Bows & Swirls

Do you make the same pattern more than once? I decided that since I had quite a good time making a bow tie quilt here but quilted it with a Baptist fan pattern, I thought I'd give bow ties another go, but try a different layout and quilting. Well I've had fun quilting this bow tie quilt.

Since it was more free-motion swirls than the Baptist fan it felt easier. It was also a little smaller - mostly dictated by the fact that I'd only bought one metre of the background fabric and it ran out. If I had thought a bit smarter, I could probably have used a plain background at least for the centre, but of course when you're making the blocks you don't necessarily know what's going to go in the centre. 

Anyway, here's a closer up of the swirls:

I did some large and some smaller to fit in one half of the bow tie. I also did some orange peel on the wider border. I'm still thinking I may add some ribbon candy to that final cream border. Again, since I was using scraps from my stash, I didn't have enough of that border to complete the whole biding, so I used some on two of the shorter sides and a close complement on the longer sides. Since we have two single beds at our holiday place, I think these two bow ties will sit on those. That is, unless I decide to make yet a third, a little larger and then give this one away. Time will tell. 

Here's the back and all that swirly goodness. The photo seems to show as though the needle has made strong indentations, but in reality its quite smooth. 

They may have turned out a little more square than round, but it fits on the front at least. And there's always room for improvement. 

Until next time,

Lynn

Squares and Bow Ties

Having made one bow-tie quilt (Bow-tie with Baptist Fan quilted pattern)and enjoyed using up my scraps and the fun variety of colours it produces, I thought I'd give another one a go, using a different layout this time.

The final cream border is not too visible here, but I'm looking forward to quilting it and putting some ribbon candy in there. We've got very heavy rain here today as well as thunder and lightening so I'm not going to get anything other than indoor shots today. 

Here's a slightly closer up (or enlarges when you click on it anyway):

One thing I hadn't quite realised until I began to put some of the ties together, is that the background beige/brown is a directional pattern. When I first looked at it I thought I'd determined that it wasn't, but clearly it is. I think there's enough other colour going on though that it's not a big distraction/detraction from the whole. 

I'm also working on some 2 1/2" squares. These are good to just hand sew together at night - though when I see a few blocks coming together I just have to get on the machine and move it along a bit more too! 

I'm going to put that teal coloured sashing and a small (about 2") cornerstone in as I go along too. Again, a great way to use up some scraps and a fun bright quilt results. These are always fun to make and since my stash doesn't seem to shrink, no matter how much I use it, I could be doing things like this for quite a while!

Until next time,

Lynn

Bow Ties

I've been having fun with this bow tie quilt. Not one that was on my goal list - must get back to those, I'm behind even from September, but meanwhile I enjoyed using my scraps, except for the backing for this one.

I was inspired by Sarah [Confessions of a Fabric Addict] and her post which I think was back in March or May where she used green scraps to make one a little larger than this. I'm clearly much slower when it comes to completing projects, but I had fun with the quilting too. 

You can see I did a simple quilt around the bow ties themselves and a little chain loop in the background pieces.  My free-motion quilting is getting a work out doing straight lines but I'm getting better at them and its far easier than changing to my walking foot and then turning the quilt frequently. 

And as I mentioned, I only had to get a backing for this quilt. This navy with a small gold coloured shape seemed to fit the bill. 

 

Not sure whether this might find a home at our local hospice. I don't currently have anyone else who needs a quilt that I can think of. I've also already begun cutting out more ties for the next quilt - more of a varied colouring for that one. 

But meanwhile I must get on and finish my other goals. This is one from September which may get completed this month. I like the on point setting and since it's almost together, with the corners needed, I'll just need to sandwich it and get on with more quilting. 

Until next time,

Lynn