Thursday, March 12, 2015

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 35 - Red and Cream


Teresa of Third Floor Quilts left a comment a couple of weeks ago, saying "I am guessing that a cot quilt is what we would call a crib quilt", to which I replied yes, and two days later it dawned on me. I'm a bit slow sometimes when confronted with the obvious.  Why not make a crib quilt?  Smaller, quicker, and no need to buy anything, the stash is to hand.

So here it is, 25 x 26 inches, a little wider than it is long so baby can be tucked in down the sides in his crib or pram.

After all the riotous scrappiness of the cot quilts I have been making, I decided it was time for a little minimalism.   


The joy with this quilt was being able to see what I was doing rather than being dazzled with lots of colours and prints  Initially I was thinking of doing straight line quilting for the lines of squares, but after some fooling around getting a walking foot jammed over the needle clamp and giving up in disgust, I free motion quilted the squares with little leaves and curls.  I thought this would leave the squares a bit bumpy, but once the broad bands of cream had been filled with serrated leaves the overall effect wasn't too bad at all.


For the quilting I used a variegated thread in pastel shades of pink, green and yellow, and of the four different red prints that I used for the squares, I used the one with the tiniest design for the binding.


The design of the backing fabric I find a bit puzzling.  Why do some of the flowers look like boiled eggs, and why have others got eyes?  Perhaps the baby will have big brothers and sisters who can provide a suitable answer.  They can also have fun counting the squares...



... picking the strawberries...



... and hamming it up as Long John Silver - aaagh, the Black Spot! 

This little quilt has been a joy to make.  The 15K treadle is running beautifully smoothly after its little bit of attention last month, which made the quilting problem free.  The piecing and binding were done on the Singer 128K, which, with its gorgeous red and gold decals, looked even prettier than ever while stitching all the red and cream.  

I think I shall have to make some more.

blogbutton photo peacockfmq025_zpse5bceb10.jpg



Here goes for week 35...

Many thanks to Quilt Musings, Alison, Gwyned, Angie, Jasmine and Heulwen for linking up last time.

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 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 to Kelly's blog My Quilt Infatuation for  Needle and Thread Thursday
and Richard and Tanya Quilts for Link a Finish Friday
and Angie's blog A Quilting Reader's Garden for WIPs Be Gone
and Michelle's Romantic Tangle for Let's Make Baby Quilts
and Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday




19 comments:

  1. That quilt is adorable! Love the quilting, the different leaves are amazing - I may spend quite a lot of time trying to figure out how you did them!

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  2. Simple but so beautiful. The quilting is adorable. I love it.

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  3. This is beautiful! I love the red and cream combination, it's the perfect showcase for your FMQ. Have a wonderful day!

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  4. wonderful crib quilt. love the colours.

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  5. This is beautiful and you did a great job! Can you share what threads you used for top and bobbin? Many varigated threads come in heavy weight (30 or so) and it is so difficult to get the tension right, but your stitches look perfect.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Anonymous! I use Gutermann Sulky Cotton 30 for all my quilting. They do an immense range of variegated threads, and vintage machines work especially well with a heavier weight all-cotton thread. I have used another brand of cotton in a 30 weight but it kept snapping, whereas I have never had the same problem with Gutermann's.
      Feast your eyes on these colours...
      http://www.barnyarns.co.uk/variegated-shades/

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    2. How about the bobbin thread?

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    3. Same thread top and bottom.

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  6. I love your quilting on this one. The leaves look so gracious and light as if gently moved by a soft breeze. I had to pin your picture as a future source of inspiration.

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  7. Love the quilting and the "simple" color combination. Did you mark this quilt for quilting or just wing it? I am really taken by the nature related quilting. Still cannot believe that you do all of this on treadles even though I have seen your videos!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Karen! I never do any marking for the quilting, I am a total winger.

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  8. Pretty, pretty, pretty. I love the sophisticated quilting design on a quilt meant for a baby.

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  9. Dear Muv,

    Your crib quilt is lovely...how do you stitch such gorgeous leaves!?! Do you draw them first? Got a good chuckle regarding the stylistic flowers (boiled eggs and eyes, LOL). And ohhhhh, now I'm wanting to re-read Treasure Island, one of my favorite books from childhood!

    Love,
    Linda

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  10. Ha, I just noticed your reply to Karen...no marking. Wow!

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    1. No marking, Linda, just aim. All the stems for the leaves emerge near the bottom corner of a red square, and the top of each leaf is level with the top of the next red square.

      You'll be hamming it up reading the bedtime stories before you know it...

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  11. Minimalism works! It looks really good.

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  12. Beautiful quilting on all that open space!

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  13. Love the motifs you used, and all admirationf or winging it!

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  14. I really like your quilting. Making smaller quilts is great, isn't it?

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