Sweet Mary

The five inch square can be a wondrous thing especially when you have the fabric stash to supply many five inch squares - 256 to be precise. Except for the sample quilt that hangs above our bed, I have never actually made a quilt for my honey and me. Thats not to say that I haven't made a fair few quilts over the years but always for others but this one is all mine (or ours). The colour plan I started out with soon gave way to squares cut from all my favourite fabrics with a few scraps (lots of memory scraps) thrown in because they needed using. I staggered the cutting out over the last month or so inbetween other stuff going on. I sewed in strips randomly putting in what I wanted but making sure I spread the red around as I figured that would be the dominant colour. All sewn together and white borders added, ready to sandwich together with the filling and backing. I like to hand quilt in the ditch and for the first time will do this with embroidery thread. I will let you know h...

This morning as I listened to the weather report for the next few days and realised that I would probably not be finishing those last few jobs in the garden, I quickly realised that a rainy weekend would be the ideal time to sit and quilt, maybe get a few good DVDs in as well. Back in May I blogged about the delights of the "five inch square" and the simple but colourful quilt I was making with these squares. Yesterday I layered the quilt sandwich and basted it with bright green thread, figuring the green would stand out amongst all that colour. This afternoon I will start on the hand quilting with embroidery thread which is a first for me. I got the idea from here and have decided it will give that vintage look that I so love about hand stitched quilts, especially after they are washed and get that "pumfy" look.