Free Motion Mavericks - Week 395 - Raiding the Stash

You have to love this nursery print.  It has been in my stash for about four or five years now, and finally the perfect project for it has cropped up.  There is an autumn baby on the way, and I have been making items for the crib.  

The first items were easy, eight plain white cotton sheets, all cut from a length of sheeting that I bought a couple of weeks ago.  I was lucky to find 100% cotton, because the shop usually only stocks cotton and polyester sheeting, in a full range of colours, but they had one roll of pure cotton, so the sheets had to be white.  Just cutting out rectangles and machine hemming them was the perfect project for earlier this month, because life has been hot and rather chaotic.  We came back from our trip to Ireland to find everywhere looking parched after a heatwave, so the garden and allotment needed serious attention.  We also had extra fun and games because we found the heat had caused a burst in a water heater in the attic.  Fortunately the heat meant that everything had dried out before we got home, but the water had caused an electrical fault with the downstairs lights.  The plumber had a quick straightforward job, but the electrician is with us today to solve the problem.

Just when we thought we were getting cooler weather we were hit by a second heatwave.  Last week the temperatures rose to about 92F every day.  One evening I took a thermometer to the allotment, a real suntrap, with rich clay soil that retains the heat.  I knew it was hot, but was amazed to see the thermometer rise to 102F.  I managed to finish the crib sheets early that week, but after five or so days of such high temperatures it was all getting too much and every afternoon was nap time.

Now we are back to normal since Monday.  It has even rained and we have welcomed it back as an old friend.  So now I can start thinking about quilting again.  The wedding quilt has been put aside for the baby projects.  Now that I have made the sheets, I am planning a quilted lining for the sides of the crib to act as a buffer against the wooden staves and as a draught stopper.  The red and cream trains and toys fabric is perfect for the job, especially as I have enough for both sides.  I just hope I get the measurements right, but with all the photos I have received of the crib showing the tape measure across certain points, I think I can make a start very soon.  

                                                            

 Here goes for Week 395:-

Many thanks to Gail for linking up with a post about alpaca ironing mats - like wool but minus the wet dog smell!  If you haven't seen her blog post yet, nip over now and see more.

 

If you have no free motion quilting to show, feel free to link up and show any project you like.  Here are the usual rules, but feel free to ignore them.  To keep the original emphasis, however, preference will be given to free motion quilting when featuring projects from the previous week.

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-

1.  Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2.  Link back to this post in your own post.

3.  Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.

4.  The link up will remain open for five days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Tuesday.

So far quilters from the USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France, Macau, Russia, Ireland, Brazil and Sweden have taken part.  The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.