Finished Objects

Even though we returned from our holiday trip on the 4th of September, I didn't completely catch up on my blog reading until this week. There was just too much to do! Our little country church celebrated its centennial on October 10, which was Canadian Thanksgiving Sunday. I was committed to finishing these two lovely banners by that week. I had started one of the banners about 9 months ago, but felt that I had loads of time, and dawdled along with it.

Getting ready for our trip I made seven of those inset heart table toppers to give to my cousins as hostess gifts. That was very well received. But it meant that when I got back from holidays, I had to concentrate pretty much on finishing up these banners in time for the celebration. I took the last stitches at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, the 9th. That's really too close for comfort.

I like to be prepared well ahead of time.

The last two weeks, Jan, another quilter and musician in our church offered to help. She ironed on the separate pieces for the Bread of Life banner. Shirley, another quilter, did the stitching on the heads of wheat. I finished the rest of the work on both banners.

We are very pleased with how they turned out. They look lovely up front in the pulpit area. Especially since the walls are painted blue.

My more recent project has been finishing the winter duvet for our bed. This time was about my third try. The first try was the multiple layer batt that was totally too warm for us and went to Daughter #1.

The second try was a single layer of Warm and Natural in a cover of sheeting. That wasn't warm enough for a winter duvet.

The third try was the one in the recent post. I sandwiched the heaviest polyester batt I could find between two layers of white sheets. This picture shows the taped outline on the rug downstairs that helped me know how big to make it. I had ordered a duvet cover from Sears that was 96 x 104" so the batt had to be pretty close to that size.

When I finished stitching 15 seams lengthwise on the batt to hold the polyester stable within the sheeting, I took it downstairs and pinned along the edges just inside the tape on the rug. Then I stitched just inside the pinned line, cut off the extra, and the batt was finished. Someday I might bind the edges, but for now they are secure enough.

Last night we slept under the new duvet for the first time. It felt JUST RIGHT!! Hooray!

The cover is a very smooth, 340 thread count, 100% cotton. The duvet is large enough to reach almost to the floor, and heavy enough, because it's so big, that one person can hardly move it when it's on the bed. But it doesn't feel heavy when you're lying underneath it. I'm SO GLAD!!! This has been a long time coming. Now we're set for winter in Alberta.