A Mended Quilt

I made a lap quilt for Lottie six years ago and it is much loved.  It is very much hers and she associates it with sitting on my knee.  If we need to travel or go somewhere with her, it calms and settles her.  She has another quilt and more blankets, but this one is special.  When I originally made it, I combined vintage fabric with Denyse Schmidt and some of the vintage squares in the centre started wearing out a couple of years ago.  I had darned them on the machine but more washing and use meant more drastic action was needed.  So, I pulled together some similar fabrics- DS and other repro styles and made a centre Around-the-World block to applique on top.

Before, a rather threadbare centre...

 Around-the-world mid-construction.  The centre dog is from a  Michael Miller/Tammis Keefe Tribute Dogs fabric from a friend.

These squares were cut the same size as those in the original quilt, but it has been washed and used so many times that the old squares had shrunk and the new additions extended over them when I zip zagged the block edges on top.  I quilted through the new squares to match the previous quilting.

Here she is, just about to snooze.  She's been fortunate to respond to the various heart medications well so we feel we've had extra time.  She's still a happy, silly loving pup, living life to the full.

Around the World- a short journey

I have just finished a very little Around the World quilt, perhaps it should be called Down the Road to suit its scale, about 30 inches square.

225 squares, each 2.5 inches.  Mix of Denyse Schmidt prints from Chase's giveaway, plus other DS prints and a bit of vintage. I love the mix.  

I quilted diagonally eyeballing the corners and 50/2 Aurifil for piecing and quilting.

The walking foot on my new Janome has been fantastic.  I had a walking foot before but this one is better and the power of the machine made quilting a much better experience than it used to be and has boosted my confidence for trying a bigger quilt.  I used 80/20 warm bond batting which I bought in error but has actually worked out rather well.  It doesn't feel quite  as nice as the 100% cotton warm and natural but it does adhere to the fabric easily especially with basting spray and it easy to quilt.  I have been using it for cushions and it would be perfect for a baby quilt as it is a little lighter than the standard batting.

There are some fun vintage novelty prints in there with sea horses, drums and rabbits being pulled from hats.  I machined the binding following Rita's method closely.  I have done this before and struggled but a bit more experience must have helped as I did it all the way round without any resewing.  I did go very slowly and each side is worked separately.  You can see below stitching in the ditch on the right side to catch the binding in on the back.  Quilting gloves; I use Machingers, help a lot

as does a lot of pins on the back.

The binding is another Denyse Schmidt print

An Urban Chik print on the back from the 1974 range, this is a 'second' so the print is rather light but I liked it for the back with the squares echoing the front.

And tonight it will rest on my knee with a small dog sitting on top- that is what I made it for-and I will watch the final episode of Sherlock, cosy style