Grand Reveal – Abbie’s quilt…

Wow it has been so long since I’ve had a quilt reveal!
Ever we decided to change countries my quilt making has really been on a go slow!
Mostly that doesn’t bug me – there’s only so many quilts a girl needs and we really do have a house full nowadays.
But there was definitely one missing –

Miss Abbie needed a quilt for her bed!!

Technically Abbie  had one on her bed. But as she has been in a single bed for over 2 years now and still only had a cot sized quilt to call her own, I decided it was high time to make her a full bed sized quilt.

I had actually finished this quilt top back in September last year and I’d even almost finished piecing the back, which makes it pretty inexcusable that I hadn’t finished it yet.

But I’d got stuck on the back and couldn’t make a decision about how to make it big enough with the fabric I’d had, so I’d folded it up, put it away, and found ways to procrastinate.
All because it got a little hard.
(Am I the only one that does this?!).
Also I had run out of batting and had to buy more.

But during the last week of the school holidays I had a day stuck at home…
It was too wet to go to the park and we had an extra child for the day but not an extra booster seat so I decided to use the fact that the kids were happy playing and finally finish Abbie’s quilt.
Especially as it’s coming into winter and she actually does need another blanket on her bed!

Conveniently, batting had been on sale the previous week when I had gone in to buy some lycra to make Hannah a gymnastics uniform and I’d purchased a few metres, so I was all sorted to get started.

It always amazes me how it’s always so much easier to accomplish something after I’ve had a long break from it and when I am in the mood to overcome whatever the obstacle was. True to form, it was easier after the break and for whatever reason that day the pieced back just came together easily. Within half an hour I had a finished pieced back and was ready to baste.

Then I realised something…

When I left Australia I had to leave all my spray baste behind because we weren’t allowed to pack anything flammable into our container. Cue realisation –
“oh noooooooo I had no spray baste in the house!!”

So I had a decision to make – wait until I could pick up some more spray baste – or go and find my nemesis… the dreaded safety pin.
As much as I had pin basting (I know, I know – I’m ridiculous) I decided to give myself a stern talking to and just get on with it.
After all, I’d already procrastinated 8 months by this point – who knew how many more it would be before I got another opportunity to finish it otherwise!!

So I pin basted. You can even see the evidence in this shot of me quilting it…

And I have to admit that it wasn’t as bad as I remember. I was super careful as I was doing it and used lots and lots of pins, because I used to remember getting puckers when I pin basted. But this time it was fine.

I quilted approx 1/3 of an inch on either side of the lines, on the diagonals so that it made a diamond effect on the back…

I was originally planning on getting this quilt long arm quilted by a friend of mine. But as the prints are so busy and there is no negative space on the front I decided that I’d just straight line quilt this one and save the investment of long arming for the next quilt. I think that even though the quilting is basic, it has complimented the design nicely.

Here is the finished quilt…

I really used all my favourites in this quilt! Lots of Sandi Henderson & Heather Bailey prints, along with some of my other favourite designers. All of the fabric used came from my stash – prints that I’d been hoarding to make “something special”. For several years in some cases.

I pieced the back partly from triangles left over from the front (ahem, this is what happens when you sew without a plan) and partly from a flower print that I found in my stash. I must have bought it on clearance because I had several metres of it and I don’t usually buy that much at a time. But it was serendipitous because it worked perfectly with the colour scheme I had chosen.

Here is a full shot of the back…

Those of you who are very astute will notice that I’m calling it “finished” even though I haven’t actually put any binding on it yet. Yep, I cheated and just overlocked the edges.
** Guffaw.
Such a rebel!

But in my defence it was time to make dinner so I had to tidy up my sewing and a little someone was super dooper eager to snuggle under it immediately.
I aim to please so snuggle she shall…

I’ll get around to the binding someday I’m sure. (ha don’t hold your breath though).

Littlest flutter has a very happy heart now that she has her own Mumma made quilt on her bed.
Not to mention a very bright and cheerful bedroom!

When her quilt is IN her bedroom that is. It’s already getting the “must love by dragging around the house with me” treatment, especially for Saturday morning snuggles on the couch in front of the TV.
But there is nothing I love more than walking into my living room to find a big pile of abandoned quilts…

Because that pile of 3 abandoned quilts means that my quilts are being loved, appreciated and used.
They are pivotal in the making of memories.

I love that!
That to me is what it’s all about!

And that my friends is Abbie’s Tutti Fruit new quilt.

I have had lots of questions asking me about how I made it and if I used a pattern.
No I did not use a pattern. There was much trial and error involved in the layout. I used a ruler as my template and then just made it up as I went along. I’ll share my tips and what I did technicality wise, along with a copy of the triangle template in another blog post for those interested. So feel free to ask your questions here so that I can answer them in that…