I quilted two small quilts over the weekend. I upgraded my quilting software so decided to make another Quilts for Kids to test out the program. I had several larger pieces of fabric I'd bought especially for this purpose, so I went into the fabric closet to pull out some coordinating fabrics.
And then realized that I did not purchase enough yardage of either piece. Giant sigh.
On to plan B. I dug through my stash trying to come up with enough yardage of anything. Side note: I don't usually buy yardage of anything except shades of white. I found a huge piece of yellow fabric that would work for backing plus enough to mix in with the front fabrics. Kept searching, came up with a yard+ piece of mouse fabric. I'm pretty sure I've had this piece of fabric for over 20 years!! But it is still cute. Came up with gray polka dot that was left over from a quilt backing. Okay, this can work. It's a little offbeat, but all good.
As I assembled the top, I realized that I really didn't care for the piece of fabric I'd pulled for the inner border. Back to the closet I went, and came up with a coordinating color. Bonus, it had cats on it!
I decided to really try out the software upgrade by stitching an orange peel design. Orange peel is notoriously hard to line up from row to row with the software. It did pretty well, so I'm pleased. The only change I would have made is to use white thread instead of the gray, because I don't love the gray on the yellow fabric.
I've accumulated quite a few quilts for the Quilts for Kids charity now. This is a stack of eight that I've done over the past year. They are closed through at least May 15 due to COVID, so I can't send them in yet. These will all need to be washed and dried before sending. Can you imagine how big and heavy this box will be?
Since the trial quilt went well, I decided to load another quilt. This one is from the Primrose Cottage Quilts spring box and is 36" x 36". I have loads of batting remnants, but couldn't find one the right size for this quilt, so I made a "Frankenbatting" for the first time. It was no big deal and I would do it again for sure. It might even help me tame the giant batting avalanche in the fabric closet. Here's a picture of the batting while I was zig-zagging it together.
I quilted it with the Pretty Posies design and I love how soft and feminine it came out. While the kit came with binding, I wanted a different fabric, so ordered it and am waiting for it to arrive in order to complete this one.
I'm ready to start quilting my Dash Along churn dash quilt along quilt from a few years ago next. After a good month of not much sewing or quilting, suddenly I'm ready to quilt all the things. My sew-jo has returned. Woo hoo! Do you need a top quilted? I am ready. Click on the circular "Quilting by Anne-Marie" logo in the sidebar to head to my quilting services page to order quilting. Sign up for my once-a-month newsletter while you're there in order to receive special offers/codes. Your email will not be shared. :)
I was on a Zoom call last night with the larger quilt guild I belong to. One of the ladies shared her finished Frolic top and I love how she did the border. I had been dragging my feet because I didn't love the original border and felt like it would need another after that. However, I loved how Marita's looked. I am totally stealing her idea and will probably finish that top next, no extra/additional borders needed after. I already have the quilting design selected for that one. I'm still working on my For the Love of Geese top too. We won't talk about the Unity quilt. ha.
Things are coming along in the gardens. Some of the irises are starting to bloom. I ventured out in the rain yesterday to snap these photos.
I have loads of milkweed coming up in the lower front garden, so maybe this year we will get monarchs that can take advantage of them.
The allium looks nice this year. We have hummingbirds now too!
The veggies are mostly doing well, minus the beets. The onions look limp, but since this is our first year trying to grow them, I'm not sure how they should look. They are in the hanging boxes in the picture below. My husband has added three strawberry beds outside of our fenced vegetable area. He build protective frames for them with pipes and netting. We'll see how that goes too. You can see two of them in the back of this picture. The other one is on the other side of the garden.
School ends for my kids tomorrow. 2020 sure has been a strange one so far. Hope you are all doing well.
The aluminum foil is still doing its job!!! As I began reading this I could tell you were lighter on your feet then read all you have done. The orange peel stitching, I love it, I love them all. Thank you for linking up to Put your foot down.
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