WiP Wednesday and TNT Thursday: Quilts Galore!

I didn't do a WiP Wednesday post last week because I had nothing to show for my week.  I added captions to some scrapbook pages and made a bunch more but no real other progress.  I certainly made up for it this week!  I quilted and bound my Walk in the Woods quilt to finish it up.  I made a quilt from start to finish for charity, and I finished the top for my Tetris quilt and have begun quilting.  I think all of that warrants a link up to WiP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Since I'm already linking up I figured I'd add this post to TNT Thursday at Happy Quilting where you talk about new things you tried.  I tried using my walking foot for the first time and LOVED it!  Seriously best idea ever.  I also am trying my hand at hand quilting using cotton perle.  I've hand quilted before but never with perle and I'm loving the look of it.  It adds a whole different feel to the quilt than regular quilting.  Too bad my fingers aren't loving it.  Anyway, on to the post.

I'll start with the two completed ones...

This is my disappearing nine patch done in the fabric A Walk in the Woods by Aneela Hoey for Moda.  I love everything about this quilt!  It was so fun and fast and this is the perfect fabric for this pattern.  I free-motion quilted it doing giant loops.  To read more and see more pictures of this quilt see the full finish post here.

The day I finished binding the Walk in the Woods quilt I started on my Quilts for Kids quilt.  I requested a kit from their website and in a few weeks they mailed me all the fabric I needed.  I simply had to put it together, add my own batting, and ship it back.  It was so fun and fast and left me feeling great about using my talents to help kids in need.  See the full post here.

Making this quilt I got to use my walking foot for the first time ever.  I was pretty excited about that.  I got it half off at Joann's and it was really quite a steal at around $10.  It's amazing what a difference it made in my quilting.  The lines are so even and so straight and it was so easy to use.  In fact I think I sewed straighter with the walking foot than I do normally.

Yesterday I made the last block from my Tetris quilt and put it all together.  This is from the Tetris Quilt-A-Long hosted by Melissa at Happy Quilting.  I added the top three rows and the gray side panel on my own.  The idea came to me late one night as I was wondering what kind of fabric I'd use on the border.  I think this is much more fun!  See full post on this quilt here.

After finishing the top yesterday I got right onto quilting it.  I spray basted then decided to use cotton perle in gray to quilt it.  It's a really good match to the gray solid I chose for the backing.

The quilting is kind of hard to see because it matches so well but I did a running stitch around each of the Tetris Pieces.  It's pretty neat how it outlines them and you can see the pieces on the back side.  It's better in person than the picture.  Although doing this I remember why I don't hand quilt.  I don't mind the process I just hate how it turns my fingers into hamburger.  I guess I need to invest in a thimble.  The problem with thimbles is that I have large man hands.  Well, at six feet tall most of me is large and my hands match.  It's difficult to find a thimble that fits me but I'm sure I'll have fun looking around my local quilt shop anyway.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out other works in progress at Freshly Pieced.