A Quickie...Challah Cover

Some days (nights) I just need a quick, finishable project to start and complete. Last night was one of those nights. I wanted to make something but couldn't get into the Miracle Foundation quilts. I just wanted the satisfaction of designing, making, and ending a project.


I almost succeeded.

I have a list of people for whom I need (or, would like) to make challah covers. I like giving challah covers as gifts because they're something my Jewish friends use and they offer me a chance to experiment with design, colors, and quilting. Here I opted to make a couple square-inside-square blocks that I first saw in Denyse Schmidt's book, Quilts. She uses solids but I thought these 2 prints worked well together. I initially intended to place them side-by-side, but ultimately decided that off-center worked better.

I pieced the back from the scraps from the front and some additional strips. Had I not pieced the back, I might have finished the whole thing. Then again, I could say that had I not free-motion quilted (challah covers = small = good practice), I might have finished. In any event, I got through quilting but need to pack and get to bed as I'm off to Colorado for the weekend.

But back to the challah cover, I'm still working on my free-motion quilting, especially stippling. There are definitely some imperfections in this challah cover, but I'm pretty confident that they will not harm the look or disrupt the use of it, so I'm ok with that. It's part of what makes it handmade and a step in my works-in-progress. I'm starting to learn the best ways to hold and move the quilt under the darning foot, and I think (hope) this information will help me improve and, eventually, feel comfortable stippling and otherwise free-motioning larger projects.

If my flight goes according to plan, I'll be in the Mile High City when this posts. Have a wonderful weekend!