Back in 2014 when I started From Bolt to Beauty, I discovered Sew Fresh Quilts, a blog by Lorna McMahon. Lorna started designing and selling patterns well before I did. At first, she released geometric designs but soon homed in on—and found her groove with—animal designs. Truly, she’s made quilts of any and every creature you’d encounter in your house, out in the wild, or at the zoo.
When it came time to sew something for a giraffe-loving new mom, I went to Sew Fresh Quilts and found many options. There were rainbow giraffes lined up in a row, a sweet giraffe family of three, a giraffe with his zebra buddy, and four others.
I decided on Giraffe Love, a whole-composition design of three giraffes munching on leaves. I think I fell in love with this pattern because it strays from my usual white or light-colored background, which isn’t a wise choice for a baby quilt that’s going to see its share of spills. Plus, I couldn’t resist the combination of yellow giraffes on a background of gradient blues. The foreground colors really pop!
I modified the pattern because I didn’t have the required six shades of blue in my stash and wanted to avoid horizontal seam lines that were necessary when sewing with six blues but not with the four I used. (Yes, I like to complicate projects whenever I can!) I really like how it came out.
This was the first pattern of Lorna’s that I’ve sewn. I was thankful for the many diagrams—it’s so much faster for my brain to process illustrations rather than written instructions.
Sewing this design reminded me of my own Ridiculously Easy Jelly Roll Quilt, a pattern that’s assembled in columns. (Giraffe Love is sewn in rows.) As with Ridiculously Easy, Giraffe Love’s simple construction doesn’t mean you can sew on autopilot. I was using my backup sewing machine at the time and didn’t check my quarter-inch seam allowance. When it came time to sew the rows together, I found discrepancies that required some seam ripping, even quilt-top surgery at times. All of that was my issue, not the pattern’s.
Now I just need to find time to quilt this beauty! Any suggestions on a quilting design? I’m planning on quilting this myself with my walking foot on my domestic machine. Thanks in advance!
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Aww, what a sweet quilt, Michelle!!! Yes, love the blue background. Clever use of the blues you had on hand. As for quilting, if you want to use a walking foot just quilt straight across every 1/2" or so.
ReplyDeleteThis quilt is so cute, love it! The baby is going to love it and the parents too!
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't have known the pattern calls for 6 shades of blue instead of 4; this looks perfect! Hmmm, as for the quilting, gentle wavy lines might be worth considering.
ReplyDeleteI love giraffes as well. This one is super cute. A lattice, all-over grid of squares on point would be easy with the walking foot. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteHi Michelle, what a cute flimsy. Lorna's patterns are great - I made one when celebrating Canada's 175th, many years ago. With a walking foot, I agree with Yvonne that gentle wavy vertical lines and echoing the giraffes might look good.
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