Brotherly Love

Thought I'd show you what I've been working on now that the weekend is over.  I made this quilt for my brother's birthday, which is next week, and gave it to him yesterday while we celebrated Mother's Day.  He was surprised, which is how I had hoped it would play out, since I have been really good about refraining from posting pictures anywhere he would have seen them until after the fact.

I challenged myself to use what I already had on hand, even the backing and batting, and the only thing I had to go out and purchase was thread.  Once again, it is such a great feeling to use up fabric that I've had forever!  Even the blue and white squares are actually leftover parts from a quilt I made several years ago.

I quilted it with a walking foot, doing in-the-ditch and crosshatch lines through the center part of the quilt. . .

and straight diagonal lines in the setting triangles around the outer edge.  In the outer border I did a cable, of course!  I can't resist cables when I have the opportunity to add them.

And I didn't even bother trying to figure out the spacing in order for the cable to wrap around the corner, I just let each side dead end into the seam line or off the edge of the quilt.  I think it looks fine doing it this way.  So many antique quilts were quilted just like this.

Here's a peek at the label I machine embroidered for the back of the quilt.

And for those of you that are curious, I used Quilter's Dream Request 100% cotton batting.  The threads I quilted with were Wonderfil Invisafil 100 wt. 100% polyester for the in-the-ditch quilting, Wonderfil DecoBob 80wt. 100% polyester for the straight line quilting, and Mettler Metrosene 3-ply/100wt. 100% polyester for the cable quilting and in the bobbin.  I've just started using Metrosene and so far am really happy with the way it works in my machine, a bit less finicky than Invisafil, and the final result is very similar with its matte finish and the way it sinks into the fabric.

And here is my brother, Steve, and me, with his quilt, Oswego Memory.  I am so glad I have a brother who appreciates quilts and all the other things I've made him over the years!  Happy Birthday Bro!

Happy Quilting!