Karli's Quilt - True Love

I've started piecing this quilt little over three months ago and I am happy to say its at last finished.  I don't think I've ever made a quilt with such care and attention to detail as this one.  

This is the first quilt I've made for a customer, and even though its a paying job its still a labour of love.  I have enjoyed every moment in making this quilt and by far I am most proud of this one.

This quilt's name is 'True Love', not only does the hearts symbolize love, but it also is a reminder of the love felt, even from the first moment when she learnt she was pregnant.  For this Mom to be, she is so overwhelmed with love and emotion for her unborn baby, due in September, that I think this quilt be a beautiful reminder of how she felt even before she is born. 

'Louise, I hope you 'love' this quilt, just as much I loved making it.  May you have a beautiful, healthy, strong and happy baby.  She is going to be the luckiest baby girl, having a Mom like you, and may all your hopes and dreams for her come true...  God bless '    

For this quilt I used Willow Jelly Rolls and Layer Cakes by My Mind's Eye for Riley Blake and main green yardage of the same range for the backing.

Piecing and quilting was done on my Bernina.

For the free motion quilting I used Colourful Embroidery Thread no C1181, I've quilted, stippling, swirls, feathers, connected circles and pebbles.

The finished quilt measures 65 x 77 inches (165cm x 195cm)

Here are some tutorials for creating the two sided hearts, padded hearts using batting and how I hand baste my quilts.  I've also included a link to a video showing you how I've quilted the circles inside the sashing.  Just click on the images below to direct you to that blog post.

           

Pattern used for this quilt is in a local magazine 'Craftwise' issue 83 Jan/Feb 2012 called Meadow Friends.

For all other blog posts on this quilt click HERE.

Happy quilting.

Finished baby quilt top..

Before I start sharing with you today's post, I want to thank each and everyone for linking up to this week's Anything Goes linky party.  We're at week 21, and so far its peaked at 22 link ups, the most since I've started this linky party, and more are added daily.  Remember its open for a full week, so be sure to come back and read the ones you've missed... 

...It is very gratifying when piecing a quilt, and everything just works out.  The seams match up, no need for adjustments or using my seam ripper.  Admittedly if not for a ¼ inch piecing foot it would be a lot more complicated. 

So all that was left to do, after I had all the blocks and hearts done for this baby quilt, was to start assembling the quilt top.  I did use quite a bit of pins to secure the rows before sewing them together.  The last thing I wanted was shifting and having to do it over again.

I was not too picky about placement, but I did try and match the blocks up in a way that it did not have the same print and colour in the same row.

Almost done, but not quite.. The last bit, was the outside borders.  To make sure I did not mix them up, as they were placed dark, light, dark, I worked in rows.  I also marked them with stickers to makes sure once the rows were completed to add it to the quilt exactly as planned.

Its completely sewn together and all that is left to do now, is basting it, and of course to start quilting.  I do however want to plan it out first and not jump right in.  There are quite a bit of negative space to fill, and I want to do a bit of custom quilting instead of a meander.

I don't yet have a full view of the quilt top, but will share it with you very soon.

If you'd like to read up on the process of this quilt that includes a few tutorials, you can find it here, here and here.

Linking up to WIP Wednesday, over at Freshly Pieced and needle-and-thread-thursday-yall with My Quilt Infatuation 

Happy quilting.

Hearts, hearts ... and more hearts ♥

On Wednesday I showed you how I made the padded hearts for the baby quilt I'm making, so it would only be fare to show you the small hearts that go into the border too.  I made these the exact same way as I did the small hearts for the valentines mini quilt I made.

I started out by piecing two different, 10 inch x 2½ inch strips of fabric together pressing the seams open.  I made a small heart template the same way as I did for the larger hearts (you can see how HERE) and traced 20 hearts on fusible applique, I used Wonder Under.  After I had all my strips sewn, and hearts cut out, I pressed the applique hearts (glue side down) on to the back of the pieced strips right in the center, making sure the inside- and outside points are right on the seam and  the bottom of the heart facing towards the inside.  

  

The rest is very simple, I cut out the hearts and they were ready to be used.  By placing the hearts points towards the inside of the strip, you end up with mirror image hearts, same fabrics, but they look different.  

Then it was time to sew the hearts onto the strips of white fabrics.  To make sure I got the hearts exactly right and spaced exactly the same, I placed the strips right next to each other, and pined the hearts at an angle, I would then peal back the paper from the fusible applique and place them on the fabric, and press them with a really hot dry iron.

To sew them on, I used a blanket stitch.  This part was a bit tricky, spacing the stitches just right, especially in the center of the heart, and the bottom point.  Not all of them came out perfectly but most came ended up looking just fine.

To hide the thread tails, I pulled the threads to the back, tied them in a knot and pulled it through the existing stitches.  Because the heart is fused to the white fabric, there was no way of hiding them between the layers, and I did not want to leave the threads to show, since its all white, I don't want the black threads to show up when quilting.

These strips are for the side borders and I still have to get the top and bottom done.

This part is quite time consuming, since I'm stitching the blanket stitch quit slow, making sure they end up exactly right.

Linking up to can-I-get-a-whoop-whoop over at Confessions of a fabric addict.

Happy quilting.

Love is in the air...

...and everywhere you look, shops, television, internet -everywhere there's an abundance of gift ideas, sweets and boxes of chocolate, jewelry, flowers, soft toys, the list is endless...  For most of the quilting blogs they too have some or other item they're making for valentines day.  So I thought of joining in the fun!

Heart shapes made from my Twister Quilt scraps

This is how I made these cute little heart shapes:

Sew two pieces of contrasting colours together, pressing the seams open.  Trace a heart shape  onto fusible applique, I used wonder under.  Iron the rough side to the wrong side of the fabric ensuring that the inside and outside points are straight in line with the seam.  Cut out once you're ready to applique the hearts to another piece of fabric, to prevent the edges from unraveling.  Peal off the backing piece of paper and iron on, using a hot dry iron.

Use any type of applique stitch you prefer and sew all around the heart shapes either by hand or machine.  I hand sewn blanket stitch with dark pink thread.

I started playing around with fabrics and placement, and ended up with this little quilt top.

I used 4 pieces, 6½ x 6½ inch light pink fabric.  12 Pieces, 2½ x 6½ strips of dark pink fabric and to add a bit of contrast, 9 pieces, 2½ x 2½ dark green fabric.  The finished quilt top is 18 x 18 inches using a ¼ seam allowance, stitch length set at 2.

I starched the quilt top on both sides to keep the fabric nicely flat.  I made another heart shape template just a little bit bigger than the applique shapes, and traced around the hearts using a fine line water soluble pen.

When I started quilting I stitched in the ditch over the entire quilt to secure it properly, then I micro stippled only on the light pink fabrics outlining the heart shapes and the drawn lines around the hearts.

It has so much texture, I love it!

Back of quilt

Linking up to WIP Wednesdays @ Freshly Pieced & FMQ Friday @ The Free Motion Quilting Project.

Happy quilting