Saturday, January 31, 2015

MQG Bee Quilt

At the end of November our Modern Quilt Guild Bielefeld received a new addition: our second Guild Baby!! We knew beforehand that our Guild member and my close friend was expecting a boy. So we considered several blocks and colour schemes that suited our plans for a bee quilt for the little man.

Not too many matching points (for easier assembly – somehow the quarter inch of seam allowance varies with every person?!) and not too difficult so that even the newbies could join in.

We decided on a wonky pinwheel design, using low volume prints for the background and blues, greens and greys for the pinwheels.

MQGB Valentin

I volunteered to make the quilt top, baste, quilt and bind it, so I was in charge of the layout, too. This was the first attempt: All blocks arranged, I tried to spread the colours evenly. (Sorry for the bad shot, the blocks are hanging on my design wall, down in the basement –> bad lighting)

MQGB Valentin blocks on design wall

I thought the effect was too chaotic and that the wonky pinwheels were not as clearly visible as I had hoped for. So I made some more blocks and added a border.

MQGB Valentin Top

I quilted it with semi-leaves (is there an official name for this quilt design?!) and stitched in the ditch to reach the next pinwheel. That way I could quilt coherrently, without breaking threads for every new pinwheel.

MQGB Valentin quilting

Here’s a closeup. I used a white Aurifil so that the thread blends with the background fabrics where I stitched in the ditch while it stands out within the pinwheels.

MQGB Valentin closeup quilting

I machine embroidered the quilt label and one of our bee memberes stitched it down by hand. Who would have thought that Aurifil’s cotton thread doubles up as embroidery thread, too?!

MQGB Valentin machine embroidery

This is the finished label and you can see the flannel backing I chose. Don’t you love it when the stars line up and you find the perfect backing?!

MQGB Valentin backing and label

As for the binding… never change a winning team, right? It seems like my triple zig zag stitch and I are BFF.

MQGB Valentin binding

For the binding fabric I chose a rather subtle one. I tried different colours from the original colour scheme but all blues and greens that I tried were… just… too much.

I rather like the effect of this lower toned binding (if I dare say so myself).

MQGB Valentin folded

Here’s one last shot of the quilt with part of the backing flipped over.

MQGB Valentin flipped over

If you’d like to see my friend unwrapping the quilt during our last MQG Bielefeld sew-in, hop over to our website.

Is anyone interested in a tutorial for the wonky pinwheel blocks? I wrote a quick and easy tutorial for our bee members. It is in german but I could translate it if someone should be interested. Just leave me a comment (o:

Oh and by special request I took photos of the binding process so there’s a tutorial on that triple zig zag binding coming soon!

Thank you very much for stopping by.
Happy Quilting!
Christine

18 comments:

  1. Wow putting the border on just made the quilt pattern pop - love the colours and the pattern. Fantastic modern design and perfect for scraps. I will be putting this pattern on my to do list, thank you.

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  2. What a difference a border makes! This is fantastic Christine and the backing and binding are perfect ;0)

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  3. I love your quilt, what a lovely gift.

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  4. Great quilt! Yes please to the tutorial for the wonky pinwheels.

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  6. Love the wonky pinwheel blocks, would love a tutorial in English!

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  7. It turned out lovely. The low volume binding was a great choice.

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  8. Fantastic Quilt! Those are my Favorite Favorite Colors!! :) Wonky Pinwheels are a favorite too :)

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  9. That's such a beautiful quilt. I love the colours of the wonky pinwheels and would be so pleased to get your tutorial.

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  10. What an eye catching quilt! Your color choices are so pretty! Well Done!

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  11. The border made a huge difference! So cute!

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  12. I, too, love this and would love to see an English tutorial. Thanks!

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  13. This looks great! The extra blocks to make the pinwheels float added a lot.

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  14. Love the wonky pinwheels. Great finish!

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  15. Too cute! I love the colors and the backing you chose.

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  16. Beautiful! Yes, I would really appreciate a tutorial in English. Thank you!

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  17. It looks wonderful! I finished a small project tonight and, like you, had the perfect (flannel!) backing for it. I could not believe it...

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  18. Beautiful quilt!! I would love to receive your tutorial in English. Your choice of binding is similar to one that I've used several times, it finishes off the quilt beautifully.

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Thank you for stopping by and taking time to leave me a comment. You make my day :o)))

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