Friday 3 January 2014

The quilts of 2013

Looking back on my first year of quilting, I'm so chuffed with how far I've come and what I've achieved.  There's been so much learning going on! I've really enjoyed the process and hope to continue develop my skills into 2014.  Here's the lowdown on what's been happening....


1. Baby Bleakley quilt - my first ever quilt (technically it's from 2012 but meh), so many things there I can do better now! Why I decided HSTs would be a good place to start I don't know, but they matched up really well.  It was here I learnt that it's much easier if you make the backing at least a couple of inches bigger than the quilt top.
2. Granny quilt - big blocks make a quick quilt! My biggest love with this quilt is the matching cushion (pillow) - I love the texture that the closely quilted lines give.
3. Oceania quilt - first try of equilateral triangles, and they matched up pretty well. The colours on this quilt are my favourite for the year.  I hand stitched the binding down and then went over it with a fancy stitch on my machine and it gave a great texture.
4. Christmas table runners - second free motion quilting attempt, starting to get the hang of it now! Also tried machine stitching the binding down and found that if you hand tack the corners first you get a much better finish.
5. Snowy Owl quilt - love the texture of the lines, but all those corners took forever to quilt!
6. Joseph quilt - love, love, love the bright batik jelly roll strips, and the pieced back, and the slightly wonky spiral... My favourite quilt of the year!
7. Papillon quilt - first attempt at free motion quilting and I did lots of looping and squiggles. Turned out really well with great texture and not too stiff, but I thinking I prefer my quilting more widely spaced.  However the pink and grey were a fantastic colour combination.

These were all given away as gifts... But hopefully for 2014 I might actually finish a quilt for me (there are a couple of quilt tops around that I'm planning to keep hold of)!!

6 comments:

  1. Fabulous work, can't believe you've only just started quilting. You're right, you must keep some for yourself.

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    1. Thanks Maria! I've got at least two WIPs for me, and lots of other plans.... Paper piecing is the next thing to try so I'll be scouring everyones' blogs for tips!

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    1. I tend to agree! Hope you're doing OK?

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  3. You have so many beautiful accomplishments for your first year! awesome!

    Thanks so much for linking up to Needle and Thread Thursday!

    :) Kelly @ My Quilt Infatuation

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