a quilt for a new home

Here it my second quilt finish of 2021. I finished this Lucy's Terrace quilt (designed by Jodi of Tales of Cloth) a few weeks ago, before I finished Annie's leaving home quilt in fact but I didn't want to post about it because it was a present for my brother and his wife, who moved to a new home at the end of September. A quilt makes a perfect housewarming present. I started this quilt in July 2020 and probably finished the top in February or March this year. I really liked it seeing it on my "design wall", it made such a beautiful backdrop to the many Zoom meetings I had to endure but there came a point when I needed the wall for Annie's quilt and I folded it away for a while.

I am always a little worried when I make quilts for others, particularly as a surprise. My love for scrappy colourful quilts is not everybody's cup of tea, I am well aware of that but unless I have clear instructions, it is what I always end up with. 

This quilt was "inspired by Lucy Boston's famous Patchwork of the Crosses" (see description on link above). This English Paper Piecing quilt is largely constructed from honeycomb and square papers, which I ordered from a UK shop because because it did seem a bit silly to ship these over from Australia. I did however buy the pdf pattern from Jodi's shop because it is important to honour the designer. You can buy the kit with all the papers, pattern and acrylic templates, or you can opt to buy each separately.

I also bought an acrylic template to cut fabric because I like to cut my fabric accurately. Less waste that way. I used fabrics from my large pile of fat quarters and scraps. I spent ages thinking about what fabric to use where and I am not 100% happy with some of my choices but hindsight is always perfect. For example, I regret not using plain white fabric for the squares that connect the blocks. 

The entire quilt top is hand stitched but the quilting was done by machine, on my old machine if I remember correctly. I chose diagonal lines. I am not fond of heavily quilted quilts with fancy stitch patterns. I would have liked to hand quilt but I noticed on some of my own quilts that my hand quilting is not as durable as the machine stitches are. I'll be doing some mending on my first EPP quilt, which I hand quilted also. I used grey variegated Aurifil thread, slightly thicker than normal sewing machine thread. 

The back is a dark grey with a simple line pattern. The fabric is from Makeover, the design is Linea. I have this in many colours because I just love it, not entirely solid but no fussy pattern either. I used some tiny scraps to add a bit of colour in the back and to join to sections of backing fabric. 

The binding is a soft pink because who doesn't like a bit of pink in their life?

I use Superior Bottom Line polyester thread for hand piecing quilts. It is very fine and disappears into the fabric. I bought a spool in 2017, a neutral colour, and have used this for all my hand stitched quilt tops. There is still enough thread for at least two more quilts. Apparently it is a bobbin thread but I find it is perfect for delicate hand stitching. It is also quite tough, so hopefully long lasting stitches. I have no  recollection of how I came to buy this thread but it was a good choice. 

I am now concentrating on my Ice Cream Soda quilt but I want to make a quilt for my loveliest friend's daughter Eadie, who will need a leaving home quilt next year. I wonder what she'll like?

In other news, we are back from Devon. I'll tell you more about that another time. I also planted all my tulip bulbs. I am particularly excited about the bulbs my blog friend Jo sent me, two orange varieties. This is simply the best colour ever (and not just for tulips). 

Right, the laundry is waiting. There is aways laundry to do in this house. Thanks for visiting.