Monday, February 18, 2008

Mom's Sunflower Quilt

I finished a quilt! Ahhh, it's so gratifying, even if its just a small wall hanging. I started this on a whim one evening when I was tired of just petting my batik collection and decided to actually CUT INTO some of it (gasp!). The pattern was a purchase from the Birch Creek Quilts booth at the AQS show in Nashville last year and I have to say it was super easy. I forget how much fun machine applique is, especially for whipping something up to go on the wall. I cut out all the pieces in about an hour one evening and then it sat on my design wall for a while. Then, a few weeks ago my dear sainted mother went and bought the Bernina embroidery machine that she had been agonizing over for 2 years and GAVE ME her Bernina 1260. So, of course I became a sewing fiend and the closest victim was the sunflower hanging on my design wall. Gotta say, MY new Bernina sews like an absolute dream and I look forward to many, many projects with it. This quilt will be going to my mom for her birthday as the first quilt I finished on her machine (um, mine).

One new thing I tried on this quilt was using press and seal (you know, the stuff that is like sticky saran wrap) to trace the quilting design on and then pressing it on to the quilt and quilting over it. It worked quite well for the little bit of quilting in the corners needed on this quilt, but I can't imagine using it for a large area, I would think your needle would get pretty sticky after a while. I used a pin to get under the press and seal to pull it off and it came off quite easily and did not pull my stitches (there are some pictures in the set below).

And then, since it is going to my mom, I had to add LOTS of Swarovski crystals (I ordered mine from Creative Crystal, they have great prices if you need a lot). The sample quilt at the Nashville show was heavily bejeweled also, which probably is what drew me to it in the first place.

Ok, so any family or friends that wander this way... shhh! It's a secret!

Here are pics:

3 comments:

MelissaS said...

Way to go Kate! I'm so proud of you!

Can't wait to see it in person!

Kathy Bridges said...

So, being the MOM who received this for her birthday last night, I am totally tickled. I was so beyond surprised, I was speechless!
For those that know me, that doesn't happen often.
I have the perfect place to put it where it can't be missed by anyone.
Some birthdays are just better than others!

Laurie said...

I know I'm late but I was googling and came across your site. I'm a novice quilter - I've done some quilts for my kids and tacked them or just quilted them with straight lines. But I'm intrigued by quilting patterns on top of the layers. I see you have like a tracing paper here - is that what you use or is there some specific quilting material you use? I'm ready to jump in and try my hand at *really* quilting. ;) Thanks!