Grammy Post

Okay. Here are more pictures of Granddaughter #1. Who knows, there may be more granddaughters to come. We hope so! Dad is holding her and he was trying to burp her, but she was not cooperating. As you can see, she is fast asleep already. Here is Mom just after Lisette was fed. Mom is trying to decide if Lisette's diaper needs to be changed or not.

Auntie has a turn to hold the baby. She was trying to get Lisette to open her eyes before we took the picture, but again, no cooperation from the baby. Yes, Auntie has some green hair!

While Grandpa holds her, she is so relaxed she is making little snoring sounds. She is quite happy in his arms.

Lisette is still not waking up even when Grandma holds her.

Now that you have seen the latest pictures, I will tell you what I am working on in the sewing room. I am sure you are totally interested!

On Thursday, I was sewing all day on the blocks for my Mandarin Squares quilt. I thought I sewed all the rows of blocks together. I also thought the next (and last step) was to cut the border triangles and corner triangles, and sew them onto the rows. Then I could sew all the rows together, and Ta Da! Finito! Well, not so. Before I could cut the border triangles, I needed to add some sashing to all the blocks, and add sashing rows between the block rows. I would then be able to get an accurate measurement in order to cut the border triangles (hopefully).

I am so close to having this quilt top completed. I am anxious to finish this top. It will be approximately 96 inches square. Once I finish the top, I will need to make a backing. Another quilter was showing me a couple of her quilts the other day. She pieces her quilt backs with fabric left over from the piecing of the quilt top. I am not a fan of making quilt backs so I try to find the easiest, least path of resistance. I like the look of a pieced quilt back, but I am very seldom willing to put the necessary effort into making one.

A dotty quilt my friend Monica made for me has a pieced back. It is squares of all the dotty fabrics she used on the top. I love it. That is what I should try to accomplish. Although, some machine quilters do not like pieced backs and will not quilt any quilts that have pieced backs. They do not like sewing through the many layers formed by the seams. Some machine quilters are okay with pieced backs. After I asked one machine quilter about her philosophy of using pieced backs, she told me that she works with what she gets. She said she makes it all work together. I like that attitude.

I feel multi fabric quilt backs are fun and add another dimension to a quilt. I don't feel that every quilt should have a pieced back, but many quilts can benefit from the added color and festiveness. What do you think? Do you piece your quilt backs or do you go for the solid fabric for backs? While you are thinking about that, I will sign off. Enjoy the weekend.

Happy Quilting