This and That

 I tackled a charm square pack last weekend. I'd never bought one before, but a friend of mine gave me a few packs in exchange for some charity quilting. I had two of these Moda packs, so I thought I'd see if I could make two baby quilts, one for my craft fair this fall and one to donate to the Forsyth Piecers and Quilters Guild for their preemie quilt project.

I've always wanted to try out this loopy L pattern, so I alternated it with some straight line quilting. Goodness, these things are harder than they look! I think it must be a movement thing. Once you get the motion right, it will just fall into place.

 Here's the back. Running low on muslin now:)

Also got a couple more of Beth's antique quilt tops quilted and bound.

Can't wait to start on this last one of hers. Of course, my fellow quilters can see the potential of all that negative space. Feathers here we come!

And last, but not least, I have a design wall, woo hoo! For the past 7 years, I have just laid all my pieces on my bed and carried them back and forth to the sewing machine. This weekend my mom agreed to watch the kids. My husband assured me that these huge 4 x 8 insulation boards would fit in our van, sans seats. And he was right! Now he did have to hunch over like an old woman on the way back since they went all the way over our heads in the front seats. But we did it!

Then I headed to Joann's for white batting. Thinking I could save money, I opted for the Pellon cotton batting on a roll instead of the Warm & White. It felt the same and looked thick, but when I hung it over the insulation board, I could see the purple board and a bunch of lines. This batting might work well in a quilt, but it doesn't have much consistency if you look through it.

Amy, from During Quiet Time, suggested a flannel sheet. Thought that might better for using a lint roller anyway. I managed to scrounge up a white flannel sheet (too small, but close enough), took the iron to it (hey, steam really does work better than a dry iron) and taped it up. You can see the bottom couple of inches of board and a strip on the side, but the fabric sticks so far.

We'll see if it hold up to blocks. If so, I may have to just buy a sheet that will cover the whole thing. That strip is going to drive me nuts!