Beginning a new project, with others still unfinished. (no.14)

The latest quote to pop up on my Instagram feed that made me laugh out loud was this...

"You know that feeling when all your sewing projects are finished? Yeah, me neither."

I've been unable to finish some of my projects due to an unfortunate incident a few weeks back where I cut a decent piece of skin off my right pinky while making dinner. Not to get into details but due to having to wear a fairly large bandage around my finger it made sewing very difficult. It is now healing well and because I only took some skin off it should grow back to normal after a few more weeks. Now it's healed enough to just cover with band-aids, I can finally sew.

And yes I began a new quilt. This will be my fourteenth quilt even though it is quite possible I will finish it before no.13. I won't be changing the order though. Quilt 14 is significantly smaller which sort of takes me back to when I first started quilting. It was also somewhat unsettling, as my quilts tend to get larger with each new one I make - downsizing was a bit of a surprise. But I realised that I didn't need to make massive quilts every single time. I've now come to peace with it after seeing how quick it is to make.

So for this quilt I am finally using one of my layer cakes of 5" pre-cut squares. The collection is from Moda called "Piecemakers" designed by Kathy Schmitz. I love the colours in this set and it really suits a baby sized quilt. There were 42 squares and when I laid them out in a 6 by 7 rectangle I was a little underwhelmed by how it looked. The colours were pretty but it didn't stand out to me. So I went to my Pinterest Board for quilting and found this patchwork design from
'byway-hobby.blogspot.com.br"
I really like this block and it is such a simple design, but with the diagonal diamond quilting, it is so effective. I found some white and cream fabric from my stash and tested the design and loved it.
With the pre-cut squares and 60 small squares to make from the white fabric, there was little cutting to do which made this project very easy to start.

The patch simply needed to add the smaller white squares to the corners of the bigger squares and then trim the seam. Some squares only required one small square, some needed two and some didn't need any. As shown in the original design the small squares do not appear on the edges of the pillow and look like the number 5 on the side of a dice. I wanted to replicate that look only to be made into a quilt, so I kept the small squares within the middle of the front panel.
Making the front panel, I was very careful not to confuse the lay out of the fabric. The fabrics were all on the floor in order and I picked them one by one so to not accidentally mess up my placing. Thor, my Pfaff Quilt Expression 4.2, breezed through each one and it felt so nice to be able to use him again after 2-3 weeks.

Music I listened to was Lifehouse, Daniel Powter, Mika (The Origin of Love) and Hanson (Roots & Rock 'n' Roll EP). Of course I'm likely to have different music for tomorrow.

Piecing together the squares was fairly unproblematic. The only thing I wish I'd done differently was to make those smaller squares slightly bigger. The small squares were about one and three quarter inch and I completely forgot about seam allowances. Had I made them at least two and a half inches the squares would have firstly looked bigger, and secondly be a little easier to meet seams together. However with a little persuasion I was able to get them where they needed to be without any puckering.

Pressing the seams flat was simple and quick as was completing the front panel. I am astounded how fast it is to make a smaller quilt, I haven't made one for years and I think I might do it more often.

After completing the front panel I then cut my boarders and my binding. This binding I believe it the best binding I have made in a while. I was able to cut the right width for my little binding tool and ironed it with ease. I do cut my bias on the straight mostly because I find it is easier to work with when hand stitching it. But I really am excited by this fabric in particular. It has a bunch of sweet words on it such as cupcake, lemon, bakery, cake, chocolate etc and I am looking forward to sitting down and hand stitching this binding to the quilt. The word pattern compliments the design as there are fabrics on the front panel with words on them too. The colours work so well together I am so itching to see the final product. The final front panel is below, I will be bordering firstly with the same white fabric as the small squares and then a darker brown with a blue and black accent. The backing will be a blue, cream and brown stripe pattern. Let me know your thoughts and stayed tuned for the next post.
Happy quilting.

Miss Mae