Use it or bin it!

I had a sort out: dozens of batting trimmings and shirt pieces that weren't getting used had to go, but how can I part with it?!

The grandpup needs a blankie when he visits, so I pieced the batting into two cot sized sheets and appliqued the shirt parts onto them using a dense zig-zag. I have not used this function on my machine before so it gave me a chance to experiment with the density, neatness didn't matter too much for a dog bed! 

Back and front of both pieces:all the scraps, uglies and ends of poly thread used. 

 

 

 I will be sandwiching these two together and practicing McTavishing. Archie won't mind if it looks hideous and the quilting is dubious, he just loves his comfort.

***

This week I quilted Eclipse #2, it has been pinned and waiting for a couple of weeks. It has been on the shelf for over 10 years waiting!!!

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Yesterday I finished the binding on this cot quilt that I did a month ago. You may think that the colours are a little dull for a baby quilt, but the blocks were orphans from Noah's mum and dads wedding quilt. Noah was I year old last week, so its a late birthday gift. 

• deep stash backing and borders 
• orphan blocks 
• quilted in the ditch in cream, then top stitched in variegated brown
• gifted grey polyester thread on the back
• border quilted randomly with circular eyelet function on my Bernina and stitched in the ditch

The double was hand quilted, I forgot to take a picture  of it finished before I gifted it! 

***

Today this cot quilt is done: I started using the bow ties I had sewn together incorrectly for this double flimsy, then added a few more........

• orphan blocks sewn together wrong!
• border fabrics bought recently for charity quilts
• deep stash backing
•  scrappy binding from backing trimmings 
• Quilted in orange cotton on the back, Gutermann variegated green on the front, in a false jigsaw pattern. 
• borders stitched in the ditch

This will need washing as I manged to bleed on the white border and Archie visited unexpectedly and put muddy paw prints on it whilst I was layering it!

I also did a few more strips for the postage stamp quilt.

More exhumations

I tackled another tub of unidentifieds.........

33 blocks left from Sisters Square Dance top (not yet quilted).

Sisters Square Dance

May be enough for a lap quilt?

77 moth blocks from Moth in a Window. Oh dear.  

I made 3 small charity quilts from the leftover blocks that had sashings on as well! All not yet quilted.

 

Kiss in the Corner

Six of these at 12 1/2" square from Kiss in the Corner. plus one crib charity quilt......and ..........

45 of these three patches!  

And stupidly I did not take a picture of the  finished hand quilted Kiss in the Corner before I gave it away! 

I found the strips I had pieced for Bow Ties and put them together today: I only needed 7 of the 10 I made to complete the bed topper at 66 x 84". 

I am happy with it at this size with no borders (it's for ME!).  616 bows and 3, 696 pieces!

But. 

I have enough left to make an even bigger quilt!

Recent excavations have brought my issue into focus, I don't plan properly and end up with too much stuff made!  

Meanwhile, more box kites-

these are so ugly I truly love them, no one else that has seen them does, another one for me!

I also made the decision on the filler triangles for the next leader and ender, Garlic Knots, at the bottom of the picture. I thought I had the perfect fabric, but it was really UGLY when I tried it out!  Then I found this blue and white, enough variation not to be a solid but it has movement.  Because I used white sheeting as the background, whichever way I laid out the blocks there was a glaring  white area in that corner, it needed something. Problem solved.

I am going to shelve this now it has been kitted up and decisions are made and use the bow ties I found as leader-enders with the box kite project, to get the second top put together!

There are going to be so many huge quilts to try and stuff under the tiny space of  my Bernina this winter, I probably wont need to put the heating on  as I will be swamped in them for weeks as I wrestle them through!

Good job I bought two full rolls of batting! 

I am going to count the quilts that have to be machine quilted next week......

Linking for quilterinthecloset.blogspot.co.uk Building blocks Tuesday
and
WIP Wednesday  http://www.freshlypieced.com

Bow tie surplus (understatement!)

Well. I had started to sew some of the bow ties together for my quilt. I just powered away, as you do.

I had thought I had too many for one quilt. I was right. I have made strips enough for 2  quilts at 60 x 72". 560 bow ties in each.  One of these is for me, another a gift.  Here are the strips hanging over the door.






I sewed a few pairs the wrong way round: I have a baby quilt to do in the summer, problem solved, I sewed a few more, now all I have to do is add a plain border to bring it up to cot size.  I don't know the sex of the baby yet, so I threw everything in there!





Leftovers: enough for another 5' x 6', or a fancy border for another quilt. I knew I had overdone it, but really!

Bow ties

I spent the afternoon powering through
bow ties, they go fast, but yet again, I think I have done enough for two doubles!!  I realised I have overdone the black, so I'm putting them aside now for use in another project as a feature or edging.   Watching Bonnie on Quiltcam archive as I work. 

Still in the groove

 I am a novice machine quilter.  This morning, doing this lap size (for a friends sister who runs a charity for children with learning difficulties) I have learnt a lot-about stitch length, the wisdom of using pins instead of safety pins (ouch!) to sandwich, rolling the quilt properly, how the walking foot works.    And I keep telling myself that children are not the quilt police!  One down, eight to go!  Binding on next.

