About 15 years ago I made a large quilt, a duvet really, for us to use in the winter. I was able to purchase 13 ounce polyester batting at a Fabricland in Edmonton. For the top and backing I used two king-sized white sheets. The plan was to machine quilt this together, but it was just too puffy to sew on the machine, so I hand stitched it on my Qsnap frame. That worked well, and it was wonderfully warm and light.
It has a line of stitching every 6" across. That was enough to hold the batting in place.
Last winter we needed to use our summer light weight quilt with it because over the years with many washings, it had become quite thin.
The summer weight quilt I had made around that time also, with a 3 ounce polyester batting. That is still the quilt we sleep under in warm weather. Over the years this quilt has also thinned out considerably, making it comfortable even in quite warm weather.
Last year I was given some bolts of material that weren't suitable to use in quilting because of a continuing problem of the fabric dye "bleeding." I took two of those fabrics, cut them as long as wide, about 115" (they are quilt backing fabrics) and sandwiched them with two (!) High Loft King-sized batts. This is destined to be our new winter duvet.
The plan was to sew "knots" at 8 inch intervals to keep the layers together. I hoped to do this on the Q'nique, but the Q'nique didn't cooperate with that plan. Well, I thought, let's try hand stitching this. There were a few "false" starts with this, but now, finally, I have a method that works:
That's a curved upholstery needle that pokes nicely back up through the fabric, and that's a cone of very strong brown upholstery thread. Here's how nice a little "tie up" looks:
This is in contrast to the machine stitching:
And the hand stitching with the light beige upholstery thread.
I think I've hit my stride with this, as it is spread over the dining room table and is reasonably comfortable to handle this way. The rest of this project shouldn't take too long!
The "Practically Perfect Pinwheels" blocks are all complete. They just need to be sewed together, borders added, sandwiched, quilted and bound. This will be a nice-sized lap quilt to donate either here or in AZ.
In the meantime I have two very good books to recommend: Bonhoeffer by Erich Metaxas and A Higher Loyalty, truth, lies and leadership by James Comey. The first is an excellent detailed biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Protestant pastor and theologian who was executed by the Nazis just a few days before the end of the Second World War. The second, by James Comey, is just out, a defence of his actions as head of the FBI and a searing look into Donald Trump's "style" of leadership. Scary stuff!!! Comey is obviously opinionated (he says so himself) but also seems to be honest and insightful. I heartily recommend both books.
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