Hammer and Sickle Quilt Completed

Despite a few hiccups and about a hundred thread breaks (more on that here), my hammer and sickle train blanket is fully quilted, and turned out extremely well.

This is a lap quilt, made by request, for keeping warm on long train rides. I tried to make it big enough to fully cover a sleeping person in a seat, but small enough to be portable. That turns out to be 50" by 66". At the moment it's still very puffy and too big for carry-on luggage, but I'll let the washing machine give it a good beating this weekend.

The front of the blanket is entirely red, and its focal point is a hammer and sickle quilted in white thread at the top. I drew the outline with a water-soluble marker (which blew up and got ink everywhere - luckily it disappeared with a good soaking). I also drew some inner lines to make sure the different sections of the design would line up.

Since the front is all one fabric, the back of this quilt was my opportunity to get a bit more creative. I chose a print with skyscrapers full of random type and binary, and added a small piece of gingham and a red stripe for visual interest. I have to admit that I ended up liking the back of this blanket most.

Since it's Free Motion Quilting Friday, let's have a look at the quilting. It's the first time I use this boxy design, and I liked it a lot. You can't get stuck in a corner with this one. The only potential difficulty is keeping the lines straight when there's no edge nearby to use as a reference, but since every turn is ninety degrees that mostly takes care of itself.

Yes, I machine stitch my bindings. Shhh, don't tell the quilt police.

This blanket will be heading to its new home very soon. I hope it turns out to be the right size for its intended purpose.