So now July

June has gone and so has half the year. We are in the depths of winter and at least two quilts are being used at night.The granny's garden which I completed in June is glorious to sleep under. The silk batting is amazing. It was lovely to quilt and even more fun to sleep under.
I thought the wool batting would be the best, but the little worms seem to have beaten the sheep. I have now used cotton, bamboo, wool and silk as battings and each of them feel great and have suited the quilts that I have used them in. I love the way all of them drape once they are quilted into a quilt. I ready do like the lightness of the wool and the silk and the amazing thinness of the cotton batting.

The next thing that I have been experimenting with is the thread I use. I absolutely love YLI, but, it seems to be impossible to get my hands on any. Nobody imports it here and all the companies I have tried, refuse to send it to me.

It is severely trying living in the further reaches of civilization. So for the Starry quilt I got out my old threads and have tried them again. I have used the Gutterman and I find it a bit stiff and over polished.I have been using it for 3 weeks now and it ok to use. I know that is feint praise, but at least I am not saying it is horrid to use. I also had one spool of Metzler. I do so love the brightness of the thread. It also stitches so nicely. The other thread I wanted to try was Aurifil, but once again I can't seem to source hand quilting weighted thread. Maybe Aurifil will bring in a heavier weight of thread so that I can try it, otherwise I will just have to grow as a person and use whatever I can get my hands on. I have one spool of YLI left and this I will crack open when I finish my next large quilt.

My next large quilt is the next item on my anxiety causing list. I am in search of the perfect vehicle for my entertainment for the next year or two. I try to only do one quilt at a time so I need to be committed to the creation of the quilt I choose. Whilst deciding what I am going to do , I have bought some fabric to make mug rugs. I need to practice applique and I thought that doing mug rugs would be a perfect way for me to practice. I am even going to try and used the required muted colours that make so many applique item look beautiful. I went on the prowl for plaid fabrics. This too was not available. I found some nice fabric, but only one plaid. My dear husband has many beautiful plaid shirts....ok I will behave and not take snippets of fabric out of his shirts.

Hope you all have an amazing July and find projects that bring your fingers joy.
Have a good one! 

Batting bliss

Oh the joy of going to the post office to collect a parcel. I seem to be making a collection of batting. The last time I was at my fabric store I spotted Silk batting. It looked amazing but it was only for a queen size top and I like getting king size batting as this allows for whatever you want to make.

The silk batting feels amazing and I am sure it will stitch the same as the wool batting that I have tried before. The only problem that I have found with wool batting is that the quilting thread has a higher tensile strength than it, so all of the pressure when you pull up the quilt is placed on the thread. On occasion you can actually hear the threads breaking. Sleeping under wool though is worth it as it really does keep you warm.

I did a fun exercise to see the different weights of the three battings that I have. The heaviest was the cotton which weighed 1.260 kg, the wool was next at 880 grams and then the silk which was 830 grams.

I am still mulling over what I will be doing for my next large quilt.

I do think I will be using the silk batting and it will probably be an appliquéd quilt. I think the two would go together. 

Hope everyone has an amazing day!