Scrappy Lil’ Doll Quilts Reveal and Giveaway

Well, here it is the 25th and, yes, I have a little scrappy quilt, called “Close, But No Cigar” (since I meant it to be a charm quilt but, oops, doubled up on one of the fabrics). It finished at 12" by 13".

Well, I whined in an earlier entry about the challenges I faced in quilting the border. Sometimes you just need to. Whine, that is. So I whined and then heaved a big sigh and took out all the border quilting so I could get a clean do-over. Didn’t really enjoy that but at least I felt morally righteous. I took Mary L.’s advice and got one of the silicone sliders. It worked great! I look forward to using it with all my machine quilting from here on out.

Meanwhile, the giveaway: I cut out two sets of patches for the foundation so if anyone is interested in the spare set, just drop a comment here and let me know (I don’t mind shipping international). If more than one person wants them, I’ll hold a drawing. I should mention that these are probably only going to be useful to you if you have my book Miniatures in Minutes since the templates are trimmed to work with the Pyramid Triangle foundation from the book. I’ll wait a few days so people have time to comment – I’ll do the drawing this coming Wednesday.

Here’s a look at the patches (I’ll remove the doubled up fabric so your charm will really be charmed!):

Meanwhile, I’m happy with my little scrappy quilt. There’s just something about plaids. I’m pretty sure that one of the things that drew me to quilting was the way quilts are more than just creations of fabric and thread. It’s how they symbolize so many other things we care about: home, family, comfort. I think what first drew me to plaids is the way they say simplicity.

Even though I’m using contemporary quilt techniques and sewing on my Bernina, plaids still touch me with impressions of a simpler life. Surely I’m not the only one who can get caught feeling nostalgia for a life I never lived – I’ve never sat on the back porch of a farmhouse looking out over the fields some late afternoon with a bowl of snap peas in my lap and I’ve never lived in a little house on a prairie and never said “Good night, John Boy” before turning out the light. But there it is. I make a little plaid quilt and it warms that small corner of me that kind of wishes I had.