After having such a good time making the scrappy cot quilt last month, I have made another, just finished this afternoon. The fabrics in the centre are mainly shades of red and blue, mostly florals, not of themselves what you might first think of as being ideal for a cot quilt.
Once this vintage style nursery print was on around the border the whole thing just looked a whole lot pinker. The toys hanging out their washing are just hilarious.
Luckily I found variegated quilting thread in red, blue and neutral shades, perfect for the centre panel. I used a different thread for the border.
It is always interesting to see how the colours work with each other. I love the way the blue hexagon on the rectangle of patchwork print just seems to float. Also, in this picture four of the fabrics date back to the late 70s or early 80s. I am gradually using them up.
To make this quilt I used three machines, the 1945 Singer 15K treadle for the quilting, the 1949 hand machine for some of the strips (the ones with lots of seams to feed through) and the binding, and the 1936 201K treadle for the rest of the strips , as shown on last week's video.
Welcome to Lorna McMahon and Martha Murphy, the latest followers - thank you for joining!
Lots more projects to see at the links...
Kelly's blog My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday
and Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday
and M-R's blog Quilt Matters for TGIFF
and Leah Day's blog for Free Motion Friday
This is a record for me, so I'm immensely chuffed. A scrappy cot quilt, 43 x 30 inches, free motion quilted yesterday on the 1945 Singer 15K treadle, and all the rest of the work done with the 1949 15K hand machine.
It is ages since I free motion quilted a pieced item, and I wanted to try it again and do a better job. All the seams were pressed flat so they didn't give any bumps when quilting.
Lots of tiny scraps went into this quilt. The tiniest piece, the red, measures an inch by three eighths of an inch (ridiculous - I'm not likely work on this scale too often). It is part of a strip of four tiny bits trimmed from the edge of the Quilt within a Quilt Doll Quilt that I sent to Pattilou. Carla might recognise the polka dots, which is the left over binding from when I made her tea cosy.
This is the one diagonal seam, in the middle of the last remaining strip used on the back for joining the sections of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Quilt I made in 2012.
These pretty roses on dark navy are the last tiny bit of an offcut I bought in Liverpool in about 1980.
The most economical fabrics in the quilt must be the bits from charity shop finds - the blue print, and the 1970s Laura Ashley to its right.
When I posted a picture of the completed top on Wednesday, Susan TBZ left a comment saying how much she loved purple. I replied saying that in real life it was more dark maroony red. What did I see when I pinned it up for a photo once I had finished it today? Nothing but purple! The blue on red of the printed plaid in the border just zings and makes you see all the other shades of purple in the quilt. A colour spotter's badge to Susan!
Now the quilt is finished, and I can see how the colours work together, I can see that the fabrics that bring the whole mixture to life are the bright green floral...
...and its matching fabric. The black background was really useful. I put this piece near the centre to make sure the overall layout didn't look empty in the middle.
All told, this scrappy project was immense fun. It used up lots of bits that were getting on my nerves sitting in the scrap jar and ended up as good practice in the use of colour.
Linking up today with Jessica's blog Quilty Habit for TGIFF
and Nina-Marie's blog Creations... Quilts, Art... Whatever for Off the Wall Friday
and Leah Day's blog for Free Motion Friday
and Kelly's blog My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday
and Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday
and Barbara's blog Cat Patches for the January NewFO Linky Party
This is something of a record for me - I only started this on Monday. Here it is hanging from a clothes rack in the kitchen. The daylight is not up to much today, so the colours on this picture aren't particularly accurate.
The colours are more accurate on this close up.
Making the quilt sandwich will have to wait. It is lunchtime, and I need a sandwich more than the quilt does.
Linking up today (Thursday) to Lee's blog Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday.
Yesterday I started making a top for a cot quilt. Here are the strips laid out, not in the final arrangement, but some sections are already joined together.
I had a jar full of left over ends of strips that I had used for binding, and lots of odd shaped remains of fat quarters. Joining up all the tiny strips to make larger scrappy strips takes far longer than I would like it to - this isn't quite the ultra quick project I thought it might be - but I am enjoying it nevertheless.
Repeated cutting of strips means I have ended up with a miniscule rectangle of the bright red.
When I made the sewing machine cover I was incredibly lucky to have enough of the border to use as binding, and ended up with only about an inch and a half left over. The left over scrap is now in this quilt top - it is next to the green flowers at the top right.
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Linking up today with Connie's blog Freemotion by the River for Linky Tuesday - lots more projects to see there!
