The Pre-Quilt and Sea Foam Shawl

The Pre-Quilt and Sea Foam Shawl have both been finished. The shawl was actually finished last weekend, but I haven't had the brain power to get my tame photographers lined up to photograph it. I feel a photography session coming on.

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The coffee table runner has been photographed.

Hand Quilting Takes Time

As it says in the title, 'hand quilting takes time'. Three of the six hand quilted Celtic knots have been done, and the fourth started. It take time, and a decent amount of light.

I'm been rather impressed with the Frixion pen. It writes like a ball point pen, but with heat the ink disappears. My other quilting pen is a felt tip and then ink fades over about 10 minutes. It's definitely Frixion pen I need for this project. It would be a complete nightmare having to re-draw my quilting lines every 10 minutes!

Getting Batty and Knotty

The 15th of July was the last time I bought crafting materials. At the time I made a decision not to buy anything new for 3 months, except items needed to finish projects. 

The Pre-Quilt was in need of a backing fabric, and there was the possibility of needing more batting. A trip up to my craft materials storage room (also known as the guest room) revealed I didn't have batting, but I did have a couple of metres of the light cream fabric. There is enough fabric for me to back both runners and also bind them! A trip to the craft shop solved my batting problem. I was able to buy some iron-on batting and was very pleased with the purchase. 

The plan is to machine quilt the light cream areas of the square blocks, and to hand quilt a design in the larger, sandy triangles. The Celtic knot design above will be used. The design has been enlarged to fit the area, and printed out. This has been slipped under the fabric and drawn on using a Frixion erasable pen. When the ink is heated it disappears.

And suddenly I have a problem! I can't iron on the top onto the batting as this will erase my carefully traced design. I think I am going to have to treat it as ordinary batting and pin it in place whilst I quilt, and then iron over the places with the disappearing ink. Ah well! The best laid plans of mice and bears often go awry. 

Finished Pre-Quit Top

In our last exciting installment of The Pre-Quilt, I was unsure regarding the number of pinwheel blocks to use in the runners. I have decided on 4 blocks for the coffee table and 5 for the side board.

The blocks have all been sewn together. Care was taken to ensure the red sashing matched up as well as I can manage from one strip to another. Sashing was sewn to the top and bottom of the runner. The triangles were cut a bit too large. This will enable me to trim them down and get the sizing just right.

Red Sashing and Sand Triangles

A few days ago I saw Hint of the Holidays at Quilting Digest. 

The colours sparked a memory of those very first patchwork fabrics I bought, and as I had been thinking about making runners for the coffee table and side board I decided to jump in.

It was then I was unearthing the fabrics I realised pinwheels had been made previous, so wanted to use them instead of the central square. Borders were added, and when I was about to add the triangles to the square I realised the runners would be far, far too wide, and there would be a very real danger of not having enough fabric. Therefore the design changed.

Red borders (1.5" x 9.5") were added to the bordered pinwheel blocks, top and bottom. Then right angled triangles were sewn to the sides. My patchwork inexperience was showing with regards to adding the triangles and I decided to make them a little bit larger than I would probably need as they can always be trimmed later. The triangles were 10.5". The first and last blocks only had one triangle sewn to them, and the rest had two. A 1.5" red strip will be added between the sections. Strips will be added to the first and last. 

I don't quite know how many squares long it will be. The side board is longer than the coffee table. My suspicion is the side board will require an additional square. 

More Borders for Pre-Quilt

Previous post about The Pre-Quilt

A cream border has been added to be pinwheels. These border pieces were 1.5" x 7.5" for the top and bottom, and 1.5" x 9.5" for the sides. The block currently measure 9.5" square (ish). It's a little undulatory, but as Jenny Doan says, "Finished is better than perfect."

Whilst checking the spelling of Jenny's (the quilting goddess) surname, I saw she is leading a quilting cruise next year. Oh, my beating heart!  I was overcome with lust for a few moments.  To go on a cruise with Jenny, and learn so many tips and techniques - oh my! A moment later, when the locations came up on my screen I realised I really didn't want to go, as in really, REALLY, don't want to go. The Caribbean is a wonderful, wonderful place, but I would melt! It is not the place for 'a little bear'.

Trimming and Bordering Pinwheels

In 2011 or 12, I made a start on a quilted table runner. I got as far as making these pinwheels. Each of the pinwheels was made by making 4 half square triangle blocks, and then stitching them together.  

The original squares of fabric were 3.5". My cutting/sewing as rather wobbly, and my finished pinwheel blocks were all slightly different. My first task was to trim them all to the same size, 5.5". Squares that are actually square! The next step is to border the squares.

When I was explain this was the prequel to my first quilt, the Beloved and Younger Offspring suggested the name of this quilt be 'The Pre-Quilt'.

The first border has been added to the squares. These border pieces were 1.5" x 5.5" for the top and bottom, and 1.5" x 7.5" for the sides.