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| My Bordered Peacocks |
I loved making this quilt. I took my time and enjoyed every step of the way, from fabric selection to planning the layout, to hand quilting it. Now that it's finished I'm delighted with it and I admire it each time I walk into our room!
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| One of the Bordered Peacocks |
I started this quilt back in January 2012 when I first saw the Timeless Treasures Plume range in my local quilt shop. I just loved the colours in the Peacock fabric, and knew I'd like to make a quilt with it. I spent 24 hours going through the saved images on my iPad, trying to find of a pattern which would frame the peacocks and flowers. I'd always admired the Kaffe Fassett Bordered Diamonds pattern (from his Simple Shapes and Spectacular Quilts book), so I decided to use that.
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| Bordered Peacocks close up |
I went back to the shop and bought some of the Peacock fabric plus a couple of other fabrics in the range. I then spent most of 2012 collecting complementary fabrics. I picked up more of the Plume range from other shops, plus some from the Timeless Treasures Shimmer range, and other fabrics that I knew would tie in well.
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| I love these blue flowers in the Peacock fabric |
It wasn't until January 2013 (a whole year later) that I started to cut into the fabrics. By then I had far more fabric than I needed, but the left overs have ended up as a whole other quilt and a bag you can read about here.
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| My matching bag made from scraps by my mum |
I machine pieced the top during the early part of 2013. Then I started to think about the backing fabric and decided on Eden in black by Chong-a Hwang. It's part of the Tree of Life range by Timeless Treasures, so tied in beautifully.
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| Backing fabric is Tree of Life by Timeless Treasures |
By mid 2013 I had a quilt sandwich, but it was the biggest quilt I've ever made. I knew it was going to take time to hand quilt, but I never considered getting it machine quilted. I love the soft texture that hand quilting gives, so I always knew I would be hand quitling it.
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| Hand quilting inside each diamond |
I quilted in the ditch around each of the 108 diamonds with black quilting thread, and quilted inside each of the diamonds with Perle 8 in either blue or gold. By the time I was about half way through the quilting, it was Spring in New Zealand so I put it aside to work on other things.
Last month (July 2014 - winter in NZ) I decided that it was time to finish it and start using it on our bed. There were less than 40 diamonds left to do, so I knuckled down and quilted them in less than three weeks.
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| Bordered Diamonds becomes Bordered Peacocks |
I'm really pleased with how it's turned out. I love the deep blue colours and the gold metallic accents that give it added life.
I did find this quilt particularly hard to photograph -probably due to the gold metallic accents. Please forgive the photography!!
The facts:
The pattern is Bordered Diamonds by Kaffe Fassett from his Simple Shapes Spectacular Quilts book
The pattern is Bordered Diamonds by Kaffe Fassett from his Simple Shapes Spectacular Quilts book
The finished quilt measures 84" x 96"
Most of the fabrics are by Timeless TreasuresI"m linking up with Alyce at Blossom Heart Quilts, Kelly at My Quilt Infatuation, Esther's blog., Confessions of a fabric addict and Crazy Mom Quilts
37 comments:
the diamonds are lovely and I love the peacock
Wendy it is stunning! I love that pattern and I would smile every time I walked past it also. I saw it on facebook and popped over to read all about it. I love your blog and I am a new follower.
xo jan
This is beautiful and I dont usually go for blues- I change my mind for this quilt. Its wonderful
I just love the gold accents!! Beautiful quilt!
What a gorgeous quilt! A real labour of love.
It's so gorgeous! The colours and fabrics are so pretty. It really is the perfect pattern for them.
what a spectacular quilt, design and fabrics all so beautiful and love that you have hand quilted it. Think I must invest in a quilters hoop. Also love the bag all so colourful
totally stunning. you have chosen such wonderful colours.
Diamonds and Kaffee-Two of my favorite things! Beautiful and so worth the wait.
Everything about this quilt is perfect. I love the fabrics, colours, design and quilting. You must be so proud.
The colors are stunning. Very peacock-ish! New word? You should be very happy with it. I too would smile every time I saw it. Congratulations on both a finish, and a gorgeous quilt!
I love your selection of fabrics. What a great quilt to have on your bed.
This turned out so beautifully, Wendy! I love that you pause to admire it when you walk by. :)
Thank you very much. Yes, I am very pleased with how it turned out.
Stunning, just stunning xx
I love this pattern and your version is delightful! There is something very flaming about a totally blue quilt!
It is beautiful. I like how the yellow and greens add layers and depth to the overall effect.
Fabulous!! A beautiful quilt. I've just bought that book, isn't it inspiring?!
Those are the colours I associate with you, Wendy: peacock blues and greens. That the fabric actually has a picture of a peacock in it is priceless!
What a beauty! I love this pattern and your fabrics just zing! What a wonderful bed quilt! Oh and I love your bag too :)
I'd be making extra excuses to walk into my bedroom if this quilt was on my bed! Beautiful finish Wendy :)
Your quilt is beautiful! Such rich colors! I know that feeling of looking at it every time you walk by!
What a beautiful quilt is this with those carefully picked colour combination just stunning!
groetjes van Marijke
So beautiful! Its a very large quilt to be hand quilting - so glad that you stuck with it and completed it so beautifully - you must be very proud!
Gorgeous, Wendy! It's a real showstopper!
Thanks very much Esther. That's what happens when you like a fabric so much you buy far too much of it - you get a bag to match your quilt!!
Thank you Marijke. I did spend a lot of time gathering the right fabrics for this quilt, and I'm pleased they work so well together.
Magnificent !~! I'm a huge fan of this peacock palette and you have shown it off in the most pleasing way I have seen yet in my half dozen years of really looking at quilts. Congratulations on a superb finish.
Your quilt is fabulous! I love the pattern and your stitches are so perfect!
Beautiful colors with just the right amount of gold.
Wow Wendy - that pattern and those fabrics - you put together a match made in heaven!
I love your quilt. soooo lush!!!
Stunning quilt, and I love that you hand-quilted it. The perle cotton is such a great touch. Worth every minute it took, and I think the pictures are fabulous!
Thank you. I like the Perle cotton because it adds a touch of colour, and I think the larger stitches are a bit more modern that traditional tiny hand quilting stitches.
Wow, these aren't my kind of prints really but the effect of this quilt is stunning! Lovely work.
Absolutely stunning! You did a great job. I have some of those fabrics but haven't chosen a pattern yet.
Stunner!
This is so rich and beautiful.
Your quilt is devine Wendy. I have never bought a 'range' to make a quilt, but yours has made me want to and such a simple pattern. You have mixed your fabrics in so well. What batting did you use and do you always use the same batting for your big stitch quilting?
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