Begin again ... 2020 Quilts

The upside to having time on your hands free from work obligations - is time to complete some of those projects that have been on the go and 'almost' finished.  Years ago, 2012 to be precise, I created the top of a quilt - it was the first time I had attempted a machine quilt.  That was as far as I got until this year when I was determined to finish it and I did!  I layered it up with wadding and a backing sheet and then machine quilted it - nothing fancy just stitching in the ditches, I found this quite a challenge on a domestic sewing machine as the quilt is large enough for a double bed.

For years my Mum has spent many an hour cross stitching pieces ... and for almost as long she has been trying to decide what she could do with them (there were in excess of 250!).  I thought that I might be able to incorporate them into a quilt - and that is exactly what I did! 

This shows the work in progress - I started by edging each of the pieces before then stitching similar sized panels into long strips which in turn were then stitched together.  I had to 'audition' the layout on the lounge floor as it was the only space big enough! Some of the cross stitch pieces were on two inches square!  Once the top pieces had been stitched into one piece it was layered with wadding and more of the cream calico and then machine quilted.

Here is the final quilt (double bed size) with the edges all bound and the loose threads removed.

So that's another two positives from 2020!

Keep well!

 

Black, white and red all over........

I've been trying to create my first machine stitched quilt.  These are two of the blocks that will go together to make a quilt for a single bed - if I ever get it finished!!!

I've completed all of the blocks - the overall effect is......

I've used plain black as sashing between the blocks with red cornerstones.  All I need to do now is layer the top with batting add a backing and then machine quilt it and final bind the edges.  When will I manage to finish it.......