Thursday 8 December 2011

Penultimate 2011 quilt

Another baby quilt finish for a little boy born last week.

Pattern from this book.


I did a meandering all over quilting 'pattern', primarily because I was pushed for time and it seemed the easiest thing to do.

When I'm quilting over both dark and light fabrics, I always opt for the 'safe' option of using mono-filament thread in the top so you don't actually see the thread, just the pattern it makes.


And I used a regular cotton in the bobbin for the back.


I ran out of whatever the lighter cream coloured plain fabric was, so added a different colour in, which I am fine with.

The binding is Kona Curry and because I didn't have enough of that either, mixed with Kona Yarrow.

For the first time ever when it came to the quilting, I took Leah Day's advice and I did not drop the feed dogs and it really did make a huge difference...for the better. Previously, when I've been free motion quilting with the feed dogs down, I have felt that I have been in charge of an out-of-control lawnmower with a life of its own as it careened off here, there and everywhere.

With the feed dogs up I felt more in control and got better stitch length regularity. I am thinking up and not down is the way to go from now on.


This is not quite the back of my quilts for 2011 though as another work colleague is due New Year's Eve.
Just need to squeeze one more quilt in.



Oh...almost forgot. The 'penguin' moment.


Linking up to Amanda Jean.

22 comments:

  1. Oooh, I like this quilt, and I`m a sucker for a scrappy border. I think this could be a favourite!

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  2. I love this quilt! It got a lovely feel about it. But I have to ask - what is the person on the tub doing in the last picture?

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  3. OOoh I think I've worked it out - holding the quilt up!? duh.

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  4. I love this quilt and the quilting is amazing! Love these penguin photos!

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  5. I love that quilt! Would you recommend the book? I already own more quilt books than I need, but I quite fancy this one.

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  6. A very sweet quilt. I like what you did with the back.

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  7. LOVE the back on this one :-)

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  8. Very striking quilt Alison - I linked to Leah to read her feed dogs theory, think I might experiment. I recall being on an fmq workshop years ago and also realising at the end of the day that I had my dogs up for the final session.Worth a try.

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  9. Love the border on this one. Does that type of thread make it more difficult to quilt? Where do you get it from?

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  10. Another lovely quilt. And thanks for the "penguin moment" smile!

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  11. Love the quilt, and the backing is fab too. Do you have to pay for penguin duties?

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  12. Beautiful quilt. I love this pattern for a little boy.

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  13. Wonderful! Baby (and Mom) should love it. Is that a bloggers party button I see on the right? Woot!!

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  14. Lovely quilt! And I love the photography helper photo too.

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  15. That is soo cute! Love the bright colors! That is a great pattern.

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  16. Absolutely love everything about this.

    Hmmm, feed dogs up....will try.

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  17. So you didn't have problems steering the quilt around with the feed dog trying to push the fabric forward from the bottom?
    The quilt is adorable...... what a great gift!

    Happy Sewing and Merry Christmas

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  18. How beautiful, what a luck little baby :-). I too have found that leaving my feed dogs up is the way to go for me! Especially now that the dial to set my stitch length to 0 actually works! Thanks for sharing :-)

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  19. Ooh lovely, Alison! I didn't know about the feed dogs staying up idea - will have to give it a try!

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  20. I love this quilt - It's absolute dottiness!

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  21. I agree, the quilt is nice!
    I especially like the back: it looks like the coat of arms of Amsterdam

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  22. That's a beautiful finish, love it :) and love the penquin moment too! She deserves a chocolate biscuit for all her hard work! lol

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