Echino Quilt #2

It's a bit of a mixed up week - even though it's Wednesday I'm sharing a finish rather than a WIP!

 

I made an Echino quilt last year, for someone else, but I really loved it and wanted to make another one for myself.  It's super simple, just 8" finished squares.  I think the first one was slightly more successful than this one, probably because I kept the colour scheme a bit tighter.

 

This quilt is pretty big at 72" by 88" (actually, I find this size totally enormous and I'm in awe of anyone who makes even bigger quilts!), and I loved the long-arm quilting on the last one, so I had the same done again by Sue Burnett.

With minky on the back and linen on the front, this is one soft and super heavy quilt.  It will be perfect for snuggling on the couch in winter.

Echino quilt

My Echino quilt is back from the long-arm quilter, and has been bound, washed and dried.

 

I'm really thrilled with how the quilting came out on this quilt.  I had in mind that I wanted a kind of damask pattern quilted on this one, and I spent quite a bit of time trying to find the right thing.

Did you know that you can find long-arm quilting patterns online, and if they are compatible with your long-arm quilter's machine, they can download and stitch the pattern you've chosen?  Obviously, whether you can do this will depend on on the kind of machine your long-arm quilter has, and whether they are willing to use patterns you've found online.  That said, it's definitely worth asking the question if there's a quilting design you'd just love to have on your quilt.

 

The design on this quilt is called Coral Nested and I found it on a website recommended by Sue Burnett, who did the quilting on this quilt (I quite like this website for patterns as well).  She has a pretty big range of patterns already to hand, but I had such a clear vision for this quilt and nothing she already had was quite right.  I think a good long-arm quilter will take the time to listen to your plans for the quilt and help you find the right quilting design (or work out the right custom quilting).

 

After I finished the binding on this quilt, I ran it through the washing machine and then hung it on the line to dry.  I have usually avoided putting minky backed quilts through the dryer, but this one got rained on and had to have a trip through the dryer as well.  It's definitely well crinkled but otherwise seems to have come through just fine.

I really really want to make another of these quilts for myself - so much so that I've already ordered (and received) more polka dot minky for the back!

Have you ever had a quilt quilted using a quilting design you found online?  Did you know that's a thing?  Any great website recommendations?  

Quilt Stats 

Pattern: simple 8" finished patchwork squares 

Finished Size: approx 56" by 64"  

Fabric: Acacia in Purple, Airplanes in Blue, Birds in Hot Pink, Buck in Hot Pink, Cherry in Black, Cockatiel in Yellow, Dot - Grape, Glasses in Aqua, Insects in Black, Maruco Chartreuse, Peacocks in Blue, Rhino in Black, Scooters in Purple, all Echino fabrics

Backing: black and white polka dot minky

Binding: Moda Bella solid in Shocking Pink 

Pieced by: me

Quilted by: Sue Burnett

Caturday Wisdom #69

Cats are good at sharing - what's yours is theirs. Vivi and Lola

This quilt is now being enjoyed by my friend and other important family members.

A minky cavern like this was also Ivy's preferred spot when recovering a couple of weeks ago. They should call it mmminky.

Retro Giant Star Quilt

A few weeks ago I learned that a colleague and friend was facing some health challenges.  I've worked with him for several years and he's always looked out for me.  I think many quilters will understand that when there's nothing else you can really do, you make a quilt.  I went straight for my go to pattern for when I want a quick but beautiful quilt, which is the Giant Vintage Star Quilt Tutorial from In Color Order.

I wanted to make something masculine but cheerful, so I had a look through my stash and found the top print which has a fun retro kitchen vibe.  The colours in that fabric led me to the other fabrics and then Denyse Schmidt's Ladder Dot fabric provided the perfect serious base to let everything else shine.

 

You'll see that there were a couple of tweaks to get to the final quilt.  This was the result of a bit of experimentation and not settling for "good enough".

