Sunday, March 13, 2011

Foray into hand quilting - Material Obsession's Avalon quilt

Realising I had only two weeks to whip up a present for Mia's best friend Saskia's 4th birthday, I decided to make her a simple quilt. I decided on a smaller version of the Avalon quilt from the wonderful book Material Obsession by Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke.

Funnily enough, I think this will end up being the first in a series of three quilts I will have made from this book - as soon as I finish this post I'm starting one for my nephew's 9th birthday and then want to finish off another I started last year!



I decided on a palette of pinks, greens and purples, many of which I've used in other things I've made for their family...



Cream floral sashing to make the colours pop. I used it wrong side up to mute the pattern. Pinned and ready to go (you can see I am not a huge pinner!)...



With a week to go, I decided to have my first ever go at hand quilting. Thanks a million to my friend Sarah from Kit Bik Quilts for her invaluable advice! I used two different shades of the variegated 12 weight Sulky Blendable threads to go round each block and then in a cross or diamond shape over each one. I used a Clover Chaco Liner and my ruler to mark the quilt lines. Am not sure what I'd use for freehand quilt markings - advice welcome for next time! I didn't use a hoop. I started off using band aids instead of a thimble (thanks for the tip Sar!) but then found it easier to use this thimble which belonged to my grandmother - very special.

I love hand quilting! If I hadn't have had a deadline I would have kept on quilting and quilting!



This double gauze Japanese fabric is SO soft in quilt. Think I will have to make a whole quilt out of it!



Sass and her mama with the quilt...



Perfect showcase for Tula Pink's Parisville's gorgeous Topiary print...



This shot is very Kaffe, don't you think?!!



Hope the quilt gives much warmth and love to a very special girl! xx

5 comments:

  1. they are blessed to have a friend like you x

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  2. Well done Lis! LOVE the hand quilting... so beautiful. And the Kaffe shot is grand!!!

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  3. Oh, tip for marking quilts... Don't know what it's called, but I have one and it's great: a japanesey hard plastic thing with a pointed edge and you run it along the edge of a ruler just like a rotary cutter and it puts a crease in the fabric. You can use it "free style" to mark curved lines too. No pens, no worries about marks reappearing later. And the crease comes out with wear and washing. Cost about $10. Clover make them. Hope that helps!

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  4. absolutely adore this kind of design with the 'framing' and the prints being the focus...is it so complicated you need a pattern to learn how to do? and loving that parisville on the back - big fan of that print. what a special present.

    (have to give hand-quilting a go sometime too, appeals for some reason)

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  5. Hi Melisa, thank you for your lovely comment on my owl embroidery. You can find the pattern at this link http://stitchybritches.blogspot.com/2010/02/owl-love-you.html The Stichy Britches website has heaps of cute vintage embroidery patterns to whet your appetite for embroidery - would love to know how you go with it!!

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