Kirsty Cleverly is a quilter-turned-pattern-designe
Browsing Tag
bonjour quilts
I am so excited and proud to share with you my finished orange-version of the Bonjour Quilts pattern Diamonds in the Deep. This quilt has taken up the better part of 2014, and it has been a huge learning experience for me. It was my first time working on a queen-sized quilt, my first time testing a pattern, my first time experimenting with value, and my first time collaborating with a long-arm quilter. And I can say, I am a better quilter for having been through the experience!
I plan to elaborate on my experience working with a long-arm quilter in the future, but for now, I just want to emphasize how amazing Shelly Pagliai of Prairie Moon Quilts is to work with, and, as the pictures clearly show, how amazingly talented she is! I feel so lucky to have *met* her and to have had the stars align so that we could work together on this quilt. Shelly custom quilted the entire quilt using hand-guided free-motion. Each block is quilted with a total of five separate patterns, to complement and highlight the piecing.
The binding on the quilt is Denyse Schmidt’s Voltage Dot in black, and the design of the fabric is echoed in the outermost layer of each block.
I could not be happier with the end result. As hard as it was to make a quilt of this size, I also feel a queen-sized sense of accomplishment and pride for having tackled this challenge. So many hours and so much love went into the making of this quilt (both mine and Shelly’s!) — I think it’s the perfect embodiment of our efforts!
Thanks for hanging out with me while I bask in the glory of this finish! I hope that everyone in the states had a wonderful holiday weekend!
Linking up (later this week) with Needle and Thread Thursday, Finish it Up Friday, and, as this is one of my Q4 Finish Along goals, The Littlest Thistle.
April’s do. Good Stitches block was a cute granny square on a small-scale printed white background. I used Botanique to make my squares, and I think they are just the happiest little guys ever!
This was the first time I “nested” my seams together rather than pressing the seams open. I got the hang of it by the second block, but my first block is not 100% as accurate as the second. I hope that’s okay!
I had fun seeing these blocks come together easily. Now I’m working on another easy-peasy project to give away for a fundraiser at my son’s preschool. A bright-colored half-square triangle quilt that ‘s perfect for a summer night! More to share soon!
My lattice love baby quilt (the one I shared here) is complete and already gifted away! I finished just in the nick of time, which is why the only photos I have were taken on a windy, stormy day! But we lucked out, because the day of the baby shower (the next day) was absolutely beautiful!
The tutorial from Bonjour Quilts was really easy to follow. While I’m not one to use a pattern, it certainly was easy to understand, and the graphic effect of the pattern has such great impact! I knew it would be great for the geometric nursery being planned for our nephew’s arrival.
Despite how clear and easy the instructions were, constructing this quilt had it’s ups and downs for me. I had a more difficult time than I expected trying to line all of those seams up! (Doesn’t that seem to be a theme in my quilting — I expect it to be simple, and I end up frustrated and challenged!). But even where the lattice lines aren’t perfect up close, it gives the illusion of a straight lattice when you stand back and look at the quilt as a whole. Somewhere along the way, I realized the cause of my struggle — the white Kona fabric was stretching. And even with straight pressing (careful not to iron), I found that precisely-cut pieces were no longer their original size once sewn and pressed. But still, in the end, the distortion was minimal. It was glaring to me, since I was on top of the quilt trying to perfect the seams. But to my sister-in-law and anyone else looking at the quilt, it really was not noticeable.
And this is the back! I had so much fun piecing it! I love improv piecing! No rules, nothing is right or wrong, just going on gut and instinct. So. Much. Fun! I added the elephants because my sister-in-law is in love with them, and the fabric had all of the colors of the nursery (which are echoed in the pattern on the front).
I am so happy to have completed this quilt by the deadline, in spite of the holiday, school vacation, and a few other hiccups along the way! And I can’t wait to meet that little baby boy who is going to call the quilt his own, in just a couple of weeks!
Hope you had a beautiful week! Now I’m off to make some granny-square blocks for do. Good Stitches! What are you working on this week?
I am making progress on the Lattice Love baby quilt I am working on for my soon-to-be-born nephew (which I wrote a bit about here). The top is complete! Hooray! Now I have one week and one day until the shower to get the back made, and get the whole quilt basted, quilted, binding on, label made/attached and everything all wrapped up with a bow! Nothing like a deadline to getcha movin’!
Wish me luck!
