Midnight Crossing

I started a brand new quilt out of Moda's All Hallow's Eve fabric line kit, a kit that I'd targeted as a goal for completion in 2022. It appealed because, although it is a seasonal Halloween theme, the color palette is softer than the typical bright orange and stark black of the holiday. The intricacies of the piecing were also an enticement. The pattern is named Midnight Crossing, by Fig Tree & Co.

Each of eight fat quarters makes two blocks. I goofed on my first two blocks from one of the fat quarters. Can you see my mistake in the following photo? I had to rip out and resew three seams in each of eight corners because I sewed the flying geese units on reversed from what they should have been. Possibly I was so focused on orienting the print the same way, I was distracted when joining the flying geese on two sides of the squares. Not a very good start. The honeymoon phase of this new project sure came to an end quickly.

I forged ahead and corrected my error and here are two blocks correctly assembled. Only fourteen left to go. Fortunately the allure of the seven other fat quarters boosted my spirits and encouraged me to continue.

The center X unit was unique to me and fun to assemble, so that also kept me engaged enough to make them in either orange or black. I reversed the pressing direction of the diagonal legs of the X per the pattern directions because I wanted the legs raised rather than depressed. This direction also prevents the seam from showing through the light background. I did press the final vertical and horizontal seams open per the instructions; I rarely do that but in this case it made sense and the crosses lay flat. The following photo shows the front and the back of one center X.

Upon closer inspection, after the soft orange X's were assembled into the centers of four blocks, I noticed that the orientation of the fabric was not consistent in the four legs. I wanted to try to improve that in future X's I made. By pre-laying out the mini-print and paying attention to its orientation, I could unify the direction of the six-petaled dots. I laid out the black squares so that the dots were consistently in rows instead of randomly in rows or columns. Yes, it is a mini-print that reads as a solid, and so, strictly speaking, uniform orientation is not necessary; but it is possible. I added the white squares in the corners as needed, and happily I could generate four X's with uniformly oriented dots. To see the difference, compare the black X's with the previous orange X. It is subtle – subtle enough that I am not going to take apart and re-assemble those X's with non-uniformly oriented dots. I will take extra care for the remaining four X's I have yet to assemble.

So far I have completed six blocks, two of each shown in the following photo and the remainder of the X centers, shown in five stacks of two. I am still enjoying myself. The honeymoon phase still lives on.

Since those X's do resemble railroad crossing symbols, I am keeping the pattern title Midnight Crossing as the working name for this quilt. This name choice might please my ferroequinologist husband.

Coral, Queen of the Sea

Mermaids may be rare and their sighting few and far between but this is the fourth mermaid doll I have made from a Moda panel. The experience paid off, because I whipped this one up rather quickly.

I started with the simplest components: the blanket, pillow and seahorse companion Mr. Bubbles.

Next was the mermaids’ clothing: her fins and the skirt for her walking on land when she has legs. Note I run a line of stitch across each waist band in two places to keep the ends of the tie from slipping in too far to be reachable. The two pink wonder clips show where these line are.

Then it was on to Coral the mermaid herself. Making these Moda panel dolls became much easier once I’d acquired the best tools. On the far left is the turning tool that makes those skinny arms and legs a breeze to invert right side out. In the center is a pair of forceps-like tool that grips bits of stuffing in a way that allows it to be inserted deep down to her toes and fingertips.

Voila! Here is Coral the Mermaid assembled with all her accessories and ready to be loved. Cue Disney music Under the Sea.

Following are three links from 2017 where I made this doll before: (May 14, 2017), (May 20, 2017), and (May 23, 2017). They have a view of the source panel, some optional rickrack embellishment I added, and my struggling attempts to turn and stuff the arms and legs before I acquired my handy tools.