One finished and one started

When the mum of our new grandson asked me to make a quilt for him, I held my breath wondering what she would ask for. Lucky for me she had a photo and it was going to be a quick no fuss one that would fit into the nursery.

I quilted in the ditch by machine and then by hand with Perle cotton #8 which made for a very light and soft quilt. For the next quilt that has Perle thread for quilting, I'm going to aim for bigger stitches which is hard for me to do.

My friend and I went to Quiltsmith last Friday for our monthly Aunty Green class and admired all the Kaffe quilts displayed around the shop. It was pretty inspiring and since I didn't sign up for a class with the boys, I decided to have a workshop of my own, all by myself.

I wanted something quick and easy so what's better than going back to basics with squares?

Here's what's on my design wall so far. Hopefully I can play with it some more this coming weekend.

until next time, Janet

 

Applique and other things

I had a couple of free afternoons to work some more on the Aunty Green quilt and gathered up some courage to trim the last four borders of the quilt. Its always a bit nerve wracking for me because I'm always afraid I'll make some humungous mistake with the measurements and cutting.

If you've done applique, you would know all about the distortion that occurs after stitching. When it's a border it seems to compound. I folded each applique border in half and found that my center basting line no longer marked the true center.

I get around it by folding the border in half, pressing and remarking the center lines.

Once I had done that to all four borders and joined them to the center of the medallion, it was time to add the additional applique to the corners.

 There was some negative space that was a bit obvious that I didn't like so I've added a leaf here, a bud there to make the corners look a bit more balanced.

See the center bloom in the photo above?  That's been prepped using the freezer paper and starch method so even though its been glue basted in position, it still needs stitching.

 The stem, leaves and plaid bloom at the bottom above are extra additions to fill negative space. 

Here's a close up of a flower that was done with the same method, yet to be stitched.

The class starts up again at Quiltsmith next week so I want to get a start on the next border before then.

 I forgot to tell you that we had a new addition to the family. This cute little guy was born on Christmas eve to my stepson and his partner. Since they live in another state, we've only just met him last week when they came to visit family and friends.It's nice to be a Nana again.

Here's another addition to the Quiltsalott house. Meet Tully, a four year old Jack Russell.

We're providing a home for her for the next year as a favour to a family that has had to move interstate. They have a paid for rental for the next year that doesn't allow pets.

The challenge is on, she comes totally spoilt, untrained, barks, likes to dig for an escape, doesn't respond to her name but she's very affectionate. She's making me do my walks, a good thing.

I saw an ad in the vets window today that looks promising. Training for adult dogs. I'll find out more, it could be faster than me doing it on my own. This dog is going to learn who is in charge and it ain't her.

We've had two of our own Jack Russells and a Doberman in this house so we knew what we were taking on. 

Until next time, Janet