China Plates | Quilt Obsession

First up, the little tumbler star table runner that finishes at 12 x 48. I’m Not sure exactly how I’ll quilt this one, but it’s going to be pretty basic.

Second, the 24″ square tumbler star doll quilt. This one is going to be quilted, I think, to emphases the stars.

Third, China Plates. I think I’m going to do straight line quilting through the middle of the hexagons.

The fourth is the pink and red Winding Ways that finishes at 27″. I’m going to quilt to emphasize the circle effect. This one I should have done before now. It would be great to have this one hanging around Valentine’s Day. Next year it will be!

All of them have the batting cut and ready and I’ll get the backings and bindings ready for them on Friday. I’m going to baste some temporary muslin borders on each of the four so that they’re large enough to put in the hoop and I can get right to the edges, although I may do the table runner without a hoop. I think that will work as long as I baste it well enough.

Why have I got all 4 of them out? Because I really want to get back to hand quilting the Ferris Wheel quilt, but would like to use these tops as my warm-up quilts.

Last night I designed yet another quilt in EQ but that’s it for a while. I need more stitching time! I’m almost three-quarters of the way through making one of the pieced borders for Scrappy Star. Once I get that done and added to the main body of the quilt, I’ll decide whether it needs the final pieced border I was thinking of adding.

Baxter is 10 months old today. He’s growing so fast now that we’re seeing changes in him almost daily and his silver markings are starting to show more and more.

Once the baby quilt is done, China Plates will be first in line for quilting. It’s been languishing now for a few months, so it’s time to get this one finished and bound and ready to hang. I made this with the 1.5″ 90-degree hexagon Inklingo collection printing the hexagons on a variety of Oriental prints, the centre squares on an Oriental shirting print and the connecting squares and triangles on a black fabric. I’m not quite sure how I want to quilt it yet, although I do have the thread picked out — a variegated YLI black/charcoal/cream thread.

There were a few questions about washing charms. What does a salad spinner have to do with it? Well, generally I just swish them in some warm soapy water, rinse them, hang them on a clothes horse for a few minutes and then iron them dry but sometimes spin them partially dry by throwing a handful in an old salad spinner and then complete the drying by ironing them. I’m always amazed at just how much they do shrink — at least half an inch on one side so that the 5″ charms generally end up as 4.5″ x 5″ pieces rather than a 5″ square.

Four rows left to stitch on the baby quilt! Aside from quilting China Plates and working on various other projects that are in varying stages, I’m daydreaming about starting a new quilt with stars. While I am tempted to make something with bright batiks and a dark neutral, I’m also leaning towards doing something with the Japanese taupes that are in my stash and making a very muted star quilt with those.

On Tuesday, Lester was snoozing in the kitty bed — with a toy within paw’s reach.