Friday 2 December 2016

Tied up in knots!

It seems like an age since I had a finish to report, and not just a finish but a finished quilt! Having a deadline tends to concentrate a girl's mind :)

December 1st was the deadline for handing over the quilts being made by the group I joined when we moved. At the time of joining I blogged that meeting the deadline with one and maybe two completed quilts would be a breeze! Ha! I should have known better.

Only one of the prospective quilts was finished in time. I really have no excuse for that as the second top has been gathering dust in my sewing room since September! I dithered so much about what backing to use and how to quilt it that neither of those things happened.

On the bright side "Fit to be Tied" is completed and handed over, so one wheelchair bound child will have a bit of colourful comfort this winter.

As I mentioned before I Tie Quilted this, which was a first for me and I am really happy with how it turned out. I added a drop of Fray Check to each knot as I was worried about the thread fraying and unravelling. It made the knots stiff so I decided to wash and dry the quilt in the hope that it would take out that stiffness, which fortunately it did. I am not so sure that I would use the tie quilting method on a large quilt but it worked just fine for this lap quilt size. I think the quilting also lends itself more to traditional, block pattern quilts too, although perhaps I just need to experiment with that more :)

For extra warmth, and part of the reason for tie quilting, I used a wool check fabric for the quilt back. I was a bit anxious when the quilt was in the dryer but it all came out looking fine.

For the binding I used the Square Corner Binding method outlined by Carolyn Forster in her book "Sew Jelly Roll Quilts and Gifts" . It was a neater finish than I sometimes achieve with mitred corners, but if I am honest I prefer the look of a (neat!) mitred corner.


 So, that's my first Friday finish in December, let's hope it is a good omen :)

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts

Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday


13 comments:

  1. this is so colourful will certainly bring a smile to the face of the child lucky enough to receive it. Must check out the way you did the binding, I know I have the book amongst a lot of others!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Such a bright cheerful quilt! I'm sure it will be loved!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Congratulations for the finished quilt! Looks very nice and warm, I like all those bright colours.
    Cheers,
    Emese

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Emese, this will certainly provide a bit of a colour when the days get dark and dreary in January :)

      Delete
  4. It's gorgeous - it looks so soft and cuddly, and the plaid is really striking on the back! I see similar fabrics on sale @ our local fabric store every once in a while - I should stock up the next time they go on sale. I have a couple of scrappy quilts planned (and also several in the UFO stage, lol) that would be good candidates for that type of design, now that I see how well it works!

    ReplyDelete
  5. This will be lovely for a child - so cheerful and colourful :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Congratulations on a finish, Fiona! Funny how a looming deadline makes one get to work, isn't it? I have never tied a quilt, but it looks quite pretty on this one.

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is such a bright, cheerful quilt! Congratulations on making your deadline :)

    How big are the squares on this? It looks like it was fun to make with all the scrappy fabrics.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love the red running throughout. Very nicely done.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Rossana, the first few blocks I received in the Bee had red running through them so I kept that as a theme when requesting blocks in later rounds. I am glad that it worked out so well

      Delete
  9. Bright fun colours, Fiona. The child who receives it is going to love it.

    ReplyDelete
  10. It looks lovely and cosy - and one out of two isn't bad :-)

    ReplyDelete
  11. This is beautiful. I have an old patchwork bedspread that I'm thinking of converting to a quilt of some sort, I like the wool backing idea that you have used here. It looks cosy and snuggly.
    I'm now hosting the Handmade Monday linky and would love it if you would consider joining us sometime. We are a super friendly bunch! No probs if it's not your thing though.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment, I read and appreciate every one! I will reply by email unless you are a no-reply blogger, in which case you will need to check back in the comments list for my reply, sorry!

Anonymous comments have been disabled due to the level of spam comments I have been receiving lately, sorry!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...