Scrappy Summer 2015

The Scrappy Summer 2015 quilt got its green print binding hand stitched on last night, so now I can cross another project off the list. The quilt consists of 96 squares of a large variety of fabrics and the same number of four patches consisting of white and another solid.

The block setting is rather random, but I think it looks good the way it turned out in the end.The design is from Cluck Cluck Sew. The quilt is 48" x 64", which is a good size for a charity quilt. I bought he backing fabric at Ikea where they had a sale on it late summer/early fall for about 1 dollar a yard (!). The big raspberry print is perfect for backing for charity quilts for the children's ward at the hospital, it is cute and cheery to look at, and it was wide enough for not having to piece the back. The fabric was obviously a limited edition for the summer of 2015, and now I have enough of it for a few more quilts.

The quilting was a rather simple one: straight lines cross hatching the quilt. This simple quilting design looks good here, since the amount of different scraps made the quilt top look quite busy. I chose to quilt it with green thread both at top and in the bobbin, and I think that gives a great dimension to the back as well, with those giant raspberries. The green print binding completes the quilt in a nice way.

Most of the prints for the blocks were not pre-washed, but I don't fear for washing the quilt before I donate it. I have had good results using a couple of color catchers when washing quilts. Last time it was actually the green binding that had a bleeding issue, but the color catcher sheets caught everything.

I am sorry that I don't have any outdoor pictures of this quilt, yet, but it is dark outside both when I leave for work in the morning and when I arrive home late afternoon. The weekend will be good for pictures in natural light.

This was my ALYoF goal for November, and is also my third accomplished goal for 2015 Finish Along List over at Adrianne at On the Windy Side.

Linked up to Needle and Thread Thursday .

Quilting of charity quilt

I have started quilting the charity quilt from this blog post. My Janome is still in the shop for maintenance, so I had the choice of waiting until I got it back, or try to free-motion quilt on my old Pfaff 93.

This machine is approximately 50 years old, I think, and no one had ever done FMQ on this babe. When I got my Janome more than three years ago, I didn't even know it was possible to do it on my Pfaff ! But, what do you do when you have to quilt? READ THE MANUAL! The manual  has survived all these years, and amazingly, there is a little lever to lower the feed dogs! When found that out, it didn't take me long to test drive and adjust the tension to do great FMQ! Actually, it is easier to quilt on this old babe than on my Janome!

This is the first, ever,  FMQ done on this machine. I don't feel confident in free motion quilting, yet, but I do know that practice is the only thing that matters. I quilted daisies in the white borders, and hearts and loops in the middle field. I like the way it turns out!

The old babe does a good job, but the pedal gets a little hot when it's "run to the metal", so it needs a little rest. What's better than write a blog post when it cools down?

The instruction manual is "literature of another era", the sewing machine is German, but the manual is written in Danish.  The pictures are quite interesting, like this one:

Who would operate the foot pedal with those high heels?

I don't know when the machine is manufactured, but I would guess late 50's or early 60's. Anyway it is a solid and good working machine, and I guess it will be used more now after I discovered the good quilting abilities!

Happy quilting!