Dinosaurs

Mr. Creation has been laying pretty low these past few months, so I thought it would be fitting to make a new quilt and bring a smile to his face.
I made a bed size quilt a while back, including a center panel with lots of dinosaurs.  Ron really likes that quilt, but it is too large to drag out and cover up with while he is watching TV.  I had lots of scrap fabric left from this larger quilt, and I found a really good way to use a fair amount of this extra fabric to make a lap quilt with fleece on the back, for a little extra added warmth.  I made a quilt recently that I used minky on the back and Ron thought that was a great idea.  This lap size quilt really does have a nice feel, and it definitely is warm... and it has dinosaurs.

Ron's tip that he discovered the other day came into play again today... The tip about having the presser foot up when you thread your machine.  I frequently have issues with my 40 wt. polyester thread on my Baby Lock... so much so that I usually avoid using it on the Baby Lock.  Today I really wanted to use a variegated thread and decided it was worth a try with that tip in mind.  I made sure to lift the presser foot and threaded the variegated and stitched the binding down using a decorative stitch and I made it all around the quilt without one thread break.  That has never happened before... but before yesterday I almost never had the presser foot up when I threaded my machine.

June almost gone

About a month ago I made a suggestion at my Monday quilting group that we all bring in 81 five inch squares - there are 40 in a Charm Pack. Even if you didn't want to cut all of the squares, it wouldn't be difficult to come up with 81 squares... 2 Charm Packs plus one more 5" square.  These 81 5" squares would make up nine  9-patch blocks, that would then be cut up to create another unique block.  The fun part would be for each of us to put our 81 squares on the table and take 81 back that were not the original ones we brought.  Sure sounded like we would all come up with a neat quilt. Borders and sashing would make each one unique.

The second week several of us brought in our 5" squares and did the exchange. The first problem arose when I sewed my first two 9-patch blocks, cut them and sewed them back together per the instructions.  The block definitely did not provide the expected result.  All those who participate agreed.  Next problem was... what to do with the 81 5" blocks.  I think you have to agree that the block is some ugly.

Recovery

 I started looking for options.  I had to come up with something that was a good recovery for a very bad suggestion.  I found a tutorial on YouTube by Jenny Doan for a window pane 9 patch.  I proceeded to create nine 9-patch blocks with sashing to create "window pane" blocks, then turned around and cut them to create her variation of a "disappearing 9-patch".  Her suggestion was to put them together so that none of the seams matched up.  Well, I put them up on my design wall and was trying to organize them so no "like" colors were together.  My quilt critic walked by and told me he could hardly stand to walk by cause he thought it was disjointed and it was uncomfortable to look at.  It wasn't the scrappy look he didn't like, it was the black sashing that did not match up to the sashing in the block next to it.

Well, I contemplated on what I was going to do with this now very acceptable quilt and came up with a table quilt... it fits our table very nicely.

To the right is the center of my next quilt project. I like it lots already and I have only just begun. I have lots of fabric choices that I will incorporate into this new adventure.  When this one is complete it will fit very nicely into the background of Ron's Creation classes at church.