Well in time for my daughter's birthday, the free motion quilted bedspread is finished at last! Here you can see approximately half of it. I had to fling the quilt over two rickety wooden clothes racks which are standing on top of three dining chairs squeezed between the kitchen dresser and the fridge. It measures 76 x 96 inches. Taking pictures of a large quilt in a small house in poor light is a bit of a lark, so a picture of the whole quilt will have to wait until another day.
In the meantime, how about an artfully arranged shot of the folded quilt?
Getting the binding on took most of the day, off and on, on Wednesday.
The binding is such a wonderful shade of pink, and the flowers and dots so pretty.
It was interesting seeing how the flowers on the binding would turn out at the corners - each corner has ended up looking slightly different.
Using so many different prints for the joining strips was fun too. If I wasn't particularly keen on a print, or if I hadn't got enough to make a quilted panel, I used it for the joining strips.
All told, this has been an interesting quilt to make. It is the first quilt I have made entirely with Singer 15Ks - the quilting all done on the 1945 treadle, and the joining and binding all done on the 1949 hand machine. I have found out how much enjoyment can be had with lots of pretty girly prints, and what a lovely feel dress weight cotton poplins have once they are free motion quilted. I have also found out that brushed cotton is an absolute pig to use for a backing - too much friction and not enough glide when quilting.
Another bit of fun was making a test video, to see if I can make some half decent quilting videos in the near future. Here is the last bit of quilting I needed to do for this quilt, intentionally draining the camera batteries, which were about to go, and with my lovely patient husband squeezed in the corner of the sewing room to start the camera while I treadled. Not a brilliant video, I know. If you want to see a well made video, watch this one of Amy's, and give her a big cheer. Ideally I want to balance the camera on my left shoulder, or strap it next to my ear. It looks as though Amy has already perfected that rare skill, and can do the quilting at the same time.
Finally, great news about a show!
Midsomer Quilting are putting together an exhibition to be held at Radstock Museum, to run from Saturday 1st February to Saturday 31st May. I visited their last exhibition in 2012, it was fabulous - so many gorgeous quilts! This year I am really thrilled that my Queen's Diamond Jubilee Quilt will be given an airing there too.
Yesterday I took a drive across a stretch of very wet Somerset to deliver the quilt for the show. My friend Kate came with me, and we turned it into a proper trip, stopping off at a wonderful second hand book warehouse while we were out. We took a route that I was fairly confident shouldn't be too wet, and on the way the roads were not too bad. What a difference on the way home! A localised downpour on already sodden ground can be pretty drastic. Flood water was streaming off the fields across one section of road we had to drive down, and other roads were cut off... so all the pretty pictures I thought I would take on yesterday's jaunt just didn't happen. I'm just grateful we made it home without too much drama.
Welcome to Sinead Mercier, the latest follower - thank you for joining!
Linking up again to Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday
and Julie's blog That's Sew Julie for TGIFF
and Nina Marie's blog Creations... Quilts, Art... Whatever for Off The Wall Friday
and Leah Day's blog for FMQ Friday
Update 3rd April
Linking up today with Katy's blog The Littlest Thistle for Finish Along 2014. This is the only finish I have managed this quarter out of the three I planned. I'm pacing myself.
