On the Bed

Here is the Mocha Quilt in its new home. They are going to get a brown bed skirt but it's hard to find the right shade of brown. The pillow shams ended up fitting perfectly and the quilt is extremely warm and light due to the wool batting.

Binding

Here is a close up of the binding cut on the bias. I really like the effect of the stripes on an angle. The designer of this quilt thought of everything.

Ready for the Hand Work

Here is the Mocha quilt just off the frame and trimmed. After I took the picture I sewed the binding on and now I only have a couple of miles of hand sewing to do. The meander goes really fast and would have gone faster if I hadn't threaded the machine wrong at one point (the thread was not between the two tension plates) and had to rip out half a row because it was all loopy on the back. I'm quite happy with how this has turned out. I'll be making a couple of pillow shams to go with it. I'll try to get a picture of it in it's new home when I deliver it.

I learned a couple of really useful things on this project. First, I learned a lot about arrangement. It was set up in a way that I have never done but might try again with ultra brights and blacks. Also, I never use bias bindings, thinking it's such a pain to cut. I used a hint from Happy Endings by Mimi Deitrich and found it really easy to cut. Then, as a bonus, the ends are already cut at the right angle so it's super easy to sew together. Also, since this binding is a stripe, it looks great on an angle.

It's on the Frame

I have the quilt on the frame and have started quilting but today Blogger won't let me upload pictures. I am doing a loose meander. I had thought of doing some vines or leaves but decided to stay with what I know. The quilting won't show up much on this busy quilt anyway and it's probably better to try something new on a utility quilt. Hopefully I'll be able to load pictures later.

Ready to Quilt

Here is the quilt with the final border on, hanging over the frame so you can see how big it is. It is about 95 inches square. I have decided that I'll be able to hide the corner problem with brown quilting in that area. I love the outer border on this one.


And here is the pillow all finished. I think it will look very good on the bed with the quilt.

Progress Report

I got quite a lot done today. I re-read the pattern and realized that I was assembling it incorrectly, so I took all the triangles off the design wall and re-arranged them. I still have quite a few more to make and then they all have to be sewn together. It is coming together faster than I thought it would. It's really quite simple piecing but the color arrangement is very complex.


Some of my granddaughters were over yesterday and they got busy decorating cupcakes.

These are the result.

Fabric Galore

We just got back from a trip to Fargo with our BIL and SIL. I told them I'd make a quilt for them if they bought the fabric so that was the reason for the trip. We went on Dec 26 to take advantage of the boxing day sales. The pile of fabric below is what is needed for the pattern above. They are all absolutely gorgeous fabrics and if I can do justice to them, will make a beautiful quilt. There was a sample quilt in the shop that we all fell in love with. The design is from a local designer and only available in Fargo at Rae-Bon fabrics as far as I know. We'll see what happens. I haven't had a chance to really study the pattern yet but I did notice that the blocks are quite simple. It will come down to the arrangement of the fabrics. We bought lots extra to allow for mistakes.



We stopped at Faye's Henhouse in Mayville on our way home and noticed these two kits. I said to go ahead and get them so now I also have two smaller quilts to do for them. I have never done a kit before. I think there is little extra for mistakes but as I said, if I need more fabric we'll just have to take another little road trip. Sigh!



So, now I'm off to the studio to play.