Monday 30 April 2012

a quilt finish!

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Yes I'm very happy to say that the Children at Play Quilt was completed in time for J's 5th birthday. This is the quickest I've ever completed a quilt, nothing like a deadline to spur you on but it was a close run thing.


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The backing is Aqua Kona and Moda Bleached White PFD plus some 5" charms cut from the left overs of the fat quarters of the Children at Play fabric - I used my Sizzix Big Shot to cut these - fun and fast too.


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I machine sewed the binding which still needs some perfecting as a method but there's no way I'd have managed to get it sewn on in time if I'd hand sewed. This time I sewed it onto the front of the quilt and then used my ditch quilting foot to stitch in the ditch again on the front using this tute. I found that I missed quite a few bits on the back and had to do a fair bit of unpicking even though i'd pinned it like mad. In the end I used some basting tape to attach the binding to the back and this solved my problems. I try not to use lots of this tape as it's not cheap but at by half eleven I really needed some help. I think Stitch Witchery might be ok for this purpose too but it doesn't wash away like the other tape.



cap-binding


Next time I bind a quilt I think I'll go back to sewing it onto the back first and edge stitching on the front as for me it gives neater finish and I can see what I'm doing better. Another thing that I found is that there's pretty poor visibility when it comes to turning the corners using the ditch stitching foot so I ended up doing a  locking stitch at the corner so I could then readjust and also make sure the corners were secured properly.


cap


The wadding is Bamboo/cotton blend which is lovely and soft, I soaked it first as per the instructions as I didn't want a wrinkly crinkly look. I used some Cotton Patch Cotty quilting thread in the champagne colour that I had to hand and luckily my machine and the thread got on very well and I had no issues with the quilting at all.

J had some friends round for a wee birthday party which went really well, his top present apart from his quilt of course was a spider man costume which he's worn every day since. he's managed to get pen on his quilt already :( but it does mean he's actually using it which was the whole point of making it. I was a bit more annoyed about it at the time but he ho what can you do?

Talking of Spider Man here's the cake I made at his lordships request, didn't quite go according to plan but it tasted good and there were no complaints so that's got to be good.


spidey-cake


Bye for now


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ETA






15 comments:

Toni said...

It looks so fabulous, Nikki! Congratulations on getting it done on time! And Spiderman looks tasty, too!

needle and nest said...

Both the quilt and cake are awesome! I love the Scrappy binding.

Canadian Abroad said...

Knew you would get the quilt done and it looks fabulous. Love the cake too, especially the spiders round the sides.

Lucy | Charm About You said...

The quilt is gorgeous Nikki!
The cake is incredible too!! My son hates icing (oddly!) but I know he'd shout with glee seeing that, he wore his Spidey costume to school on own clothes day!!

Katy Cameron said...

Yay, so glad you got it done in time, and glad the pressies all went down so well (although I might now be hiding every pen in the house that wasn't washable lol)

Ali said...

"Next time I bind a quilt I think I'll go back to sewing it onto the back first and edge stitching on the front as for me it gives neater finish and I can see what I'm doing better"

Thank you for this! I just made my own seam binding for a quilted mat and had problems with it missing spots on the back when I sewed it on, this seems like a smart option to try so that doesn't happen to me again!

Beth said...

Your quilt looks fantastic! I just finished a quilt using that Kona Aqua yesterday - great color. I've also started machine binding my quilts starting on the back and flipping to the quilt top - it is so much easier to control. I've actually been using a zigzag stitch (I know zigzag might not be the right look for all quilts.)

Tamie said...

Love the quilt and the cake is very impressive. You might try hairspray on the pen to get it out.

sew obsessed said...

Love the quilt and fabrics used.
And the cake is great my boys would love it :)

Lynz said...

What a brilliant quilt! I gave up with machine binding, I was actually quicker in the end hand sewing it on than doing all that damn unpicking! But I've seen some great examples of machining it - I am obviously just a bit rubbish. LOVE the cake!

Stephanie said...

Well done nikki!! It's gorgeous and the fabrics are absolutely stunning!! I still want to make poppys quilt out of the girls version. Awesome cake too, he must have been so chuffed!x

Ruth said...

That is a fabulous quilt! It would be perfect for a boy or a girl! I love it!

Crafted by Carly said...

What a fabulous new quilt, Nikki! I absolutely adore it!!! I really must have a go at making quilts - I'm always so inspired and full of ideas after visiting you....
Carly
x

Ali said...

Thanks for the link to the tutorials at http://www.luvinthemommyhood.com/2011/11/quilting-911-how-to-sew-quilt-binding.html

I decided to tackle binding my first large quilt today using the one side at a time method and it is working beautifully so far. I love improving!

Sew,ray,me said...

It's gorgeous! Well done Nikki :)

The cake looks amazing too, you're so creative!

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