Anyone have a good idea for the quilting on this?

Here is my practice doll quilt so far. It is 14" x 14" but I could trim the white border some still. (I might do the white border over as well, I messed up on it rather spectacularly and those corners are really bugging me.)

I would love some ideas on how to quilt it. I am thinking that straight lines will be so much easier than tiny free motion quilting. But lines how? From corner to corner in a lattice? Echoing the Churn Dash Blocks? A vertical and horizontal grid? I am not keen on stitching in the ditch but maybe that is worth considering here. Other ideas - any help is appreciated here.

Edited to add: Those white squares call out for quilting but they are 1" and 1.25" squares, do you think I could free motion something there or would it just look like a thread glob?



The blue border is a Kaffe Fassetts shot cotton. I am really please with how it adds to this piece. You can see there are many things I have learned and will do better with next time. However, overall I am pretty pleased with my progress so far.

I have to say I am still overwhelmed with how cute tiny quilts are.

Best,

Leanne

Where has the week gone - it's Wednesday again.

This is Railroad, Block #72 from the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt. See how it has the three four patches down the diagonal and a couple on the sides.



This is block #70 Prairie Queen. Turned on pointe and with no white in it, it looks more like some kind of pinwheel block.

If you look carefully you will see that these two blocks are very similar, both have 4 hst units of the same size and both have four patches of the same size. This one has four four patches and a solid square in the middle, the other has five four patches. Changing the order of the units in the overall nine patch grid sure makes the blocks look different, as does the use of a solid or not.



Here are my 10 blocks so far. I made Prairie Queen with two prints in part because of how I made basket weave with no white. But I think I like the impact of the bright white with the bright and busy colours a lot. You may want to head over to flickr to see all there other amazing Farmer's Wife blocks.

I am not going to show you my modern cross blocks this week, but I am almost finished 50 blocks. Hopefully I can piece the quilt top this weekend and show it off then.



Here is my latest distraction, attempting a practice tiny doll quilt with several pieced blocks. I will be adding some borders to finish it off. It is not perfect, and I have learned a lot - but so far these 9 blocks are only a 10" square unfinished. The cuteness is a bit overwhelming.

Now I totally understand why the DSQ 11 people want to make these kind of doll quilts this round. I hope I make it in the lottery,  I am having a lot of fun practicing.

I am linking this up to WIP Wednesday. I do try to make sure I visit all the links there, and I recommend you do too as there is alway inspiring work there to see.



Best.

Leanne

Tiny blocks

I have been enjoying the small size of the Farmer's Wife blocks - they are 6.5" unfinished and will finish at 6" square. But I have recently been experiencing significant envy over all the small quilt swaps so I put my name into the lottery for the Doll Quilt Swap 11.



In this round of DQS the rule is that the quilts should be like bed quilts only miniature, as opposed to the many beautiful artistic quilts that are more like paintings. They are looking for 6 or more small blocks and the finished size of the whole quilt is really not big:  9 - 18 inches per side.

What do you think? Maybe a quilt with some half size FW blocks would work as a good practice quilt. This morning, first thing, I made this one. I have to tell you that this block is really cute this small. I so want to make a bunch more.

However, the tiny block is sitting beside me as I finish a huge work project that is due on Monday. No more sewing until I get it  done. I am finding that the work is going pretty fast with this for incentive.

Best,

Leanne

Farmer's Wife QAL - Week 4

Eight blocks done! The Farmer's Wife QAL continues to be a place of great fun and inspiration. I fall for every new block, and start imagining a quilt of made of just that block.  I am still doing the blocks that are easy to just calculate and cut with a rotary cutter. Soon I will wrangle the printer and do some of the paper piecing ones.



This is #9 - Box. It is also fun with a different centre but I thought that the crazy print made for a nice effect.



This is #20 - Churn Dash. I have a big crush on this block. I have been doodling shoofly blocks a lot lately, and this block has just a little more added to the basic shoofly. Also, this is the first one of the FW set that I think I like better not on pointe. I am going to see if I can make another block with the pattern bits rotated on the background so it sits the usual way on a diamond background. I'll let you know how it  goes.

Happily, the sewing machine is repaired and back. I hope the repair worked this time, the problem was that each line of sewing started out with a thread glob on the back. This is the second time in the shop for this issue. I am happy to have it back in time for some sewing this weekend.

It's Friday! Enjoy your day.

Best,

Leanne

Wednesday, Wednesday - la la, la la la la

Wednesday again! Time sure flies when you are busy. Here is my progress on the Modern Crosses Quilt, from Modern Log Cabin Quilting by Susan Beals. I am up to 37 blocks. I need somewhere around 60-75 for a proper twin size, I have to do some math - but I think I am over the half way point for sure.



There are almost too many blocks for a photo. I really enjoy working with these bright colours and fancy fabrics. I am using the same stack for the Farmer's Wife QAL. You can see that I added a few more greens and blues to the group of blocks to reduce the red dominance it had before.



Here is one of the two border pieces I am working on for my Kiss in Time quilt. These little squares finish at about 3/4". Below is a shot of the Kiss in Time top so far, which you have already seen.  I hope to finish the borders on the weekend and attach them. Then I can start quilting it.



I am also hoping to get a bunch of batting so I can baste and start quilting on the quilt for my bed. I have decided I will go for very simple backs on both of these, likely a nice sheet from IKEA will do the trick.

But it all has to wait, the sewing machine is in the shop. Cross your fingers that they will fix it before the weekend.

I am linking to WIP Wednesday, last week the work linked there was amazing. I hope you will try to visit those folks too.

Best,

Leanne