In exchange for making her a bag (either this one or this one ... my memory is failing me!), my friend Trace sent me some glorious fabrics from Australia! I love them -- I mean REALLY love them. And I get afraid to cut into fabrics I love that much. Is that odd? I wanted the perfect quilt pattern to show off the beautiful prints and just couldn't find it.
Enter Pinterest. I started seeing a few things I really liked, then was able to redesign a pattern into one I thought would be perfect! I took the first step:
As I wrote on Instagram, "Cover me, I'm going in!" I was about to cut. Truly the hardest part - cutting into that awesome fabric!
I love map fabric anyway, but teamed up with cool vintage cars is over the top! Oh, hey, look!!!
That's where Trace lives! Can you see her?!?
My pattern called for careful color placement and lots of flippy squares!
I was pretty far along in the process when I realized I should have sewn two seams 1/2 an inch apart on the squares so I'd have extra half-square triangles. I decided to remedy that by piecing those leftover triangles together:
Waste not, etc.
To get my fabs exactly where I wanted them, for the look I wanted, I started in the center and worked my way out.
The project grew swiftly!
I mean, seriously. Once I was willing to cut into the fabric, it was all a breeze from there!
I love the layout! I quilted with King Tut Sands of Time - a simple wavy grid. I didn't want to detract from the fabs or the design:
Quilting wavy lines is one of my happy places, I've decided. It pleases me.
Next up, piece the binding together:
And stitch that on!
Here's a look at the finished quilt:
And here it is, hanging in its place of honor in my Studio:
It hangs directly across from my Bernina! I've called it Australian Floor Tiles - hopefully, you can see why!
Many, many thanks to Trace for the awesome fabs! I do have a plan for the others and for the leftovers from this project - that will be implemented soon!
And thank you for reading!
KZK
That's seriously pawesome!
ReplyDeleteI totally understand your fear and have a few of those fabrics in my stash too. The quilt turned out great and really shows off the fabric.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure I sent you these in return for the Super Shopper - which I still have and love, by the way. This turned out awesome! So pleased you finally used them.
ReplyDelete