Another Quilting Update

It's been a couple of months, but quite a lot has happened on the quilting front since my last post.

I continued working on the navy bed quilt and the top is now finished. The new fabric that I bought worked really well to finish it off. It was a good choice. 

Here's a picture of the finished top:

I had another vintage wool blanket that I used for wadding and the fabric that I used for the backing is this one:

This fabric is from my stash and is a vintage paisley brushed cotton fabric. Colourwise, it's a good match and it should make the quilt very cosy and warm for the winter months. It was just about wide enough, maybe an inch too narrow, but I worked with it, as I didn't have any other fabrics that are this wide and I didn't want to buy anything.  The whole point was to use what I already had in my stash. 

Because the print is quite busy, I'll probably need to use a plain binding fabric, or I could bind it with more of this fabric. I'll think about that when I get to it.  

Before I could sandwich the quilt, I needed to remove the papers. I quite enjoy this job, as it's easy to do whilst watching TV. It took just under a week to do,completing several rows each night. I was then able to attach the wadding and the backing fabric.  This has now been tacked together and I just need to machine stitch it before I can move on to add the binding. It's always exciting to see a quilt come together. I'll post another picture when it is completely finished.

I've also started some new projects since I last posted. The first was to make another Xmas fabric wreath using red vintage Xmas fabrics this time. I made a similar one with green vintage Xmas fabrics before Christmas. I usually hang them on the doors to the living rooms. 

After making this, I decided to use some of the remainder of my vintage Xmas fabric collection to make a wreath lap quilt.  I've finished making all of the wreath blocks using the same sized hexies that I used for the hanging wreaths. I've enjoyed doing this, as the pieces are big and so the quilt seems to get made much more quickly than when you are joining lots of small pieces, as I've done with other quilts.

I've laid the blocks on top of a single quilt here, so that you can see what they'll look like with a plain background and you can see the size of it.  This quilt will be a foot or so shorter than a single quilt, but probably the same width. It should be ideal for snuggling under whilst watching TV over the festive season. 

I may change the layout of individual wreaths, as I'm not sure I've got the exact layout right yet. I may also add individual hexies between the blocks too, but I'm not sure yet. I found a plain green 100% cotton fabric for the background, on our recent trip to Yorkshire. The prints are mostly Xmas flowers and foliage, so they all contain the colour green. I'm hoping it will connect the blocks together well. It feels good to finally use these fabrics for something that we can use each Xmas and I feel happy that they'll be well showcased in this quilt.

In addition to the above, I have also now started my next big quilt project, for the double bed in the sewing room. I couldn't resist starting it, as I had all of the fabric I needed for it.  Besides, it's nice to have a few projects on the go at one time, as it allows me to chop and change what I work on, to give me some variety.

I'm using 2" squares for this quilt, laid out in a large cross-like block. I've made a few blocks already to give an idea of what they will look like. The fabrics I'm using will be all blacks and greys of varying shades and prints, with a lighter grey background that will be made using the second curtain of a pair that I bought for this room. The other curtain is hung at the window.

Here's a picture of some the blocks I've made so far and how they are coming together: 

These are the darkest of all the blocks and will form the centre line and maybe the top and bottom rows too, but I will be making blocks with various other grey fabrics too. I'm hoping it will come together nicely as I progress with it. I'll keep you posted.

I've enjoyed working on all of these projects in the last few months.  Are you working on anything special at the moment?