gardening

 

So, a certain person was supposed to have basted a certain baby quilt for quilting this weekend.

That certain person didn't get her act together and instead played with these.

Well, at least I'm sewing. I think this block is called Garden Path. I've been taking more care than usual when piecing these blocks and opening the seams to reduce bulk. Starching the fabrics has meant that they are easy to finger press as well.

Spring is in the air, the days are warming and there are kookaburras in the gum tree of my neighbour's yard cackling away as I type this. They are sometimes called Laughing Jacks. It's incredible that they make their home in suburbia.

 I hope you and your loved ones are safe - we are seeing some dreadful images on the news about the wildfires in California and the devastating hurricanes in Louisana and Texas.

monochrome

Well, almost.

The top is finished. Those borders look wavy but that's just the way it was hanging. There's nowhere to hide when you use white fabric.

Gee, those seams stick out like . . . . there's a phrase. Never mind.

I was planning to use a white backing fabric but I'm not all that confident about my free motion quilting so I think I'll go with a print of some sort.

Next weekend, we quilt! Well, I quilt. You know what I mean.

criss-cross

 

Thank you for all the lovely comments on my last post. Since Blogger changed over to the new format, your comments aren't coming through to my email. Obviously, I need to change a setting somewhere.

Withe the Scrappy Cats Cradle finished, I can play with some new fabric and make some of these.

The pattern is All My X's (video tutorial) from the Missouri Star Quilt Co.  They have lots of easy to follow patterns.

It will be a baby quilt for a very modern couple who have created a neutral themed nursery. Apparently, babies can only distinguish black, white and red in the early days.

I'm aiming to finish this one before baby is born - well at least before he/she is three months old.  

Let's not get carried away.

scrappy-cat

I'm not sure why this block is called Cat's Cradle. Perhaps it's after the yarn game we played as children. I could make a teacup and cat's whiskers.

Let's just take a moment here to absorb the concept that I have started and finished a quilt . . .

In. The. Same. Year.

Marjorie, bring the smelling salts!

I know, I know. I should have warned you. Prepared you for the shock of it all.

The quilt measures 48 x 60 inches so not big, just a lap quilt. It is a Quilt-As-You-Go construction. 

I really enjoyed making this quilt; quilting this quilt; stitching the backing seams by hand and sewing down the scrappy binding.

I don't seem to have made a noticeable dent in the stash though.

. . . ann . . .

clarification

It's time to add binding!

Just to be clear - I am not hand quilting this quilt.

It's 100% machine quilted but for this no-sashing version of Quilt-As-You-Go, I chose to hand stitch the backing seams, kind of following the method Jera Brandvig from Quilting in the Rain uses.

You can machine stitch the backing joins with a stitch in the ditch foot (how is it I don't own one of these?)

In other news, I found a bottle of Marking Pencil Remover by Quilters Rule International in the back of a cupboard and by using a cotton bud (Q-tip?) was able to remove some of that wretched Hemline water-soluble (it's not) pencil.

Not perfect but much better. As always - test, test, test on your fabrics before using.

. . . ann . . .