Happy quilt day!
This quilt was inspired by the Sea Squared quilt pattern, free from Birch Fabrics.
Most of the fabrics are from the Into the Deep fabric line by Michael Miller Fabrics.
The dolphins and whales are from a random panel that was in my collection. They had lots to say, so here they are on the quilt!
The quilt, not the lovely BBC programme.
So happy to have my DA Christmas quilt back in the house.
The amazing quilting on this one was done by Natalia Bonner, quilting book author and free-motion quilter extraordinaire.
Natalia had free rein on the quilting. The only thing I asked was to include…
God save the Queen. Very British, by golly.
It’s a girl!
This precious fabric is the Little Red Riding Hood collection from Riley Blake.
The big bad wolf and grandmother’s cottage are also adorably represented.
And, of course, the mushrooms?
Guess the name of the new little niece…
The pattern is free on the Moda Bakeshop website http://www.modabakeshop.com/2014/04/charm-party-baby-quilt-bonus-pillow.html
After making the HSTs for the quilt, I ended up with smaller leftover HSTs.
They became this little dolly quilt. When Ava has a little baby, the baby can have a blanky like hers!
I chose this fun Hawaiian print for the backing.
I actually quilted this one myself!
I probably should be more careful about folding Mark. But look at that detail in his hair!
I scanned the signature and stitched it out on my Destiny. What a great sewing machine.
The woodgrain in the fence makes you just want to run out and whitewash it!
This amazing quilting was done by Deonn Stott, a true artisan.
Every detail comes alive with her great vision.
The paddlewheel blocks were quilted to look like, well, paddlewheels on a river boat.
I embroidered a different quote on the quilt, one that felt more like “me.”
Dusting off my keyboard, back with some yummy quilts!
This pattern is Fireworks by Thimble Blossoms.
The fabric is from the Acacia collection by Tula Pink.
The solid is Kona cotton Pepper.
The embroidery design is from Urban Threads, my favorite online source for machine embroidery.
The quilt back is Tula Pink wide back Free Fall.
I embroidered my quilt label in a subtle color – quite a change from my usual outspoken color choices!
My new favorite throw was quilted by Lea Ingram here on Kauai.
I am starting to visualize a completed quilt! Can’t you just see this colorful selection, with crisp white sashings?
Let the celebration begin, the Hawaiian quilt is complete and on the bed!
Picture, if you will, my awkward self dancing an Irish jig. Strike that. An awkward hula.
I am truly and utterly excited to debut my Hawaiian quilt.
So if you are new to my party, each quilt block is made in a different batik fabric. The embroidery designs are by Anita Goodesign, from their Hawaiian Quilt collection. Each block is comprised of four identical machine embroidered sections. Each section took about three hours or so to make. I’m tired thinking about it.
A terrific embroidery design by Urban Threads ( urbanthreads.com ) was the basis for my quilt label. I added text to document all the important information about my quilt. Like the fact that it took me forever.
Did I mention that my bed is a king size? I started the blocks and refused to measure my bed to see how many I needed. When I had finished 20 blocks, I laid them on the bed to see how close I might actually be from a quilt. That was when I decided to use plain white borders. But the borders had to be special, to be quilted so they would match the pizzaz of the quilt itself.
This is when you call in the big guns. Natalia Bonner, author and quilter extraordinaire, did a great job on this quilt. I said I like bubbles, and feathers, and lines…oh my! Check out more of Natalia’s amazing work on her blog Piece N Quilt ( pieceandquilt.com )
One dilemma of a king size quilt is how to wrangle it to sew on the binding. Let’s just say that it took a long time and some arm strength to get the binding on this puppy. I draped it across my cutting table AND a sofa, repositioning it after every few feet.
It was a trial by fire for my new machine, a Pfaff Quilt Expression 4.2. I chose it mainly for the built-in walking foot. Are you ready, foot? Start walking! (Short break while I dance the pony and sing “These boots are made for walkin!”)
I’m elbow deep into another embroidered quilt, this one for Christmas. Hey, it’s only November 2nd…
My new Pfaff and I won the battle, the Hawaiian quilt is bound and ready! Come back tomorrow for all the delicious pictures!
Variety is the spice of life, so I am feeling very spicy. If I had to choose one fabric only to use for the rest of my life? Well that would be cruel, but I would definitely choose Liberty Tana Lawn.
Picking the fabrics to combine in each block has been helping curb my innate desire to make sure everything matches perfectly.
The hardest part of this project is trying to NOT plan ahead. I want to wait until I have all the blocks to choose the fabric and style of the sashing. But I’m getting impatient.
Five blocks a month, until I have a total of…I don’t know yet. I have not yet even calculated how big I want to make this.
Seeing each block individually makes me think I want this on my bed. King size. At least that will give me a long time to work on it. I really enjoy working on foundation paper pieced projects.
The obsessive part of me craves the perfection that can be achieved with paper piecing. And it is so easy! I took some pictures while I was working on these blocks.
Sew, press, cut, add fabric and repeat. Easy and stunning!
We’ll talk soon, I’m off on an adventure.
Speaking of my Anglophile tendencies, I went to Downton Abbey in May. A trip to the promised land for someone like me, someone whose idea of a rollicking viewing experience is Sense and Sensibility. Or Downton Abbey, of course. It’s my absolute favorite TV show in recent years.
Andover fabrics came out with Christmas Downton Abbey fabric this year! OMG, Christmas and Downton Abbey together? You know you can count me in!
Ebony Love at Lovebug Studios (http://www.lovebugstudios.com) started a Downton Abbey Christmas in July mystery quilt along this summer. I felt it was my destiny, nay, my responsibility, to join in.
I’ve never participated in a mystery quilt along before. I decided to go for this one, because I already knew I loved the fabric. In fact, I had already purchasesda half yard bundle of the fabric. The fabric requirements are obviously not the same as a half yard bundle, but I am going to be flexible and mix it up a little to use all the pieces in the bundle.
These 16 patch blocks show some of the changes made so far. I like the variety that this is bringing into my version of the quilt.
I have quite the assortment of candles going on in mine! I will be fascinated when the layout is available, so I can figure out how to incorporate my blocks into it.
It’s the fifth week of the quilt along, and I am up to date! That is something to celebrate, in my estimation. Once or twice in my life I have joined progressive projects, and let’s just say that staying up to date is not always my modus operandi. I guess it helps that I still like this project. And I know it helps that I love Downton Abbey. I think Lord and Lady Grantham are probably going to invite me to a shooting party soon.
handmade by Carole Carr 