Monday, November 12, 2012

Star Wreath Quilt

Taking a break from my pre-vacation house deep-cleaning and packing to share pics of the finished quilt!

Star Wreath Quilt

I'm so so so happy with how this turned out. The design is based on this pattern, using bright kid-friendly colors. This was my first real experience with free-motion quilting (aside form a little 12"x12" wall hanging), and I feel like I learned so much during the process! At this angle, you can see the nice texture from the quilting

Star Wreath Quilt

I decided to do a variety of quilting designs on this quilt, to practice many different ways of free-motion quilting. I started with a basic wobbly meander in the green areas of the wreath

Star Wreath Quilt Detail

Next, I did a sort-of paisley-ish design in the orange parts

Star Wreath Quilt Detail

Then I did a pebble stitch in the yellow area. I really love this look, but this stitch seemed to take way longer... maybe also because there's so much yellow.

Star Wreath Quilt Detail

Next, I did heart echo pattern in the middle of the purple star, and those weird snakey things in the purple star points. I don't really like the weird snake-looking things, but they don't bug me enough to rip them out. :-/

Star Wreath Quilt Detail

Finally, I did the loopy-meander in the blue sections. This was probably my favorite stitch. Also, it seemed the easiest... maybe because it was the last one.

Star Wreath Quilt Detail

For the back, I used paper-piecing for my niece's name, Jiya. When I saw that stripe fabric, it was love at first sight--I think it makes a fun back for this quilt.

Star Wreath Quilt Back


The binding is a cheery orange with yellow flowers

Star Wreath Quilt Binding

In lieu of a label, I wrote on the back of the quilt with fine-tipped permanent fabric marker. :)

Star wreath quilt detail

As with all gift-giving, I know that once I give this away, I need to let it go (as I did with the first blanket I made for her.... which is lost and gone forever in the Indian postal system). I do really hope she likes it, though! I have such fond memories of my blankets as a little kid--I hope this can be that kind of thing for my niece. And this time I'll be hand-delivering it--so I don't have to worry about it getting there in the mail!