Story of a quilt

It started with this:


Which I decided to make with a 1930s feel so started off like this:


The first border had orange corners which later got taken out. 


Then I added a 1930s type border which I had in my stash although I have no idea what it is or where it came from. 



Then I added a red / pink / orange border with chartreuse corners.  Try as I might to make a gentle, subtle, subdued quilt, I seem to grab the tutti frutti colours every time. 


After that, one of the prints from Shelburne Falls seemed to work well. 


Then it all went horribly wrong when the next border didn't look right and the corners didn't fit. At this point I thought I'd ruined it and considered a major unpicking session.  


But with lots of help and advice from the wisdom that can be found around the internet together with a determination not to do much in the way of unpicking, I re-drew the quilt in Touchdraw to play with the colour and balance.  


And today I finally finished the top and slung it over the garden bench.  And now I'm pretty happy with it.  So al that remains is the decision on how to quilt it.  Any thoughts?

Comments

  1. Love it. Want it. Gimme it.

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  2. The quilt is very pretty. Nice job.

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  3. Love, love, love the effect of adding the flying geese border. The design is so strong that you could quilt it with an all-over design or grid or parallel lines, but I would be tempted to quilt a different design or pattern in each round of the quilt.

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  4. love how you captured the progression of this ;) it's lovely to see how each border affects the design!

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  5. WOW! This is great! (Don't tell anyone, but I prefer it to the Marcelle one floating around blogland!) How did Sarah quilt hers?

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  6. No thoughts on quilting but I love the quilt. So pretty and I love Tutti Fruttis :)

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  7. I'm in no position to comment on quilting as I'm so rubbish at it, but minimal quilting, or maybe in the ditch I think. I wouldn't want anything to take away from how lovely this is. Ditto what Audrie said!

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  8. quilting... For the bigger patches - star in the center, flying geese, squares on point - 1/4 inch in from the seams. For the solid borders - something that will SHOW! For the plain borders that are a print rather than a solid - including the scrappy outer border - cross hatch - enough so that the quilting is even, but doesn't take too much effort since the quilting will blend into the print.

    Love the changes that you made - especially removing the orange squares.

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  9. Lovely job. I'd give it to Trudi, and let her work her quilty magic!

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  10. this looks great-I think its strong enough to take an all over design in subtle variegated thread. Really nice job!

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  11. If it was mine - and I wish it was - I would be tempted to go for big stitch hand quilting. Its beautiful xx

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  12. You got there in the end! It looks fabulous!

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  13. It looks awesome. Nice job - I love the color combo.

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  14. It is gorgeous! I would very much like to see the tips you used to avoid unpicking the entire quilt. I am in the process of making a medallion quilt and have run into the same problems...Your quilt top is gorgeous!

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  15. It's so lovely....I love the colours.

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  16. I absolutely love this quilt, it looks amazing, all the colors go so gorgeously well together!!!!

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  17. Its truly beautiful. I can't believe how quickly you put it together especially with all the skirt sewing that's been going on!
    I've made a couple of medallion quilts and quilted a different design in each round.

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  18. Its gorgeous! I think I'm with Hadley, and I'd give it to Trudi :)

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  19. It does look beautiful and glad you got there in the end.

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  20. What fabric will you use for the backing? Some "Big Stitch" hand quilting in those tutti fruiti colors would look good as an accent around the large pieces, so I'd suggest minimal machine quilting in the ditch depending on the batting that you use.

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  21. I am so in love with this it is simply gorgeousness! I am with maria, different quilting all around :)

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  22. Are you not thinking of hand quilting?!?

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  23. Wow fantastic! and that initial worry with the stars in the black border looks amazing. Brilliant to balance that border with echoes of the previous frame.

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  24. I love it! Maybe do an all over large scale stipple?

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  25. this is utterly perfect . I like the idea of quilting something different in each row

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  26. Wow you are fast... It is beautiful! I'm with Diane above- something different in each row.

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  27. Arghhh.... I am still waiting for my book and lookie yours is all finished to perfection :) Love it. hugs

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  28. Nice call replacing those orange squares. It looks so great! I'd quilt each border individually. Starting with the center and working out.

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  29. Beautiful! I really love seeing the process as you went along. Neat bunch of fabric choices, too!

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  30. No clue on the quilting, but it looks fabulous. Remind me again where this pattern came from?

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  31. Love it! So glad you didn't unpick anything as I really liked your triangles :)

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  32. See it turned out really lovely and actually isn't tutti frutti at all.

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  33. Fabulous! Not ruined at all...just an opportunity to be creative. Based on your results it appears that you seized the day!
    No thoughts on quilting from this quarter as that is arguably my weak suit. I have every faith though that you will come up with the perfect solution to your dilemma.

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  34. Your triangles in the outer border (are they flying geese?) are the perfect finish for that quilt. It's gorgeous!

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  35. It looks just wonderful! I'd like to try this one after Marcelle Medallion.

