Backings and Blues

Well, I added the last border to the pink twist quilt, and cut my binding while I was at it. Now for the backing. I'm such a fabric scrounge that I like to use up the matching scraps on blocks for the back. I had cut up some excess 5 inch squares when I made my triangle border, and of course, some leftover strips, so they'll go into crumb blocks, then I'll put them together into 8½ blocks. Here's the first few:


Then I also had some extra triangle sets left over from making that diamond border, so I put those points-in and made 6 blocks with them. One of the pink flower edged ones is missing, I think the cats got it:


I'll probably stitch the backing up like a row quilt, a wide length of fabric for the top and bottom, then fill in the middle with a few rows of these odd fabric dregs blocks.

I've also been collecting some indigo fabric for my next project. Not sure where I'm going with them yet, but here's what I've got so far - several half yard pieces of batiks and, on the top and bottom, some white and blue marbled to pair with them:


And finally, here's the design I like the best of what I've been playing with on EQ so far. I started with the log cabins that have bigger strips on one side than the other, then added the triangle corners that Bonnie Hunter from Quiltville used on her Pineapple Blossom quilt. EQ didn't have much in their library of fabric to match my indigo batiks, and I'm just too lazy to try to put in bitmaps of all my exact fabric, but you can get some idea:


I was trying to use blue on white fabrics for the light areas, but looking at the design now, it looks a little cloudy. The next time I'm in EQ, I'll switch all the light areas to white, I think I like that better, 'specially since the batiks have more white in them than the EQ fabrics I'd used.

I've won a couple of auctions for batiks on eBay recently (well, alright, more than a couple, 25 yards +) but they really are nice batiks and at a super price, even including shipping. Most of them are bright, colorful batiks, some oranges, turquoises, rainbows and even a couple of gold-browns, but there's a 4 yard piece of indigo batik that will fit right in with this project.

I'll show pix when my box comes. :) I can't wait, I love getting packages, even if I know what's in them, don't you?

Pink Twist, 4 Borders

Well, here's what I decided on the quilt ... and I'll add one more skinny border of the deep mauve, I think, and since I've kept them skinny I should be able to both add that last border and bind it in the same thing:



I didn't want to end it with lots of seams on the edge, not only is that a pain to stitch the binding on through, but I've heard that unless you backstitch the outside seams, they tend to come apart when you stretch them on the longarm to quilt. I most certainly didn't backstitch these squares, they were all rotary cut from leftover strip sets from the middle of the quilt! In fact, that's why the middle row of squares is slightly smaller, lol.

It'll teach me to draw all my quilts in EQ first because, I think now that I look at it, I would have liked those dark mauve points to point toward the middle of the quilt all the way around, instead of toward the outside. Too late now!

BOM and Pink Twist Borders

First, a couple of Halloween blocks, made for my guild's block of the month. Instructions on my guild's webpage if you're interested, either in sharing it with your guild or making some yourself! It's just a simple square in a square, but I've found out that people are much more likely to do a fast, easy block for block of the month. We draw names, and one person gets to take all of them home.

http://www.ucquilts.com/bomsept2007.htm



And here's the progress of the pink strip twist quilt, hanging up in my kitchen doorway. I've added a 1½ inch wide deep mauve border, then the strip of diamonds.



The diamond strips were a pain, they're easy to make, but so much harder to fudge the size of them to get the border to fit and end up in the same place on the corners than I thought. I had to take up some of the diagonals (and I did, losing points too) so perpendicular seams would have been easier!

Sorry you're not seeing all of the quilt, I really DO have all 4 diamond borders on. Hanging this in the kitchen doorway made the Siamese curious, and they kept ducking under it to see who and what was on the other side, so I had to crop out a kitty butt!

Next, I plan to put on 4 border strips like this one you see on the left, below, but I think I need another skinny border (that reads as a solid) to set it off first, don't you? And then maybe a final dark border, or at least a dark binding.



I have a yard of medium pink, and a yard of medium lavender, and 2 yards of the deep mauve, enough to put a skinny border on, and a final border on, OR bind it in the deep mauve, but probably not all three. Any suggestions? What would you do?