Sunday, December 15, 2013

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Straight off the back of Santa, I had to get a quilt quilted for my lovely BFF Eileen. She made the patchwork top and underside with her daughter and asked me to quilt it. It's a gift for her daughter's teacher.
I don't like pinning out quilts, so on Saturday, I got one of my staff to do it for me. Yay to delegation, and to clever staff! The big tables in our studio are great for pinning out lap and cot quilts.
So last night I took myself upstairs to my studio with the carefully selected variegated thread - purples and pinks for the underside and brights for the top side, and let rip.
I LOVE free motion quilting!!!! It is so liberating, just drawing stuff with your sewing machine.
Being TVHC, I thought I would just meander it, and chuck in a few of the edibles from the story.
 The overview. I love these fabrics - they are so incredibly vibrant! The quilt top is made up from the three panels, offset by pieced checkerboard panels. Then there are two borders from the range. The back is made up from the leftovers.
I quilted the butterfly, leaf and caterpillars around the outlines.
 An apple in the border
 A strawberry...
Pear...
Apple core...
 And a teeny little "easter egg" for the mummy - a martini. It's only about an inch high.

There are also icecreams and lollipops.
And you know what? This quilt which is about 3.5 by 5 feet, took 2.5 hours to quilt. I kid you not. Once you get it pinned out, and get used to the whole method, it is sooo fast.
I confess I don't really care about stitch length and technical stuff like that, I just care about getting it done and looking good.
My tips include - always quilt from the outside to the outside each time. Starting and stopping in the middle means lots of sewing in the ends. Due to a few top thread breakages, I had to sew in about six ends. I can live with that, but many more and the potty mouth comes out to play ;-)
And that's done. My list of jobs to get done before Christmas is shrinking.
Next up, Christmas cakes. That's this afternoon's job...


13 comments:

  1. Wow Mrs C what a FABULOUS quilt! I love the apple core:D

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  2. Looks gorgeous. I love the martini you've added to it. Little things like that just make me smile.

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  3. What an awesome quilt. Kind of like a quilt within a quilt. Very nice indeed.

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  4. really cute! i have some of that spotty fabric that i am 'saving' for something....

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    1. Oh yes, the contrast fabrics are just as lovely as the panels in this range aren't they!

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  5. Such a great quilt - I love that story. You are so cleaver with the quilting :)

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    1. Thanks Sandra. It really is easy though, like doodling :)

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  6. It's done it again - totally eaten up my last comment. I will cover it off now in this one.
    The quilt is amazebaubleballs. Incredibly fab.
    I also think that the skirt you've made your niece is another lovely gift - I don't know how you (of very little time) have managed to make so many wonderful christmas gifts & costumes!

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