Puppy Fleece Blanket for Baby Grant

Wouldn't you know, the fleece I really liked -- this soft, soft, furry puppy-printed red -- was the sort that frays and runs and ravels and sheds.  So clipping and tying the edges was out.  Instead, I sewed right sides together, then turned it.  After stitching the hole shut, I top-stitched about an inch from the edge to give the appearance of a binding.

The red fabric was very stretchy; the white, not so much.  So I was very glad for the adjustable-pressure presser foot.  It took only 30 minutes to make this... but if I hadn't've had a large quilt on the frame, I would have done a large meander with the HQ16 to hold it all together.  It's 60" x 60".  Maybe later... though I already gave the blanket to Baby Grant.

Magnolia Branch Pillow #5

Victoria and I went to Hobby Lobby in Norfolk this afternoon and got some more fancy trim, so that these pillows can be finished with aplomb.  They have all sorts of trim in exactly the right color of brown and aqua, and I wanted every single bolt and skein and roll -- but it was anywhere from $1.50/yard for the narrow stuff to $16.99/yard for the long, fluffy tassels.  But... judging from this pillow, perhaps this price fright saved the remaining pillows from being altogether too, too gaudy. ;-)

Tabby the Inspector doing the catscan thing

Pinwheel Pillow #4

The quilt, backing, and batting are all loaded on the frame, waiting for the thread to arrive.  While it waits, I am making more pillows.

Embroidered lazy daisy with glass bead

Flanges around each small block

Pillow back

Pinwheel pillow back

Backing for Graceful Garden Quilt

The backing is now sewn together -- three 120" lengths of 44"-wide fabric.

So the back measures 120" long by 132" wide.  That's exactly 10 yards of fabric.

It's not especially Jacobean, but then neither are the colors I chose for this quilt.

I like it better than true Jacobean, to tell the truth.

Next on the agenda is to put pockets into the leaders on my quilt frame so that

I can slip the Red Snapper dowels into them, and then fasten quilt to leader with

the Red Snapper clamps.  I haven't even pulled the Red Snappers from

the package yet!

I just purchased one more thing that should make the quilting of this big quilt

easier:  Microhandles!  A lady was selling them for $200 -- they regularly

sell for $300 -- and they're still brand new; she hadn't used them.  These will

help me with the echo quilting around the appliqués, and all sorts of other

intricate work.

Earlier today, I received a post saying that my quilting thread -- King Tut, in a

variegated color called Sands of Time -- has been shipped.  The Bottom Line

thread for the bobbin is in Cream.

And -- a friend from an online quilting group is sending me Tuscany wool batting

-- an exceptional quality of batting -- in exchange for custom quilting

on a quilt she made.  I'm anxious to begin!

Graceful Garden Quilt Top is DONE!

The last three borders have been put on the quilt!

There was a moment of great dismay last week when I looked up the rules for the quilting show I hope to enter and discovered that the width limit is 110".  I thought I had already passed that -- or at least would pass it when I applied the borders.  I was relieved to realize that it was the length that was 109.5"; the width, without the last three borders, was at 101.5".

I trimmed the two inside borders a bit, sewed them all on -- and the quilt now measures exactly 110" in width.  Whew.  The quilting will doubtless shrink it just a tad; then I won't have to worry about it coming in at slightly more than the limit will allow when I put on the binding.

As mentioned previously, this is a queen-sized quilt on a king-sized bed, so that inner border lands 16" inside the mattress edge.  Someday when the weather is nice, I will take a photo of it outside on the deck.  And I will take a picture of it on a queen-sized bed, too.  Meanwhile, this is the best I can do.

It has taken 711 ½ hours to get to this point.