Baby girl quilt.

Making a soft machine embroidered quilt, can be tricky.  Especially if the embroidery is very dense.  One would need many layers of stabilizer, to prevent the embroidery from puckering around the edges of the design.  To avoid hours of removing lots of stabilizer from the back, it is much easier to use, a thin layer of bamboo batting and one layer of stabilizer on the back.  The stablizer can be removed relatively easy and the bamboo batting ensure the quilt is soft, without all the stabilizer.

Every piece of fabric is backed with a piece of bamboo batting for assembly of the quilt top. The top is assembled, the same way one would sew the quilt top normally.  Except for the strips of fabric, around each embroidered design.  These are pieced as, quilt as you go.

First draw a square block on the muslin around the design.  Next draw two lines, a quarter inch and a half an inch from the border of the block.  The middle line is the stitching line, the line on the outside, closest to the edge of the fabric, is the line, against which one line up the edge of the fabric strip.  Now sew a seam on the middle line, using a quarter inch foot.

Do both sides of the square first. Next, trim the excess muslin along these sides.

It will look like this.  Then fold the fabric strips towards the outside edge of the batting.

This helps to block the embroidery design and provides stability later on for the quilting process.

Then repeat the process for the top and the bottom of the block.

Pinning everything on a flat surface helps to keep it all in a straight line.

Sew these strips in place with a quarter inch seam allowance.

Once the top and bottom strips are sewn on, fold them back and trim the blocks to the size you want.

When the blocks are all done, the quilt is ready for the sashing strips to connect the blocks.

First connecting the blocks into strips of fabric.

The back of a strip of blocks.

The front of a strip of blocks.

 Then sew the sashings in between the rows, from the top to the bottom row.

This creates the center panel of the quilt.

Next add the side borders.

Then the top and bottom border strips, to complete the quilt top.

The back of top will look like this.

It is now ready to be sandwiched, the regular way, with batting in the middle and a backing on the back.  This very thin bamboo batting is too thin to quilt, without batting.

Now it can be quilted.  Once washed, the quilt will be soft, ready for a baby to enjoy.

Working on the secret project.

The secret project this week, is all about embroidery.  Not hand embroidery, but machine embroidery.  With clearing all the ice outside, my wrist is not happy and needs to have a rest,  for a bit.  Have stitched these designs so far, a few more to go.  They will be used to create a very special baby quilt, for a little girl.

 Snowflake.

 Lullaby.

Mistletoe, all done on cream muslin. Instead of using lots of stabilizer to stitch on, it has been replaced with a very thin bamboo batting and one thin layer of stabilizer.  All the designs are stitched with Marathon 40 weight rayon thread.

Last summer in Abbotsford, this panel followed me home.  It is now a baby quilt, ready to be given to a new baby. The border fabric came in a kit for another panel, which was never used for it.  The binding is leftover, from a previous project.  Using everything, not wasting it.

Jane Bannister1855,  Diane has started a new piece.

 Anna made a T-shirt quilt.  She long arm quilted it.  What a wonderful way to use the T-shirts, in such a meaningful way.

Have a wonderful week, stay warm and toasty inside!

Old man winter is keeping us busy.

The snow and ice just keeps on coming, we have cleared enough already.  Spent a lot of time keeping the walkways cleared of ice.  So time spent sewing, has been limited.

Worked on these butterflies.

Diane finished stitching her blue Delft.

This weeks bake, carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.

White fluffy stuff called snow.....

The white fluffy stuff called snow, just do not want to leave.  Not to mention the ice pellets and freezing rain.  Shops have run out of road salt, which says a lot.  Needless to say we are all ready for green grass and warmer weather.

Diane has used this cold weather and carried on stitching.

It helps to deal with the endless snow shovelling. This brush and bird is finished. Butterflies next? This is my oldest work in progress.

Night time knitting, the little dress is a learning curve, had to unpick a few rows.  It is all new to me.

This helper has a love with any yarn, floss and string. Knitting needles are her favourite, she loves to pounce on those, while one try to knit.

 This weeks bake, chocolate chip cookies, with chocolate eggs.

Snow, snow and more snow.

We will be glad when winter is over and spring arrives.  Lets hope those groundhogs got it right, that the promised early spring will indeed arrive, sooner rather than later.

 After shovelling the snow and ice,  we come indoors and enjoy some time relaxing in front of the fireplace.  The cat think it is fantastic, she gets as close as she possibly can and when she gets too hot, she crawls away from the heat to cool down, before repeating the whole process again.  Knitting in front of the fire is something she approves, as all she wants to do is pounce on the yarn.  Knitting this pinafore dress, in the grey yarn.

In the pattern was some bits which was confusing, so calling my friend Kate, to ask for clarity was called for.  She knits beautiful pieces, you can see it here.

We had our friendship group meeting recently, Carol was knitting some socks.

Anna was knitting a birthday sweater for her niece. Her Mom love horses, so the sweater needed to have one on it.

This crochet blanket comes from France, Margurite was replacing a granny square, which has been worn away with many years of love. A few ladies said they would be bringing in their blankets for her to fix. 

 Carol made this quilt for her niece, who had a baby.

 She quilted it on her domestic machine.

 Doing a few rows at a time.

He did not want to wait for his mom to get to the hospital, so instead he came enroute to the hospital.

Underground Railroad Sampler by Eleanor Burns.

 Black fabric will be used for the sashing's of this beauty.

 The colours and the blocks were beautiful.

Diane has been stitching away, her daughter is looking forward to this one.

Last year she started three Linen and Threads stitch-a-longs.  She has finished two pieces, this is the third one.

She finish the 2018, a 2017 already.  This is the second 2017 she is making, love the colour.

Love Entwined got some more pieces, dancing tulips?