Having a Ball With the Balis

The second baby quilt is all finished up and I will share a picture as soon as it is delivered.  The recipient reads this blog and I don't want to ruin the surprise!  I was itching to play with the Hoffman Bali snowflakes that arrived last week (see previous post).  There were a couple of colourways included to choose from;  I decided to start with the grey/silver snowflakes. They captured the mood and colours of last week's blizzard perfectly.

Hoffman batiks are a dream to sew.  I am piecing with 50 weight cotton thread (Wonderfil Konfetti) and a Microtex needle 80/12 in the machine.  All that's required is a hot, dry iron and the patchwork comes out perfectly flat and square.  When it comes time to quilt I will switch my needle to a Metallic 80/12.  With regular quilting cottons, I would probably use a 90/14 for the quilting, but with the higher thread count of the batiks a larger needle sometimes makes a visible hole where it punctures the cotton.  Mrs. Pugsley's Emporium got a nice selection of Schmetz needles in this week and it's heaven to have such a fabulous choice available locally.
You can see I am auditioning a little pop of cardinal to brighten up the snowy palette.