Frankenbatts

As anyone who has read more than a couple of my blog postings knows I hate throwing usable fabric away. This includes batting (wadding in the UK where batting is what cricketers do!), especially now I have nearly used up my big roll of Soft and Bright by the Warm Company and need to splurge on a new one.  I started using this batting in my quilts in the UK because it behaves nicely and washes and dries easily, if line drying a quilt it doesn't hold too much water (weight) and in the tumble dryer it dries very quickly.  Anyway, I am down to my last couple of square yards in big pieces and didn't want to cut into them for my cushion covers. I dug in my bag of trimmings from the edges of quilts and came up with this:

My cushion covers measured up at 21" square, so I cut the long strips into 23" lengths and zig-zagged them together:

I just butt the edges together.

I use the longest stitch length and the widest width.

This seam will be invisible once the quilt is finished.

After a little time spent sewing I ended up with these:

Which are just the right size for my Dresden plate cushion covers, inspired by the Rainbow Scrap Challenge:

And my pile of batting trimmings is much reduced, though still enough to make another small Frankenbatt:

The cushion covers are now finished and in place on our sofa, much more in keeping with the weather than the Christmas ones which can have a few months rest.  Completing these was my stated One Monthly Goal for July and I achieved it by the 5th!

The zips/zippers (another word that gets change just a little bit crossing the Atlantic) were inserted by following this excellent tutorial from DIY Home Decor.

Today I am linking up with:

Busy Hands Quilts: Finished or not Friday

Confessions of a Fabric Addict: Can I get a Whoop Whoop?

My Quilt Infatuation: Needle and Thread Thursday

Quilting is More Fun Than Housework: Oh Scrap!

Quilting plans for July

Wow July is here already! With the warm weather and more time in the garden my quilting mojo usually takes a back seat over the summer, so to prevent that happening too much this year I am setting myself some moderate goals for July.  For my One Monthly Goal I want to finish a pair of cushion covers that I started only last month.  They need the centre circles for the Dresden plates adding, then quilting, making the backs and final assembly.

To help me get nice round centre circles I bought this set of pressing tools in San Antonio last week:

The heat resistant circles range from 2.25" to 4.5" diameter in quarter inch increments and there are two of each size.

The next project is not my stated OMG but I still want to get it done in July, this is my sunflower wall hanging that now needs sandwiching, quilting and binding.

If I get those done I'll probably move on to quilting Christa's Colors which is a UFO from last year and is already sandwiched and pin basted.