Saturday 31 May 2014

Blue Garden is finished

Well, as promised in my last post, this quilt is finished and I'm ready to share it with you all. Fortunately it's a lovely clear winter's morning here in Wellington, New Zealand, and I can get some outdoor photos in our backyard.

Blue Garden
I purchased a blue Kaffe Fassett jelly roll for this quilt from a little quilting shop in Karori, Wellington. Sadly that shop has closed down since then because the owner wanted to retire. But if you want to make a similar quilt, you just need lots of strips that are 2.5" wide by at least 7.5" long.




I cruised the internet looking for a suitable pattern, and found Rockin Roll by Lyn Brown (click here). It's a free pattern in pdf form. The directions were nice and clear, and it was a very easy pattern to follow.

Hand Quilting with Perle 8 thread
I decided to hand quilt this quilt because I love the finish hand quilting gives. I used DMC Perle 8 thread in two shades of blue - a bright blue for inside the blocks, and a more subtle blue on the bright blue sashing. When I quilt with Perle 8 I use a Chenille needle which has a big eye and a sharp point. I also used regular quilting thread and hand quilted in the ditch where I thought it needed it.


I belong to two quilting related groups on Facebook - Celebrate Hand Quilting and Kaffe Fassett Collective, and members from both groups loved the snippets of this quilt I showed last weekend. Both groups are 'members only', but anyone involved in quilting can request to join.


Some people have asked how I keep the quilting lines straight. You can either draw lines with special pens that wash off, or use quilting masking tape as I did for a lot of this quilt.

Lavinia for the back
I wanted a blue / green floral for the back so chose Lavinia by Philip Jacobs and am really pleased with it.


At the end of a project there's always some pieces left over, and so you might have noticed that I used the scraps from this quilt to form the border of the quilt in my blog header. I'll write a full post about that quilt soon. I just couldn't bear to waste any of these gorgeous fabrics.

The facts:

The pattern is Rockin Roll by Lyn Brown

The feature fabrics are all from a single 40 piece Kaffe Fassett jelly roll
The border is Kaffe Fassett Philip Jacobs Rambling Rose in blue
The back is Kaffe Fassett Philip Jacobs Lavinia in blue

The finished quilt measures 64" x 80"


31 comments:

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

love the quilting you did on this - I need to get some more colors of the perle cotton all I have right now is brown and red! I need some soft colors on hand too. Great looking quilt.

Yvonne @ Quilting Jetgirl said...

I love the brilliant colors in this quilt - it looks so good being photographed outside! Congratulations on your lovely finish.

Oops-Lah said...

Love the colours of this quilt and the perle cotton quilting is perfect!

Lorraine said...

Turned out beautifully Wendy - love the fabric colours and choices!

Lin's Quilts said...

Love the Kaffe! He makes such great prints!

Kathy ... aka Nana said...

Simply beautiful! I love the perle cotton quilting!

Wendy @ Wendysquiltsandmore said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Schulz Family said...

visiting from sew cute tuesday. Wow go to an American site and find another NZer - got to love the internet!!! This is stunning. Love the defined line that the solid blue give to the otherwise normal rail fence look. It just makes it pop. I am amazed by your hand quilting. I would love to hand quilt but it just takes too much time so I machine quilt everything!! hmm maybe this needs to change

Serena @ Sewgiving said...

Lovely finish - I'm a bit of a sucker for KF fabrics and have 2 of his books ;) I love that you finished it with hand quilting, it has a calming effect on the quilt. Thanks for the link to the jelly roll pattern, I've been on the look out for a good one!

Pam @Threading My Way said...

A stunning quilt!! Love the bright colours!!! Your hand quilting is perfect.

Roslyn said...

Kaffe Fassett fabrics are always so striking! The quilt pattern is a great match for the fabric.

Granny Maud's Girl said...

I am a fan of Jacobs, and I love the backing. I chose a more muted blue for the back of my blue quilt because of what I could find at the time. It is pretty, but different enough from the front to make finding a binding that will work both sides very tricky.
It seems like you will be on my list of people to ask when I get stuck hand quilting!

Marsha Cooper said...

That is so pretty and bright.
I commend anyone who hand quilts an entire quilt. I so want to do so, but haven't taken that on yet.
I am barely doing basic machine quilting. I prefer to tie mine as it's so much easier and quicker for me.

Judy@Quilt Paradigm said...

What a fabulous quilt!! Love KF and this is such a beautiful use of it :) Adore your new header! Looks fantastic!

Lynda Halliger Otvos (Lynda M O) said...

Marsha, I tie the majority of my pieces too. It's so much faster and simpler than trying to do it by machine when all I have is a small Singer with a pretty narrow throat. I have tied nearly all my pieces.

Celtic Thistle said...

Really vibrant and beautiful quilt, I love KF fabrics and you have really let them shine here!

Audrey said...

Beautiful finish. Thanks for sharing on TGIFF!

Anonymous said...

Visiting from GloryBeQuilter. This is gorgeous. Thank you for sharing it! I just saved the pattern download. Your color choices are stunning. I love KF fabric - can't really go wrong with those. The hand quilting is a show of patience!!

kim said...

Gorgeous!!!

mtnquiltr said...

Wow, beautiful! What a lovely quilt!

Wendy @ Wendysquiltsandmore said...

Thank you very much. I hope you can have fun with the pattern too.

Jess (a.k.a. Rosie) said...

Oh wow!!! What a beautiful and vibrant quilt!!! Absolutely gorgeous! Visiting (and new subscriber) from Finish It Up Friday

~ Jess ~
Everything Is Coming Up Rosie

monique's mess said...

Lovely jewel colours to make a vibrant and happy quilt. Yah to hand quilting.... makes a lovely quilt even more special

Ruth said...

Congrats! It's gorgeous. I love your hand quilting tip with the tape!

Dona said...

Just beautiful. I love Kaffee Fassett fabric and of course the hand quilting is just lovely.

Marly said...

Wow; your blue garden really is blue! You did well to photograph it against such a matching bright blue sky. Thanks for the link to the pattern, and for sharing your quilting process. I've never used perlé cotton for quilting. I shall give it a try soon too.

margaret said...

just popped in from sew fresh quilts site, what a lovely quilt. Will also go to the link for making this quilt, many thanks for sharing it

Lorna McMahon said...

Absolutely beautiful finish, Wendy! Love the hand quilting... Especially the close up shots. That backing fabric is so vibrant and such a compliment to the quilt. Well done!

Daryl @ Patchouli Moon Studio said...

Beautiful quilt. Love those Kaffe Fasset fabrics.

Crafty Ashley B said...

Love it! Thanks so much for sharing your project and the pattern! Going right now to add that pattern to my pattern stash!

Mania said...

The colorway is my favorite!!!! Very nice quilt!