Red Hots!

Red Hots, originally uploaded by Shadrach Meshach & Abednego.

At last! The Red and White Snowball Challenge is complete! This was a very fiddly quilt, but I'm very happy with the end result.  The dimensions are 58" x 72", made with 6" (finished) blocks.

As you see, I opted for the non-point option, and I think that was the right decision.  I spent some time thinking about borders for the quilt, but in the end opted to go naked, as the book shows.  I had already bought the backing, and was nervous about not having enough to accommodate borders.

The binding is a pale yellow with small red flowers that I'm using as background for another quilt.  The back is Anna Maria Horner flannel.  I am a flannel addict now, after the Wine Gums quilt and now this one.  It's soooo soft and lovely, just perfect for a winter quilt.

And for this first time, I used a wool batting.  The directions say machine wash and lay flat to dry.  I haven't tried that yet, since I am waiting for a friend to deliver a box of Colour Catchers before I dare the wash with this red and white fabric.  But the wool was lovely to work with - it makes for a higher loft than the bamboo/cotton that I've been working with, and there's not the same drape, as a result.  I machine-sewed the binding (don't shoot me), but there were some places where it didn't catch properly on the back.  So as I sat with the quilt on my lap, whipping down those little spots, it seemed to me that it was noticeably warmer than the Wine Gums quilt, which had a similar flannel back but was batted with bamboo.  I'll keep updating with how I find the wool batting over time, since it seems that wool is less commonly used than cotton or bamboo these days.

I can't say that I'm mad for the loop-the-loop quilting that I did, but I think it's okay.  I'm thinking about tying the quilt in the centre of those quarter-square triangles made when the blocks meet, but I'm not sure.  It may be a case of less is more.

I had to name this quilt Red Hots.  Do you remember these candies?  I'm not sure you can still get them, although you can definitely get cinnamon hearts around Valentine's Day.  I thought it was a perfect name for this warm and toasty quilt!
(Edited to add that I've linked this post to Amy's Sew-n-Tell Friday , now that we're all back in business for the new year!)

Point or No?

The other day I asked whether I should leave the snowballs set as they are in the book, or set them on point.  But of course that's a question that can't really be answered unless you can see both options.  So here they are:

The photo above shows the blocks set out as they are in the book.

The photo just above here shows the blocks set out on point.
What do you think.  Honestly, I thought I would like them set better on point, but now I'm not sure.  The snowballs look more like boxes and less like snowballs.  The jury's still out, though.  What do you think?  Leave me a comment to say which one you prefer and why.


The weather's nasty now, but on the weekend it was quite sunny, although fairly cool.  Mr. Pickledish and I took Darla for a short walk down by Lake Ontario.

It was quite windy by the water, but there were plenty of ducks and seagulls, and people walking dogs (that's Mr. PD and Darla).

I snapped this lovely, public proposal.  I hope she said Yes.  Don't you?

Scraptastic!

Snowballs, originally uploaded by Shadrach Meshach & Abednego.

This Friday I'm showing off about 40% of the snowballs for the Red and White Snowball challenge.
Here's a closer look.

The pattern has them set just like I'm showing here, but I'm wondering what they would look like on point. I'd have to buy extra red for the setting triangles, but it might look awfully nice. Hmmm..... *strokes chin*.  What do you think?

Joy in the Mailbox

Woot!  I got my first two packages for the Snowball Swap today!  From Texas and North Carolina!  Thanks, team!

Tools

I started cutting my fabric for the snowball challenge last night.  Honestly, over the last week it feels like I have been chained to the cutting mat! I was determined to make one red snowball last night.  It's mainly strip piecing and half square triangles.  I thought I'd show you a couple of tools that I use in my quilting.

Here's a slotted mat from June Tailor that I use for cutting strips.  You fold the fabric selvage to selvage, then twice more after that, so that you are cutting through eight layers of fabric.  Your cutter needs to be sharp for this!  There's a line to lay against the fold at the bottom, and a zero mark to slice off the end and make a clean beginning.  The slots are marked off in quarter-inch segments, so it's useful for most sizes of strips.  After you cut the strips, you can turn them sideways and cut squares or rectangles, as well.  If you are careful about the original folding, you can cut nice strips with no Ms or Ws at the folds.

These are Thangles; they are paper guides used for making half-square triangles.  Layer the right sides of fabric together, pin carefully; sew along the dotted lines and cut along the solid lines.  Press open, peel off the paper, trim to size.  The drawback to these is that it is terribly tedious to pick the paper off, but to be fair, the paper used for these is one of the easier quilting papers to remove.  At least, in my experience.  Thangles (and other brands that use the same approach) stabilize the HSTs when pressing open along the bias, and produce dead accurate measurements.

Here is my first snowball.  It's fairly small, 6" inches.  This quilt is definitely going to be the most traditional-looking piece I've made since I've rejoined the quilting world.  I think it's going to be a great winter quilt.  I've already bought a wool batt for it (directions say it can be machine washed, laid flat to dry), and I plan to use a nice flannel for the back.  It's not going to win any prizes for modern design, but it's going to feel like the quilt equivalent to mac and cheese!  Mmmm.... comfort food quilting!

For all you Snowball Challengers in my swap group, watch your mailbox.  I finally sent these off, with a little surprise inside!