A Small Finish and Progress on a Bigger Project

Yesterday I put binding on the nine patch X and O Comfort Quilt and threw it in the wash.  I used three different strips of reddish fabric so the binding is as scrappy as the quilt.  Today it is all crinkly and finished.  Here's a picture indoors which shows the texture but the colours are rather dark.

Here are two more picture outside which show the colour better but less texture.  The quilt is about 28" square.

Today I worked on Bonnie Hunter's "On Ringo Lake" and have rows put together up to the half way point.

I thought it would take longer putting it together, so I am pleasantly surprised!

Wheee! Free Motion Quilting on an X & O Comfort Quilt

As mentioned in a few of my recent blogs, I have built up a number of quilt tops which require quilting.  I always find it a bit intimidating deciding how to quilt a quilt and feeling my skills don't measure up.  I know that my Free Motion quilting skills are weak and there is no way to get better than to practise.  To just "dip my toe in", I decided to start with the smallest quilt I had in the pile. 

Last year a few X & O quilt blocks were left over from a guild sew day and a couple of months ago, I made two more X's and one O to be able to make an X & O comfort quilt using 9 blocks.  I also washed a red piece of flannel for the back as I knew it would shrink more than the top of the quilt and I was afraid the red dye would run as well.  I washed and rinsed it about 4 times before the water stopped turning pink.  Here's an indoors picture of the top before quilting.

This morning, I got the backing on the frame, cut a piece of batting and layered the top on and started free motion quilting.  I did "C" quilting from corner to corner in all the blocks as my base pattern.  If you look closely, probably not one of them is exactly the same size but standing back and looking the overall effect is fine.  Then I quilted a different design within each X and O, except for two which I both quilted with the words "hugs & kisses".  Here's an outside picture of the finished quilt.

Here are some detail pictures.

wiggles

cinnamon buns

flowers

hugs & kisses

random loops

stippling

moo, oink, baa, quack - because of the animals in the fabric

And here's the back.

Once I have the binding on and the quilt washed so the texture really shows up, I'll post some more pictures. 

Now, to choose which quilt to put on the frame next.....

X & O Comfort Quilt

This was a quilt put together from donated blocks from my guild.  I volunteered to quilt it as I wanted the practise with rulers on my mid-arm.  Here's a picture of it on the frame.

After I did the ruler quilting, I decided it needed a bit more quilting down the centres of the coloured blocks so I just put the walking foot on my regular machine and added in diagonal lines.  Here's a before picture.

Here's a picture of it with the additional quilting and the binding on and all washed and dried.

Here's another picture showing the backing.

I was slow quilting it, but even from the first row to the last row I could see improvement in my quilting.  I wobbled and bobbled here and there, but overall was satisfied with the outcome.  I will hand this in to the Mayflower Quilters Guild on Thursday and it will be off to one of the comfort charities we support.

Second X & O Table Runner

Another table runner finished! I did diagonal quilting on this one too, but only half as much as the first one.

These are going to my son and daughter and their partners. Happy Valentine's Day!

Making things more complicated than they need to be...

I have finished the first of three X & O Table Runners.

I quilted it by following the diagonal lines created by the edges of the X & O letters and then by stitching an additional line in between each of the previous lines. I marked the quilt top using a ruler and a hera marker and then just followed the resulting creases.

This is where I complicated things....  Instead of just using a plain backing, I decided the other side should be able to be used as an everyday table runner to make it more useful.

I would have preferred to use a pink fabric for the binding, but since the table runner was reversible and there was no pink on the other side, I used the background fabric from the X & O blocks as binding as well.

I made the square in a square blocks with coffee bean fabric and coffee text fabric.  I made wof strip sets cutting a 3.5" strip for the centre and 2.5" strips for each side.  I then cut these strip sets into 3.5" segments and added 2.5" strips to each side to complete the square in a square blocks.

I then added 2.5" long side borders to the X & O blocks so the runner would be as wide as the square in a square runner.  The runners were now almost the same size lengthwise but I wanted to add end borders to the X & O runner.  I added 3" end borders to the X & O runner and balanced this off by added two more side sections to each end of the square in a square runner.

Now only two more to quilt and bind!  Why did I decide to make three, or six, since they are reversible?  What was I thinking? This was supposed to a quick project....

X's & O's

I receive The Quilt Show Newsletter and there was a link to a tutorial for a Hugs and Kisses Table Runner from Jen at Shabby  Fabrics. I thought it was really cute and easy so decided to make it. You need 5.5" squares of pink fabric in multiples of four and eight 3" squares of background fabric for each X or O. I chose 5 pink fabrics and one of the off-whites I bought yesterday.

Sew the background squares from one corner to the other on two opposing corners of the pink squares. Trim the excess corners off 1/4" beyond the diagonal seam line and then iron the remaining triangles outwards.

Point the pink fabric inwards to create the X's or place the pink fabric crosswise to make the O's.

Because it's so easy, make lots!

I'm going to make three table runners, but laid out altogether, it would make a really nice baby quilt. Hmmmmm...