When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.
~Maya Angelou
Quilting
Quilted, bound, washed, and ready to gift. The basket quilt turned out better than expected. Jinny Beyer's books are my main reference but I can't find this five-patch basket in them. Although I sketched it on my own, I'm sure it has a name. I just don't know it.
The border blocks began this quilt. You could say it was designed like a kawandi - from the outside in. With that set, I had to plan something for the center. I love baskets and always drool over Audrey's but I don't make nearly enough.
But I definitely didn't want a little brown basket. Once the blues and greens were decided, the block called for red to tie into the border. {And also because I love red.} Little red flowers run up from the base. Alternating the background let me mix both pink and yellow triangles inside.
Large as they are, the baskets are a bit too small but a diagonally printed stripe from my stash makes perfect sashing and helped fill in the shortage. And since it was still short, I added narrow coping strips in the background fabrics. I spent more time than necessary deciding to extend the center sashing through that outer coping strip. One other idea was to cut the sashing and let the outer strip encircle the entire center. Another was to use the stripe as the outer coping strip. {That died quickly.}
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| Basket quilt |
The back uses up the last of the yellow on white background and is filled out with some green gifted by my friend Gayle. More diagonal stripe binds the quilt.
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| Back of Basket quilt |
The older I get, the easier I want the quilting so my usual spiral filled the bill. I don't have the inclination or the arm strength as the moment to try a lot of free motion quilting.
Quilt Specifics:
Size: 45" x 45"
Quilt design: Baskets with Crossroads border
Batting: Mountain Mist Cream Rose cotton
Thread: yellow Superior Masterpiece cotton
Quilting: Spiral with a walking foot
Approximate yardage: 5.5 yds
Things have been interesting here to say the least. DH had another surgery. We've been concerned about it and the recovery but it was a cakewalk. They didn't need to do nearly as much as they anticipated and he's bouncing back much faster than last year. What a relief.
When he came home he noticed my laptop wasn't closing properly. I've been ignoring that but DH said the battery was expanding as it failed and could explode. Yikes! Let the computer rotation begin. DH gets a new computer and I get his hand-me-down {which he always calls "my new computer".} Of course, I also get full tech support since he knows the ins and outs of "mine." Still, it's been a week offline and a few days backing up and reinstalling files. Now I have to learn to use this one properly.
I planted butterfly weed starters and hope they will take this year. I purchased some garden cloches to keep critters off them while they root. Every year I plant and hope they will take. The only success turned out to be a tropical milkweed. Those can discourage monarchs from continuing their migration. Grr.
Enjoy the day,
Ann
