Friday, May 23, 2014

And Then I Improvised...

The awesome Erin of Daley by the Yard asked me to do an improv piecing demo at her grand re-opening next weekend.  If you've seen my quilts you know that tiny little pieces and perfect points are more my style so I figured I'd better practice a bit first.

Neptune is one of my most favorite and maniacally hoarded fabric collections so it was perfect for having random little bits to sew together.  I just pulled everything out of my scrap bag and started sewing it together until I had a panel the right size for my anchor applique.

I also had some jelly roll strips left from my Zig Zag quilts that I pieced together for a border.

I thought it would be easier to do reverse applique on the anchor rather than trying to turn under seam allowances with pieced seams...  that may not have been true:-)  A little glue and a lot of patience and I got all the edges turned under.  I layered the quilt with the backing and batting and then quilted around the anchor to hold the edges in place.

For the rest of the quilting I used the Bernina wavy stitch (#4) with a stitch length of 4.  I found I had to adjust the tension way down to around 1 1/2 but with a little fiddling it was perfect.  It was pretty tedious but a couple of movies helped pass the time.  Thank goodness for Netflix!!!

I've entered this in the Applique category at the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  Hop on over there to check out all the other fabulous quilts!!!

AmysCreativeSide.com

Quilt Stats:
Finished quilt is 42" x 52"
Fabrics: Neptune by Tula Pink, Cotton Couture in Fog, FSDS Cosmic Blue for binding.
Batting: Quilter's Dream Orient
Thread: Aurifil 2845

13 comments:

  1. Love this quilt. The design is perfect for that hoarded Neptune fabric.

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  2. Lovely, great job with that reverse applique!

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  3. Beautiful carpet and great colors :) Hugs

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  4. Love the gray with the neptune, and especially the lifesaver setup!

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  5. It's beautiful. Perfect use of the fabric.

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  6. I love improv (and tiny - which gets really bulky very fast...) and you did a great job on that anchor! Beautiful quilt.

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  7. Wow, that's some impressive reverse applique! I always find points are really tricky. I love the anchor motif-- very Alice ;)

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  8. What a nice design. Huzzah for improvising! Great quilt, and I love the shot with the life preserver.

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  9. Oh, I love your improvising!! Great colours and a perfect job of the anchor. Simplicity at it's best!!

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  10. What lovely reverse applique! Good job.

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  11. Love it. Amazing job on the anchor! The photo with the life preserver is priceless, and it's nice to see a peek of the back!

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  12. I love this quilt! What a great job you did. I just tried my hand at reverse applique with a class I'm doing with Rachel from Stitched in Color. Didn't come out half as good! My daughter made Tula Pink's kit of the large anchor quilt - sooo pretty! Thanks for sharing!

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