Over on Kathy’s Quilts it’s Slow-Stitching Sunday, a weekly celebration of hand sewing. I’ve spent most of today hand-sewing, finishing my Monthly Challenge and starting a new cross-stitch…

I started James’s quilt back in the autumn. He asked me a while ago to make him a quilt, but he couldn’t give me any clues on colours or styles. Having found a chevron quilt in book, I thought it would be perfect, a fairly simple, modern style. At the Northern Quilt Festival in August I took the opportunity of having his sister with me to choose some fabric, we decided on a Bali Cracker call Sandpiper.

The top was pieced together fairly easily, I just cut the layer cake in half corner to corner to get my triangles. I needed a second layer cake to get the width I wanted. I’ve lost a few triangle points along the way but I’m sure James won’t notice!

All that was left was the quilting!

I’ve never machine-quilted  such a big quilt before, I’ve only got a standard domestic sewing machine and the quilt measures 65″ by 75″ so it took a bit of effort to sew the middle but I got there. I used Gutermann Sulky thread to quilt, a dark blue/green variegated thread for the darker chevrons, and a lighter version for the rest. The bobbin just had a plain thread matching the backing. It always amazes me just how much thread you use quilting, the bobbin alone got through 250m of thread. I used my walking foot for the straight line quilting, and a darning foot for the free-motion quilting. Each chevron has a different quilting pattern down it. It’s only about the fifth quilt I’ve machine quilted and I’m pretty pleased as I can see the improvement.

Today I’ve been hand-stitching the binding down, that’s when you realise just how big a quilt is, 280″ of hand sewing takes some time!

My last piece of work on the quilt was to embroider  a label and the date. Rather than sewing a separate label to sew on I like to follow the lines of the quilting and embroider directly onto the back. I decided to follow a line across one corner, I ran out of room for the date so that went on the line above.

It’s James’s 21st birthday on Saturday, so hopefully he will like it!

I’ve missed not having a bit of cross-stitch to do since I finished the Sampler Aux Bouquets. At the knitting and stitching show I made a concerted effort to buy kits for things, rather than more pictures, I stitched the scissor keeper before Christmas and now I’ve started a little embroidered box.

When I say little, I mean little, it measures 4.5cm across and 3.5cm high! The box making pieces look so tiny!!! It’s called the Periwinkle box, it’s designed by Meg Everend of the Nutmeg Company, which is actually fairly local to us in the scenic village of Reeth. I’ve stitched one of their kits before, a little house I hang on the tree at Christmas, they specialise in small 3D cross-stitch items.

The Periwinkle box has an embroidered lid and sides. It’s really pretty. First I have to do the cross-stitching. It’s stitched on 18 count Aida, which is finer than the 16 count I prefer to use, so I’m having to concentrate!  I’ve nearly finished the sides of the main box, it takes longer than you think as each periwinkle petal consists of one cross-stitch and a 3/4 stitch and is then back-stitched all round. It makes a really pretty flower. I’ll hopefully finish the box sides tonight.

Tomorrow I’m accompanying my daughter to Birmingham, she’s got an interview there so I’ve got a few hours to entertain myself… Guthri and Ghani Fabric and Haberdashery Shop is just a bus ride away, that’s me sorted, I’m so excited!!! I think my stash is just about to get a bit bigger 🙂