Saturday 23 June 2012

Liberated Llamas

I started with this...

Laurie Wisbrun fabric available here
...which, with some help from my stash became this.


Some of the stash is quite old.


I just cut and sewed, only squaring up to a 9 1/2" unfinished block when I thought 'that looks OK.' The only planning was the addition of the three bits of brown and blue fabric, just to add a bit more interest to the proceedings.


For the quilting, I used this stitch on my sewing machine.

Stitch no. 160 on the Bernina 440QE
Which I lengthened as far as possible to get a shallow bend, starting in the middle of the quilt and working all the way to the right side. No measuring between lines, just random eye-balling.

I then flipped the quilt round, positioned the needle in the middle of the quilt again and worked my way to the right again.

What this means is that half the scallop shapes face one way and the other half, the other.

Quite possibly today's most boring quilt photo but hopefully you get the gist.



I used monofilament thread in the top and a white cotton in the bobbin.
Monofilament because the contrast between the white and the brown is so high, either shade of thread would have been too visible. Monofilament gives the texture of the shape without the colour.


The pattern the stitch makes is possibly not as visible on the front, as the quilt has already been washed, owing to The Incident With The Hot Cup Of Coffee when the binding was part-way sewn on.

I thoroughly enjoyed this random exercise in sewing and I love the richness and variety that all the shades and hues of brown bring to the quilt.

If you would like to get liberated with some llamas let me know, as I still have a bit of the fabric left and I think I'm all llamaed out now.
Happy to post anywhere.

31 comments:

  1. I would love to have the leftovers! Your quilt is stunning. As all of yours are!

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    1. I was in such a hurry to be the first to reply, I didn't say all I wanted to. :) Thank you for showing your process in doing this. I have seen some 'improv' piecing that I haven't been wild about, but I like this very much. And you are right, the various shades of brown adds a lot of richness to the quilt. I have some pieces of my Quilt Minnesota 2010 fabric left that has various pictures, and this would be a great way to showcase them.

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  2. you should enter this quilt in the pets/animals quilt show...there is a link on sewcalgal's blog...cute quilt

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  3. It's so cute!!! I like that you used the monofilament thread to quilt the top. What kind do you use? I've been looking for a good monofilament thread to use while quilting. The one I use now is very plastic-y.

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  4. I can only see one truly liberated llama: on the back.
    The others have all been put in separate cages!
    (zucht ... zeurende Nederlanders ....)
    No seriously: I love all the browns in the quilt.
    And ALL the llamas

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  5. They all have such great character - especially the hat ones!

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  6. I love it! A truly beautiful and modern brown quilt - I hope some of my friends who need to embrace brown more are looking. I might have to get a llama or two, they are too cute.

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  7. Looks so warm and cozy. Love the little guy hanging out on the back. And good thing it is brown with said coffe incident....

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  8. your quilt looks great.....love it.....nice touch on the back with the Llama.......

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  9. I think the llama on the back totally completes the quilt for me. Also, you didn't have any tension problems between the two types of thread? My machine really gets mad when I don't use the same type thread in the top and bobbin :(

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  10. Wow! Absolutely love it. The llamas work so well like this.

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  11. I love love love the back. I want just one llama to do that. Must track them down!

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  12. I just noticed some of the llamas have wee quilts on. Priceless

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  13. I love the llamas, but all that brown... I need therapy!

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  14. I don't think I have ever seen a brown quilt that I have liked until this one. LOVE IT! The lamas are so fun!

    Love all of the EPP too. They are beautiful.

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    1. What was he doing logged in to Google?!?!
      I guess my if your husband can email me about heavy petting with fabric, mine can love brown lama quilts. :)

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  15. Darling! I'd love to have some fun making something with these guys!

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  16. So few quilters work with brown, I think this is awesome!

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  17. Love the little guy on the back.

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  18. That's so cute! Thanks for explaining what you did on the quilting. I'll have to give it a try.

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  19. As always, I love your quilts! And to use brown. Brave! And it turned out just beautifully! Adding the little pops of blue warmed it up so much. Perfect. :)

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  20. I love the fussy cut llamas! Especially the one on the back, it's so fun!

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  21. llames in hats and glasses, who'd have known they'd be so cute? And *shock* not a coffee near a quilt incident?! Bet there was lots of wailing and gnashing of teeth, glad it came out well in the wash!

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  22. Very cute quilt. I like the addition of the Llama on the back.

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  23. Love it! That little llama on the back is so sweet.

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  24. I like this quilt... The llama are cute! I love them and highlighted them...

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