Quilting has begun

As time is of the essence I cheated/took a shortcut and instead of basting my quilt using the special pins which arrived last week, I opted for spraymount instead.

I did as instructed in The Quilter’s Bible and sprayed the wadding in two halves. First to attach it to the backing.

And then the same again to attach the quilt top.

Easy peasy, although a bit sticky.

After some deliberation, I decided to start quilting by outlining my squares using the ‘stitch in a ditch’ method. I’m still not sure if that’s what was done on the quilt I’m copying; the instructions don’t say and I change my mind each time I look at the picture of the finished quilt.

Anyway, stitch in a ditch. This is where the stitching is supposed to sit in the seam so you can’t see it, but still producing the quilted effect. Hmmm. I think I’ve mostly straddled the ditch, occasionally dipping in to it.

Tonight, I’ve quilted the inside border, which I’d marked up with fabric marker, making the lines really easy to follow.

Impatient as I am, I wanted to carry on and do all the stars too, but I’m flagging so decided to leave them til tomorrow. Couldn’t resist sneaking one in though.

Although it looks like I’m working in the dark, I’m not. Perhaps the lighting in our conservatory isn’t strong enough though.

Pretty pleased with how far I’ve got today. Hoping to finish the quilting tomorrow, then it’s the dreaded binding. I have a horrible feeling I don’t have enough fabric leftover to make my scrappy binding. Then what to do?

Unfinished project no.4

I started this patchwork quilt in January 2013. Guess what?! It was for a birthday. This time, my other niece’s 1st birthday. When it became apparent that wasn’t going to happen (she was one in April 2013), I was then aiming to have it finished for Christmas last year. In my defence, I’d saved this to finish off when I was due to be off on two weeks maternity leave before my baby was due. Little Stanley had other ideas though, and arrived three weeks early, throwing my crafting plans into disarray. Anyway, said niece is now in a bed, not a cot. Not sure who to give it to now. Maybe I’ll save it just in case we ever have need of it … This project is a daunting one for me as I’m a quilting virgin. I was having classes but it didn’t work out so I went it alone. Probably why I’m putting this one off. I have made up the squares and centre section. Next bit to do is the giraffe appliqué, which should be reasonably straightforward …