A DINOSAUR QUILT

The dinosaur quilt is finished!  You can read more about this quilt here, here and here.  After much to-ing and fro-ing between different quilting designs, I finally sat down to tackle it last week, deciding upon a wiggly woven lines pattern that I found on The Free Motion Quilting Project blog.  My impatience got the better of me and, despite telling myself I wouldn’t, I quilted the entire thing in one day, taking about 8 hours in total.  Although not a huge quilt, measuring approximately 38″ x 50″, the design is quite close so my arms and shoulders really got a work out, although the texture of the finished quilting made it worth it.

I’m so glad I get to keep this quilt.  It really is a showcase of the fabrics that I love, particularly my precious Heather Ross, whose colours seemed to compliment the dinosaur backing beautifully.  I also found the perfect thread to use.  This King Tut thread passed through my machine effortlessly and, when coupled with these needles, made even and stress-free stitches.  I recently switched needles after reading a lot of recommendations online and they’ll be my go-to needles for all future projects.

The binding continues the dinosaur theme, though I didn’t have quite enough fabric.  I added some solid black sections which echo the sashing and the pops of black on the quilt top.

T-Rex seems pleased with the finished product, though I bet he’s just glad to have something warm to see him through the coming winter!

I’m ending this post on a cautionary note.  We all know that free motion quilting uses a lot of thread.  I was almost caught out this time.  I’d ordered the thread online and, rather than play it safe and buy 2, settled for one, 500 yard spool.  It quickly became obvious during the quilting of the last quarter that it was going to be close.  Thankfully, even after winding 5 bobbins, I had enough, though only just.  This is what was left; a paltry amount on the spool and a ball of trimmings.  I won’t be so daring next time!

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A DINOSAUR QUILT – WIP

After much arranging of blocks, the dinosaur quilt top I’ve been working on for a few weeks is finished.  More than any of my other quilts this really has been a labour of love, owing to the awesome backing fabric I’ll be using, as well as all the bright and bold colours of the fabric.

I love the fabric in this quilt.  Most were pulled from stash, like the precious Heather Ross pieces that only gets cut into for the most special of projects, but a few were purchased during several of my fabric hunting expeditions as I felt they’d really work in this quilt.  The sashing and larger solid blocks are Kona coal, and the little bits of black in each coloured block is a great, pebble print I got from a local fabric store; it just screamed dinosaur to me!

The top measures 40 X 52, so it isn’t huge, and shouldn’t take too long to quilt.  I’m leaning towards an edge-to-edge free motion design for the quilting, with a preference for something with curves to contrast with the angular nature of the blocks.  I have a few ideas, but I’d love to hear what any of you think might work.  I’m waiting on the wadding to arrive, then I’ll baste.

BEGINNING WITH DINOSAURS

Hello and welcome to Quilts From The Attic, where there are dinosaurs.  Not real ones of course, though that would make for a very interesting blog.  Alas, the dinosaurs I’m writing about today are fabric, or rather, I’m writing about fabric with dinosaurs on it.

I’m getting a little ahead of myself…let me explain.

It started not with a big bang, but fabric, and the fact that I can’t get enough of it.  I’m a quilter see, and my attic has been invaded, taken over …adorned with the stuff.  I’ve always been creative, taught by my grandmother to sew and mend socks.  I was fascinated with the contents of her sewing box and wanted to make sense of seams and slip stitch.  About 3 years ago, needing a new creative direction, I happened upon patchwork and the quilting of it, and the rest, as per the extinction of the dinosaurs, was history.

I can count the number of quilts I’ve made on one hand.  The last two were gifted as wedding presents.  I love the process; the fabric selection, the cutting and piecing, and the satisfaction of that last inch of binding being sewn into place.  Along my past quilting journeys, I’d document with photographs and notes, jotting down ideas for next time.  A lot of my inspiration comes from the many wonderful quilt blogs that already reverberate through the blog-sphere.  Favourites include Red Pepper Quilts and Diary of a Quilter.So, it’s in good company that I embark upon my own blogging adventure and write this, my very first post.  If you’re still with me you may remember something about dinosaurs.  This is what I was talking about…

This Dan Morris Timeless treasure fabric has been siting in my stash for a while.  You see, as well as my unhealthy obsession with fabric, I never really grew out of my dinosaur one either.  So, in a kaleidoscopic collision of creativity and geekiness, I’ve started to make a dinosaur quilt.  I scoured the web for inspiration yet was left somewhat unimpressed.  The majority of people who’d made dinosaur quilts had done so for children.  I wanted to make this for me.  I wanted it to be modern and manly!

I’ve since pulled fabrics to match the colours of the dinosaurs, a mixture of patterns and solids, with some black thrown in for contrast.  The plan is to have different sized rows of different sized blocks, something akin to dinosaur scales or plates.  I’m pressing on with the blocks and hope to have the top pieced by the weekend.