Sunday, February 15, 2015

Warm Flimsy

Here's the finished flimsy for my mostly flannel log cabin quilt, It's Warm Inside:


Wait, wasn't this quilt supposed to be finished with a quilt as you go technique? Why is it now a flimsy?

Well, it turns out that for people with severe dust allergies, like me, quilt as you go is a terrible process. I managed to cut the batting for six individual blocks...


... and I felt like I had run a marathon. As you can see I gamely basted them together, but I couldn't bring myself to cut any more batting.

The idea for this quilt as you go design is a couple of years old now, and was conceived for my old sewing machine. I realized that my new sturdy machine would be able to handle the full size flannel quilt. So, I unbasted the squares and sewed the whole top together.

I know that border fabric looks a little busy...


...but try to imagine a bright red binding on the finished quilt. It will bring it all into focus.

I am amazed, actually, at how much the narrow white cotton sashing lifts and brightens the whole quilt. It feels much more cheerful and fresh.

And it's an appropriate finish for today, which has been the coldest day in Toronto this year, and probably for several other years as well. At 7:00 am it was -28 Celsius outside (-18 Fahrenheit), and the north wind was shaking the house. That's unusually cold for Toronto! But, with the cold we also have brilliant sunshine, and it is indeed warm inside.


7 comments:

  1. Full marks for perseverance! I'm hoping undoing the basting and handling the batting wasn't as distressing as cutting. It looks fabulous. The red is a great touch and I think the border really works - picks up and unifies the colours in the blocks.

    I can barely image such cold. Our weekend was 41C and 39C!

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    1. Thanks very much, Jillian! The cutting was the worst part, because the fluff flies. With the wind, it feels like -40 outside, and exposed skin will freeze in a few minutes. I stayed home!

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  2. I love the border and don't think it's a bit too busy. Snowmen in snow globes. Love! It has snowed here and while 10" was predicted, we got less than that. Way less. Around 3" I would guess. Very cold, too, But not nearly as cold as you have it up there in Canada. So, I am not going to complain. It's February already. Spring is just around the corner.

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  3. I love the colour combinations you use. You manage to maintain a fresh lightness even with the addition of the red triangles, which by the way, are perfect!

    Good luck with finishing the quilt, (sans allergies), and I hope your weather turns more seasonable and reasonable soon. In the meantime, enjoy the sunshine.

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    1. Thank you very much! I think it's the red parts that make the rest look so bright. They say another cold snap is coming, but it does feel a lot milder today, even at -10!

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  4. I loved these blocks the first time I seen them and they look fantastic all sewn together. The fabric in the border is perfect and I can see it with the red binding too. I have seen quite a few QAYG projects but just haven't done one to try and get my head around some of the joining techniques.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Katherine! There are lots of videos for QAYG online now, plus I bought a couple of books. All for nothing, it turns out! But, the best book by far was the one by Marti Mitchell.

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