Phew – he loved it, and used it a couple of nights before I got the hand sewing on the binding finished, but it is all done now.

The next project is a kingsize quilt for DD, for which I have the various exotic and jungly tropical type fabrics in rich dark colours. I might start to cut soon, but considering how the rest of this year looks it probably won’t get under way until february. I also have fabric for picnic quilts for the three families….counting ourselves as one of course. One or two juried exhibition dates are coming up, and of course, Quilt National weekend in may, and I plan to provide one of the 12 inch squares or whatever the mini-size quilts are to be, for the SAQA auction at that time.

Meanwhile, I just arrived back in Montevideo a few hours ago, have actually unpacked one case and put stuff away, one smaller one to do and then I will feeel ‘settled’ again.

Well, actually the binding is attached but not yet handsewn down, but I can do that while we are all talking and catching up in N. Colorado when I get there early tomorrow afternoon. The binding I decided eventually to do in the leopard print, and it looks really good.

When I looked again at the pieced top on sunday morning, after posting about one wrongly aligned block, I found (with fresh non-tired eyes I guess ) there were actually three in a row. One kind friend said she didn’t think anyone would notice – shi might have been right – I unpicked them and resewed all threee into the right alignment anyway because I would always notice. And then, darnit, after the quilting and all that, yesterday I noticed another one out on one side – and it will be there for ever.

The stars , 55, freee mchine quilted, are in all the plain tan blocks, since IMHO a 6″ square is too large to leave unquilted despite what any batting manufacturers might say. On all the striped blocks I wrote grandson #2’s name, in free machine quilting, snipped the ends to about half inch and leaving them hanging, on the front, but will snip and darn in on the back as necessary .

Right now the main focus is to get the gear into the case and get to the airport on time with a couple of little errands to run in between.
All do-able provided I don’t linger too long over this!

Well it’s late saturday night and at last I am all clear to go to bed since the piecing is finished. tomorrow I will layer and machine quilt this, and at least attach the binding, if possible, so that if I run out of time I can finish the hand sewing in Colorado later in the week.

I quite like the effect of half the blocks in this design having no piecing at all on them – hugely speeds up the peicing time of course, a useful thing to know in a hurry, and although this is not an art quilt, but a more a contemporary scrap quilt, there are several possibilities here I can go forward with some time.

If I had known more about polyester fabric before I started piecing the job would have been quicker. I was fully aware this lovely tan fabric was part or entirely polyester, confirmed by the feel and that tell-tale odour when ironing. But, with a simple design like this, carefully cut squares and very gently curved or straight lines pieced into some of the blocks, I thought “no worries luv” Boing.

I should have, but didn’t iron the whole piece of tan polyester first. I had already cut maybe 20 x 6″ squares when I noticed some of them had crush lines on them, and ironed those. With some dismay I observed a one-direction shrinkage that was not restored when the heat of the iron faded – and measuring discovered the loss of 1/4 inch from the 6″ side – by my reckoning over a 42″width of fabric this represents approx 6% shrinkage – as I said, selvedge to selvedge only, so I think that is over the weft – but significant when we are talking about piecing meticulously cut squares! So, as I pieced the whole thing every tan piece had to be turned and checked, and about 20 of them needed a piece added along one side. It all took time to rectify. I am not saying ‘never use polyester’ but I am saying – beware!

And finally, I have put up this pic and now see one of the bright blue patches is wrongly aligned – well, I will sleep on the need to unpick and resew – will the blind man on a galloping horse actually notice ? I think not. Doubt a little 8 year old will, either.