X’s and O’s For A

How's that for a cool title! Also I hope I didn’t give you an earworm…great song by that same name, Ex’s and Oh’s” by Elle King (great artist btw).

This is a remake of a quilt I made in 2019 for Island Batik when I was an ambassador. I wrote out the pattern by hand (does anyone else find handwriting to be quite a chore these days?) And then typed it out as I made this one. Yes it’s going to be released in early December. Can’t wait until you see what the testers are doing and have done!

This new version is going to my great-niece, formerly known as Baby Girl, known in the title as A, but once I finished writing this post, with permission from her papa, I can tell you her full name is Abigail. Of course I would make her a quilt for her birth in October, and of course I was hoping I could make it with lots of pink. When my sister-in-law sent me a photo of her room-in-waiting, I was over the moon: loads of pink with a soft green lamp and some hits of grey! Off I went to my stash and pulled fabrics to remake this quilt which I’ve wanted to do for some time. 

Outside of first handwriting directions, and then typing and sewing together, but not simultaneously, lol, it went together in a flash. While I was on my ‘inaugural speaking tour’, I visited No 1 Sewing Centre in Campbellford, Ontario, which is where I was so happy to find the Maywood Studios Woolies flannel.

 

I’ve heard a fair bit about this lovely, soft fabric, but have never had the occasion to buy any. Well, it is every bit as good as the hype!

I quilted it with my fat flower and swirls and leaves all over meander. Because there is a lot of white space in this baby quilt, I knew I wanted to give her some special quilting, so I did gently flowing vine of feathers down one side. The Sulky rayon I used to quilt it has a lovely sheen to the thread which, sadly, doesn't show in the photos.

Yes, the feathers are vertical down the quilt, and, since April only has 15 inches of quiltable space, it meant starting and stopping the vine.

The afternoon the sun was at the perfect angle here too show the feathers

It really is a simple affair to start and stop feathers, tricks I learned from Angela Walters: start in the centre where you left off, quilting a gentle undulating line, follow that line back, build the feathers which are Kathleen Riggins’ double feathers style. I was even able to flow out of the centre and continue on with the meandering without breaking thread.

I quilted her name in the quilt as well as my initials. You can see them, backwards, under the label in the second photo. I bound it with the medium pink, and I am happy to say I used every last bit of it. My motto has been for the past few years, “Use it and use it up.”

Notice some extra curly feathers here and there. I love doing that.

You may recall the two rainbow quilts I sent to my great-nephews; this little princess is their new baby sister, so now all three have a quilt I made them.

Ever since I took a jersey knits class way back in 1986, the year of Brianne’s birth, I have chain-pieced wherever possible. The makeup bag below, à la Postcard from Sweden style, is what just happened as a leader/ender project while making the baby quilt.

It is listed in my Etsy shop here. Don’t delay if you'd like it, because these never last long. I do have a second one underway, the current leader/ender project. 

I’m also now busy working on a Christmas Tree Farm quilt, Dayna’s request, which is on my #wipsbgone list. The forest is complete.

Also on the #wipsbgone list and now finished is the rainbow gingham quilt but that’s for another post. So yes, I've been pretty busy, but it helps to make pretty things, especially when they're gifts to brighten someone else's day, during this very dark time, that shockingly just keeps getting darker, (al Shifa hospital evacuated with one hour's notice, a UN school bombed both today) and most shockingly that so many people, even liberal-minded ones, are okay with this genocide and incomprehensible, ineffable horrors being inflicted on innocent people, most of whom are women, children, the elderly, medical staff and journalists.

One of the things we can do when we feel so helpless, is help to promote Palestinian artists and voices. Where are all the quilters who did this for Ukraine? Here is one artist who I've started to follow, @faressol2, with a beautiful voice and such love for his country. Read a few of his posts and get to know this incredible human, who writes at the beginning of this beautiful song below, "This track was written and recorded amid the crossfires and under the bombardment of Gaza, Palestine." Click the image to listen.

Quilt Stats:

Pattern: (coming soon) Sunset Strip - SandraJaneQuilts

Size: 38.5" x 44.5"
Fabric: mostly Benartex Designer Fabrics; white is Kona white by Robert Kaufman

Batting: Pellon 100% polyester low loft

Backing: Maywood Studios Woolies flannel

Quilted: on Avril: 51 362 stitches

Threads: pieced with Aurifil and Gütermann cotton; quilted with Sulky rayon

Linking up

Confessions of a Fabric Addict

From Bolt to Beauty

Alycia Quilts

Quilting & Learning - What a Combo!