The Wedding Quilt

It was my privilege recently to make a wedding quilt for a very special couple.

Here are the beautiful couple

The bride is from India so I primarily used the fabric line from Leesa Chandler called

 " Passage to India"

There are 9 Mariners Compass blocks which will always point you home

There are red and gold log cabin blocks.

These reflect the colours worn by the bride and groom.

The red blocks have a red centre that reflects the fire in the hearth.

The gold blocks have a gold centre that is the light that guides you home.

Together they represent the home that you create together.

This jewel print is used in several borders. The tear drop shape is commonly used for wedding and special occasion jewellery and decoration.

You will see the  gold border teams beautifully with the green and shows with harmony with which the Indian and Australian cultures merge.

 The border fabric was inspired by designs of 17th century Indian porcelain. It is found in the henna design worn by the groom and also in the decoration of the bride's sari.

The Quilt has double hearts quilted into the corners

    

and stylised lotuses into other panels.

The lotus can represent beauty, eternity, prosperity and fertility in Hindu.

The label is edged in purple, a favourite colour of the bride and groom and has the seven Hindu marriage blessings.

May you always be blessed with an abundance of comforts and resources, and always be helpful to one another in all aspects

May you be strong and complement each other, mentally, spiritually, and physically.

May you be blessed with prosperity and riches in all ways

May you have eternal love and trust together

May you be blessed with a happy family life and children

May you live in harmony together- staying true to your promises to your selves and one another

May you always remain best friends

The quilt contains all our love and best wishes for a long and happy marriage.

A pleasing finish

This top had been in the cupboard for about 10 years.

I used it as a teaching sample for an advanced patchwork class.

The stitching was by hand.

 Grandmother's Fan

Tumbling blocks

  Drunkards Path variation

Reverse appliqué butterfly and flowers ( my design)

Double Wedding ring

Flying Swallows

I machine quilted the top, firstly with the walking foot and then free motion quilting.

I traced the design onto Golden Threads paper

Layered as many squares as I needed, free motion stitched through the layers without cotton in the needle and that gave me the perforated designs ready to pin onto the squares and quilt through. The paper was then torn away.

Here is a closer look at one of the finished quilted squares.

I was not very happy with the quilting in the border. I had not pinned the border properly and there was some puckering on the back but it looks fine from the front.

This was the last quilt that I had basted ready to quilt so that feels like a good accomplishment.

I do have some more tops finished that are yet to be basted, so after I have finished three more charity quilts I will get the next tops basted.

My goal is to get caught up on the tops waiting to be machine quilted and then to keep up with my quilting in the future.

my other big project

This is where I am at with my eagle quilt.

This is the pattern I am using
www.quiltswithstyle.com/main/Projects/Freedom_for_All_(Part_2_of_3).html

I hope to have more progress to show soon

First heirloom project for 2011

I am hoping that this year will be the first of several years of finishing heirloom projects.

The first one was started about 18 years ago.

My first exposure to this quilt happened about 20 years ago.

I had moved to the country and taken up patchwork.

I had started my first quilt, met someone who did quilting ( I had never even seen a real quilt before) and she took my along to the local quilting group.

I saw someone working on this quilt, stitching the bias on by hand, and while I thought it was stunning, I also thought the person was NUTS but be doing such a massive project like that.

http://www.amazon.com/Window-Peace-Quilt-Mary-Dillon/dp/0870695134

Fast forward two years and I had done two terms of quilt classes and was thoroughly hooked.

I was looking through a catalogue and saw "that quilt"again.

Only this time my reaction was "I would love to make that" .

I managed to get hold of the book and set about purchasing the fabrics I needed.

I didn't have a stash back then, and it needed 68 different plain fabrics.

This was in the days before hand dyed etc. which would give the quilt now a more authentic stained glass look.

All the patterns had to be enlarged, traced onto the foundation squares, then all the 'glass' cut out.

I initially pinned all the glass in place, but later basted it all.

I knew this was going to be a long term project and didn't want a) pieces falling off, or b) rust stains from pins left in.

I elected to made the bias by hand. It needs about 186 yards and I wanted to be sure the quality was going to be good.

Life got in the way as it does with 4 young children and lots of other activities.

The quilt came out from time to time and then disappeared into the box again.

This time I am hoping to keep working on it.

This is the current state of play.

Behind the dove has the bias, it need some on the wings and most of the border has to be done.

The gentian is finished.

One corner rose is finished, there are four of these.


One tulip is finished, there are four of these.

This shows the rose before and after the bias is added.

Here is the tulip before and after the bias.

There are 22 flower blocks in total around the outside.

Stay tuned for progress.

Log cabin quilt

I purchased this as a precut kit about 12 years ago.

