Needlework Tuesday - A Quilt fit for a Baby

Needlework Tuesday is a regular weekly post where I share the progress of my various needlework projects over the past week. I enjoy the encouragement that I receive from my readers and in return visit their blogs and cheer them on with theirs. You are welcome to grab the cute little mouse and create your own Needlework Tuesday post. Leave a comment with a link and I'll be sure to visit with you.

 

It would have been my father's 70th birthday today.  Happy Birthday Dad, I love you and miss you every day. Triple chocolate cake all around.  ( I would bake him a cake, but Ontario Hydro was working in my neighbourhood on Saturday and when they turned the power back on, they created a power surge that destroyed the control panel on my stove, and that part is not longer available, so I need a new stove if I ever want to use an oven again.)

 

What is a leader and ender project.  When you sew a seam, you waste a lot of thread at the beginning and at the end of the seam.  Also, when you are sewing with small pieces of fabric, such as in a quilt, occasionally they tend to get pulled down into the machine by the needle.  To alleviate this, you can start and end the seam with a small scrap of fabric, called a leader and an ender.  To increase your productivity, instead of a scrap of fabric, substitute in pieces from a long term quilting project, hence a leader and ender project.  As far as I am concerned, Bonnie Hunter at Quiltville is the goddess of such projects.

 Since January I have been working on a leader and ender.  Finally, step one complete.  224  of the 2 1/2 inch white and yellow four patch blocks. One to step 2.

Wednesday last week was a full day of cutting.  This time, I was into blue fabric.  My neighbour is expecting her first grandchild in Novemeber and was hosting a baby shower this past weekend.  I was hoping to at least get a few of the blocks completed for the quilt.  By the end of the day, I cut all the pieces for the baby quilt, the rest of the blue pieces for my leader and ender project (the one shown above) and then I cut all but the background for a new project.  It's the cover one from the Fall 2013 issue of Fons & Porter's easy Quilts.

 On to the baby quilt.  I selected the "Flying Stars Sampler" from Knockout Blocks and Sampler Quilts by Judy Martin.  While the book is no longer in print, you can get it in software version,  Star Power CD-ROM from Electric Quilt.  Note, you must have EQ7 to be able to use this software.

Time to make flying geese.   I needed 32 and decided to use the no triangle method.  There's a good tutorial at Patch Pieces.

 

Flying geese all done. 

Time to make the blocks. 

Oh wait, that's after I piece 90 some odd half square triangles.

 

One centre block

 

Four corner blocks.

 

 

Daughter suggested that I use green for the outer border.  Turns out that was the correct choice.

The top finished at 53 1/2 inches and I did have it ready to take to the baby shower.  Next step is to finish it before the due date in early November.

 

On Sunday, I am planning a mini show of my mother's current projects. I have been alluding to some of them in my posts over the past few months, but kept forgetting to take my camera.  I finally got my act together and we took a bunch of photos.  See you then.

 

Tami, at Just One More Thing, has posted a new prayer flag that she made and some lovely pillows.