Two Posts in One Day

I know I posted this morning but I need a break, so I'll post what I did today.

I got the borders on the Shamrock quilt. I don't know that I'm completely happy with my choice, but I've decided to use black binding and I think that will help. I pieced the backing, but I'm too tired right now to iron it all and lay it out, even though I prefer to leave it sitting overnight before I pin baste. Maybe if I get a second wind after this break I'll give in and do it. I'd like to get it quilted tomorrow, and if I at least lay it out tonight, I'll be more likely to get it done.


I have a bunch of projects already started, and lots to work on, but I did it again, started something else! I started a doll quilt that will be gifted to a big sister when I give her baby brother a baby quilt. I haven't even cut out the baby quilt, but the doll quilt and baby quilt are the next quilts that need to be finished after the Shamrock quilt. I kept changing my mind about what pattern to use on the doll quilt, but I knew I was going to use some of my 1 1/2 inch strips for it, so it would be more to scale. I've never made a doll quilt before, and I was just in the mood to play a bit, so I started the doll quilt and finished the top, all 192 pieces of it ;-) This little top is about 16x22 inches. I knew I could get the top done in one day, but it did take longer than I expected. I was home alone most of the day, so I had the time, and I really had fun working on it. I think I was really in the mood to work on something bright and fun. I'm thinking a pink binding on this one.

I dug out all of my polyester batting scraps and I had a lot more than I remembered. Boy, do they take up a lot of room! If I can piece these up and use them, I will be a very happy quilter. I have about 5 bags with poly batting scraps, and I found two unopened packages of crib batting. I'm glad I located those, because I'd like to use a polyester batting for the baby quilt I'm going to start next week. Unlike my cotton batting scraps, which were pretty similar in size, the poly scraps will be more like a puzzle to piece. I already started sewing some together, and I'm finding it more difficult than the cotton batting was. I'm also finding the joins more noticeable in the polyester. I may try overlapping a bit, and see if that helps. Looking at my polyester scraps vs. my cotton batting scraps is pretty revealing. I've always bought polyester batting by the package, and cotton batting by the roll. I waste a lot less buying by the roll. I've had several times that I was just a couple of inches over one batting size, so I had to buy the next size up. When you do that, you end up with a lot of leftover batting. I always wait to buy batting on sale, especially when I'm buying whole rolls of it. I knew I was paying less per yard by buying it on the roll, but I hadn't thought about how much waste there was when comparing the packaged bats vs rolls until now. Now I know that for me, and my quilting habits, buying by the roll is definitely the cheapest and least wasteful method. Well, cheapest in the long run, those rolls can be expensive.