Here's one more quilt from last year...a Christmasy quilt! Yes, I know Christmas was almost 2 months ago, but since it is red and white and almost Valentine's Day, I figured there was no harm in posting it now! :)
So this quilt was another one that I had to make because I had a cool photo op in mind. (Remember this quilt?) I feel no shame in admitting this. Sometimes you just have to use whatever motivation you have to get things done. ;-) I needed a December photo for my calendar, and was trying to think of something that would look cool. I wanted simple, but classic. So I decided on peppermints, and was thinking of making this quilt again in red and white. Then I came across this super cute afghan in a Google search and decided that the peppermints needed to be swirly. Unfortunately, after it was all done, the photo location I had planned didn't work out after all (broken pipe flooded the place) but oh well --the quilt was done!
This was constructed using my favorite method...applique on a big piece of white fabric. Naturally, I mocked this up in Inkscape, printed out one of the red wedges and used that as a template for tracing onto fusible web. Then I ironed them to the red solid (Kona Ruby) and cut them out with a rotary cutter. Then I also printed one of the whole peppermints. I put it underneath the white fabric and used it as a guide for placing the red wedges and tracing around the outside of the circle with a water-soluble marking pen. Then I ironed these on a few at a time and stitched around the applique pieces with a blanket stitch and outlined the outer edge of the circle with a thicker straight stitch. I thought it would take forever to stitch these down, but it was surprisingly fast since I could sew each one without breaking thread.
I quilted this very simply. Just a big swirl inside each peppermint using a groovy board. Of course I wanted to do something amazing and fancy, but lets face it, I just don't plan things well enough to allot time for awesome quilting. I am usually trying to finish in a hurry and often sacrifice "amazing" for "done".
In between the peppermints I decided to do these holly berries. I made the picture in Inkscape and then just used my laser light to trace it--just like with a pantograph.
I backed it in Crimson Minky and bound it in the matching red solid.
Then I took this picture of it for the calendar and gave it to my cute friend Teresa, who was my neighbor in Minnesota. She asked me if I would make her a quilt for her bedroom, and gave me paint chips in the colors she wanted. Well, I tried for over a year to come up with a good quilt using the colors but I just couldn't do it. But I still wanted to give her a quilt. And she loves Christmas, so I hoped this would suffice. She loves it. :)
Really beautiful - I love how you turned the original straight design into the swirls! Would you maybe share one day your experience with Minkee as a backing? I keep getting asked for that, but hated the experience the one time I tried it out...
ReplyDeleteOooh fun! Love it Cynth!
ReplyDeletewhat a fabulous quilt!
ReplyDeleteGorgeous gorgeous gorgeous!!!
ReplyDeleteEsther
esthersipatchandquilt at yahoo com
ipatchandquilt dot wordpress dot com
Your creativeness just makes me smile!!
ReplyDeleteIt is gorgeous! I love it (and the name as well...)
ReplyDeleteLiebe Grüße,
Mond from Berlin
absolutely beautiful!!
ReplyDeleteOh I love it. I love swirls, I love the quilting. I love how you figured outhow to make this happen. Who wouldn't love it????
ReplyDeleteApplique does make it easier to get swirls and stuff down, doesn't it? If I ever make another t shirt quilt, I'm thinking of doing it that way.
ReplyDeletelinsquilts.blogspot.com
It is so so cute!! I love the red minky it is perfection. I really love the simple quilting which isn't so simple because each of those took time for sure. :) Great great quilt!.
ReplyDeleteI love this great peppermint swirl quilt! And the simplicity to construct it. Great idea. The quilting is perfect.
ReplyDeleteIt looks stunning!
ReplyDeleteOh my Gosh, this is really stunning!
ReplyDeleteThis is just the cutest! Perfect colours for the pattern.
ReplyDeleteIt's Beautiful. Fabulous idea. I love how you quilted it.
ReplyDeleteYikes! Looks like I've missed a LOT of your posts. Love how this turned out, btw. You're amazing.
ReplyDeleteI'd love this pattern....can someone tell me where to get it please!
ReplyDeleteYay! Glad you like it! The pattern is available here: https://www.craftsy.com/quilting/patterns/peppermint-swirl-quilt-pattern/263706
ReplyDelete