Tuesday 30 June 2020

A Bit of a Furtle in June

As the last few months have all run into each other it follows that my blog post is similar.

I haven't as yet lost my enthusiasm to get some UFOs done and dusted making use of all this extra time.

First up isn't really a UFO as it was only started a few months ago in anticipation of a birth - baby not quite due but her quilt is awaiting............


For the binding of this quilt I brought the backing forward to the front and machine stitched it down. I have never actually done this before and am quite happy with the result - I wanted to use the same fabric as backing for the binding so it made sense. I followed a tutorial on The Crafty Nomad


My next big task for June was to tackle the quilting of my Irish Chain that I made I think back in 2018/19. I was inspired by Rita at Red Pepper Quilts. Her tutorial for her version included diagrams to ensure nesting seams and I followed it slavishly. I wanted it to be made from scraps but with a controlled coloured focus too. So I plotted it all out on EQ7 and off I went. I really enjoyed making the blocks for this. There were 25 blocks, each containing 49, 2.5" squares so a total of 1225 squares - crumbs!!

Once again, I went against the habit of a lifetime and stitched the binding down by machine. I have always enjoyed hand stitching a binding but lately find too much hand stitching sore on my hands so am now quite happy to use the machine. The finished quilt measures 72" square and I am so pleased with it, there are a lot of fabric memories in there.

Next on the production line is a current work in progress, I have started to quilt it so shouldn't be too long to declare a finish. It's another scrappy number that I started piecing in the couple of weeks running up to lockdown. I started playing with scraps and did a bit of improv log cabin.

Final arrangement of logs -



I quite liked it and decided to keep growing it medallion style. 


I rather fancied a round of these little 3 -D pinwheels but stopped after four, too much like hard work.





If it was to be an actual quilt I had to go a bit bigger so really shopped my scraps, big and small.


I stopped at this point, about 57" square. It's a bit of nonsense really but kept my mind occupied at a difficult time. And as I say, I have almost finished quilting - I'll show it finished next month along with the snazzy backing that I pieced from stash.

During all this frenzied quilting of the last 100 days I might have started piecing another top - it is a disease isn't it? I have a drawer labelled, 'Kaffe, batiks and Kathy Doughty'. I came to thinking they had spent long enough hanging about and set to wondering what I could concoct. I didn't have much of any of them, the Kaffe fabrics were mainly wovens, not many batiks in there, but a gorgeous bundle of Kathy Doughty brought back from Oz in 2018. So far I am calling it my Marmite quilt but I secretly love it and it will take its place as next in queue for quilting.

So this was my final layout of the 8" blocks but as I snowballed all the big squares I created bonus HSTs never realising they would trim down to 3" finished patches. Well I had to use them too, silly not to.

And that's a wrap for June folks, thanks for having a look.
As usual I am linking to Archie's Furtling Adventures.
 

Archie The Wonder Dog

6 comments:

  1. Very cute, this baby quilt. I did machine binding on a stroller quilt to see how it went. I also brought the backing forward. I am sure going to do it again.
    Love your big quilts. They are gorgeous!!

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  2. I love your baby quilt especially the pandas 🐼 I have machined stitched my bindings for years, arthritis means I can't really hand sew too much but I've never brought backing around to the front I must try that thank you!

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  3. I love the baby quilt, I bet the parents will be thrilled with it and it will be a favourite of Baby’s for years to come. The Irish Chain quilt is also gorgeous, is it nice to be ticking things off the list? Your two new quilt tops are wonderful, the marmite one is really striking and I can see why it’s a favourite all ready - have you decided how to quilt it? Thanks for furtling!

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  4. Beautiful quilts, and I too machine stitch the bindings sometimes.

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  5. Oh wow! Love your month! The baby quilt is super adorable and what a lovely binding!!! I love machine stitching bindings, only in the last 2 years I have grown more comfortable with hand-sewing. You are doing great. Love the medallions and snowball effects of your quilts. They are so organic and expressive. What a wonderful month. So glad you are furtling!!!

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  6. Thanks for the shout out for my binding tutorial. All your makes are wonderful!

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