Another quilt for Susan

This is the quilt that Julie and I made for our friend Susan for her birthday.



We made a scrappy quilt using the Cheyenne block - with newsprint fabric for the "low value" (really not that low value at all) because Susan's late dad was in the Canberra press gallery.



I finished the top with 20 minutes to spare before her party in September. We gave her the quilt top, and then grabbed it back off her as we left. My back wasn't playing fair and I had planned to quilt it myself. Julie helped with the basting (thank heavens) and then finally I had a window of painfree-ness a couple of weeks ago where I could quilt it. Just 720 inches at a time before resting, but within a few days it was done. Julie sewed the binding on using the Ella Blue Basics place names fabric in white and black, and it was ready to give back to Susan. Only 3 months late, but better late that never.



I quilted straight lines 1/2 inch from each seam to give a grid effect. It's quite a simple way of quilting, but anything other than straight lines would have ruined the different patterns that this block gives you in this quilt. I used Aurifil 50/2 weight in colour 1135 (yellow) and it turned out really well in a quilt that gives a bit of a yellow vibe (for a scrappy quilt). Also I'm on the whole "using what I have in the stash" bandwagon at the moment and I have a lot of this yellow Aurifil laying around. It's the perfect sunny colour for a very happy quilt.



We got pretty cheeky with the backing - I had a few metres of firemen fabric that I bought for a few dollars a metre at a quilt shop sale a few years ago. Again with the stash. We also used 100% cotton batting. I'm such a fan of cotton batting for home quilting - it sticks to the fabric so the pinning isn't as important, and it gives a really nice finish to the quilt after you wash it. I washed Susan's quilt before we gave it to her so it has an immediate snuggle factor.



It's not the first quilt I've made Susan, but the first I've made with another friend. It was a lot of fun getting together over a few weekends, sewing, trimming, sorting and joining. In the mad sorting out I've been doing over the last few months, I discovered another quilt I made to give to a friend over 2 years ago, but never quilted. I have a few more weeks of leave from work, and that's definitely on the list to finish.