Thursday 16 September 2010

BLOG 22


QUILTING 2010

9 in the Rail Fence

Following the making of the ‘9 on the Cabin’ quilt top (borders pending), I decided to embark on a quilt for the second bed before the idea outfaced me! It needs to be made with the same fabrics to co-ordinate with the first, but in a different design to satisfy my dislike of repeating quilts. That way it’ll get done!

So what to make? The individual blocks must be the same size (14 ½”) and the 9-patch centre needs to be consistent and the 2” strips left over from the first quilt need to be used. After much scribbling on paper to try out ideas, I came us with ‘9 in the Rail Fence’. Rail Fence is a traditional design, like Log Cabin, and somehow together they evoke thoughts of the early pioneers settling in America. This is what I have sewn for the individual blocks:

9 in the Rail Fence block

Four blocks together look like this:

9 in the Rail Fence 4 blocks

I am happy now with the design and will spend the next few days, between other on-going projects, constructing the quilt top. Another considerations for both quilts are the borders that need to be added. These again will be based on 2” strips.

The other project that has been progressing quietly is the Gresford Sampler. Many of us had a break from our usual Tuesday morning session and have now returned for the autumn meetings, enlivened and raring to go. All the blocks have been completed for the quilt top and most of us are at the quilting stage. There are several options: joining the quilt together and quilting it, joining rows together and quilting them before constructing the top or quilting the individual squares before joining them together. Quilting can be done by hand or machine, depending on preferences. I have opted to quilt the individual squares ands strips before construction, known as quilt-as-you-go. These smaller units will be easier to handle under the machine.

Joining strip

I am quilting with a multi-coloured thread and a pronounced stitch. Notice the extra batting and backing along the top and bottom sides

Quilting detail

The blocks themselves are quilted with a decorative stitch in matching threads, with a crosshatched background grid.

I have joined 3 squares together so far and they look like this:

Gresford Sampler: construction

Detail of stitches 1

Detail of stitches 2

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