 

Sue Burnett quilted this on her long-arm for me, in record time. I dropped it off on a Saturday and she had it ready to be picked up by Wednesday.  I love the circle pattern - I think it works well with the slightly retro vibe of the quilt and it left the quilt super soft and squidgy.  The thread colour was a bit of a surprise - on the spool it is a slightly ugly brown/gold colour, but once sewn it transformed into shining loveliness that blended really well with all the fabrics (and it only shows up on the background like this when you get up close).

 

Of course, what would you put on the back of a comfort quilt other than minky?!  Has anyone else noticed that the blokes are particularly fond of minky?  Expect to see this orange chevron again - I have  a pretty big chunk left over from this quilt.

I machine stitched the binding on this quilt - it's not something I do often but I didn't have a heap of time.  I used my clover clips for this binding and they made a huge difference (I generally used the Red Pepper Quilts Machine Binding method, except with clips instead of pins).  I wanted to show the result - it's still nowhere near as neat as my hand stitched binding method.

I went to visit my friend this weekend and I think he was very pleased with his quilt.  He's on the mend and seemed to be feeling a lot better so I was very pleased too!

Quilt Stats
Pattern: Giant Vintage Star Quilt Tutorial from In Color Order
Finished Size: approx 62" square

Fabric: various

Backing: orange chevron minky from Spotlight

Binding: Dots and Stripes in Smudge from Up Up and Away

Pieced by: me
Quilted by: Sue Burnett

Linking up with finish it up friday at crazy mom quilts.

Baby play mat - finished!

Last weekend, this little linen and minky baby play mat was nearly finished, and now it is done and dusted.  I finished hand stitching down the binding, and gave the quilt a good wash.

I also made a simple strap which co-ordinates with the binding, in case this little quilt wants to go travelling.  All I needed for the strap was a little extra of the binding fabric, a scrap of batting to give it body, and a wee bit of velcro to fasten.   It took all of 15 minutes to make, but I really think it adds to the usefulness of this item.

Now this quilt is finished, clean, and stashed away (out of cat reach) ready for me to give it to Cathy at  our stitch group meeting this week.

Linking up with:

and, of course, Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Minky and linen baby playmat

 What do you think - did I use enough pins?

No, I didn't lose my mind.  There is method to my madness, as you will see in a minute.

Yup, its the dreaded minky.   So sweet, so soft, so stretchy.  (For anyone not familiar with minky, who thinks I have turned into a raving loon, it is a fluffy and very soft fabric.  It's a knit, so it does have some stretch to it, although its not really super stretchy).

This is a little baby playmat that I put together to give my stitching friend Cathy at her baby shower this weekend.  I had been admiring the print fabric for a while, but it seems aimed at babies, but is printed on a slightly coarse linen blend fabric, so I wasn't sure what I would do with it.  I had also been thinking about trying to back a quilt with minky after seeing the Remixed Geese Quilt from Erica at Kitchen Table Quilting and reading her thoughts on working with minky.  At some point I put two and two together and realised that this was the perfect opportunity to use the circus print fabric and try minky on a small scale project, plus the blues are perfect for Cathy's baby boy.

I have to say that I am really pleased with how it turned out.  Putting in all those pins took AGES (and my mum helped a lot), but I didn't have any puckering or shifting issues when quilting.  I used a serpentine stitch on my machine with my walking foot, and I think it looks really nice.

I did start quilting straight lines, but I got halfway through the first one and my bobbin ran out of thread, and I turned the quilt over (I quilted with the minky on the back) and really hated how it was looking.  At that point I unpicked the stitching and started again with the serpentine stitch - I think it looks much much better and works nicely with the dots on the fabric.

I did "give" this quilt to Cathy at her baby shower, but I didn't have time to properly stitch down the binding, so I just tacked it down (using red thread, as you can see).

I will stitch down the binding over the next few days, so it is ready for our next stitching group meeting.  I am also thinking about making a little strap with velcro so that it can be rolled up and carried easily - I'm thinking it might be useful to put on the floor to put baby on when Cathy is out visiting or something like that.

Also, expect to see this binding again - I turned a full metre of fabric into bias binding and this quilt didn't even make a dent in the huge roll I ended up with!

Have you ever tried sewing with minky?  How did it go, and do you think I went overboard with the pins?

Linking up with: