A Quilt for Kayleigh

Kayleigh's little quilt is finished, and I LOVE IT!!  

As I mentioned in last week's post my little girl is turning 3 on 18 April, and I wanted to capture a little something of her within the quilt.  I did not have anything specific to work with, she has no favorite colour yet, not one single toy that stands out, or one specific movie I could use as inspiration.  

But I really wanted to have something to remember her at 3 years old, so I decided on her hands.  Trapunto was the best technique to really make them stand out.  It was the first time I've tried it, and I really love the effect.  The design really pops.

April is mid autumn here in South Africa, and in our region, Cosmos flowers spring up everywhere.  These flowers are also a wonderful reminder of Kayleigh's birth date.  So we took all of these pictures just outside of town between all the pretty colours... I think the quilt blended in perfectly in the background.  Even the blue sky and puffy white clouds helped bring out the colours of the quilt.

She had a lot of fun running around between all the flowers, its at times like these I wish I can freeze time.  She is at such an adorable age, everything is an adventure.  She has no fear!  She is such a loving child eager to give us all hugs and kisses, and she's very funny.. and even at this young age I already know she has a strong personality and she's very strong willed.. 

I used all of my favorite free motion quilting designs in this quilt.  Swirls and pebbles in the center and feathers inside the border.  I also quilted figure 8's within the white sashing borders. I admit, those corners proved to be a bit tricky, not one ended up the same....

This little quilt finished at 52 inch square.

I think she will love her new quilt, especially as she grows each year, comparing her little hands to those of when she was 3....

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Asymmetrical Half Square Triangle Quilt - A FINISH

I am so glad I decided to finish this quilt.  If you remember a while back, I shared a POST with you where I was quite discouraged about the quilting and how I just felt it did not have the look I was hoping for.  Well, you where all right, and I have to thank each and everyone of you encouraging me to finish this quilt.  Now that is blocked, bound and hung it looks good.  Not perfect, but a lot prettier and I love the finished result.

As I was finishing up this quilt I got more and more excited to getting it done.  All I needed was a break from it, having it lie in plain sight each day, looking at it, almost 'staring' back at me.  And the more I really looked at it, I started seeing the potential rather than the flaws.

The pictures does not show it that clearly, but I love the texture and how the light falls on the directional quilting , it adds a shine all over the surface of the quilt.  If you stood at different places, looking from other angles it looks different each time.

It is especially visible from the back of the quilt.

If you'd like to read up on the design process of this quilt you find it HERE.  I am at the moment working on a pattern for this quilt, playing with different colour layouts.  I treated myself with a very early Christmas present and bought the EQ7 program and are very eager to share it with all of you.  

It is pieced and quilted on my home sewing machine.  The finished size is 36½ inches x 45½ inches.  

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In the Jungle..the mighty jungle..

...the lion sleeps tonight..in the jungle the mighty jungle the lions sleeps tonight................aweeeeeee 

Yeah, I know you know that song, and I bet your singing along right now, he he he.  Well that's what I decided to name this little disappearing four patch baby quilt, "In the Jungle"

It's finally finished!  I started this little disappearing four patch baby quilt way back in April.  I started quilting it last month and now its finally done.  It was hard coming up with a name for this quilt, its usually the part of making a quilt that keeps my mind occupied even as I am busy quilting it, it even and keeps me up at night, he he.  But when looking at the fabrics, the name of the fabric line (Bungle Jungle by Tim and Beck for Moda) I knew it would work well.

I wanted to keep the quilting simple, but I wanted to add just a bit of 'flare' in the white inside border.  I cant remember where I've seen this free motion quilting design before, but I as I was playing around on a practice sandwich I just knew it would work great.  I like how it separates the wiggly motion of the stippling and the loops I've quilted inside the outer border.

There is always that little something that I think I could have done differently or wish to change.  This time its the binding.  I don't think the blue dotted fabric works well with the rest of the quilt, maybe I should have used a bright red or even yellow.  I suppose I could still change it, but for now this is my finish, and I am happy that its done...

I could not resist taking this picture, although it is from a far distance, I think it looks too cute with Kayleigh and our BIG dog, (boerbull) Max

If you'd like to read up more about this baby quilt, you can find it here, here and here.  I even have a step by step tutorial to make the disappearing four patch block, you can find it here.

Thanks for stopping by...

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Looking back @ 2012...

This year has been pretty exciting for me when it comes to my quilting.  I made my 1st quilt, learned to free motion quilt (still a lot to learn), and my piecing has definitely improved too.  

I discovered Leah Day's FMQ Blog soon after, and it opened up so many possibilities.  

Below are some of the quilts I made, I added dates to some of them, just to show you how much I have learned.  Looking at my very 1st try at stippling, I have to smile and blush a little.  Practice.. practice.. practice.......

My very 1st attempt at Free Motion Quilting - I looked up the date, March 16, 2012

March 23, 2012 - Only ONE week after discovering Leah Day's Blog  

Strips & Stripes (Various types of FMQ) - May 10, 2012

Hearts & Feather Whole Cloth - April 11, 2012

Jelly Sandwich - 29 May 2012

Dresden Plate Wall Hanging - September 12, 2012

Tree Wall Hanging - October 3, 2012

Purple Diamond/Pers Diamant - November 19, 2012

Looking forward to next year and to see what it will bring....  

Happy quilting.

Purple Diamond

I named this quilt Pers Diamant translating Purple Diamond.  

I had so much fun making this quilt.  It measures 55½ by 77½ inches.

I started out by making a few mistakes with the fabric placement, you can read up on it here.  At first I tried random colour fabrics to make the block, but it just looked too busy, and it had no real structure, so I went back and changed it to the way it should have been, which turned out much better and much prettier, this post clearly shows the difference.

So instead of placing the blocks exactly alike next to each other, I rotated them, and it made the green diamonds look different from each other.

This is my personal best at piecing, my corners matched up close to perfect.  Clearly using a ¼ inch foot makes the world of difference when piecing your quilt.

I made my own stencil to quilt the inside blocks, using transparency paper.  I drew out the design with a marker, and used my husbands soldering iron and lightly touched the paper to burn out the design.  It worked out great.  

  

Here is a useful link that I've posted a few days ago to hand baste your quilt, the same method I used the baste his quilt.  And I'm happy to say I have not one single pleat or pucker at the back of my quilt.

Take care.

Happy quilting.