Mud, Pies and Pins

Welcome to those of you who are visiting from the Bloggers Quilt Festival and hello again to all of my regular readers. I’m sure by now you all know about the Blogger’s Quilt Festival over at Amy’s Creative side, but if you don’t you can find a little intro on my previous post, or on the Festival site itself.

This is “Insert Retro”, the second quilt that I am entering into the Quilt Festival and you’ll find it in the Modern Quilt category. This quilt began life last summer with a fabric pull for a cushion that I got rather creative with. Since then it has sat, neatly folded, on my UFO pile. At the start of May I decided it was time to work my way through quilting the UFOs I had piled up and this was the first project to make it’s way back to the machine.

For the backing I used some of Ikesa’s Helsinge fabric. Although it’s heavier in weight than normal quilting cottons it is perfect for a quilt that is going to be much used and played with by two little boys and that will undoubtedly see much of the outdoors in the summer months.

I kept the quilting simple and used one of my favourite neutrals, Aurifil #2021 50wt, to fill most of the negative spaces with geometric spirals, each one echoing the shape of the space being filled. Some of the spaces at the edge of the quilt were echo quilted to give the impression that only a portion of the spiral was visible on the space in question.

Although this quilt, that finished at 42″x62″, is not a standard bed size, it is the perfect size for my little five and half year old at the moment and I am sure both he and his younger brother will get plenty of use out of it and when they are done it will defintiely make a great snuggle quilt.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my “Insert Retro” quilt. If you’ve been visiting from the Bloggers Quilt Festival then you can click on the button below to return. If you’re one of my regular readers and you’ve not visited the Quilt Festival then I encourage you to do so as there are lots of wonderful makes to be seen, not only in the Modern Quilt category where I have entered this quilt, but in all of the other categories as well. And while you are there don’t forget to nominate your favourite quilt in each category for the viewer’s choice awards.

Quilt statistics:
Name: “Insert Retro”
Finished size: 42″ x 62″
Fabrics used: Michael Miller’s Dick and Jane fabrics, Michael Miller’s Fun Times, two other unknown vintage children’s fabrics, assorted solid scraps. Ikea’s Helsinge as backing
Quilting: Geometric spiral quilting of negative space using Aurifil #2021 50wt top and bottom
Design: Improv, self designed
Finished: May 2014