Usually I steer clear of dark colours when making cradle quilts, but this time I thought I could get away with it. The dark shades all go so well with the colours of the elephants in the centre that I was dying to use them, and the turquoise with beige spots lifts the whole colour scheme.
The variegated thread that I used for the quilting has shades of purple, yellow, dark blues, greens and maroon - the perfect combination for this quilt.
For the backing I used the blue and grey butterflies print, one of my all-time favourite fabrics.
I managed to do all the quilting and binding on Monday as I had a trip away planned this week. On Tuesday I travelled to Berkshire to stay with a friend, on Wednesday we had the day out in Oxford, and today I had a very eventful trip back on the train travelling through a blizzard. Winter has finally arrived, and with a vengeance. The blizzard seems set to last all night.
Here goes for Week 175.
The project that caught my eye in week 174 was Angie's baby quilt. If you haven't seen her blog post yet, nip over now and have a closer look.
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.
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, Macau, Russia, Ireland and Brazil have taken part. The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.
Linking up with Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday
and Michelle's Romantic Tangle for Let's Make Baby Quilts
and Amanda Jean's blog Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday.
Hey, this is a cool baby quilt! The light turquoise pops cheer right in the with darker colors, so it works great for the purpose. Elephants are always a great choice for kids, aren't they?
ReplyDeleteYour elephant quilt is very cute. And you're right the turquoise with dots works really well.
ReplyDeleteAngie's quilt is great, and so is yours! I'm sure someone will think those are the PERFECT baby quilt colors. People are much less conservative about color these days, in my opinion. Nurseries match the sophisticated color schemes of the whole house, toddler's rooms are gray, etc. Of course, elephants are timeless :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Louise! The little quits are a wonderful opportunity to try out colour schemes on a small scale. Grey would never be my first choice for a quilt for a baby, but I know other people like it, and making a couple of quilts with a grey border was interesting. I ended up quite liking them. The challenge is to go beyond your own taste in colours and make it work.
DeleteThis is my first time linking. I found you from Confessions of a Fabric Addict. You had me with the title. elephants. Great looking little quilt. I've done some fmq but have a lot to learn yet.
ReplyDeleteHello Tu-Na, great to see you here!
DeleteStash quilt or scraps? It turned out GREAT!!
ReplyDeleteThanks JQ. It's mainly stash, but all the really interesting colours in the narrow dark band around the elephants are scraps.
DeleteGreat elephant quilt. Stay safe in the snow.
ReplyDeleteThanks Cheryl. The thaw has started already so it will be back to normal in a day or to, but even muddier than usual.
DeleteThank you, Muv. I really like your cradle quilt also. Looks like a medallion quilt to me and the dark blues work well.
ReplyDelete