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| It was love at first sight for me and this Riley Blake print. |
This might come as a shock to you because you know me as such a bastion of self-control and smart fabric management, but there was a time when I bought fabric just because it was pretty. And some of those fat quarters and cuts of yardage sat in my stash for years. One such purchase is this sweet print (see pic, above) from Riley Blake. To me, these hearts have an eighties vibe to them, and although I love that retro feel, it took me until recently to find the right project for them.
I couldn’t imagine making anyone other than my sister something with these hearts—she was, after all, my partner in crime growing up in the eighties—so I embarked on making 100 cat heads for her. (For more on the pattern, see my original post here.)
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| It was fun picking fabric for all 100 of these cuties. |
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| I usually cut my binding strips from the width of fabric, but I thought these hearts looked better on the bias. |
The heart print directed all of my decisions about this quilt, which I call Me-Wow! I decided up front to use it as the binding fabric. I pulled the colors of the scrappy cats—shades of pink, yellow, teal, navy, gray, and orange—from it. I think the Essex linen background fabric adds great texture, tones downs that palette, and makes the final quilt more grown-up looking.
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| I was smitten by the great variety of scraps I was able to use in this project! |
The big triumph here, aside from using that long-stored Riley Blake fabric, was that I longarmed this quilt myself! I recently took the class required to use the Janome Quilt Maker Pro at my local quilt shop so that I could quilt this project before its Christmas deadline. I used a fully computerized pantograph, and I foresee longarming only pantographs for the time being. I’ll need to get better at the process before I muster the courage to try free-motion quilting on that monster of a machine!
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| This design was a good one to try first. It’s more forgiving than, say, a rigid geometric. |
Did you gift some fun quilted projects over the holidays? I hope they were as well received as Me-Wow! Share your pictures and posts in the party below!
The pageant rules are simple:
- Post your finish in the linky tool. (No links to your own giveaway or linky, please!)
- Point your readers back here with a text link or use the button above.
- Visit and comment on other participants’ finishes.
Inlinkz Link Party
Linking up to Oh Scrap!, Let’s Bee Social, and Needle and Thread Thursday ...
I really love it when the first choice for a quilt is the binding; how fun! I love how the quilt finished and I bet your sister is thrilled with her new quilt.
ReplyDeleteWhat an all-round success! I hope your sister likes it as much as we do.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about fabrics "destined" for one person. How could you use them any other way. This was a roaring success for sure! Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteThat heart fabric is awesome. I made a quilt once by starting with the binding fabric. I hope you are enjoying playing with the longarm.
ReplyDeleteThat is such an adorable finish! (says the crazy cat lady). Your sister is going to love it. That's so awesome that you were able to longarm it yourself. Would you believe that I don't know how to use a panto? I've only free-motioned on my longarm and I'm afraid of the process of using a panto (mine is not computerized).
ReplyDeleteHi Michelle! Really nice job on Me-Wow both on the 100 cats as well as the quilting. I would love to be able to test drive a longarm like that but my LQS doesn't offer or have the service. Darn it. Maybe I'll need to branch out a bit farther to give it a try. I'll bet your sister loved it! Happy New Year! ~smile~ Roseanne
ReplyDeleteHi Michelle: It's a wonderful quilt and awesome job with the quilting. I have yet to use a long arm but a mid arm has just joined my life.
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting way - the binding "dictating" the quilt :) Never had that happen but it sounds fun. Hope your sister loves her new, amazing quilt. Such a lovely last finish! All the best for the new year. xo
ReplyDeleteI love all of the cats and the heart fabric works so well with them.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful finish Michelle. You are going to be freemotion quilting on that longarm in no time at all. Thanks for sharing your lovely quilt with Oh Scrap!
ReplyDeleteThis is sooo awesome! Your quilting looks fabulous (congrats by the way!) The binding is the cutest. You have a lucky sister!
ReplyDeletelove your kitty quilt!
ReplyDeleteWhat a super fun quilt and I love the name too! The heart fabric is perfect for this quilt and made for a spectacular finish!
ReplyDeleteThis quilt is the CatQuiltBomb! Purrrr-fection!
ReplyDeleteLOVE your quilt! I posted my latest cat lover quilt today on my blog. This pattern is on my to-do list for sure, maybe use it in the stash bee hive I am in.
ReplyDelete