Blogger's Quilt Festival - Autumn 2014

It's that time of year again, the Blogger's Quilt Festival 2014!

So if you are new to my blog, firstly, welcome, and secondly, I hope you enjoy listening to the story behind my entry.  

I made this quilt for my daughter's 5th  Birthday.  She adores Hello Kitty, and I knew that I wanted to make her a quilt for her birthday, so a Hello Kitty quilt was perfect.  I got the original inspiration from a cross stitch pattern, and it didn't take me long to blow it up and turn it into a pattern for a quilt. 

That's when I realised there were 720 squares!  I wanted the quilt to have a real 'pixel' effect, so I didn't cut corners, I cut and sewed back together even the white background squares instead of using strips...that did seem a little crazy!

I'm not one to use solids a lot in my work and so this was a real departure from the norm for me.  And with so many white areas, I really wanted the quilting to add texture and depth to the quilt.  So I matchstick quilted it, which took what seemed like forever, but hopefully you will agree was worth it.  

I also included a new technique that I wanted to try; piping around the binding. This is something that I had seen done by my quilting icon, Philippa Naylor.

I think it's a really lovely detail, that I will most certainly be using again.

So here is 'Hello Kitty' basking in the sun in our garden back in the summer.  

I do hope you like her as much as I enjoyed bringing her to life!

Quilt Stats:

Pattern:  Hello Kitty Cross Stitch Chart
Size: Approx 50" x 60"
Fabric: Kona Coal, White, Azalea, Carnation
Backing: Kate Spain
Thread: Aurifil
Quilting: 1/2 inch horizontal straight line quilting
Pieced and Quilted by: Me

Thank you so much for stopping by,

Sarah x

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Second Entry

So I found out that we are allowed 2 entries in the Blogger's Quilt Festival!

 

If you haven't already seen my first entry, my Anchors Away quilt, for the Baby Quilt Category, you can read about it here.  

 

And for my second entry, I'm going for the Hand Quilting Category.  It's still a baby quilt, but I hand quilted it with my favourite no. 8 Pearle cotton thread, to give it a wonderful heirloom quality and to tie in with the vintage feel. 

 

Here it is from a distance.

 

 

Which isn't much good because you can't see the quilting.  So here are a few close ups.  Can you see how I stitched through the centre at intersections.

 



 

I then echo quilted around the points of the stars.  (The blue stitching on blue is there, honestly!)

 

 

And finally I did a loopy freehand design around the border.  This bit was my favourite part of all and I think it adds a really playful element to the quilt.  

 

 

For the back I used the gorgeous alphabet print from the same French General Petit Odile collection. 

 

I've put this quilt on display at the local gallery, The Harbour Gallery and you can read more about my display here.  Here are the finished quilt details. 

 

Category: Hand Quilted Quilt

Designed by: Sarah Ashford (Me!)

Size: 39" x 39"

Techniques: Machine pieced and hand quilted

Fabrics: French General Petite Odile for Moda

 

Thank you so much for stopping by! 

 

Sarah x

 

 



 



Blogger's Quilt Festival Spring 2013

I've been following with envy and delight, all the fantastic quilts and fabrics exhibited at Quilt Market.  It looks like such a cool place to be right now!

 

But thankfully, so the rest of the quilt blogging world don't feel left out, there is a wonderful online competition twice a year to coincide with Quilt Market, hosted by Amy's Creative Side.

 

I had a couple of quilts I was considering entering, but ultimately the quilt I love best that I've made this year is my Anchors Away quilt.  

 

I've been waiting for a sunny day to photograph it, (it's been a long wait!) and here in Jersey we are spoilt for choice with nautical locations, and I eventually went with a quaint little harbour just down the road from where I live. 

 

 

The anchor is raw edge applique that I designed myself, on a backdrop of 2" squares. 

 

I had great fun making the flying geese and I decided to add a further border of rectangles with white sashing between the borders.

 



 

For the back I fussy cut this adorable map of the world print, not just once but twice, and cut out 72 x 2" squares.  Yes for the back, I must be mad!  But I think it was worth the effort as they really frame the map prints nicely. 

 

 

Finally I quilted with vertical straight lines at  1 1/2" inch intervals and finished with some gorgeous, nautical navy stripy binding.



 

And it's not often I include photos of myself on my blog, but the sun was shining and I was feeling particularly happy that I've finally managed to photograph this quilt in a location more appropriate than my back garden ;-)  So here I am.

 

 

 I've put this quilt on display at the local gallery, The Harbour Gallery and you can read more about my display here.  Here are the quilt details. 

 

 

Category: Baby Quilt

Designed by:  Sarah Ashford (me!)

Size: Approx 35"x 41"

Techniques: Raw edge applique, machine pieced, machine quilted

Fabrics: Out to Sea by Sarah Jane and Kona Snow



 

Thank you so much for stopping by.  If you are new to my blog then it's lovely to meet you, do drop me a line to say hello, I'd love to hear from you.  I'm also on facebook and twitter so hopefully I'll see you there too :-) 

 

Now I'm off to check out all the other wonderful entries!

 

Sarah x