Taking a break from my pre-vacation house deep-cleaning and packing to share pics of the finished 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
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
Next, I did a sort-of paisley-ish design in the orange parts
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.
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. :-/
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.
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.
The binding is a cheery orange with yellow flowers
In lieu of a label, I wrote on the back of the quilt with fine-tipped permanent fabric marker. :)
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!
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
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
Next, I did a sort-of paisley-ish design in the orange parts
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.
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. :-/
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.
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.
The binding is a cheery orange with yellow flowers
In lieu of a label, I wrote on the back of the quilt with fine-tipped permanent fabric marker. :)
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!
