Honeycomb Quilt

This quilt is one of the most frustrating I have ever made.  The idea was to make a twin-sized quilt, but due to a major miscalculation on my part, I now have a lovely cot-sized quilt and absolutely no-one to use it! 

The template started out much larger and, in a moment of sheer stupidity, I decided it would be a great idea to cut out all my fabric into squares of a sufficient size to be able to just draw round my template and cut more than one at a time.  I measured my hexagon from top to bottom, added an inch 'just in case', and blithly set about chopping up my fabrics. Unfortunately, what I'd failed to account for was that a hexagon's longest 'side' is from side to side (if you see what I mean).  When I'd cut up all my fabrics into the required number of squares and tried to put my template onto it, it didn't fit!  So, I had to cut down my template to a size that fitted my squares.

Note to self - next time check that the template fits the square before cutting them all out!  (Or, better still, perhaps it would be better to cut them out one at a time)

My next challenge was the quilting.  I'd decided that I'd do simple straight line quilting, using a quilting stitch built into my machine.  A trip to my local sewing shop provided 3 reels of a variegated Sulky thread that I'd heard so much about and thought would be great to use.  The sewing shop owner said that I should use a top stitch needle, but I sort of ignored this advice.  I was machine quilting, and you use a machine quilting needle when you're machine quilting, don't you?  Another very bad decision.  After having to take out 2 lines of quilting due to the fact that the thread was constantly breaking, I thought that perhaps the advice I'd been given in the shop wasn't as odd as it sounded, and changed my needle to a top stitch needle.  It did lessen the breakage I'd been experiencing, but, even though I tried every tension setting I could, the thread broke quite regularly.  Now I am not sure if it was something I was doing or not, but I've never had this problem with any other thread I've used.  Would I use Sulky thread again?  At the moment, it is not likely. 

All in all, the quilt has turned out very well and I'm pleased with the result.  Now I just need a home for it to go to.

A Playmat for an Expected Arrival

As my son and his wife are expecting their first child in August this year, I think it is time, as a first-time grandmother, to start sewing!  So I started with a playmat.  It is simply squares of fabrics from Connecting Threads which I have chenilled.

 

I used several layers of mostly solid colours - cornflower, orange, lemon and a softer blue, for the chenille.  It was very easy and fun to make and it will only get better with more washings.

I bound it in the same cornflower blue as I used as a 'background colour' for the chenilling (is that how you spell it?).

A close-up of the chenilled side...

... and of the main fabric from Connecting Threads. 

It has already been christened - a friend brought her new-born baby to see me recently and it came in very handy as a playmat and changing mat.

Log Cabin in Green and White

I'm seeing a bit of a common theme in these quilts of mine - namely all of them so far have been blue and/or green! This next one's no exception. It's nowhere near finished yet; only the top has been pieced. The backing needs to be found (so a trip to the fabric store is called for very soon) and then quilting and binding. I think I'll echo quilt this one by hand. The quilt has been folded for a month or so and the pictures here do show the fold lines, but I thought I'd show you it as it is so far:-






100% cotton Kona solid fabric in various greens, and white; machine pieced; measuring approx. 54 inches

And I need a name for it too.

Whoops! Spot the mistake! I've just realised that one of the spiral blocks is the wrong way round! I'll have to sort that out before quilting it.

Double Irish Chain Quilt

Well, here we are again. Another month gone by - how does time fly!

This time I thought I'd show you another of my quilts.



Measuring 42 inches square, this Double Irish Chain pattern quilt is made with Amy Butler Mid West Modern 100% cotton fabric in blues and greens, and hand quilted in a simple grid pattern. The backing is a pale green gingham-style fabric, with a central pieced insert. The binding is also pieced from the prints from the quilt top.

Price: CAD 225
Plus $25 shipping

This quilt is for sale. Please check out my blog at cherylsteahouse.blogspot.com for more information on my other sewing projects. Any questions? Please contact me at cherylsteahouse [at] gmail [dot] com.

English Countryside - Hand Quilted Napping Quilt

I've named this quilt "English Countryside" as it is reminiscent of the English countryside with its patchwork of fields, hedgerows and giant oak trees. At 61in x 61in (or 155cm x 155cm), this napping size quilt, made with 100% cotton fabric in blues and greens, was machine pieced, and hand quilted with a 'square within a square' pattern. The backing is made from a cream spotted fabric, again 100% cotton, and the binding material matches the spotted border.

This quilt is for sale. Further details are posted on my website at http://sites.google.com/site/theknottedthread/test

Price: CAD 300
Plus $25 shipping