Anna has finally finished her Liberty Flower Garden Quilt. When I design quilts, I imagine their beauty in the final quilt but it never really hits home until I actually see one finished. This was one of our Quilt Block of the Month (BOM) for 2021 and the finished quilt doesn’t disappoint. Here’s Anna to tell you about the quilt throughout the year and her love of hand quilting.
“I’ve really loved making this quilt. I’m not very good at siting doing nothing, so, really love to have some hand sewing to do while I watch TV or wait for the children at various clubs. I made the Radiant Stars quilt in 2019 (which I gifted to my parents) and hesitated for about 2 seconds before I agreed to make this beauty of a quilt. I wanted to make it for my sisters 50th birthday and so, very happily started stitching again. It’s been quite a journey – each block takes around 2 hours to sew together from start to finish which means that a LOT of sewing hours have gone into this quilt. Once I completed all of the blocks and border blocks (in September) the race was on to try and finish it for October 17th (my sister’s birthday). I managed to get the whole quilt top done and the quilt sandwich made and basted together with the quilting on around 10 of the blocks completed. I gave it to her and then whisked it away to complete!”
“To hand quilt (you can also opt for the easier and quicker option of machine quilting or even to send the quilt away to a long arm quilter), I quilted through all three of my layers (backing fabric, wadding – my preferred is 80% cotton and 20% polyester and the quilt top). On each block, I picked out the central shape – either a hexagon or a star made up of 6 diamonds, by quilting 1/4″ inside each shape. Then I also quilted 1/4″ around the inside of each block (ignoring the white fabric). this gives the quilt enough quilting to keep all three layers together and a slightly textured feel too. I love hand quilting – I find it incredibly relaxing. It’s time consuming and not for everyone, but it’s right for me.”
“I backed my quilt with the gorgeous Strawberry Thief C40 as I thought my sister would love the reds and turquoise hues within this particular colour way. I used the same fabric to bind the quilt to give it a strong frame.”
“I absolutely LOVE the finished quilt. It simply sings vibrant colour and Liberty rainbows to me. It was quite hard to give it up but think I will start a new project soon. I always think quilting is a bit like childbirth – you almost forget the (sometimes) lengthy process and focus entirely on the beautiful prize at the end! This made my sister very happy on her big day and me very happy to be able to gift such a lovely thing. Right what to make next? Oh yes – lots fo Christmas pressies to finish and probably one of the new QBOM’s.”
