Finishing the UFO
So last week I finally finished a quilt that has been in the (very slow) making for getting on for four years!
When I heard that two of my best friends from my teens were expecting a child together, I did get very excited indeed! That was Christmas 2010 and I didn't know if it would be a girl or a boy and it was killing me....I couldn't wait to find out to start making a special gift. So.....I collected together my favourite scraps of fabric in pink, blue and yellow and decided to start making some blocks that I could edit by colour when the baby arrived. I imagined the rush to discount the pink or include it, add the sashing, batting, backing and quilt it and proudly hand it over a week or two after the baby arrived! Ha! This did not happen. I was delighted when little Esme was born, but the sawtooth star blocks stayed in my work basket, and then were packed away when I moved to Devon in spring of 2012. In fact, other quilts and different projects were started, some even finished, before this summer, after a lovely day with Esme, I decided that I would get this quilt finished and handed over to the little lady sometime before she graduated from uni if it killed me!
This quilt was really my first dabble with traditional blocks and I remember finding the blocks quite fiddly to do. I had about 8 sawtooth star blocks and 4 of these... (apologies for the photo quality)
...and I knew that if I tried to make more after such a hiatus, they probably wouldn't match! So I decided to choose my favourite 9 blocks and use very wide sashing in a fabric I had bought some time before thinking I might make a wholecloth quilt from it - that was before I realised that I really needed to master simple machine quilting before I attempted such a thing.
I've go to admit that when I had finished the quilt top, I hated it! I have learned so much over the past few years about colour value and tones, and I really wasn't feeling it! Also I had used too stingy a seam allowance and several seams needed strengthening. Still, I am a very sentimental type, and I loved the idea that I had started making this quilt for Esme before she had even been born, so I decided I was capable of saving it!!
The red spotty backing I had bought years ago was intended for a quilt for a much smaller Esme, so I added some pretty fabric in red, the green version of which I had used in the quilt I made as a wedding gift for my sister and brother in law in the summer, and totally fell in love with. When I made the back, I just kept thinking, am I ruining this beautiful backing by attaching the top to it? But I went ahead anyway!
I usede a vintage wool blanket from a charity shop as the batting, one of my favourite ways of creating a warm quilt with a bit of weight to it without breaking the bank. The downsides are: sometimes the colour of the blanket can show through any white in the patchwork; you are restrained by the size of the blanket and they are getting harder to find, and more and more expensive when you can find them.
I went for simple straight machine quilting, using the blocks as a guide and my wonderful walking foot, which really has revolutionised sewing for me. The quilting went really well, the backing is nice and flat, hardly any puckers or problems that couldn't be eased out.
Then I added the binding using the method I have become comfortable with, making my own continuous binding, machine stitched on one side and finished by hand (more on this as I follow the next quilt being made). My cat Oberon really enjoyed the whole Sunday and next couple of evenings I spent doing the hand sewing whilst watching TV. Every time I moved him onto another blanket he looked at me in disgust and returned to his previous spot. I was so glad that Josh and Holly, Esme's parents, have cats, or I would have been worried about cat allergies and had to wash it before I handed it over!
The binding changed everything!!! I was so pleased with my choice - it drew together the slightly-too-bright blues and pinks with the softer ones and with the red back. Suddenly, I LOVED my quilt!
We visited my teenage hometown at the weekend to celebrate Josh's 30th Birthday with a surprise party and so I was able to give the quilt to Esme.
When I heard that two of my best friends from my teens were expecting a child together, I did get very excited indeed! That was Christmas 2010 and I didn't know if it would be a girl or a boy and it was killing me....I couldn't wait to find out to start making a special gift. So.....I collected together my favourite scraps of fabric in pink, blue and yellow and decided to start making some blocks that I could edit by colour when the baby arrived. I imagined the rush to discount the pink or include it, add the sashing, batting, backing and quilt it and proudly hand it over a week or two after the baby arrived! Ha! This did not happen. I was delighted when little Esme was born, but the sawtooth star blocks stayed in my work basket, and then were packed away when I moved to Devon in spring of 2012. In fact, other quilts and different projects were started, some even finished, before this summer, after a lovely day with Esme, I decided that I would get this quilt finished and handed over to the little lady sometime before she graduated from uni if it killed me!