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  36. Well obviously I can't give you any advice but 1) that quilt is beautiful and has a very American feel to me, but what do I know and 2) when you have cushions on that bench in your photos I know summer will have come.

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  37. Would be tempted to counter the straight lines of the piecing and go for something with curves - orange peel style, swirls, spirals and the like...been looking at Angela Walters too much perhaps!? Something radiating out from the centre, and repeating in some of the rows!

    It is looking fabulous and however you got to this point - you did exactly the right thing!

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  38. Gorgeous job! Not good at advising on quilting will leave that to the more wise quilters but it'll be beautiful nevertheless!

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  39. i have just got that book too as Sarah is a fabulous quilter. I love what you have done with the quilt but as for the quilting, that is the part that always scares me! Di x

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  40. I have the book and this is my favourite pattern in it - I love your version. Lots of unpicking to remove the orange squares - very brave!

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  41. It's beautiful Lynne. I'm not a hand quilter, but I think it would suit this perfectly.

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  42. It looks lovely and I don't think the colors are too in your face - they all go blend together nicely. I don't know a thing about hand quilting if that is the way you are going!

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  43. I think the colours are lovely, and the great use of white stops it looking too much. As for the quilting, why not keep with the 30s inspired theme, so hand-stitched and simple rather than whizzy machine quilting?

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  44. I will cage fight Audrie for this quilt! I wouldn't dare to give advice on the quilting. I'd completely botch it up!

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  45. It's just lovely and it's great seeing how the quilt comes together

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  46. So, so pretty. No suggestions but I'll be interested to see what you choose to do.

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  47. Oh wow! What a beautiful quilt! Thanks for showing all the stages of putting it together - truly inspirational!

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  48. Do you know, I got a review copy of the book and have only looked at it a couple of times since (no time at all!), but immediately spotted that pattern. I absolutely love your version, it's fabulous. Enjoy the quilting!

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  49. It turned out so wonderful. Amazing what a small color change can do! Love love love it!

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  50. Ha ha! It did work out fine in the end, gestalt- have to remember that for the future!

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  51. It's fantastic, I'm so glad you stuck with the darker border. I'd quilt each border differently, other than that, no idea ;)

    By the way I sorted out my half square rectangle problem in the end, thanks for your help. I decided to paper piece it after all that :D

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  52. that is lovely! i'm working on designing a medallion quilt from scratch and seeing all of these medallion quilts showing up all over the internet is so inspirational.

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  53. well, I think iit would be fabulous hand quilted with pearl cotton

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  54. Absolutely stunning, this is really a lovely quilt, topping in with pearl cotton would be amazing. I just got Sarah Fielke's book and it is wonderful. I could see your quilt in there. XXX

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  55. I just love everything about this quilt! You really did an amazing job. Sorry I don't really have any grand ideas for the quilting though, good luck!
    Amanda

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  56. Love it!!! Never thought I'd make a medallion quilt but this has definitely turned me!!! If you ever get tired of it, just tell me and I'll buy a plane ticket and come and pick it up!

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  57. I knew you'd end up with a stunning quilt top, I love it! It has a very calm feel to it and if you were under the weather/feeling not quite yourself it would be perfect for snuggling under.
    I'd tailor the quilting to suit each border, maybe with two crossing 'wiggles' in the plain grey borders (that's not a great description but I can't think what else to call it at the moment! Like two sets of serpentine lines...no, that's not helping, either!) and I'd probably hand quilt it, partly because it would give me time to work out what to do in the outer borders while I worked on the centre!

    In the meantime, just sit back and admire it - the quilt will let you know how it wants to be quilted, it may just take a while to find its voice ;o)

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  58. It's beautiful, and it all worked out perfectly in the end, I love it.

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  59. It all turned out fab in the end :o)

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  60. The balance worked perfectly. I really like the new look with the additional borders added.

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  61. That seems like such a simple little story for such a complex quilt!

    Amanda Rose
    http://sewmuchtosay.blogspot.com

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  62. The quilt is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen! Really, absolutely stunning!!

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  63. It's lovely - especially the half diamond border on black is stunning.

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  64. This is just simply a stunning quilt. Loved to see its progress. I would quilt it in an all over pattern like a stipple, because once you wash it this gives a lovely tactile aged feeling which I think would suit the fabrics. But it's such a personal thing. Whichever way you quilt it it will remain stunning.

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  65. I have loved seeing your process to come up with this deee...vine quilt! As for quilting, how fast do you want it? Maybe some in the ditch machine stitching and then some lovely perle hand stitching? Whatever you do will be fabulous!

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  66. What a fabulous quilt. I love the colours you have chosen

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  67. I think it is lovely....but I want to see more please...some better shots? Hope I am not asking too much...the lighting and draping aren't showing off your beautiful work for me at all and this is a stunner...

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  68. This is so lovely…. And thanks for sharing how it developed!

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  69. I so love this! It's been so fun following along on Instagram !

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