Today i finally completed a quilt i had begun work on years ago!!!
I started the piecing of this quilt way back in end January of 2013, and completed it by mid March 2013. I then lived at Vizag. I was very new to the world of piecing and quilting. Somewhere on the world wide web i had chanced on a maple leaf quilt, and it struck me...i loved it for many reasons.....it used HSTs, about the only technical term i knew at that time....i love nature especially trees.....pictures of fallen maple leaves and their hues have always fascinated me. This was a perfect combination!
The fabric selection was easy. I used to sew my clothes so i had lots of left over coloured fabric of every hue and print. In June 2012, i had picked up a fabric set for 'salwar kameez'. These are always colour coordinated, and, to my advantage, it was in shades of green!!! Perfecto!!!!!
Then began the designing of the quilt top and it came very easily. I decided to design it in four quadrants, with the leaves moving away from the centre. Then came the cutting....it was those days when i didn't have either a rotary cutter or a cutting mat. So i just drew out the lines on the back of the fabric and used the scissors to cut them out. Now i wonder how did i ever manage to cut so many pieces out! I remember by right shoulder hurting me a lot.
I have been a big time Tupperware collector....so i picked up some containers which were new and decided to use them to sort and store the different pieces. The BG indicated background and LF indicated leaf.
This is the completed pieced top. If you notice the quadrants are alternated in terms of the background fabric and the sashing. I did this to break the monotony.
The maple leaves were placed randomly and move away from the centre. The quilting is not very visible in this picture.
It was a little shorter than i had wanted, so i added a six inch wide fabric on both the sides.
Below is a close up of the quilting design which was used to demarcate the four quadrants. A separate one was used on the sashing around the leaves.
The above picture shows how the background fabric and the sashing were alternated for the quadrants to break the monotony.
The backing is extra special.....the two colours used and the way the quilting adds character to it.
I started the piecing of this quilt way back in end January of 2013, and completed it by mid March 2013. I then lived at Vizag. I was very new to the world of piecing and quilting. Somewhere on the world wide web i had chanced on a maple leaf quilt, and it struck me...i loved it for many reasons.....it used HSTs, about the only technical term i knew at that time....i love nature especially trees.....pictures of fallen maple leaves and their hues have always fascinated me. This was a perfect combination!
The fabric selection was easy. I used to sew my clothes so i had lots of left over coloured fabric of every hue and print. In June 2012, i had picked up a fabric set for 'salwar kameez'. These are always colour coordinated, and, to my advantage, it was in shades of green!!! Perfecto!!!!!
Then began the designing of the quilt top and it came very easily. I decided to design it in four quadrants, with the leaves moving away from the centre. Then came the cutting....it was those days when i didn't have either a rotary cutter or a cutting mat. So i just drew out the lines on the back of the fabric and used the scissors to cut them out. Now i wonder how did i ever manage to cut so many pieces out! I remember by right shoulder hurting me a lot.
I have been a big time Tupperware collector....so i picked up some containers which were new and decided to use them to sort and store the different pieces. The BG indicated background and LF indicated leaf.
This is the completed pieced top. If you notice the quadrants are alternated in terms of the background fabric and the sashing. I did this to break the monotony.
I was mighty thrilled with the outcome. I had no idea what the quilting would be like. I loved that it was looking like how i had pictured it to be...... it was so colourful...and above all, it reminded me of so many of my outfits!!!
I then relocated to Mumbai in early April. The quilt top was packed away carefully in a trunk and that's where it stayed for months. One day i decided to pull it out and start work on it. I got thin flannel for the batting (ideal for the tropical climate), and cotton fabric in chrome and green for the backing. I hand quilted 'stitch in the ditch' around each maple leaf. I finished it all......but did not like it. So...what happened next??? It got folded neatly and again put away in the trunk!!!
Sometime in mid 2014, i decided to take it out again. Before the rotary cutter, the quilting ruler and the cutting mat found their way into the house, i used the large set squares. These had some nicely shaped slots in them. Do you see them on the right? These were put to good use. I had a blast tracing the shapes onto the quilt top. Then came the quilting....black was the colour of choice. I used a regular embroidery hoop and used it to quilt almost half the quilt. That's when i decided to invest in a quilting hoop. Amazon delivered the 14" hoop and....it surely made my hand quilting journey so much easier.
I finished the hand quilting last month and today was when i completed the binding. I love the feel of the quilt.....the look, the colours, the quilting, the softness. It seems to have a certain old world charm to it.
This quilt will always be special to me. Here are some pictures of the finished quilt.
The maple leaves were placed randomly and move away from the centre. The quilting is not very visible in this picture.
It was a little shorter than i had wanted, so i added a six inch wide fabric on both the sides.
Below is a close up of the quilting design which was used to demarcate the four quadrants. A separate one was used on the sashing around the leaves.
The above picture shows how the background fabric and the sashing were alternated for the quadrants to break the monotony.
The backing is extra special.....the two colours used and the way the quilting adds character to it.
The quilting on the sashing around the maple leaves.
And yes.....forgot to mention earlier.....i opened out the earlier quilting around the maple leaves....that took up so much time in itself.
The front, the back, the quilting, the binding..........each one of these goes a long away in adding to the character of this quilt!
