Nothing but Borders Left

I have finished the center of the Savanah Flair Quilt, and have quited all the pieces, and also the bands that join the blocks.
I have the borders to add, there are two different fabrics that frame the center panels and complete the look. It will be a sofa size quilt, nice to throw over the back of the sofa, or pull over you on a chilly winter night. I may even figure out how to hang it on the wall for the warmer seasons.... not sure yet.

I really like this one.

Mask and Animal Quilt

I have finished all the bands of the quilt and have machine quilted each band. I like to do this when the pieces are small, as I can manage the pieces through my machine without too much difficulty. This is the first time I have tried free motion squiggle quilting, and I really like it.

I have started joining the bands with 2.5 inch strips. I attach the front and back strip to one side, and the front only to the next band adjoining. Then I pad with batting and hand stitch the back strip closed. Then I carefully squiggle stitch along the length of the joining strip.

Close up shows a loopy stitch pattern running the length of the 2 inch strip. It is a bit hard to see over the feathery print of the strip, but the stitches tie in nicely with the quilting in the bands of masks and animals right next to it.

I will continue with 2.5 inch strips between all five bands of critters and masks. Then wider strips frame the whole center bit, and it is easy enough to top quilt these as they are on the outside edges only.... This quilt has been lots of fun, and I can't help starting to plan my next one.... hmmmmm.

Quilt, Purse and Dress

After a busy, crafty weekend, I have several things done. The first is a small quilted purse to match my dress for the wedding. I need a bag big enough for my camera and room key and lipstick... this one is made from the dress fabric, quilted with the lining as the backing, and thin batting in the middle. I used machine quilting in feed-dog-down free-style stitches that follow the pattern of the fabric. It is a simple envelope style. The straps and accent detail is one inch wide strips of the silver lining, crocheted along with some silver eyelash yarn. I used two snap fasteners under the flap to keep the bag closed until I snap it open. This is a style of bag I have made many times to match a special dress.

The second is the almost final alterations of the green bridesmaid dress. I finished the neckline, attached the gathered sash and attached the starfish. Only the zipper and hemline to go on this one.

The third is the quilting of the mask rows for my quilt. The blocks were attached in groups of four, and sandwiched with batting and the batik backing, then freestyle stitches were used to trace around the masks. I topstitched outside the nose of each to add further stability to the center of the masks. Then I squiggle stitched the whole background of the blocks.

Still lots to do, but the quilt is coming along really well and I love it!

Machine Quilting

I joined six of the animal blocks together, then sandwiched them with batting and backing. I find it easier to quilt smaller pieces rather than the whole quilt. I used free-form stitching and traced around the animals at about a quarter inch away from the applique. Then I did a flowing squiggle stitch all over the background. You can sort of see it around the giraffe.

Flipping it over, you can see the animal outlines and the squiggle lines on the cool random dyed background fabric. The thread on the back is a multicolour light to dark brown thread. The top thread is a match to the fabric (black for the animal blocks, then tan for the mask blocks).

One of the three animal block rows, took about an hour to quilt on my machine. I have 2 more of those, then 2 mask block rows. More photos will follow...

I have been obsessed with this quilt top... I just can't step away from it. And look how cool it is so far. I have finished all the applique blocks. The masks are based on the original pattern, but I hand sketched them, as I could not bring myself to wait for the next month to get two more patterns. I have purchased the fabric for the bands and framing of the front and for the backing.
Just love it!

New Quilt

I found this block of the month pattern on the net... Savanna Flair and it totally captured my interest. I went to gather a few yards of fabric, and added it to my bits of cotton stash, and started the first three animals. I luckily found it the last week of February(the first month of the pattern postings) and made the first three times three (nine blocks total) from the first month blocks ... in three days. I used wonder-under to applique the pieces and used my fabulous quilting stitches to "blanket stitch" on the machine around all the edges.

Then came the next month on March 1, and I got the next patterns from the site. That took me one afternoon to cut and applique and machine topstitch the nine squares.

So now comes the dilema... can I possibly wait another month for a couple of mask square patterns?

I was dreaming about the quilt. I was picturing it done and draped over my sofa, looking all cool and african and great next to my carved chest and masks on the wall.

No. I can't wait a month.

I drew my own masks on the wonder under paper and started making my own mask squares....

So the Block of the Month experiment is over... clearly it does not work for me!

(maybe Block of the Day) Block-du-Jour?