Quilt #3: Blocks & Squares
Width | Approx 127 cm
Length | Approx 183 cm
Pattern details | Cotton squares & strips from fabric from Mondial Tissue & other sources, alternate colour schematics
Batting | None
Backing | 100% wide width cotton fabric from Textile Ambience
Binding | Single fold tape from leftover fabric used in blocks

Yes, my blankets are getting bigger and bigger…

I love how this turned out – we picked a dark blue border material for the backing as well as the border. For a moment I was apprehensive because of how the red tone seemed more prominent than blue, but after putting on the border strips, everything just fell into place. Add that with the binding – I chose the red multi-coloured fabric my mother-in-law gave me and made the binding with the aid of a binding tape maker – and it turned out just right.

Instead of folding this and using it only as a lap or sofa blanket (I tried napping with this as a blanket and it’s warm enough…so luckily I didn’t put in any batting otherwise I would be steaming underneath it!), Nil thought that we would cover our sofa bed with this, and as you can see, it added plenty of colour and interest to a dull computer room. His inspiration? My mother-in-law. She does this with ALL the patchwork blankets and quilts that she has – covers sofas and chairs with them.

Anyway, now that this is done, I’ll back to cutting up strips for my next quilt. Hopefully I’ll be able to complete the squares before the birth. I plan to finish the whole blanket in Singapore but who knows? If I work fast, I might just be finished with it earlier!

Quilt #2: Autumn Heaven
Width | Approx 68 cm
Length | Approx 92 cm
Pattern details | 3″ 100% cotton squares from Ebay, cross arrangement, alternate colour schematics
Batting | None
Backing | 80-20% cotton-polyester fabric from Textile Ambience
Binding | Single fold 100% cotton tape in cream-yellow from Textile Ambience

This turned out surprisingly well even though it was slightly smaller than the first blanket I made and with a number of errors (lets go through them one by one).

For starters, the pattern this time isn’t random. The cotton squares I purchased come in several designs and each design has about 20 pieces cut down to size (3 inches). So I decided to rotate several colour pairs by way of inversion and such. To top off the pattern, I put an all-brown border, again repeating some colours, and then finally an all-white border. After sewing together the pieces, I discovered right towards the end when all of the squares were pieced that one of the cross in the patterns is off and the white border on one end has been switched around. Aiii…talk about something not matching its twin.

Then of course there is still the matter of getting the seams of each of the squares to match. Somehow I screwed up on piecing them properly. At one time while fiddling with the machine, I nearly sewed over a pin so the resulting line wasn’t straight with ended up with more fabric “eaten” to compensate for the seam. So some squares were quite off but again, thankfully, it’s just some. Again, definitely more work on the accuracy and such is needed.

Then there was the matter of sewing the bias. I can’t seem to find double fold bias tapes and somehow despite pinning this, I ran into some issues halfway while sewing this – I didn’t sew down a smallish portion of the tape so I had to run through the whole blanket twice and the offending section four times. ARGH! Luckily the thread is the same colour as the tape, otherwise I would be kicking myself!

Anyway, the finished piece is still very lovely and I am utterly tempted to keep this for myself but Nil said no. So off it’ll go as originally intended. I hope the recipient will like it as much as we do.

Quilt #1: Eva’s Red & Pink Cuddly
Width | Approx 78 cm
Length | Approx 105 cm
Pattern details | 5″ 100% cotton squares from Moda’s Charm Park Candy Kisses (Ebay), random arrangement
Batting | None
Backing | 100% cotton fabric from Textile Ambience
Binding | Single fold 100% cotton tape in black from Textile Ambience

I’m seriously in love with the colour – the black makes the red pop out (white would have muted the colours and blended in) but hey, Nil and I weren’t exactly looking for the typical baby receiving blanket when we chose the colours. We were quite tired with pastels (y’know how it is with baby clothes and all) and sometimes I think Nil feels that pastels are only great when you’re dead or sick. Ugh.

We did, however, had some problems agreeing on the colour for the backing. Nil wanted something much darker since he felt that the colours were already bright enough but I wanted something that co-ordinated with the colour scheme like red or cream.

After checking out the textile shop nearby, we finally decided on this lovely dark blood red fabric with equally gorgeous dark flowery design for the back. Cutting it down to size and sewing it to the squares weren’t an issue. Working with the bias tape on the other hand was another story altogether. I had purchased about 4 metres of single fold bias tape without realising that I ought to have bought DOUBLE fold instead. Gah.

So after much hunting online for tutorials and what-nots on using bias tapes, I decided to turn this single fold into a double fold. Then there was the issue of sewing it on and such. Mind you, when I was learning sewing in school, working with trimmings and bias tapes was something that I never liked doing…simply because I sucked at it. So I did more read up, referred to a couple of online videos and braved the whole bias tape thing.

The end result was neat but not quite perfect. Still, Nil proclaims that it’s looks great for a first timer. Now this little baby will head off to the washing and storage while I get back to work on Quilt #2 and figuring out which looks better – a suit or a tuxedo. Heh.