Please Note

                  Dilys is away for a couple of weeks so the blog will be resumed on June 4^th.

BLOG 347

BLOG 347

There is not a lot to see this week as all the effort has been poured into the one project. I have been trying to get the crazy quilt finished. I have layered it and pinned it and got it under the sewing machine now, ready for quilting. To stabilise the layers I have used a walking foot and a variegated thread to do vertical and horizontal lines either side of the seams, using the width of the walking foot as a guide.

            Walking foot

I also felt that there needed to be some quilting around the centre of each block to hold it down. I decided to do my favourite free-motion design of a sprig radiating from the centre. As the fabrics are multi-coloured, a variegated thread blends in nicely and it means I don’t have to be too fussy as it can barely be seen!

                Pencil design

               Sewn design

As the quilt was stabilised with the vertically and horizontally sewn lines, I was able to use a Liberty fabric to make a tight double binding around the edge. All I need to do now is continue sewing the centre motifs and add a sleeve. This quilt will be finished in time. Phew!

                   Binding

BLOG 346

BLOG 346

This week I have been busy finishing the crazy quilt top, 9 squares x 9 squares or 72” x 72”. But when l laid it out for a photograph, one square near the centre screamed out at me. When I started this quilt I had intended to use any and all of my scraps but I saw that the Batiks and Bali’s didn’t fit in well as the project progressed, so I stopped using them. This square must have been the one that got over-looked! And you know what it is like, once you see a glaring error, it is all you see whenever you look at the quilt. By chance, I had done an extra dark square so a bit of reverse sewing later and it was installed in place.

               Crazy top

            Rogue square

            Close-up

             Swaps

There are still lots of floral scraps left over but I have had my fill of using them now and would willingly hand them over to others who enjoy scrapping! The other plus has been that I have emptied so many part-filled bobbins!

               More scraps

           Empty bobbins

There is still some quilting and finishing that needs doing now, but there has been much progress towards the quilts for the Gresford exhibition next month. Fingers crossed that I get them finished!

               Gresford quilts

 BTW: We own a big agricultural shed and some friends over-winter their car and their boat in it. When Rog removed the plant pot that hung on the end of the stowed mast, this is what he found inside: 2 baby robins! He repositioned the plant pot but next day the birds had flown the nest. Sooooo cute!

             Nest

               Fledglings