This weekend I find myself wrapped up in a new project- something I have never tried before but always wanted to. This is my first time doing a whole cloth quilt- er pillow actually. I have major love for pillows when trying out a new technique- the smaller scale makes the projects seem so much more achievable and who doesn't love a pretty quilted pillow? Well I sure do! So if you've never heard of it before a whole cloth quilt is the process of using one piece of fabric (typically a solid) and quilting the heck out of it, making your quilting the design. Often times you will see these with the thread matching the solid fabric so the design looks fairly subtle unless you look really really close. I am not such a fan of this idea because I want to see the quilting- from near or far. So I chose some bright contrasting threads to make the design pop. I started with the word LOVE and made the letters look like feathers- then did a small stipple stitch all around those letters to finish the design. There were definitely some sew right and sew wrong moments in this project. The V and the E ended up too close together- so close I couldn't stipple through the tops and had to break thread- SEW WRONG... ahh- I had a lump in my throat that made me want to throw in the towel when I saw that. But, remembering where I want to go with this blog and how I want to show others what I have learned I pushed forward and will remember to leave enough space between my letters next time. The sew right moments are there too- I have never done such a small stipple stitch and I think for a first time it looks pretty good. I have also never seen anyone do letters with a feather design like this and am very pleased with the design. For a first whole cloth project I think it turned out pretty great and will definitely enjoy this pillow on my couch when it is all done. Now I just have to quilt the back pieces and put it all together. I will show you all how I make my pillows in the next post. And now I can say I have caught the whole cloth bug and have many more designs I would like to try swirling around in my head. Whole cloth LOVE!
I am very lucky to have a life partner who completely supports my sewing in every way he can. He had the brilliant idea a few years back to start buying me fabric to make a Christmas quilt every year as one of my gifts- a quilt that I would make for our little family each year to start our own collection. This is a tradition I have come to very much look forward to when it is gift opening time. He picks the fabric and I create the design and make the quilt. It is so much fun to pull out the past quilts every year when holiday decorating and reflect on how my skills have grown in a year- this small collection is an important part of our history and has become family heirlooms for us. This year I got 3 charm packs of Kate Spain's Flurry collection and I couldn't wait for the gift opening to be done so I could get started. (well that isn't entirely true- I really do love opening gifts... especially from him) But as soon as that part was done I was already sketching and planning on how I would make my quilt this year. I had a lot of ideas but settled on doing my own version of a 9 patch quilt- I have looked and looked and can't find anything similar to it on the web- I call it my cross eyed 9 patch and I just love the design. I love it so much in fact that I may just make my first quilt pattern with this new technique... so more on that later. I am working on quilting it today and I will show more progress as soon as possible, but for now these are a few shots of the blocks . Three cheers for lovely BF's with amazing taste and great tradition ideas!!
