Wednesday, January 27, 2016

January Finish

A first finish for the new year,  completed on the young recipient's birthday, though we won't be seeing them for another couple weeks.  Made up of giant hexies - a first (and last) for this quilter as hexies have always been my least favorite quilt pattern.  This pattern looked doable and fairly quick, as it was made up of 2 1/2 inch strips and I had a jelly roll with some coordinating fabrics languishing in the stash.
In retrospect, the jelly roll was made up of many colors and mostly tiny prints that read almost as a solid from a distance while the pattern quilt used only two colorways and large prints which would probably have been a better choice.  Still, this quilt is bright and cheerful, as well as soft and cuddly, and I hope will make the young recipient happy.  The pattern is from Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting, March-April 2015.

I used my largest Baptist fan stencil to mark the big-stitch quilting design, and used DMC #8 Pearl Cotton for most of the quilting.   This was a first attempt at big stitch quilting, so a lot of discoveries there - like stabbing my fingers a LOT more than has ever happened with traditional quilting!  The work does go faster though, which in this case worked out well since I wanted to have it completed in time to give it to her as part of her birthday gift.  And it just wasn't a quilt I would have wanted to spend months-on-end doing traditional hand quilting, nor did I want to machine quilt it.  The big-stitch quilting left the quilt soft and cuddly, and sweetly old-fashioned looking.   After washing the quilt finished at 58x68 inches.

A couple weeks ago I was the lucky winner of a giveaway on Country Lady Quilts blog, and received this sweet packet of fabrics from Terry.  Thanks so much Terry, I'm thinking these will soon find their way into a baby quilt on the soon-to-be-started list.

Our short January thaw is apparently over as it's snowing again this morning, however we have much to be thankful for as last weekend's nor'easter missed us entirely!   But much as I don't care for the cold and snow anymore, these days do afford more time in the sewing room and that, my friends, makes me VERY thankful!

11 comments:

Debbie said...

I can't say enough about how lovely this one is! It looks soft and cuddly and your photos are great! I love the look of your giant hexies and the big stitch quilting is a perfect combination for it. A very successful first finish. Know she will love it :)

Samplings from Spring Creek said...

Beautiful quilt--the quilting is beautiful--I am becoming a fan of big stitch quilting

Ruth said...

I love it and I'm sure she will too! What kind of batting did you use?

Janet O. said...

What a lovely finish!

Teresa in Music City said...

That is such a sweet quilt!! It does look very soft and cuddly. The hand quilting adds so much. I've found that I love big-stitch quilting :)

Marie said...

Just beautiful, even if hexies aren't your favourite. I know it will be greatly loved.

audrey said...

The big stitch quilting is a beautiful touch!

Dana Gaffney said...

That turned out beautiful! The quilting is perfect, the whole quilt does look so soft.

Kyle said...

What a gorgeous finish. It's going to be loved for a long time. The big stitching does create a softer feel to the quilt and does go a lot faster! Your quilt is a beautiful start to 2016.

Barb said...

Great quilt and wonderful fan quilting!

The Tea Lady's Journal said...

Love the quilt and the quilting design works perfectly. Great job.