As I said before my life has gotten a whole lot busier lately, sewing has really taken a backseat but I did manage to finish one thing. Way back in June I bought my self a Jelly Roll to make myself a full sized quilt.
Well eventually I decided to try the Stacked Coins Quilt from Moda but had to increase the size as it was for a cot quilt. Well after lots and lots of calculations and research and head scratching I eventually worked out how much fabric I needed to complete the project so I ordered backing fabric Moda Bella Solid Sisters Pink, some binding from the Sophie collection Leafy Swirl Pink, some white Moda Bella and full sized poly wadding.
I’d already come to the conclusion that I wanted to hand quilt it as I’ve come to quite enjoy hand sewing (never thought I would say that!!) and we were going on holiday and I wanted a project to keep me occupied if we had rainy days (2012=bad summer!) so I set about piecing it together during the Olympics!
With some trepidation I unrolled the Jelly Roll
and then started cutting and arranging into groups. I didn’t have a set idea about how the colour/fabrics should be arranged so its purely random, I tried not to have too many of the same design/colours together within a strip.
Once I’d started it was clear that I wasn’t going to get it done in time for the holiday so it went away again from a while. Once I got it back out I realised I’d miscalculated the backing fabric and had to order more. Now I was ready, so one Saturday whilst watching Strictly I laid out the backing, wadding and quilt top and with the aid of funny safety pins I put it all together.
Then came the fun part, I sat there night after night, sewing it together. I wanted to hand quilt because I thought the quilt needed either free-motion quilting in the white areas or stitch-in-the-ditch quilting. Now, there's now way I was going to be able to do free –motion quilting on this quilt (I don’t have a walking foot, the expertise or the patience to gain the expertise) and I didn’t think my seam lines were straight enough or my sewing accurate enough to stitch-in-the-ditch by machine. So I decided to stitch-in-the-ditch by hand this way I could control where the stitches are. So I used pink quilting thread and the worlds tiniest needles to quilt the layers together and I have to say it was lovely. I really enjoyed the excuse to snuggle under the quilt on the evening watching TV but still creating something. It kept my hands busy instead of looking for something to eat! I enjoyed the rhythm of the process, rocking the needle back and for, although I’m not convinced I had the correct technique, but it took me most of October to quilt it and then the binding just took a couple of days. And where they big reveal you might ask….
extra points if you spot Miss C sneaking into shot!
sorry the pictures are a bit dull, they were taken at night although I’ve tried brightening then in Paint.net. Here are some daylight shots…
backing showing the stitches coming through, don’t think I was very consistent in my stitch sized, in fact I preferred the look of larger stitches,
lovely colour and I love the contrast with white, I’m always drawn to the Modern Quilts which although I’m not exactly sure what the definition of Modern Quilt is they seem to have high contrast colours.
binding shot I cut the binding 2.5” wide and sewed with a 1/4” seam allowance. In future I think I would cut 2 1/4” binding as I think its a little too wide, not enough to make me change it but a lesson for next time.
isn’t ladder stitch great!
mitred corner – back
mitred corner – front
lovely colours in the sunshine!
Action shot! Its already been used and loved, I’ve fallen asleep on the settee under it a few times and Miss C and Miss M argue over it (luckily its big enough for all of us, that's why I made it this size) and Miss C spent all day Saturday under it as she was ill. So an all round success!
So there's my first proper quilt, I really enjoyed the whole process especially as it was so slow but I could leave it for days and come back to it and just pick it up straight away. Very different to dressmaking which I find I can’t leave for days otherwise I forget where I was. When I finished my husband immediately said ‘What's yours next project?” oh how well he knows me, the trouble is I’m just so busy at the moment with college and work and kids and birthdays and Christmas although I’m half way through making a Tudor dress for Miss M’s school topic! Watch this space!
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