CHARMED small quilt, FINISHED

Yesterday I finished binding the small quilt made from charm packs.  For some reason, I have been off on a lark of using polyester batting again.  I had given it up for YEARS and YEARS, but a friend had some put back, and after helping her with hers, I tried using it again.

Pros and cons.........

Pro Polyester---I love the puffed up look that you get with the extra-loft batting when your quilt top is made up of just squares......particularly around 4 inches square.  I like the unwrinkled, smooth look of the fabric IN the squares, after washing the quilt.  Hand-quilting is an unbelievable DREAM after working with cotton for so long.........this was SO EASY.  A needle just glides through the polyester.
Con Polyester---NO DRAPE.  I sat back in my recliner last night to snuggle with the newly finished quilt, and it just stood out from the sides of my body like it was spring-loaded !  Sadness........oh, the sadness !

Pro Cotton/Cotton Blend---I love the crinkly look of most quilts that have been made with a cotton batting, particularly a really scrappy quilt..........it makes it look like it is already old and loved.
I love the drape of a washed, and then MANY-TIMES washed cotton-filled quilt.  It lies against the body as it should, hugging with the love that was stitched into it.
Con Cotton/Cotton Blend---That same crinkly texture that I have loved for so many years turns right around and disappoints me with my more modern designs that have been straight-line machine-quilted.  They finish with a wonderful linear, crisp look, and then wrinkle all up in the dryer.  Crazy, aren't I ?  I love it and regret it for the same exact look.

So, I guess the lesson learned is that there is a place for everything, and you don't know until you try !

So here's the quilt.

First finished top of 2020, and THE TABLE

I was browsing through my boxes of things in my sewing room, and I came across a box filled with 5" squares that I had forgotten.  I marked the light ones with a diagonal pencil line, and then I sewed a seam a quarter of an inch on either side of the line, making half-square triangle squares.  Playing on my design wall, I came up with these squares-on-point.   To make it a bit bigger, I sewed 2 borders around it, the first one made up of lighter whole squares, and the second one from dark blue and black squares.

It's a strange size, at 56" x 64", but I think that it is finished.  It's a usable throw size, and it looks good hanging on a wall, I think.

Then, this week while browsing in a second-hand store, I came across a big, heavy, beautifully made dining room-type table.  I was able to pick it up for the price that I saved on groceries this week, so I got my brother to bring his pickup to fetch it home for me, and to help me to get this heavy thing into the house, and the legs put back on.

The stickler in the whole deal was that I had to trade rooms in my home, between my then-existing sewing room and my bedroom.  So, I spent yesterday, and the day before, moving things back and forth between the two opposite ends of the mobile home.

  The goal I had for the new table was to be able to "catch" quilts that I am machine-quilting, so that they don't flow off of the back of the machine cabinet onto the floor, pulling on the needle of the machine.  Can hardly wait to try it, but today I also had to swap the closets that went with each room.

But, as a result of 3 days of work, I now have a cozy little bedroom, and a good-sized (for a small trailer) sewing 'studio'.

I think I'm just about finished with the changes, and am excited that I purged alot of things at the same time.

 I now have good access to my design wall and my cutting table as well......and room in the closet to hang my quilt tops.......maybe I'll actually get some of them quilted this year !!!!!  Go 2020 !