One of the reasons I became interested in quilting was to make special gifts for friends and family.
My mother tried to teach me to sew clothes when I was younger, but I wasn't all that interested. I didn't know about quilting, or the creative process it could encompass.
A few years ago I began quilting, and knew that I'd make something special for her one day. She and I both love Laurel Burch and when I saw this panel I just knew it would be the right starting point for her quilt.
I designed my own Dahlia applique pattern, and spent months carefully stitching down each little petal. In the end, one of the more challenging aspects of this project was turning those tubes inside out to make the stems!
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| FMQ on my Singer 404 |
With its beautiful gold accents, the Laurel Burch panel was just begging me to quilt it in gold...but I was new to FMQ and not familiar at all with using metallic threads. Through trial and error (and a lot of help from my friends on about.com!) I finally got the right combination of needle and thread and did some really fun, swirly quilting in the flowers. I also did outline quilting on the animals in the pattern.
Here we are, holding up the final quilt! She was afraid to use it at first, but I insisted that it was made to be snuggled under, not just displayed!
What a wonderful tribute to your Mother. I, too, made a quilt for my Mother (which is in the festival as well). There is something special about these quilts, isn't there? Your's is beautiful! I'm sure she loves it!!
ReplyDeleteThree words, beautiful and stunning, (or is it two words)?
ReplyDeleteWonderful quilt with a beautiful design!
ReplyDeleteOh, your quilt is so great! Such a lot of work!
ReplyDeleteI'm really looking forward to see the next one!
Oh my gosh perfect chose Misha! I would be afraid to use that too. :) I am so glad you got a quilt submitted.
ReplyDeleteGoodness this is gorgeous!
Thanks for all the kind words, folks! And thanks again, Sam, for letting me know about the festival :)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! Great job!
ReplyDeleteGlad you were able to convince her to use it! I made my gma a quilt and she keeps it folded up on her bed so it doesn't get dirty. Meanwhile she's bundled up in an ugly old fleece because she's always cold!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful job on the quilting. I handquilt in part because I am so intimidated by trying to FMQ on my machine.
Thank you, Amanda! I love your baby quilt, and all the texture and moving parts. Definitely something I want to try some day!
DeleteRe: FMQ, the best advice I can give you is to just make some baby quilts (even using panels or simple piecing) and GO FOR IT. Just keep practicing. This quilt for Mum was maybe my 3rd or 4th FMQ project. Each one gets better and easier, you just have to practice! I don't have any fancy equipment, I'm using an old Singer 404 circa maybe 1950 (I keep forgetting her age) and a darning foot.