A stack of pin-basted quilts

I know I'm breaking a quilter's rule folding quilts after they have been basted and before they have been quilted but they have to go in a box somehow.


One of my goals for this past weekend was to get this stack of quilts based, and I've done it. I have had a pile of pieced tops sitting around since the April school holidays were I got as little excited and pieced a whole lot of tops. I had the vague idea that I would quilt one a weekend but somehow, on a Saturday or Sunday morning when there were other things to do moving all the furniture to base them on the floor was not the most attractive option.


But I did have all the bits for them and I really wanted to deplete the big roll of batting I had so it didn't need to get packed on the roll. So on Sunday afternoon I swept and mopped the floor, moved all the furniture and success!


Now I just have to work out how to quilt each of them, because I want to do that before starting anymore big quilt projects.

This first quilt is a twin size with a whole cloth backing that was bought at 250cm wide in a mottled grey. This is the second time that I have made this pattern, which was one of the free ones that Spotlight used to post on their website from time to time to coincide with a new fabric range they had in store. At the time I bought and made this quilt I was also planning to make a quilt for my friend to celebrate the birth of her first baby. Because that was a present I didn't want all the learning and practicing to be on the gift so I made this one for my partner (he really is just a big kid when it comes to pirates). So it was the first quilt I ever pieced but the second I ever quilted. Both the first two quilts I made were hand quilted in perle cotton, this one in the ditch around all the outer and inner squares and the Xs across the small squares and 2 across the smaller rectangles. Now I am a more confident with machine quilting I was thinking of outline quilting the squares and doing the same Xs on the machine.

This quilt was made with the best part of a layer cake, A Breath of Avignon by American Jane for Moda Fabrics, and a pattern from Layer Cake, Jelly Roll and Charm Quilts by Pam Lintott. I was thinking of quilting two parallel lines down each of the sashing strips and then echo lines inside the 'flowers' to simulate petals. It is a small quilt so I think that may be manageable on the machine.

This is another quilt made from a pattern in another of Pam's books, Jelly Roll Quilts. I scaled the size down and so had jelly strips left over for the border and some blocks used in a pieced strip down the back. The fabric used is Make Life for Moda. I think I'll outline quilt each of the coloured squares, some will overlap a little but I think it will look great. This is one of my favourite tops I've made to date.  

This simple square in square design was not made from a pattern, but I bought the fabric especially to make a 'boy' quilt. This one is backed on the print that is the outer border of the second block from the left on the bottom row so I think I'll, once again, outline quilt the blocks (I'll end up with those narrow parallel lines again) and then stitch across the blocks diagonally to reflect the spokes on the fabric print. This thing I can't decide about this quilt is what colour thread to use. A blending brown would be the most obvious choice for the outline stitching on the top but this won't blend into the back (and I don't seem to have much luck with different top and bottom thread colours) and choosing something for the diagonal lines is tricky!

I had just enough pins to baste this last quilt, although a little less heavily than I normally would. This was made with an Attitude Girls for Moda jelly roll from a pattern in Pam's third book Jelly Roll Inspirations. I think I might quilt inside the stars for this one and then I would like to stipple in the coloured 'block' sections but this is a skill I'm yet to feel comfortable in my level of mastery with. Perhaps I'll just have to practice on some smaller projects first. This one in backed in blue dots on white from the range with a strip made from the trimmed corner squares.


Phew, that should keep me busy for awhile! If anyone has any suggestions about the quilting please let me know. I won't be able to start on these for at least a few weeks....