This quilt was really my first dabble with traditional blocks and I remember finding the blocks quite fiddly to do. I had about 8 sawtooth star blocks and 4 of these... (apologies for the photo quality)
...and I knew that if I tried to make more after such a hiatus, they probably wouldn't match! So I decided to choose my favourite 9 blocks and use very wide sashing in a fabric I had bought some time before thinking I might make a wholecloth quilt from it - that was before I realised that I really needed to master simple machine quilting before I attempted such a thing.
I've go to admit that when I had finished the quilt top, I hated it! I have learned so much over the past few years about colour value and tones, and I really wasn't feeling it! Also I had used too stingy a seam allowance and several seams needed strengthening. Still, I am a very sentimental type, and I loved the idea that I had started making this quilt for Esme before she had even been born, so I decided I was capable of saving it!!
The red spotty backing I had bought years ago was intended for a quilt for a much smaller Esme, so I added some pretty fabric in red, the green version of which I had used in the quilt I made as a wedding gift for my sister and brother in law in the summer, and totally fell in love with. When I made the back, I just kept thinking, am I ruining this beautiful backing by attaching the top to it? But I went ahead anyway!
I usede a vintage wool blanket from a charity shop as the batting, one of my favourite ways of creating a warm quilt with a bit of weight to it without breaking the bank. The downsides are: sometimes the colour of the blanket can show through any white in the patchwork; you are restrained by the size of the blanket and they are getting harder to find, and more and more expensive when you can find them.
I went for simple straight machine quilting, using the blocks as a guide and my wonderful walking foot, which really has revolutionised sewing for me. The quilting went really well, the backing is nice and flat, hardly any puckers or problems that couldn't be eased out.
Then I added the binding using the method I have become comfortable with, making my own continuous binding, machine stitched on one side and finished by hand (more on this as I follow the next quilt being made). My cat Oberon really enjoyed the whole Sunday and next couple of evenings I spent doing the hand sewing whilst watching TV. Every time I moved him onto another blanket he looked at me in disgust and returned to his previous spot. I was so glad that Josh and Holly, Esme's parents, have cats, or I would have been worried about cat allergies and had to wash it before I handed it over!
The binding changed everything!!! I was so pleased with my choice - it drew together the slightly-too-bright blues and pinks with the softer ones and with the red back. Suddenly, I LOVED my quilt!
We visited my teenage hometown at the weekend to celebrate Josh's 30th Birthday with a surprise party and so I was able to give the quilt to Esme.
In hindsight the embroidery on the label might have been slightly better had I not done it on the four hour car journey up to Sussex! I had intended to attach it with an invisible whipstitch but forgot the thread, so serendipitously it fell to a blanket stitch with the embroidery thread, which I think suits it well.
I wasn't expecting a three year old to get overly excited about a quit (let alone a three year old who had danced all night at her dads birthday party the night before and was showing definite signs of being very tired), but the little poppet opened the pink tissue paper parcel in the pink gift bag with 'Oooh...ooohhh...is this for my bed? It's like in Mary Poppins!" so I think it was a success!
I took some very windy beach photos before I handed it over...
When my cousin Chloe was two or three I helped my mum to make her a patchwork quilt which became a precious belonging that even now, at 21, I know means a lot to her. I hope that this quilt will be a special belonging for Esme as she grows up, and that when she sunggles under it, she will know that her 'auntie' Holly loves her very much, even if I'm not one of the friends of her parents who is always calling by for a cup of tea and seeing her on a day to day basis.
Next up: four quilts on the go for members of the family. Who knows how long they might take to complete, but I hope it's not four years!
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