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| Happy to be Scrappy |
Me: Good morning
Paul (groan)
Me: Would you like some breakfast?
Paul: Do we have bacon?
Me: I don't think so.
Paul (Bigger Groan + A Whine)
Me: I can make you an egg sandwich.
Paul: Without bacon??? Why did you wake me up anyway?
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| How to put these together? |
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| The smaller block needs help |
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| Black floral + orange/yellow stripe is better than just the stripe |
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| Matched size = Success |
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| And so it grows!!! |
Eggs without bacon is an insult...at least in Paul's opinion.
So when this cute pig ended up next to the eggs sunny side up...I decided to name the quilt - Eggs and Bacon.
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| Eggs and Bacon |
Little did I know that the name would be prophetic...
Making a scrap vortex quilt is not a sprint. It is a marathon. I work on it between other projects. Make a few slabs and set aside. Every time I enjoy the memories associated with scrap fabrics from previous quilts and fabric scraps gleefully received from friends.
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| Color is Joy |
The sleeping moon face, the ladybird and the blue sharks came from Bernie.
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| Can you find the two sheep? |
The two tiny sheep fabric was leftover from the
Garden Party backing.
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| Can you see the rippling? |
The pink fabric with scissors and notions came from
Julia and the pink-orange mini floral came from
Mell.
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| Fussy Cut Bears :-) |
The birds on the left came from
Mari.
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| Happy Memories |
The polar bear with a scarf (Flurry by Ruby Star Society) reminds me of Quiltcon 2020 in Austin. I scored some gorgeous fabric scraps when Ruby Star Society dismantled their booth and invited quilters to take the display fabrics. Instantly there were a dozen women rummaging through boxes of yet unreleased fabric lines. The fabric scraps were like candy and I was like a kid on Trick & Treat spree on Halloween.
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| Scraps from Guild's Free Table |
The cat and dog at a barbecue fabric is so much fun. Thank you
Julia.
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| Grey Raccoons and Multicolor Cats |
The pink fish and multicolor cats came from
Bernie.
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| Bewitching |
Look what the wicked witch did - she made the cat turn blue :-D You can always tell your own stories. The spinning of yarn continues even after all threads are buried :-D
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| Scrappy goodness |
The fruit slices were a gift from
Mari and the dancing stick figures came from Sylvia.
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| Splash of Color |
The fabric with peachy berries came from
Cathy. The orange blob fabric is left over from the border for
Rainy Day. The crabs are leftover from the backing of
Animal House.
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| Cat and Crayons |
The bright flip-flops and the smiling zoo animals came from
Julia, I think. Sometime I forget how I acquired certain scraps :-)
Let's talk about wool batting. No scratch that. Let me whine about wool batting.
I want to use wool batting for two major reasons
1. It is light, much lighter than cotton and cotton/blend battings.
2. It does not crease.
It has higher loft which can be good news for those of us who want better quilting definition.
It also makes for puffier quilts. No one told me that it creates a whole new problem.
The puffiness comes from multiple layers loosely held. These layers slide over each other during quilting. This is not a problem that can be fixed by basting or pinning.
Because it is not about how the batting sticks to the quilt top or to the backing. It is the fact that the batting is internally not sticking to itself. I noticed the tucks when I made
Eric's quilt.
A few suggestions to decrease that effect included
a. Increase stitch length - DONE
b. Decrease the pressure of the presser foot - DONE
c. Don't quilt too close - OK
Also it is best if the quilting lines do not cross each other. In other words, do not quilt a grid.
Rob Appell of Mansewing in his Quilt Batting Boot Camp (How to Quilt with Different Types of Batting) suggested to quilt from he center out to avoid tucks. In general we do that but I treated it like gospel.
I quilted a spiral. And it went swimmingly well.
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| Spiral Quilting |
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| Backing Fabric |
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| Labelled |
I had done it. It was awesome and then I tried to square it.
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| Finished!!! |
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| Red Backing, Green Binding |
The quilt was warped with wavy edges. It lives up to its name - the bacon bit!!!
Bacon with ripples is sexy (ask Paul). In a quilt - ripples are undesirable.
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| I choose Joy |
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| Happily Yours |
No. But wait. Quilts of Gee's Bend are rippled and un-squarish.
So I am not going to dwell upon the waves and ripples.
No, it will not win any award.
But it is bright and cheerful and will be perfect for some toddler's tummy time. Here are a few more pictures cause you can never have enough eggs and bacon (according to Paul).
And here is a plate of Eggs and Bacon for my quilt model/photographer - a salty reward for my sweet man!!!
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| Eggs and Bacon for Paul |
So I have soured on wool batting. I started with such lofty hopes (pun intended).
I am exploring the batting made from recycled water bottles at this time, while I ponder what to do with 30 (minus 3) yards of wool batting on a roll.
If you have any other ideas about wool batting (with the exception of hand quilting) please let me know.
