Crackpot Quilters’ Blog

Here’s a picture of the multicolor print where you can see the pattern and the colors better.

I’ve started working on the borders now. I tried a plain white 2″ border but found that I didn’t like it. It was too boring and stopped the pattern of white sashing with solid color posts (am I using the right terms here?) that worked so well in the main part of the quilt. So, I came to the same conclusion that Cathy suggested in her comment: continue the white sashing and solid posts in the first border. Here is the result:

I really like it! Now the only question is – what next? The two options I am pondering at the moment are 1) stopping here and just adding binding, which I think this will emphasize the solids, or 2) adding a border of the multicolor print, followed by binding in the multicolor print, which I think will increase the emphasis on the print as the theme of the quilt. What to do? I think I will mull it over for a few days before proceeding. Input is welcome!

Ah, the perfect rainy afternoon: both children happily at school, a mug of hot tea with lemon, and time to quilt. I even mopped the kitchen floor this morning, so I don’t feel too guilty about ignoring the other housework (dusting!) to quilt.

As I mentioned, once I finished the fall placemats and table cover, I wanted to resume work on an unfinished project. There were many to choose from! I opted for this one, which I last worked on about a year ago, during the summer of 2008 when we were at our Substitute House. I don’t exactly know when I started working on the quilt. It may have been another year ago. I know I found the multi-color theme fabric before James was born because we briefly considered it for his Aunt and Grandma Baby Quilt before we found the hot air balloons at Field’s in Holland.

In any case, I decided that I wanted to make a card trick lap quilt for our family room using the multicolor print (which you can’t see well in this photo – I’ll take a close-up and post it later – must get children from school now) and several batik-ey solids. When I put the project away as we were preparing to return to the Construction House from the Substitute House, I had all the blocks done and had just started on the sashing and the joining of blocks. In the last week, I’ve been able to finish the sashing and sew all the blocks together, so it looks like this: (Productively increases significantly around here once school is in session!)

I haven’t made any definite decisions about the borders yet. Any thoughts? I was thinking about a 2″ white border and then a thicker border of the multicolor print. Binding in the multicolor print or using the leftover batik solids if I have enough?

Here’s the leaf table cover with its additional borders, ready for quilting. Aaah, I love my new sewing machine!

I had such a good time making the pumpkin placemats, and they are all done, so I decided to continue along the same lines and make a small table runner/cover for the marble table right inside our front door. I had some of the fall leaf print left from the placemats, so I decided to use those colors and found a good red and brown in my stash. All of my oranges, though, were too bright and neon, and I needed something a little more toned down. Which I found at JoAnn’s in the kona cotton section. 🙂 I found a good applique pattern for leaves in one of my old Quiltmaker magazines, reduced it a little, and here’s what I’ve got:

Never one to plan ahead too much, I realized that I didn’t have any thread to match the orange leaf. So, another brief trip to JoAnn’s was needed. 🙂 I need a little more practice on doing machine blanket stitch on curves, but overall, things turned out well. Now I plan to add some 1.5″ strips to the top and bottom to make it the right size and add an outer border of the leaf print all the way around. More updates to follow…

The annual Crackpot Quiltfest was held in the traditional locale during the second week in July. On the advice from our kid quilt expert, Nancy, we chose to do the Chinese Coins pattern using our usual bright pallet. The pattern was so easy and we were having so much fun that we assembled enough pieced strips for two crib-size quilt tops. Since last year’s top is still in Ann’s UFO stash, we decided this year to send the assembled tops to Quiltmaker to be finished and sent on to Project Linus. Ann did succeed in finishing the tops and (drum roll, please!) here they are!!

My crafty life hasn’t been too exciting for a while due to the rest of my life using up all of my mental and physical energy (I suppose I can’t complain too much, since it’s the non-crafty partof my life that gives me money to buy things like yarn). There has been lots of sock-knitting, but nothing that requires pattern-reading or much counting.

I have, however, finished a baby quilt that has been years in the making. A few years ago I drove to Duluth for my friend L.’s wedding. On the way, I stopped at the Norske Nook for some delicious pie. Located conveniently nearby was a quilt store, where I adored the bird and yellow stripey fabric and decided to buy some and save it for a baby quilt for the baby I knew L. and her husband J. wanted to have at some point in the future. Sophie was born in January, and I’ve finally finished and mailed the quilt.

Sophie's quilt

Here’s a close-up, with the extremely cozy and soft striped flannel backing.

Sophie's quilt with backing