The delicate colors remind me of springtime flowers and the scalloped edges might even be said to resemble flower petals if one wanted to take the imagery a step farther.
On this quilt I broke my rule of doing only machine quilting, which I feel ensures durability, on my baby quilts. I did do a small amount of hand quilting around the circle clusters to make them pop out a little.
The backing fabric is a lavender with small white flowers. I think it was a good choice because all the machine quilting plus the minimal hand quilting show up quite well on this reverse side.
Usually I say that I want my baby quilts to be used and worn to shreds. But I have to admit that this particular quilt would make a lovely wall hanging in a baby's room, if so desired. (Oh heck, I'd still rather see it used!)
As always, you can go to my website to see other pictures of this quilt, or contact me for more information or questions.
P.S. Does anyone know the name of this appliqued block of circles in a cluster? I've been unable to find a name although I know I've seen it on old quilts.
11 comments:
I love it! All the purple is great. I like to think the quilts I make will be worn and really used too!
very pretty. You KNOW that scalloped border really adds to the quilt! Did you use a quilters tool or a household item like a plate to mark this?
Hey, Why Not - Thank you! I know a gal (a great quilter) who has made a baby quilt for each of her many grandchildren. But she says she has so much work in each quilt that she tells the parents that she'd rather they "save" the quilt and not use it. WHAT the heck is with that??
Hi, Beth - I used a bowl to mark the scallops and then modified the corners to come out like I wanted. Highly technical, huh?
Love the scalloped border, it goes so well with the "petals"...you should toot your own horn...it is a very pretty little quilt!
Hi, Sharon - Thank you very, very much!
Very pretty! I don't remember ever seeing this pattern before. It's really fun!
joan
Hi, Joan - I was given an old quilt many years ago to use as packing when we moved. It was really thread-bare and worn, beyond repair. But it had this appliqued circle design on it so I know it's been around for a while. Sure wish I could find a name for it.
Thanks for commenting and for your nice words.
It's gorgeous! And I know that block has a name, but I'll be darned if I can think of it at the moment!
I'd be on the fence about this one as well on whether to use it or not. I too would rather see a quilt used but I could how a mom would be reluctant to let a baby puke on this one :)
As for hand quilting, the first baby quilt I ever made was from a pre-cut kit. I sewed the hexagonal pieces together by hand (hexagons!) and then hand quilted it. My niece is now 16 and used that quilt actively for years and so far as I know it's still in one piece.
Hey, Jen - Omigosh. Well, that's a testiment to your fine quilting abilities. A totally hand-sewn baby quilt that has stood up to being used, loved, washed, and used some more and still is in good shape. That gives me reason to think I can put some hand quilting on baby quilts (sometimes it would just LOOK better) and feel secure about it.
As I recall, I used a back-stitch for the piecing rather than a running stitch. And for the long seams I used a hand held Singer sewing "machine" that looked a bit like a staple gun that my sister bought me because she felt bad that I was doing the quilt by hand (or maybe she wanted to hurry me up, ha ha!) I remember when I gave it to her, she said she was afraid to use it because "it might fall apart" and I strongly encouraged her to try it and see!! :)
I'll have to ask her about it, but I know I saw it a few years ago and aside from some fading, it was fine.
Hey, Jen - Well, no wonder it's held together! Back-stitching your hand piecing. Kinda time consuming though, huh?
Post a Comment