In the last few days sewing binge since I have a new sewing room, everything I have done has been for someone else, so last night I sewed some bow ties together for MY quilt. I have over 1000 pieced and ready to be assembled, they finish at 3 inches. This is the layout I have decided on. Most of the knot sections are a different colour to the bows: I had all the squares cut and lots of 1 1/12" strips in the bin, so I used those for the knots. I am pleased with my accuracy on these, they are going together well considering they were pieced over several months.

Quick pictorial update from my mobile

I have done a lot of hand sewing in the last few weeks.......a whole pile of random hexie units completed

and about 20 more sewn into strip sets ready to go (yes, it's organised!).

I cut more hexies as I needed some for the rainbow hexie, one large section complete now......

 More strips ready to go.... (excuse the bare feet!)

The bins were refilled, much cutting (I did a fabric swap with a Bookcrosser friend): this is the random bin...........

Hundreds more sewn up already

This weekend I looked at all the offcuts from the hexie cutting and decided as they were all the same size they should be sewn into strips NOW for the next crumb quilt-it took about 7 hours but at least it's manageable this way, crumbs from one cutting project are the same size-last time I had a giant unmanageable bin of mixed sizes.  I like the fact that every piece is angled.

I had cut more strips for the new leader-ender project, Bonnie's Perkiomen Daydreams; I sewed these into pairs today, that took a couple of hours.  A few weeks of pressing and cutting ahead into 1 1/2" pair units. 

I tried a few out to see how bulky the seams would be on 1" finished patches-seams OK!

I have almost finished the bow ties!  There will be about 1200. This was supposed to be a leader-ender project but it didn't work out that way.  Last few pairs waiting to go......

I sewed the badly cut hexies into units of the right size, these will go into the random hexie bin.  It's going to be fun finding these in the finished quilt. I tried for contrast.

I am all nine-patched out!  I think I have enough for a double with some sashing now; I haven't decided on the setting yet.  I have hundreds more 2" squares cut, its hardly touched the surface. 

 .

All the black and white nine patches are complete for 'Morphie'.  I need to decide on the next block pattern and cut more black and whites, triangles this time.   No planning, this is a decide as I go project.

As this little project will NEVER get done at home, I have taken the 1/2" diamonds to work to do in my lunch break. All the chaps I work with have asked with varying levels of puzzlement, 'What....': they haven't seen paper piecing before.  When I explain it will take about 10 years and need 14,000 pieces they just shake their heads!

This weeks read

Chosen from Mount 'To Be Read' because of 'A Good Read' on Radio 4 this week.

Catch up

I have used some mindless sewing on the road to recovery to occupy myself over the last few weeks. 

I sewed some more bow ties, about 300, I guess: I can't wait to start putting these together, but I must finish the sets I have kitted up, so I have maximum variety-this is a sample I made earlier to try a layout.  There will be about 1200 when I'm done, all finishing at 3". I think there are about 900 done already, the double quilt will need 1000 or so.

Most of the knots don't match the bows exactly: I had all the squares cut and waiting, I refused to cut more fabric so I raided the 1 1/2" strip bin for most of the bow tie  'knots'.

I have sewn some strips for the rainbow hexie

 ........and the Darwins Flower garden now has-almost-all the corners done-red, orange, blue, green, so just the border paths on the four 'corners' and the green 'hedge' edging to do, the end is in sight.

 Centre.... 

..before I sewed the orange up...

  ....and the blue corner almost done.  

The blues are really vibrant, I have a new phone with a truly rubbish camera, this picture is adjusted for white balance!  I have a new camera too, but its barely out of the box, I will have to get familiar with it.

Over  Christmas I lost myself in making the nine patches for the black and white quilt 'Morphine', about 100 of them.  I will be cutting triangles next for this quilt.

I have plans for a design wall, I will definitely need to to lay this one out. 

I got really bored with black and white, and started sewing randomly coloured mis-matched nine patches as leaders and enders, from pre-cut 2" squares, taking care to use up all the uglies.   They took over and I made about 200!  I haven't  decided what to do with them yet. 

I have not been working on the random hexie, though I know I only have about 5 more sets to sew before I have enough for a double quilt, this seems to have grown faster than anything else.  The top will definitely be done this year.  Not hand quilted though, there are others in the queue before this!

I can remember roughly when and how I acquired all these random fabrics!  Why can't I remember where I put the car keys!!!

 This year needs to be about machine quilting- I have a bout 10 tops ready to go.  I keep putting it off as 'I'm not good enough'. Things will get out of hand with the number I have to quilt soon-as if it's not already out of hand!

I have decided on the next leader-ender project, it will keep me busy for the next two years at least, it's Bonnie Hunters Perkiomen day dreams, each little square finishes at 1 inch. 

This is the basic unit......

Pale blue, yellow , red, and dark blue.

About 10,000 squares in a double. Gulp.

Summary for 2014

1. Two projects started!! (Random nine patch, black and white 'Morphine' nine patch)
2. Significant progress on Darwin's flower garden, bow ties and rainbow hexie.
3.  Another project planned. 
4. Promises of finishes!