, though some lend themselves better to fat-quarters vs. yardage - definitely some options. Carolyn's #1 version - the version I think I've settled on - is pictured above. For mine, I pulled a mix of 13 Carolyn Friedlander prints from a variety of collections [Architextures, Carkai, Friedlander, Instead, Harriot, & Collection CF]. Joining them will be one coordinating solid [Kona Blueprint] and a couple of Kaufman Essex cotton-linen blends [Essex Yarn Dyed in Cadet & Yarn Dyed Homespun in Indigo], Manchester Yarn Dyed in Royal, also by Robert Kaufman and finally, a woven from Diamond Textiles, Crossed in Night.

So I was thinking I may sew ahead just a bit so I can get to hand-quilting, as that will take the most time. But then just as I was getting ready to post this morning, I realized Carolyn had shared a YouTube video on making a plan as well as a RAY quilt inspiration board, so I'll be looking at those before making any firm decisions. But things are percolating, so we'll see where that takes me.