Friday 17 May 2013

Blogger's Quilt Festival Spring 2013 - Retro Flowers

If you're visiting from The Blogger's Quilt Festival, welcome to my little corner of quilt-blog land. I started quilting nearly two years ago, and have very quickly become completely obsessed with making quilts. I love participating in the Quilt Festival - it's such a great way to find new-to-me blogs.

AmysCreativeSide.com

Apologies to my regular readers for making you look at this one again, but my entry into the Home Machine Quilted Quilt category is my Retro Flowers quilt I finished earlier this month.

Quilt Stats:
Pattern - Retro Flowers by The Sometimes Crafter.
Fabric - Good Folks by Anna Maria Horner, with Kona PFD for the background.
Quilted - by me on my Bernina, using Aurifil 50wt in colour 2021.
Size - 60" square.

This quilt began back in April last year as part of the Retro Flowers QAL, so it's spent a lot of time languishing in a plastic tub while I worked on other projects, only being pulled out occasionally for a bit of piecing or trimming. But then a few weeks ago I pulled it out determined to finish it, and I'm so glad I did! I love it! It probably helps that Good Folks is the prettiest fabric line ever ;o) I learnt a huge amount while making it too, which is always a huge bonus.

Full quilt - Retro Flowers

It was my first foray into curved piecing and my first time trying some pretty epic custom quilting on a project - free-form feathers around the borders and triple stitched lines around all the flowers and feathers (inspired by the amazingly talented Lisa, one of my quilty heroes).

Full quilt on point - Retro Flowers



This quilt is entirely pieced and quilted with Aurifil 50wt in colour 2021 (my go-to thread). I really love the fabrics I used in the flowers, so I decided to go all-out on the quilting and try some new-to-me motifs. I started by stitching in the ditch around each petal, and then echo quilting about 1/4" away around the petals. I then quilting the feathers around the borders. It was then a process of stitching the triple stitch between each of the flowers, and around the feathers on the borders. It's hard to see in the photos, but each of those straight lines is actually three lines of stitching placed very close together. It gives the most wonderful corduroy-like texture. Most of the lines were done free hand, without marking - although I did mark some reference lines in some of the longer sections on the border.

I used a lot of thread on this quilt - it's a 60" square quilt and I think I went through about 12 bobbins (and nearly an entire 1000m spool of thread). The quilting took around 25 hours (althought it was worth every minute.) Despite the amount of quilting, it still has a wonderful drape.


Quilting Closeup - Retro Flowers

When I stitched the feathers around the border I left a gap on two of the sides - I think these spots are probably my favorite of the whole quilt.


corner shot - Retro Flowers

The back is also mostly Good Folks. The main piece (Small Gathering) is such a large scale print, it works really well as a quilt back. I actually like the back as much as the front, even if I didn't centre it very well ;o)


back full shot - Retro Flowers

The quilting has shown up beautifully on the back. I have to say I'm a bit in love with the hand stitched binding too - I think I might be a convert.


back close up - Retro Flowers

Although it's only fairly small, this quilt now sits on the top of our bed, and makes me smile each and every time I walk into the bedroom :o)

I hope you enjoy the rest of the Festival - I'm looking forward to perusing all the entries this time around!

xx Jess


38 comments:

Annabella said...

No wonder it makes you smile Jess - it's just beautiful!! The fabrics, the flowers and your incredible quilting are so perfect. It's an amazing entry in the BQF.

Susan said...

Lovely to see Retro Flowers again! I think the quilting looks even better today..... I'll be voting for it, that's for sure!

Susan said...

Lovely to see Retro Flowers again! I think the quilting looks even better today..... I'll be voting for it, that's for sure!

Sarah said...

Such a a beautiful quilt!

Adrianne @ On the Windy Side said...

Girl, you got some mad FMQ skills! Seriously, I'm in awe! You better hope I never come to Tasmania because your quilt would be in real danger of being stolen away! Fantastic work :-)

Charlotte said...

perfect choice! And I am delighted to see it again!

Eileen said...

Lovely quilt and quilting. Like the petals left unquilted...nice texture. Thanks for sharing and have a great day

Gemma@prettybobbins said...

You don't need to apologise! It's a pleasure to see this quilt again :) fantastic quilting, beautiful prints and a great pattern :) what's not to love? :) well done on a beautiful quilt!

sonia said...

Wow, amazing quilting. Love the feathers!

Amy Friend said...

This one is just a joy to look at.

Beth said...

There is so much to love about this quilt!

Suzanne Daniels said...

This is beautiful. I thought I had already chosen my favorite but I guess not. It is stunning.

Patti said...

Love seeing this one! It's gorgeous.

Heather D. said...

Once again, just gorgeous!

Little Island Quilting said...

Lovely quilt, beautiful quilting and no need to apologise!

CitricSugar said...

No apologies necessary! I love this one and could look at it over and over again.... :-)

Katy Cameron said...

Well I *suppose* we can forgive you, given the fabulous quilting :oD

Kelly said...

No need for any apologies, I love looking at this quilt and your brilliant FMQ!

Paulette said...

Love this quilt! Your quilting of it is fabulous!

Janine @ Rainbow Hare said...

Everything about this is stunning - the front, the back, the fabrics, the quilting...beautiful!

Janine @ Rainbow Hare said...

Everything about this is stunning - the front, the back, the fabrics, the quilting...beautiful!

Nicky said...

Deserves many more outings! I am in love with your quilting!

Sue Daurio said...

Oh how beautiful! Love the fabrics and I'm with you the pin stripes on either side of the feather and the white space between blocks really pushes it over the top!

Deb said...

I think this has to be one of my favs. Just gorgeous.

Pile O Fabric said...

By far one of my favorite in home quilting, so amazing!

Newbie Jen said...

I love this quilt. And your "home machine" quilting is just outstanding. You are my idol! Rockstar.

Quiltin Jenny said...

Gorgeous! I love the juxtaposition of the close straight lines with those beautiful feathers.

You did a fantastic job on this one. Thanks for sharing it!

Anonymous said...

I agree, the back is just as pretty as the front. Well done.

Pat Merkle said...

YUP, still love the quilting on this quilt!

Aoife said...

Love this! The outline around each petal separating them from the straight lines is my favourite part, I think!

Krysta said...

What an amazing job you did! It is a beautiful quilt. Wonderful work!

Lisa said...

Simply beautiful!

DeborahGun said...

truly wonderful - I love this quilt :-)

Susan said...

Congratulations Jess! You are a winner!

Benta AtSLIKstitches said...

CONGRATULATIONS x

Elizabeth said...

Simply amazing! Congrats on the win! You deserve it!

xo -E

ChristaQuilts said...

Congrats on your winning quilt - the quilting is amazing!

CapitolaQuilter said...

Congratulations on the well deserved win.