Cat Mats By Linda H.

Linda's daughter wanted a couple of washable mini quilts for her cats to sit on so the furniture would be protected. Mr Nibs and Mr Wriggles started making use of the mats right away after they arrived in the mail. Each person or animal likes to have their own quilt. :)

Quilt Top #27

My bins of blue fabrics were overflowing, it was time to make something with them. I need another quilt top like I need a new hole in my head. Eventually, I would like to have a stack of completed quilts that I could donate locally. In the past, I have given a few quilts to my sister's group who donates to shelters in Nanaimo. The only problem with that is, postage is extremely expensive for me to send the quilts there. I don't know if there is a shelter in my town, I'll have to find out. Years ago, our guild used to make comfort quilts, but some of them ended up in the thrift shop. That was a little discouraging. Maybe they didn't match with someone's decor? I guess we'll never know. The good thing about a shelter is, the quilts stay there on the bed, a couch or a chair. If anybody has some ideas for donation quilts, please let me know.

This Month's Project

I'm going to try to get this Scrappy Bear's Paw quilt finished in October. The quilt top was made in the spring, so it hasn't been a UFO for too long.

Geo's Birthday Quilt Is Completed

Making this quilt tested my patience at every level. I will never use Fireside backing again unless I get a long arm machine. The thing wouldn't slide along as I was trying to free motion quilt. My sister came up with the idea of putting tissue paper underneath, so I tried paper from old clothing patterns. That solved the problem, I was able to move the quilt around with no friction. The paper was extremely difficult to remove after the quilting was done. I had to pick at it for a few days with tweezers before it was finally cleaned up. There wasn't an inch of backing to spare, I should have bought more of it. On one small section it wasn't enough to go right to the edge. I had to attach the label along there to cover the gap. As I was stitching down the binding, I noticed that some of the quilting was pulling out in several sections. The layers must have been too thick for the machine, the top thread wasn't catching the bobbin thread. I had to requilt all those areas. Now that this monster is finished, I can breath a sigh of relief. The Fireside backing is nice and cozy. Geo loves his new quilt.

Sewing Machine Cover By Linda H.

Linda designed and made a handy cover for one of her sewing machines. The quilt block pattern came from the book "Block Magic" by Nancy Johnson Srebro. This proves there is no reason to have a boring sewing machine cover. My serger could use a custom cover instead of a pillowcase. :)

Sunny Lanes By Linda H.

Linda made "Sunny Lanes" for her quilting group as a fundraiser raffle. The pattern can be found in the book "Nickel Quilts" by Pat Speth and Charlene Thode. The backing fabric is a cute apple print that Linda had been saving for quite some time. It was just the right size for this quilt. I hope lots of raffle tickets will sell, it's certainly a lovely quilt.

Yikes!

I started to free-motion quilt Geo's Halloween quilt. What a nightmare! He wanted something warm and cozy for the back, so I bought some Fireside fabric. It has a beautiful texture but it refuses to slide along as I'm free-motion stitching. I even sprayed the table and machine bed with Quilt Glide, an anti-friction treatment for quilting surfaces. Nope, it didn't help. It's push, pull and drag all the way. Fireside fabric is lovely, but I think it's meant to be used with a long arm machine, not the kind of machine I have. Wish me luck!