Getting through the backlog...

Over the last week or so, in between decorating the hall, stairs and landing, and all the usual Mum/wife duties, I've been trying hard to get through my pile that needed quilting. I am really good at piecing quilt tops, that's one of the best bits, but there is always a pile of things needing to be basted, quilted, or bound, and every now and then I have to catch up. A lot of the work that goes into a finished quilt is actually boring/tedious, and not terribly exciting to share in a blog, but every stage is important, and you only get the beautiful finished product when you've done the less beautiful bits. Today I spent almost an hour just tying and burying knots on a small mini quilt that I made. It was worth it though, and I am now torn between making it into a cushion or  wall hanging. I think I'm leaning towards binding it and going with the wall hanging. Here is the mini quilt in question, a rainbow lattice, and a picture of the back too, as I like it on both sides :-)

I did finish the quilt top that I started last week with the layer cake, and it's now a giant heart. It has joined the basting queue for now, as I can only baste on the weekends when the kitchen table isn't required for schooling!

I have also finished another cushion, and although I'm not 100% sure about my colour choices, I do love the striped effect, and the doodled hearts along them. My favourite bit is actually the back, as I managed to pattern match the two halves of the envelope back really well, and it looks great :-)

I feel like I am constantly changing my sewing feet at the moment, as I flit between piecing, quilting, binding etc. and it has reminded me how grateful I am for my lovely machine, and how easy it is to change them. My most used ones are my free motion foot and my quarter inch foot, like most quilters I am sure, but I am trying to get to like my walking foot a bit more too now. I am finding that the quilts don't sew as smoothly with it though, and there seems to be a lot of resistance, plus it seems to encourage puckers on the top of my quilts - does anyone else struggle with this? My standard sewing foot still seems much better for straight line quilting, but it may just be something I am missing, as I know others rave about their walking feet. I'll keep trying for now...