I had problems at first putting it together as instead of the usual 1/4 inch seam allowance it had a 5/8 seam allowance.

This was not explained in the instructions and I started to put it together as usual.

Of course, the pieces didn't fit and it was abandoned several times until I took the time to work out the problem.

I finished the top last year and it has been waiting in the queue to be quilted.

This was another done on the new machine.

I had some issues with the monofilament but I think they were mainly caused by the stitch length I was using
I think it was too long.

I have one row that needs to be redone but I think the rest will do.

from deep in the past

This quilt was started about 19 years ago when my cousin was pregnant.

I thought she was having a boy, but when she had a girl I thought the quilt was not feminine enough.

This was my first hand pieced quilt and I had started hand quilting it as well.

It was worked on spasmodically but mostly sat in an open fronted cupboard and as a result the border fabric and some in the blocks faded, some very badly as can be seen in the second photo.

I replaced the fabric ( I still had some of the original) and then machine quilted the remainder of the quilt.

I had to adapt some of the quilting designs so they were suitable to machine quilt.

I have a new machine, so as well as mastering free motion machine quilting, I am mastering a new machine as well.

So far we are working things out together.

Field of Flowers

This quilt was started maybe 18 years ago?

I started hand piecing it and then sometime later I finished machine piecing the blocks.

I had one row joined and it went into retirement again.

I pulled it out last week, joined the top and quilted it.

Once again, I was not that happy with the quilting. Well, the actual quilting was OK but I think a more adventurous design would have done the quilt more justice.

I couldn't think just what to do, as the blocks are quite big, 15 inches.

But it is now finished and that was the really important thing.

I have some plans formulating for broadening my quilting expertise so stay tuned.

My next post will feature a quilt from very very deep in the archive.

Cheers

Finished at last

It feels so good to have this quilt finished.

It was started in 1999 in the lead up to the new millennium.

The idea was to piece the quilt and then have it quilted by New Years Day 2000.

I got the top finished and started hand quilting it, but that was as far as it went.

When I revisited this quilt last month I decided to take out the hand quilting that I had done and re-baste the quilt.

I then machine quilted it.

I was not overly happy with the border quilting but did not know what else to do.

I am now just very pleased that it is finished.

An exciting finish

This was a six month mystery quilt started in 2005.

I pieced the top speedily but
there it sat until this month.
I tried free motion machine quilting around the applique blocks for the first time and I was pleased with the way they turned out.
I will be doing more free motion quilting around applique in the future but can't yet get my head around doing all over machine quilting.
For now I am happy with quilting with the walking foot.

August Finishes

This is the start of a new quilt I am handpiecing.

The pattern is from Quilters Companion and most of the pieces were printed using Inklingo.

The applique on the centre still needs to be finished.

The stars need connecting diamonds and other shapes added.

A larger I-Spy quilt that I finished today.

I pieced four of these tops to use up the fabric.

Two are now quilted and the other two will be finished this year

This was a quilt kit purchased in Grand Rapids last August.

The fabric is very pretty and there are fussy cut butterflies in the alternate blocks.

#3 is Finished

Here is the finished mystery quilt.

I am pleased with the way it turned out.

I did pull out several rows of quilting while I decided how to tackle the quilting.

Onto the next project

The start of # 3

This is the point at which I am resuming quilt # 3.

This was a mystery quilt from a long time ago, but I think more than 10 years.

The pattern and fabric was from the Quilters Barn.

I was timely in finishing the top.

At some point I basted it and started hand quilting but didn't progress very far.

I unearthed it from the blanket box on Tuesday, pulled out the hand quilting, undid the basting ( which was a bit scanty), re-pressed the top and backing and rebasted it.

I am not very happy with the batting, puffy and polyester I think, but I am not going to waste it.

I will ditch quilt to stabilise the layers with monfilament and then cross-hatch it in dark green.

I will bind it either in the rust or the green.

Legacy #2

This is my finished Jane Austen quilt.

The finishing has bitter sweet memories for me.

My mother and I hand pieced this during my DD first hospitalisation 10 years ago.

I have finally quilted it...and DD is in hospital.

There are some aspects that I could be critical about but I won't as it is finished and overall I am very happy with the way it looks.

It is pieced from scraps except for the sashing fabric .

Legacy #1

The first finish for the legacy, a baby quilt for my niece.
It tokk a couple of sessions to get into the quilting, but once I was "in the zone" I really zipped along.
So much so, that when I finished the quilting I whipped the next quilt on the list out and quilted half of it before I even took a photo.
I will just have to post a finished photo of that, hopefully soon.

First on the list

This is the first of my legacy projects, a baby quilt.

It is basted and now needs to be quilted.