I had a brand new fun pattern written, fabric pulled, pattern pieces cut, and ready to be sewed.  Then, I broke my toes.   So, now I have to take a break for at least a few days.  I needed to finish sewing the binding on this quilt, so that’s exactly what I did, with my foot propped up on the sofa.  These blocks got a fresh new setting and are the focus of today’s story.

Last September, I finished making this quilt for my kitty.  He kept on using it happily, but I HATED it!  Yes, I truly hated that green sashing.  I thought the green dulled those bright beautiful colours of the blocks.  I refused to lay that quilt out for my cat.  So finally, before I went on holiday, I started remaking the quilt.

Time was short.  Instead of taking the whole quilt apart, I started at the seams that joined the blocks to the sashing.  I unpicked the stitches until the blocks came free.  Since I am a fairly light quilter, I was able to pull the blocks out during one afternoon.  Patience is required for the process though, good thing I like to listen to stories while I work.  Some day I will pull out the yellow backing for use in an another project.

Of course, the blocks were not as crisp as when they were new.  They also shrunk a bit during multiple washes.  After trimming them to be of the same size, pressing them with a hot iron and steam made them good to be used again.

This time I used plain white Kona cotton for the sashing to bring out the bright colours of the quilt blocks.  I did somewhat of a grid quilting.  It’s not a perfect grid, but it’s not random either.  The pale sea green thread is almost the same colour as the block background.

I found this steel-grey-blue in my stash for the backing.

To keep it light and airy, I used the same fabric for the binding that I used for the block background.  By the way, if you use pins for binding, I highly recommend binding clips.  Clover clips are even better.  I only have one set of those at the moment, I will definitely get more in the future.

The Squares Plus idea started with my wanting to make a plus quilt.  I also wanted to add a little twist to the traditional plus blocks.  While fiddling with the design, I added the little squares on top of the plus sign.  That became my Squares Plus pattern.

So here’s the newly-finished Squares Plus quilt for my kitty.  Not that he would know the difference, but I am certainly much happier to lay it out now.

My kitties use their quilts a lot.  If there is not already a quilt on one of their usual sleeping places because I have taken it away to wash, they sit and wait patiently, right beside the spot.  They continue to look at me until I lay a quilt down for them.  Smart, huh?!!

Happy Sewing,
-Soma

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