Log Cabin Quilt and Spinning

I finished the log cabin quilt!

I have always wanted to make a log cabin quilt and was so pleased to finally have a large enough variety of coordinating fabrics to make one.
The blocks are 7" square, with a 13 by 13 layout (there are 2197 pieces in this quilt!). The "logs" are 1" wide (cut 1+1/2"). The design is an Off Set Barn Raising. It is 91" square. I used silk batting because I wanted it to have an "old-fashioned" look after washing (silk batting shrinks a bit, and wool batting doesn't).

 I quilted feathers in the light sections, and lines in the dark sections.

I used a walking foot with a guide for the lines - they are 1" apart.

I used Genziana thread for all the quilting. It is an Italian thread, very fine, like Aurifil, but available at a local fabric store (I have to order Aurifil online). I have used it before, but this is the first time I quilted a whole quilt with it and I couldn't believe the amount of lint that it generated. It is still a very nice thread to use.

This quilt is for my son's bed. He has a single mattress on an antique bed frame that is between a single and a double bed in size, so it needs a big quilt to hide the frame (there is a big down duvet under the quilt making the bed look big). I chose an off set layout because I didn't want a large "bull's eye" in the centre of the bed.

Last week I said that I had a choice of things to work on, and I did spin some wool before getting to the quilt.

This was the starting fibre bundle - Merino from SweetGeorgia, in the colour-way Tavern.

I split the fibre across the length, and with one section I split it down the length a few times, so that the colour changes would be short. The other half I spun as is, so the colour changes would be long.

Here are the resulting bobbins - the one on the left has the short colour changes and the one on the right has the long changes.

Here is the wool all plied. It came out to 14 wraps per inch, about a DK weight.

I spun the wool to go with some natural Merino I had spun the week before, to make a scarf. This is the "Alex Scarf" from the Craftsy class Explorations in Brioche Knitting. The pattern is so lovely, and just challenging enough to make it very interesting to knit. You can see more of these scarves on the Craftsy project page.

You can see the colour changes on the back of the scarf.

I have some more Merino of the spinning wheel - for this one I am spinning a lace/fingering weight yarn - it will take a long time to spin. This one is also Merino from SweetGeorgia, in a Pomegranate colour way .

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥

More Feathers

I am still quilting feathers! Can't seem to get enough!

I wanted to see how this style of feathers and background fill would look on a bigger scale (for the bed sized whole cloth quilt I am planning).

Normally I use a 1/2" size grid for the background, but I used a 1" grid for this one.

This piece is 20" x 42", plain cotton with one layer of cotton batting and a half layer of wool batting on top. I used Invisafil thread on top, and Aurifil thread in the bobbin for the quilting.

I marked all the stems with a Hera marker before quilting.

Once all the feathers were quilted I divided the background.

I marked a 4" 'border' line from the outer edge.

I am using it as a buffet runner in my dining room. We recently painted the main areas of our home - they were 'cool' greens and beige,

this morning

but after six months of seeing snow outside, I wanted 'warm' colours, and chose orange for the dining room and two shades of gold for the rest.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!♥

A Couple of Finishes

This first one is a quilt I pieced and quilted for the school where I am lucky enough to volunteer.

The middle school students went to winter camp recently, and one of the activities was painting these 8.5" squares. They all did such a wonderful job (their names have been blurred in the photo), the different colours are their House colours. It was fun quilting different designs in all the blocks. The quilt is 74" x 98". It will hang in the entrance of the school.

I quilted a large hooked feather in the border (8.5" wide).
The batting is Hobbs 20/80 - it is the first time I have quilted with it and it was very nice to quilt (although a bit fuzzy and hard on the allergies). For the quilting in the ditch and the FMQ in the blocks I used Invisafil 100Wt thread, and the feather in the border was quilted with 50Wt cotton thread, so that it would stand out. The usual - quilted on my DSM, #80 Titanium needle, single hole throat plate, feed dogs up, 50Wt cotton thread in the bobbin.

This is my other finish -

a Romanian Point Lace doily - just a sneak peak. I think my blog is mainly quilting, but really it is a Romanian Point Lace blog. By far I get more views on my Romanian Point Lace Tutorial than any other post on my blog. I posted it two and a half years ago, and thought it was about time that I did a follow up intermediate tutorial - coming soon.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!❤

First Finishes of 2013

 I finished off a couple of projects that have been sitting around for quite a while.

A piece of tatting and an art doll. The tatting is a pattern that I have made a few times, in different weights of thread - it is such a wonderful pattern. This piece is 12" x 19".  The art doll just needed beads around the edge, she is about 6"tall.

The best finish for the new year is that we finished off a bathroom renovation. I wish I had a before picture - it was pretty sad. The bathroom needed renovating, and a little leak in the bathtub helped us make the move to renovate. I am so pleased! The only original thing is the cabinet, and we did all the work ourselves. This is our sons bathroom.

 This time last year I did some stash busting and made a string quilt, this year is starting the same way.

I cut strips for a log cabin.

Sixty 7" blocks pieced so far. I think I'll need about 150 blocks. The fabric is mostly reproduction.

I am using the Judy Martin technique from her Log Cabin Quilt Book, and it is working well.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!❤