Saturday, October 29, 2011

Prince Charming for a Princess

It's time for Blogger's Quilt Festival again! This is my second round participating, and I have a really special quilt to share. I made this quilt recently for one of my closest friends.

Amy'sCreativeSide

This quilt is for Stephanie, one of my best friends, who is expecting her third baby and her first girl! I had a rough time starting this project because I wanted it to be perfect. I have been itching to create a zig zag quilt for awhile, so I decided to start there. The directional prints in the Prince Charming line were a challenge, but I love how this quilt turned out!
I have had this zig zag quilt pinned on my pinterest board, and I love how the white zig zags are narrower than the colored zig zags. I found a really great Pat Bravo teal solid that matched the Prince Charming line, and decided to use the solid for the narrower zig zag. As I pieced the quilt together, I decided that I didn't like keeping the prints organized in the zig zags, though. The directionality of the prints was a lot more distracting in that layout, so I mixed up the prints and kept the solid zig zags consistent.
Once the top was pieced, I struggled with the quilting. The perle cotton hand quilting craze inspired me, but the perle cotton that I bought was too heavy. I tried to hand quilt a few zig zags, and it was just impossible to pull the thread through the quilt layers without straining my hands a ton! I started bouncing some ideas off of my running/quilting/chatting/drinking friend, and she suggested quilting diagonal lines contrary to the diagonal pattern of the zig zags. I chose to quilt the lines sparingly, because Stephanie recently told me that she liked the softness that is lost in dense quilting.
So, here's the quilt!
 Do you see the binding in the upper righthand corner? I was short by 1 binding strip, and the shop was sold out of the teal solid when I went back. I decided to use one of the darker prints from the top, even though it wasn't my favorite. I think the dark print was a great choice, though, because it seems to blend in well!
For the backing I used part of a thrifted bed sheet. It was so nice to not have to piece together a backing!
 A pumpkin and a quilt. Can you spot the garden gnome?
I sent this quilt off with some cute little girlie summer clothes (for next year) and a pair of newborn longies. After 5 years of dinosaurs and firetrucks, I'm sure this package was just the beginning of the pink!
As soon as the package arrive Steph let me know that she loves the quilt and her boys had a great time digging through the baby things and admiring the tiny girl clothes. I can't wait to see them love on their baby sister!

24 comments:

Sarah said...

This is such a pretty quilt!

Heather D. said...

The quilt is fantastic. I didn't notice the contrasting binding strip until you pointed it out. I like it though, looks intentional. I would not think to do diagonal quilting lines that went opposite to the zig zag, but it looks amazing. Love the little gnome. :)

Marika said...

Very nice work thanks for the quilt for division.

Teje Karjalainen said...

Hi! Your quilt is so wonderful! Great pattern for those bright colours! I think the one different part in the binding makes it just more interesting!
xxx Teje

Annabella said...

I really really love this quilt and your use of Prince Charming is inspired. A really beautiful and fun baby quilt! With a 3 year old, I`m in the midst of dinosaurs and fire trucks - it goes on for another 2 years does it?! A perfect choice for the BQF.

lifesrichpattern at gmail dot com

Bobbi said...

Oh, I love love love this quilt. The binding is perfect -- I love a pieced binding! I also love the quilting. Straight lined quilting is next on my to-do list, but I need to try it out on a small crib-sized quilt. I guess one of my friends just need to have another baby. HAHA

Jessica said...

it's beautiful! And I really like the binding. I think it's perfect!

Mom said...

love the quilt!

Margaret
www.quiltsoflove.blogspot.com

Emily said...

I just picked up the same sheet, also thrifted!! I absolutely love it though I haven't found the perfect project for it yet.

Jennifer Mathis of Ellison Lane said...

It's really cute- love the bold colors and your daugther is adorable!

felicity said...

I love this quilt and its story is wonderful. Happy BQF and best wishes to your friend!

Debbie said...

That is one lovely quilt, and honestly, I LOVE the binding! Great job!

Kirsten said...

Beautiful quilt - love the colours and the binding looks just right!

Toni said...

Excellent quilt! Love the design and colors. Great little girl quilt without being too pink!

trish said...

What a fabulous quilt! :o)

The Thompsons said...

It's beautiful! )and yes, I love the garden gnome) :)

CityHouseStudio said...

What a gorgeous quilt!
Beautiful job!

Lucy | Charm About You said...

Great story and a lovely quilt! I like what you did with the fabrics, I think the different directions really make it work :)

CitricSugar said...

You know, I wasn't a fan of this colourway when it came out but you've made me love it.

Gorgeous.

Plima quilts said...

I love this! Wonder, would it be charm pack friendly? What size did you cut the blocks at, if you don't mind me asking (or if you used a pattern?).

Eileen said...

Love your vibrant baby girl quilt. Really nice design and wonderful fabrics. Thanks for sharing and have a great day

Kit Lang said...

Lovely quilt. Thanks for sharing. :)

Carmen said...

So pretty! I love Prince Charming, I'm using it on a quilt myself right now! That shade of blue is a perfect fit.

Carmen said...
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