Minutia

This post is a rundown on recent small quilt happenings. Just a string of little things.

At quiltsbycheri blog there has been a SAL for three little quilts made from 9-patches. She called this "Gathering Patches." 

I made enough blocks for the first two (wish I'd made the third one, too). This was the first. It is finished and in its new home. I bound it in red, as threatened.

The second one is still in flimsy stage. It did not have a border as Cheri made it, but I'm toying with the idea of putting one on mine. I am a border gal--not necessarily fancy ones, but I do like the look of a border. I know many vintage quilts did not use them, but I struggle to leave them off. Cheri's was also bound in cream. I've been trying to talk myself into that, too.

January's SAL at quiltsbycheri was "Counting Down The Hours", which I showed in my last post. I now have it bound.

 Does anyone remember this little quilt? Sometime last year Kathie Holland (inspiredbyantiquequilts blog) made a cheddar/red/green 9-patch set on point. She offered the trimmings when she squared up the sides and I was happy to receive them. I put this top together right away, but couldn't decided on the quilting, so it went in the closet. I wanted to do Baptist Fans, but I wasn't sure how to do it with FMQ. I finally found a way to mark them that worked for me. This was my first attempt and I went wonky a few times, but no unpicking.

I got Abundance (Lori's QAL at Humble Quilts) hand quilted and have machine sewn the binding. On the right you see it with what I call Irish Clover. I made it last year for St. Patrick's Day and started machine quilting it, but couldn't decide how to finish it. I finally got it done and have the binding machine sewn on. Maybe I will actually finish it before St Patrick's Day this year!  Now for some hand stitching on the binding of these two.

The little quilt above was made with scraps from an exchange with Sandi at kwiltnkats blog. I tried a feather swirl design to quilt it. I have decided that variegated thread isn't the best choice when doing "bump, bump" feathers. Backtracking is much more obvious when the thread changes color as you are retracing your stitches.

That's it for the mini quilt progress, but there will be more. I still have a few mini flimsies that I am determined to get finished before I pile too many more on.

Now I want to show you the latest addition to my sewing room. I've been saving my pennies since some time last year so that I could retire the kitchen island as my cutting surface. What a relief--for many reasons, that I won't go into here.

 Last month this was delivered to my house and today I went to the local JoAnn store with a 50% coupon and got the 2'x3' cutting board. I love my cutting station! I chose the option with the open shelf below the cutting surface. Not only was it a little less expensive that way, but it turned out that it is a perfect fit for one of my scrap baskets. Serendipity!

If you need me, I'll be in my sewing room--cutting things. : )

Janet O.