Gettin’ into the FMQ groove at the cuddle quilt workshop

I had a fun afternoon visiting with the Choo Choo Quilters at their Cuddle Quilt workshop this weekend! With three finished cuddle quilts to turn in, I popped in at the workshop and got four new quilt tops spray basted.

Three cuddle quilts finished.

Quilting designs: finished cuddle quilts

One of the finished quilts was made with this peacock panel. The free-motion quilting pattern was feather variations, with a thread change for the border.

Feathers quilted on the peacock panel quilt.

The second quilt had flowers and loops quilted into it. This design quilts up fast. 

Flower quilting design.

And the third was quilted with swirls and circles.

Swirls and circles quilting on this mix of batiks and cotton prints.

I try to keep the width of cuddle quilts to less than about 42” wide so the backing fits on a standard 44/45” fabric width. The finished sizes of the three cuddle quilts that were turned in:

• (left): 29.5” x 35.5”,
• peacocks (center): 41.5” x 46” 
• tiny florals (right): 34.5” x 36.5”.

The cuddle quilts for the guild’s community service project.

Quilting the new quilt tops

At the workshop, I reconnected with guild members I hadn’t seen in a while and I met some of the new members. It was a lovely visit! The weather was cooperative for outside spray basting and the four tops I brought got basted.

Four spray basted quilt sandwiches.

I was so inspired from the workshop, I sat down at the sewing machine and quilted two of the basted tops immediately.

Two cuddle quilts quilted in an afternoon.

A swirls and feathers quilting motif for this one.

Swirls and feathers. FMQ: 45 minutes.

Double circles for this one.

Double circles. FMQ: 1 hour.

After dinner, the third one—with several small floral prints—was quilted with flower motifs.

Small floral prints mixed with stripes and blenders.

Flower motifs quilted on the quilt. FMQ: 30 minutes.

The last cuddle quilt top is from the Make Do wreath blocks that I pieced back in December. I haven’t decided on a quilting motif yet… and all-over pattern? or msybe something that follows the patchwork?

Wreath block quilt top.

I’ve got bindings picked out for these quilts. And from the leftover backing fabrics, I cut several binding strips to add to my binding inventory.

Binding strips from backing fabric after trimming to size.

Easter egg coloring 2020

Easter 2020.

We did have our annual egg coloring session this year, although not as joyful as in years past because of the quarantine. We did not make and give Easter baskets like we usually do.

Colored eggs 2020. The baseball egg is the upper left corner.

The number of eggs was smaller this year... Larry hard boiled about 18.

Egg dying prep: dye colors in coffee mugs and the egg carton for drying.

The Big Box of 96 came out for the occasion.

Crayola crayons box of 96

I did some mindful drawing and tried to come up with new free-motion quilting motifs to decorate the eggs—log cabin blocks, feathers, pebbles and concentric circles and squares.

Quilting motifs on colored Easter eggs.

Hoping that brighter days come soon.

Happy Easter.