11 August 2014

the finished quilt

This quilt has been in the works since Christmas but owing to uni work, revision etc, it wasn't until this summer that I really made it a priority to work on it.


There is something so special about going into a project knowing it will be a gift. Handmade is so precious. It is magical to think you are making something unique.

To make this quilt I used a jelly roll from Moda. These are strips of fabric that are designed to coordinate with one another. They are pre cut into 2.5" strips which is fab for those of us who are lazy cutters, (not that I am one of them, ahem.)


I tried a few new things with this quilt. First up was machine quilting it together. For this I used my darning foot on my machine. Rather than feeding the fabric through the machine, the darning foot just sends the needle up and down in the fabric so that you are free to move it as you will. A bit like drawing yet you are moving the paper rather than the pencil.


To keep it simple I just moved the fabric in big swirled patterns. I love the texture it gives.

I also tried a strip piecing ( I think that is the term) technique to patchwork the top. This really speeded up the process and made the quilt look far more detailed and time consuming than it was!
Strip piecing is super simple:


Grab as many strips as you want in your row. Here I have demonstrated with five. Sew these together where I have marked the dotted lines. Press the seams.
Now cut these strips horizontally like so. Keep repeating this process with different combinations of fabric.
Now join these horizontal strips together again to make the square.
I am so pleased with how the quilt turned out. It is pretty large but all the more room for snuggling! 
One of my favourite parts of quilting is finishing off with the binding. I chose a very pale pink stripe because, a. it certainly didn't need any more bright colours and b. you can't go wrong with a stripe.


A finished quilt. All packaged up and delivered to a special friend. I have to admit I was sorry to see it go but her face when she opened the package was just the best!



Homemade. It can't be beaten.

16 comments:

debs14 said...

Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful! It's so pretty. I've never tried the free stitching because I can't imagine how you manipulate all that fabric under the machine, it's hard enough trying to do straight lines! I'd been trying to decide what kind of binding to put on my current project, I think your idea of stripes is brilliant. How lucky I'm going to John Lewis later today ;-)

Lea Lacoste said...

so so pretty! giving away handmade items is pretty much my favorite part <3

Sheena said...

Fabulous quilt Abi x
I love quilting but yet to try free motion quilting, you have made a great job of it :)

Sian said...

Absolutely can't be beaten! it's gorgeous and will be treasured for many many years to come. I hope you stitched your name in somewhere :)

scrappyjacky said...

It's absolutely gorgeous....and will be treasured forever.

Susanne said...

Oh so pretty. Handmade with love, and sure to be cherised.

Maureen @ Josephina Ballerina said...

Hi Abi,
I'm new to your blog, so I didn't remember you're a quilter. So am I. And most of them are given away, too.
It's beautiful. Like you, my favorite part is binding it. I sew on the front of the binding, then hand stitch the back. I love a little handwork. Pink was the perfect choice for your quilt.
I'm really impressed that you did free motion quilting. I'm too scared I'll mess it up! I mostly sew wiggly parallel lines. I like a lot of quilting on a quilt. That way it really puckers when I wash it. Love the puckers!
Smiling at you from Maryland, m & jb

Karen said...

It's absolutely gorgeous, and I loved the photo on Instagram of your friend opening her gift. No wonder she was thrilled.

Nathalie said...

She is a very lucky friend because your gift is priceless! What a gorgeous piece it is!!! I LOVE it and wish i had your quilting talents!

Miriam said...

Thank you so much for this beautiful post Abi. The quilt is absolutely wonderful x

Barbara Eads said...

Abi, your quilt is absolutely gorgeous!! Thanks for sharing it. I quilted in the 1980's, but moved away from my quilting friends and never picked it up again. I just might have to re-think that.

Lizzie said...

Now this makes me really want to try quilting again! Not that I have time, you understand....
But when you see such a lovely piece of work, then it's so inspiring. Well done Abi, it's beautiful and I'm not surprised it was a well-received gift!

Sinead said...

Oh Abi!! It's beyond gorgeous, I love the colours and design. You are one talented lady and I bet your best friend just LOVED it :D xx

Sandra said...

It's without a doubt stunning ... Truly stunning

Deb @ PaperTurtle said...

This is just so fantastic, Abi! I love the design and the colors and the quilting. I'm sure your friend absolutely adores it and will treasure it for always. Well done, you! xo

SugarBabe said...

Amazing. I want one!!!