My Latest Quilt

Okay, I accept that most people, unless you are one of about three people, will not understand the  name of this quilt - When Kaffe and Chris met Kim at Central

The reference is to my new quilt which I finished last night.  Now, I wouldn't normally name a quilt that gets thrown over a sofa as opposed to hanging on a wall, but this is how I think of this quilt.  Why?

Kaffe Fassett is an American quilter (and knitter), who is known for using an array or different colours and fabrics, to make very lush looking quilts.  I love the look of them, as long as I don't own them - they are way too busy for my taste.

Chris Brinnistool is a friend who made a quilt, the back of which I absolutely loved.  A bit of a backhanded compliment for poor Chris, but she's a quilter, so she gets it.

Central refers to the store where Chris found a hand-full of great fabric by Kaffe Fassett and Amy Butler to name two.  We caused mayhem there on a couple of occasions, choosing fabric for my quilt and a bag Chris is going to make.

So, this quilt is my interpretation of Kaffe's and Chris' quilts, with fabric purchased from Central.  Listen, you can either name your quilts things like 'the splodgy one' or 'sofa quilt' OR, you can just be creative with your naming.  Maybe I should just get a life?

Moving on...

Here you can see the pieced quilt top, spread out on top of the batting and backing fabric on my studio floor.

As working with busy fabric is new to me, it took me some time to get an arrangement that I liked.  I gave up completely on one fabric, as it was just way too much for me.

The picture below shows the quilt spread out across the sewing table.  It can't be sewn this way, as the weight of the quilt stops me being able to 'free motion' the quilt ie, drop the feed dogs down and move the quilt by hand.

Above shows how a big quilt normally looks when I sew it. It has to be bunched up to get it through the small space between the needle and the body of the sewing machine.  It then needs to have a puddle of fabric sitting loosely around the needle, for me to move freely around.  Can you imagine if this was a full King sized quilt?  Well, that's one of the reasons I don't make them!

Here is a close up showing the meandering stitch, sometimes called stippling stitch, that I used.  It uses a lot of thread.  I worked it out.  I used 2.4 km of thread!

When you see one of my quilts, you can usually tell its one of mine as I quilt them to death.  I prefer a flat looking quilt, with texture.  I didn't start this way however.  My first quilt (which I threw away it was so ghastly), looked as though it was stuffed with a family of bumpy rats!

Here is the finished quilt after the binding has been added.  I am going to cherish this quilt, as I won't be making another one for quite a long time, despite the heavy hints from Alan about his study sofa looking bare!  The back of the quilt is just one colour, the bright pink to the right, which was the same fabric I used to bind it.

This is the finished quilt on my sofa.  I can't decide which way around I like best, but it doesn't matter really.

It may be strange to some of you, but there is nothing like sitting on one of my own quilts.  It is a bit like a love affair.  I can touch it and get a wonderful tactile sensation, which on my normal wall hanging quilts, is an absolute no-no.  If I feel ill, I love to pull our other sofa quilt over me, it wraps itself around me and makes me feel safe and snuggly.  Thank goodness I'm not into making the quilts with bits of metal on them.  I could have a nasty accident with a bit of stray metal, and as for poor Alan, he is still trying to forget the time I left the needle in his boxer shorts!

I forgot in all my ramblings to say, that the reason I choose this style of quilt, was because I wanted to interject some colour into my room.

Before you sign off, don't forget to click on The Coven Goes Global bog as I am also posting on there.
Oh, and please leave a comment, even if it is to say, I hate that quilt!