After making the first block back in June 2011 when I joined Leila's Skills Builder Sampler QAL and then picking out blocks from other sampler QAL's and from around the blogosphere I finally had the number I needed.
This quilt has been a bit of a journey, some of the earlier blocks were a little baggy and undersized which reflects my quilting ability at the time and rather than redo them I decided to work with it and size them up so that they are a reminder of how far I've come, see the thin white inserts on the blocks above and below. Cheesy I know but this quilt was about learning, practising, and honing the skills and I think it has achieved that!
After making Bella's Quillow I knew I wanted to make a couple to double up as cushions for our sofa, so that's exactly what I did, and why I needed those last 2 extra blocks!
I chose my favourite blocks for the outer visible cushion sides, the granny block which was a bit small got sized up with these trees - this print makes me so happy! Is there a fabric that makes you happy just to look at it?
I used my bargain £2.25 red oversized check duvet cover from Asda for the backing, and the great thing is that I still have half of it left to utilise again another day!
As previously encountered with making quillows as per this tutorial I found that less is more where the quilting is concerned, so I have very simply highlighted some of the square and triangle designs in the blocks.
This quilt also represented a first in spray basting for me, the contruction is such that you baste the quilt top to the batting and then place the quilt back right side down over the quilt top and sew nearly all the way around the edges and then turn it through (no binding! yay!) so pinning is a pain because they all end up on the inside! I was nervous of ruining my lovely fabrics or gumming up my needle but it worked pretty well and I only used 1 can!
The quilt measures 43"x57" and folded into the Quillow it is 16" square.
And now while it's washing and crinkling I shall be offering some well earned TLC to my machine; clean, oil, new needle, replace that rotary blade and then onto another project from the WIP pile or something new? :-)
I'm showing off at the following linky parties:
Link a finish Friday
Can I get a whoop whoop
Lets Get Acquainted
Fabric Tuesday
Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River
Create & Share - The Trendy Treehouse
Made By Me at Jaqs Studio
We Did It! Wednesday at Sew Much Ado
P.S. If you'd like to follow me in more of a pictorial way with less of the rambling you can also find me on Facebook, my page is Quilty Creations and on Instagram as Kazwee
Thanks :-)
10 comments:
Great finish! Love the colours, and that you made a quillow with it.
Oh Karen, how beautiful! I love Kate Spain fabrics and this shows them off so well! Whoop whoop for a great finish!
What a lovely quillow! You did a great job! And thanks for the link to the tutorial. I've pinned it and will make one, someday! :)
This is so beautiful -- I love that fabric collection!
Love how you look at it. It's good to have things to remind us of where we were and how far we've come. It's doesn't diminish the final result. Very sweet pillows, too.
The quilt turned out beautiful, even with the little white side bars on some of the blocks! My first quilt is a testament to how far I've come as well, and I love it still!
What a fantastic finish, you should be very proud of yourself! I remember when I first learned to hand quilt....I still have the piece and it is fun to look at the center stitches which were soooo big and how tiny the stitches were after a bit. Thanks for sharing.
Freemotion by the River Linky Party Tuesday
I think you made a fine quillow and I really like those fabrics!!!
Maja
What a wonderful sampler quilt! It looks great! I really enjoyed reading how your first blocks weren't perfect, but now you are experienced enough to use them and make it work. Yay!
Thanks for linking up!
Love love love! The colours look so fabulous in each block - you chose well!
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