I spent the majority of yesterday standing at the kitchen counter sewing whilst occasionally playing referee between the boys and letting them watch more movies than I should probably admit to. I have no idea what possessed me to get started on a quilt on a day where my eldest wasn’t in preschool, but, lets just say I have learned my lesson!

I promise it really is straight, this was the best photo I could get before the wind blew it down.

It’s just a very simple off centre log cabin block, the sides were all trimmed on right angles so I can’t really call it a wonky one! The 6inch (15cm) blocks are entirely from my stash and composed of about half scraps and half strips cut from yardage, so this wasn’t quite the scrap buster I had envisioned, the sashing is 2inches (5cm) and is made from good old Lincraft homespun. It’s destined to be a Christmas present for Declan.

I’m now stuck on where to go next, part of me is tempted to put 2inch white border around at this point, and then do a pieced border in blues and greens, followed by 3inch final border, again in white. I think it would look awesome and really finish it off… but then I think of the amount of work involved, in addition to the pieced back I have planned, and then the daunting thought that I have to repeat it all over again in yellows and reds for Connor. I’m also not entirely sure whether I have enough of the binding fabric I’ve picked out to cover a slightly larger size that the extra borders would make it.

My other option is just adding 4 or 5 inch white borders all around and being done with it, it’s tempting, but I have a feeling that every time I look at it I’ll kick myself for not taking the extra time to finish it exactly how I wanted.

Would love to hear some ideas on this.

Quilting dilemmas = first world problems!

Update: I gave in and added the pieced borders, I knew I’d regret it if not, and they look awesome!

With the magic of chain piecing and stripping it only took me about 90 minutes to add them. I’m quite proud to say that at 438 pieces this is the most intricate quilt I’ve finished. Now I just have to finish piecing the back and then it’s time to quilt!

Remember the teaser I posted the other day? Well I finally got down to Spotlight and picked up a zip, and we have a new cushion in the lounge. It has already been used in several forts and as a weapon so has the seal of approval from the kids. Now I just need to recover the lounge so it matches, that’s the grand project of 2010. I’ve been talking about doing it for five years now, so it’ll be a great achievement if it actually happens this time.

In response to a few questions asked, it’s very simple free motion embroidery. Homespun, basted with some fleece on the back to add some stability and a little bit of puff to the circles (if you don’t want the puff then I would recommend some lightweight stabilizer and hooping your fabric to keep it flat. Then, with the feed dogs lowered and with a darning foot on your machine simply go where your hands take you. Try a practice piece first to get an idea of what feels comfortable for you (for example, I like to make my circles anticlockwise) and don’t forget to back stitch at your start and finish points.

I’ll see what I can do about putting up a video of my hands whilst I’m stitching if anyone’s curious.

Once you’re done just sew it up into a cushion, I could see this effect working really nicely as a feature panel on a bag as well.