No more sitting on the fence

I took all your advice and finished this quilt without borders. I tied it to a backing of a textured fleece and brought the back to the front for a simple and easy binding. And because I'm cleaning up my sewing room, I gifted this to a friend already and now it graces his couch. It's 30 degrees celsius here today, and not cooling off overnight, but in not too many months, it will be 30 degrees below and this little beauty, made entirely of scraps, will keep my friend warm.

Here's a closeup of the patterned fleece and the ties. It's nice to get this done, and to empty my bin of bricks (these measure 2.5 by 4.5).

Zigging and zagging and sitting on the fence

I've been playing with scraps, just using values to create this two-rail fence. I made large 16-square block in different colour ways as a  leader-ender project, and now I decided it was time to get them together. Now it will measure 48 inches by 64, which isn't quite wide enough for an adult-sized throw. Or maybe this would be better with a fleece backing and donated to the children's hospital? Does it need borders? Is there too much red in the middle? (not that I'm going to take it apart.) I'm not inclined to make more blocks, but since these are old fabrics from my mom, I don't have piles of options for sashing if I want to get it wider.

I made a quick bag to go with a baby gift the other day -- denim weight kiddie prints left over from my boys' clothes. I think it's cute and versatile (the new baby who is getting it will be big enough in  a year to carry the bag himself) and it was fast -- only 15 minutes.

Sitting on the fence

On my design wall: this scrappy rail fence from oldies but goodies

Monday design wall

I've been sewing these two-rail fence blocks as a leader-ender project, using up oldies and goodies. Many of the dark brickscame my way precut, left over from a mystery quilt my mother made. The rest are from my brick bin, and I'm also cutting some from a jelly roll I made from my mother's oldies but goodies. These measure 16 inches finished, and I'm going for at least nine blocks, maybe 12, or even 16. I like the graphic quality in this simple pattern.

I engaged in a little retail therapy this weekend, shopping at Tanell's with a friend.  I bought some white tone on tone in 108 inches wide (meant for backing) as backgrounds for my Dresden plates, some Kaffes and that American Jane dot and a couple of other yummy prints. The colours warm my soul, and that's a good thing in January in the Northern Hemisphere!