Centre Ice finished!

I finally finished Alex’s quilt all but for the label which I will do sometime in the next few days. You can see more pictures of the quilt in progress here. Alex is a huge hockey fan so I’ve settled on the name “Centre Ice”. The light coloured centre reminds me of the part of the rink where the hockey players face-off, centre ice, and the red border reminds me of the boards around the rink. So here it is….Centre Ice!

I had previously told you that I learn something with every quilt I make and here is what I learned (actually relearned!) with this one…..don’t skip the stitch in the ditch! I wrote about the important of stitch in the ditch last month. I had this quilt pinned and decided to jump right into the circular quilting. As I went along I removed pins and smoothed out the quilt and continued to quilt. I didn’t think to check the back until I was more than half way done. It was a dog’s breakfast! While the top was flat and smooth the back was riddled with creases and folds. So I spent a week ripping out all of the quilting! Then I had to press everything and pin-baste it for the second time. This time I stitched in the ditch and it turned out perfectly!

I quilted the circles by drawing an off centre circle in the white area. I quilted that circle and from there I used my walking foot to machine quilt the remaining circles with no marking required…I just used the width of my walking foot as the guide. It was a fast easy way to quilt and perfect design for a young fellow!

If you read my post about my Mom’s quilt “Afrika” you will know the story about why the killer bees came to be and why they sometimes appear in her quilts (although less often these days)! Well I had need for a killer bee of my own in Alex’s quilt. As I was stitching down the binding I noticed that there was a small nick just near the binding. I don’t know if I did it or if it was a flaw in the fabric. I darned it with matching thread but decided it wasn’t a very nice finish so what to do? Applique and embroider a little grasshopper to cover the flaw! Not sure if I’ll tell him about it or just let it be a surprise.

 

I hope Alex will like his quilt. It is perfect for a boy and I think it is a quilt that will grow with him over the years!

 

My next job is to finish the quilt for his sister, Christina’s. There’s lots of orange in that one so I’ve got a name in mind but I’ll hold off sharing until I finish the quilt!

Until I post again, happy sewing!