Becky's quilt obsession

My last Scrap Squad project is finished – a king-size quilt for our bed. We haven’t had a “bedspread” on our bed in the entire 8 years we have been married. We had two quilts on our bed, one for me, one for DH. But without further ado – here’s what it looks like now: Linda’s quilting: It covers all of the mattresses: Happy Quilting, Becky

Remember this quilt that I had so many problems making? I even had trouble with the quilting because I used both a cotton and a wool batting. It ended up really thick and it doesn’t drape well. I had to block it to remove the “C” cups in the center of the star. Enter the polar vortex. My chair is near the fireplace. We had such a cold draft coming in I put an extra outdoor thermometer there and it measured 42 degrees F. at the bottom vents. I took a quilt and wedge it up against the bottom vents, but later realized it was coming in the top vents, the door, the sides, etc.  I finally convinced DH that we had to do something and he looked it up on the net. We ordered a balloon for the flue and some magnetic vent covers. Magnetic? It sparked a thought – I hang quilts with magnets. We measured the fireplace and I began searching for an appropriate size quilt, preferably one that already had a hanging sleeve on it. Viola! A nice, thick quilt that had been blocked to lie flat – aga...

There’s a new post from a Scrap Squad 2013 member, Christa Marcotte, over at the Quilty Pleasures Blog . I love what she’s done with this wonderful pattern. There is also a great give-away there, so be sure and visit! Happy Quilting, Becky

I somehow managed to not blog about my 5th finish for Scrap Squad, a quilt I really like as I finally found luminosity. This is from Carolyn McCormick’s pattern Star Struck, which appeared in Quiltmaker in Oct-Nov, I believe. DH made acrylic templates for it down in the shop as the star points and even the central “diamond” were unusual shapes for which no commercial templates are available. I’m so fortunate that he can do this for me. I quilted this one using the Circle Lord frame and a spiral circle, not my usual long boards. This way I was able to center the spiral in each diamond. I picked yellow thread (Superior So Fine, with Bottom Line pre-wound bobbins) for all the quilting, but have mixed feelings about how it shows on the black as I had starts and stops that I, at first, was not good at hiding. I did improve on this. On a side note, my quilting friend, JoAnne, who made these quilt s had a house fire the night before Thanksgiving. She had smoke and water damage in...

This is my final Scrap Squad project, back from my wonderful friend Linda Kriesel, who took pity on me and quilted this huge thing on her 14’ long arm. I love the panto – Bountiful Feathers, designed by Hermione Agee for Lorien Quilting. I managed to trim it on Sunday, and am working on the 550” of binding. I used a Quilters Dream wool batting so we might be able to turn over when sleeping under it. That may never happen, but at least we will have a “bedspread” for when guests are here. On the design wall next to the piecing machines is this memory quilt I’m making for a friend. I’ve used it as a leader / ender all year and now it is time to put it together. The shirts are a poly blend, so I have to press it when the iron is turned down so it’s a bit of a PITA. I hope to have it ready for the quilting machine soon. It will have to be a freehand pattern so I can avoid buttons and pockets and such. I was going to include the front of some overalls, but they were just too heavy with th...

A year of scrap squad doesn’t make for a lot of other quilting finishes. The last two above are the only ones not made specifically for Quiltmaker’s Quilty Pleasures Blog . Pictures 5 and 6 above are the same quilt, just front and back. The most challenging was my Glacier Star – it was finished prior to this year, but it wasn’t quilted until August. Blocking it was a major undertaking. The most difficult to get through was the eagle quilt for a niece. I cried a bucket or two of tears during the quilting of this. It has messages of hope for her. By the way, she is doing amazingly well after such extensive, life-altering surgery. As she said yesterday, she didn’t have another choice if she wanted to live. She said the quilt continues to help a lot. That’s the year 2013’s quilting output for me. Happy Quilting, Becky