Hedgerow Quilt

The Hedgerow Quilt from the Makower UK “Hedgerow Panel” and coordinating print is done! I used three different quilting techniques to complete it.

There is big stitch hand quilting using #8 Perle cotton around the animals in the blocks, straight line walking foot stitching in the Returning Birds pieced blocks, and free motion quilting in the sashing and in the animal blocks.

I did free-motion echo stitching around the leaves in the blocks. It gives the block almost a trapunto effect even though there isn’t a 2nd layer of batting and the batting I used isn’t thick and lofty. I really like it. There is a similar effect with the hand quilting around the animals. I also stitched along the stems of the flowers in the animal blocks.

There is a lot you really can’t see on this quilt. It’s almost like the hidden berries and other wonderful plants in a real hedgerow!

On the sashing blocks, there is a running vine pattern. And each of the solid blue blocks has a free motion plant that is similar to the plants printed on the Hedgerow panel blocks.

You can see what I’ve done a bit better on the back of the quilt, but even there, some of it is essentially hidden! But I know it’s there, and that’s what counts!

The royal blue stitching on the deep orange backing fabric really jolts your eye when you flip the quilt over. It reminded me of the color study posts I did in the past. You can see some of the color studies I did by clicking on the Color Studies Tab above or just by clicking this link.

Hedgerow Panel Quilt Top

In my last post, I showed you the Hedgerow Panel printed by Makower UK. Since then, I’ve cut up the panel, reorganizing the blocks. It was bothering me that the fox was looking at the rabbit. Now the fox is looking at the squirrel…I’m fairly certain there is no risk to our bushy tailed friend from the fox! And I moved the birds to the top of the quilt so it looks like they are flying in the sky. (Check back at my last post if you want to see the panel before I cut it up).

The tiny dark blue print is also from the “Hedgerow” fabric collection as is the the tiny running bunnies fabric.

The pieced block is called “Returning Birds”. It seemed like a good choice for this nature rich quilt.

The back will be a leaf fabric that has been in my stash. The fabrics were a misprint (the leaves should be in straight lines but they drift as they cross the width of the fabric) from Connecting Threads years. At the time I purchased a lot of yardage in multiple colors at a very low price. It has turned up in my quilts on and off. I’ve used 3 different colorways of the leaf fabric on this back, but they all coordinate with the quilt’s colors.

This quilt will be the size of a baby quilt…about 40 x 60 inches.

For my regular readers, I have company coming so there probably won’t be a post next Thursday.

"Virtual Beach 2020" Quilt

Just what this summer with COVID-19 needs: a “Virtual Beach 2020” quilt! It’s almost as nice as the real thing. Though sadly, not clam shack or ice-cream shop in sight!

I love how this summer quilt came out. I cut out the motifs from the “Surf’s Up” panel, designed by Julie Dobson Miner for Northcott. I didn’t use all the blocks in the panel…just my favorite 12.

I framed four of the panel blocks with a hand-dyed red fabric from my stash and the other blocks with one of the Kona® Cotton reds. The tiny blue scallop print is from Clothworks line “By The Seashore”. The scallop shells are tiny, just 3/4 inches wide.

The fabric with the wheeling gulls a the summer sky on the back of the quilt is from the Northcott line “Swept Away”. It was designed by Deborah Edwards and Melanie Samra. It’s the perfect back for a beach quilt.

This little quilt is just the right size to throw over that back of a chair or use as a wall hanging.

In this summer of mostly-sheltering-in-place, it just makes me happy!