Free Motion Mavericks - Week 59 - Two Cars in the Middle

Having made a couple of cot quilts for baby boys over the past few weeks, I thought they would all turn out looking very similar.

The cars have made a reappearance right in the middle of the quilt, so the wheels theme carries on, but the colour scheme is a bit of a departure.  Not my usual shades at all.

This nursery print is to blame for sending me in a different direction.  It's a  version of one of my favourite fabrics, the toys hanging out their washing, which I have been using in cot quilts for months.  I bought several bundles of four fat quarters, each of which had the same print with different colour backgrounds - pink and pale green, both of which I have almost used up, a peachy pink which is so pretty I have been saving it, and this really peculiar sludgy purple which leaves me slightly confused.  It is not a colour that I readily associate with babies.  Leafing through one of my books this week I found that purple was a colour that was popular in quilts in this country in the mid 19th century, especially after Queen Victoria took to wearing a shade derived from a synthetic dye called mauveine.  That probably explains why I associated this iffy purple with mourning, not a brilliant choice for a nursery print, and I wondered whether I would ever find a use for it. 

Then I tried it next to this rather jolly scooters print and decided to use it.

The tiny hearts in the border print are exactly the same shade of mauve, and by using the glum plum nursery print for the binding I might manage to use it up quicker.  It has given this quilt a definite make-do post-war austerity look. 

But that doesn't mean there isn't any fun in it.  The tea time theme is here again, with a Big Ben mug turning up in the London mugs print...

...and tea cups, tea pots and jam pots with little hearts...

...which manage to tie in neatly with the hearts in the border print.  Even the binding is fun-packed, with this elephant peeping out at us...

...and his friend going cross eyed on the corner.

So it has turned out to be the perfect quilt for the vintage austerity baby boy racer who is determined to have fun against the odds.

And after all my misgivings about the purple, something went totally right.  I used the same colour bobbin thread for the quilting and the binding, and this is how much was left when I finished.  It wasn't just that the bobbin was almost finished, but that I couldn't have refilled it anyway because I had none left.

Here goes for week 59..

Many thanks to Bernie, Gwyned, Alison, Norma, Cynthia and Angie for linking up last week to show their free motion quilting projects.

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-

1.  Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2.  Link back to this post in your own post and/or grab the linky button for your blog's sidebar.
  
3.  Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.

4.  The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.

So far quilters from the USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France and Macau have taken part.  The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.

Linking up with Kelly's blog My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday
and Michelle's Romantic Tangle for Let's Make Baby Quilts
and Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday
and Amanda Jean's blog Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday.