Tuesday, April 15, 2014

I love it when that happens!

I pondered quite a few different ideas for the quilting in the border of Baby Steps.  I had an idea to use a butterfly stencil, but the scale was off. I thought about straight lines of some sort but decided that curves were needed to adjust the balance of straight lines to swirls (all straight line quilting in the blocks and just a bit of swirl in the star).

When I finally settled on trying to create a pattern with circles I dug through my envelope of cutout circles to see if any of them fit or if I would have to draft a new one.  There it was: a corrugated cardboard circle I saved from the packaging my pots and pans came in.  Here’s the part I love about it.  Just as though I had planned it that way, the diameter was exactly right to run this border all around the quilt without stretching or squashing any of the circles to make the repeats fit. It just fit exactly as it was! I’m glad I settled on that 1/2” inner border instead of the 1” one I had considered!

IMG_7948

IMG_7949

The pattern even wrapped around the corners with no fudging at all.  Happy dance!

In other creative directions, there have been birthdays in this house in the last two weeks which of course required birthday cakes.

IMG_7892

IMG_7889Every year I wonder when the kids will be old enough that I can get away with not decorating the cakes, but I’m coming around to the idea that that isn’t going to happen!  At least now they assist with decorating each other’s cakes.  While my daughter was away at a sleepover my son, husband and I had a fondant sculpting party to make those penguins as a surprise for her. The Craftsy fondant animals cake topper class we watched made it seem very simple.  We managed, but it took us way longer than it took the instructor!

IMG_7931

The LEGO minifigs (from a Craftsy blog tutorial) were a bit more challenging.  That’s why there are fewer of them than there were penguins!  I also tried to make the ladder out of fondant, but in the end a surreptitious raid of my son’s LEGO bins was more effective.

Back to the quilting now.  Today I may cut out the setting pieces for the non-string remake of Sparkling Strings. We’ll see how the day goes.

7 comments:

  1. Excellent find for the border! Did you trace on the pattern? (if so, what do you use?)

    The cakes look awesome. Huzzah for fun cakes.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love the circle quilting and it is amazing how perfect it went. And seriously, your cakes are too cute! I especially love the Lego cake.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love the cakes - my niece loves penguins. I'll have to send my sister over here for ideas for her birthday. Amazing circles on the border... and no fudging! Love that it worked out for you.

    ReplyDelete
  4. How is it that you, like many others, got so much creative talent and energy, and I get so very little, if any at all? The cakes are incredible, and I love the border idea. Not surprised it worked for you! ---"Love"

    ReplyDelete
  5. It is great that the circles worked out and the border looks wonderful! Love those cakes, too, so cute! ! !

    ReplyDelete
  6. Your quilting is wonderful! I sure wouldn't be able to follow the lines that perfectly. And the cakes are awesome! I don't even know what fondant is - hee hee! They look like a lot of work to me, but so yummy.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great job on both the quilt and the cakes! I love them. They look very complicated and well made! I'm sure your children loved their cakes to the very last bite. Wonderful borders on the quilt, keep up the great quilting ;)

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting. I truly appreciate your comments and will try to reply to comments by email if your commenting staus is not set to "no-reply".

If you have a question, emailing me directly at joanne@canuckquilter.com will ensure I have your address to respond. I promise I will not share your email address and I will not use it for any purpose other than replying to your message.