My goodness! The Mid Atlantic Quilt Festival is only a month away! As usual the MAQF has me reconsidering my current quilt progress and gets me motivated to work on my quilts and thus blog about them. I haven't made many recent entries because I haven't been quilting. I got distracted with my smocking projects and the holidays. I've also fallen behind in reading my quilt magazines so I haven't had anything to comment on. However, I've been catching up this week so I've got loads to talk about now ...So look out this has the sound of a monster blog entry :>
As part of my New Year's reflection I've set several deadlines for my sewing projects. I'm afraid they may be a bit unrealistic. I'm trying to finish Poker Roadtrip, a smocked dress, and smocked booties all before Valentines day. I've made fair progress on Poker Roadtrip. The prairie braid strips are hanging over my quilt room window so I can see how the random placement of fabric is working out.
The smocked dress is a darling pattern I saw in the magazine Creative Needle. It is titled Nicole and buttons on the front shoulder. I've gotten two rows stitched so far. I'm also planning on making booties to match.
The following are some pictures of projects I've finished the last few months.
First is a tied blankie I made in December for my new niece L-. I fell in love with the furry fleece I found in Walmart and went back to buy 5 more yards of various colors for other projects.
I finished the green bishop dress for A- and managed to make matching booties for it. She had a lot of her Christmas pictures taken in this dress.
I also smocked a cute reindeer overall for M-. I intended to make a matching jumper for A- but it never got done. I did make a quick applique dress for L- though and that is what you see pictured below.
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I wasn't very pleased with the overall I made for M-. It was too tight in the torso for him because I didn't fit the pattern first. The smocked insert buckled on the edges because I didn't back smock it. (The directions didn't tell me too.)He still looks cute in it though.
I've been researching wool bats again. I want to try one out in my Poker Roadtrip quilt. I'm nervous about using wool though. Apparently I'm supposed to use a cheese cloth cover to keep the wool from migrating in the quilt. I don't have anything telling me how to make this cover for the wool batting and I'm not sure how well it will hold up to washing. That is why I'm nervous ...But I never let trepidation stop me! :>
Conveniently enough the last two Quilter's Newsletter Magazines have had a 2 part article on battings. They reviewed 18 battings overall. I don't agree with their test procedures though. The test involved measuring for shrinkage. They cut 12.5 inch squares, quilted them, measured them for shrinkage, washed them, and then measured them for shrinkage again. My problem is with the way they washed them. They stated the samples, "were washed by machine on a gentle cycle using Quilt Wash ... After rinsing but before spin cycle, the batting samples were removed from the washing machine and placed on a clean floor to dry under a fan." Who would do that to a real quilt? Can you imagine taking a twin size quilt out before the spin cycle, all drippy and wet and laying it out on your hardwood floors or berber carpet under a fan! Knowing the shrinkage rate was nice but I would be far more interested in knowing how the different batts faired in the dryer. How much shrinkage occurred then? How much migration? How did the various samples fair under repeated washings and drying? While I found the test procedures lacking I still think the chart will be useful in selecting battings for future projects and appreciated the information provided. Thanks QNM! Now how about an article on how to use a wool batting? And what to keep in mind when shopping for a wool bat because there are a wide variety of places to get them online and my local quilt store doesn't carry wool. So what should a newbie to wool bats look for when purchasing one online?
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