Low-volume quilt

So for 20 years or so, I've been a pretty excellent quilt TOP maker, but I've kinda been behind in the actual QUILTING part of things.  So about 2 years ago, I bought myself a machine JUST for quilting, and I've been having a really good time!  Except for the fact that things keep popping of the machine and hitting me in the forehead, which is problematic.  But, don't worry -- I always wear glasses, so they'll act as protective eye gear if I need it.  Who knew quilting could be so hazardous?

Anyway, I have my poor, friendly sewing machine repairman stumped, because apparently he's never seen this issue in any machine but mine.  So pretty much its the lottery you DON'T want to win.  The fact that it's happened twice now definitely indicates operator error in my opinion, but F.S.M. Repairman has been too kind to say this kind of thing out loud, or even agree with me when I suggested it as an option.  I should probably thank him for that...

But this means that the stack of pinned quilts are still not quilted, because my quilting machine is in the shop again.  So, I've dug out my back-up piecing machine (the one with the REALLY GOOD 1/4" foot), and I'm cutting and sewing up fabric and projects for quilt tops that have been on hold.  For example:

Years ago, while working in a quilt shop, I ended up with a sample pack from a fabric rep of these woven baby plaids.  There wasn't a huge amount of any of them, and they were all weird sizes, so I squared them up, added a white square, sewed corner to corner, and turned them into half square triangles....

I found some polka dots on a white background, and a seersucker plaid with all the same colors, so I made some of those blocks as unifying triangles.   Then, I mapped them out with my trusty graph paper, so they would be evenly distributed over the whole quilt top.

I have them all pinned and ready to sew up into rows.  I'm thinking I'll add a white border, I have a flannel from my stash for the back, and I have enough of the dots for binding...Then to quilt it up, and I can send it to my friend who has a new baby!

I really didn't have a pattern for this one.  So, I was afraid at first that this would be a somewhat boring layout, but I'm really liking it so far.  It's such a nice low-volume quilt.  


Hopefully, my quilting machine will be well soon, and home from Sewing Machine Hospital, and I can get back to all those pinned quilt tops...especially since I'm making more! :)