Although the Lovely* Baby isn't due for some time, I thought I would get on with making the quilt for the Lovely* Granny-to-be, Rachel. I had already stitched the charm squares together to make the centre of the top, so yesterday I measured up the fabric which was to be used for borders, backing and binding. First, I cut the four strips needed for the binding
having joined the strips on the diagonal, I trimmed off the corners
and pressed the seams open
I then folded the binding in half and pressed it, and set it aside for later
after double checking my calculations (measure twice, cut once!) I cut the strips for the border and stitched them on
amazingly, the first piece of cotton wadding that I pulled from my stash of off-cuts was just the right size, and it didn't take long to pin the layers together
as always, I did a bit of stitching on a sample piece, to check that the tension was ok
as the quilt top has so many bright patterned fabrics in it, there was no point in doing any fancy fmq, as it wouldn't show, so I used a large meander. This is the back of the quilt, where the stitching shows more
by the end of yesterday afternoon, I had finished the fmq in the centre of the quilt
this afternoon, I switched to my other machine, and put the walking foot on, again checking the tension of the stitching was ok
this is the bit I find hard - I can happily fmq all day, but I struggle to sew straight lines! However, by the end of the afternoon I had stitched parallel rows on the borders
all that remains now is to trim the quilt to size and stitch on the binding.
** Rachel, on her blog, has always referred to her son as the Lovely Son, then she added the Lovely Girlfriend, now Lovely Fiancee/Mum-to-be ....... so I have just carried on with her description of the important people in her life!!
ps - if you like donkeys, sheepies and orchids, don't miss tomorrow's post!