Monday, May 3, 2010

Pip's redwork quilt

Pip's redwork quilt

I finished Pip's redwork quilt last week and finally got a chance to take some (not great) pictures this weekend after washing it. The finished quilt is 47" square, which is a bit big for a baby quilt, but I figure it will be good for lying on top of at first and leaves room to grow.

This is my own design, a nine-patch of nine-patches, with each of the blocks using 8 red & white prints around a center panel of hand embroidery. The embroidered designs were drawn by Sean. They are a mushroom, hedgehog, hotdog, cardinal, Fokker Dr.1 triplane (the Red Baron's plane), dinosaur, ketchup, lobster and cherries. Closer shots of all the embroidered motifs can be seen here.

redwork quilt detail

I did the quilting in straight lines making boxes within the blocks, and intersecting lines in the sashing (can you tell I was thinking a lot about squares while making this?). There is also one line of hand quilting outlining the triplane, and some straight lines radiating out from the center of that block. The binding is the same small polka dot you can see in the main blocks.

redwork quilt back

For the backing, I used a large piece of slightly heavier fabric that I cut off the bottom of our bedroom curtains. It's actually red and off-white, but I love the print and it works with the binding (and I'm hoping the sturdier fabric will help it last longer since I'm planning on using it as a park blanket).

I'm working on getting the pattern/instructions for the quilt written up, and will have it available for purchase (with or without the embroidery patterns) soon.

I'm also working on getting better pics, because these backyard jobbies are not cutting it. But I wanted to post something because I am very proud of this quilt!

4 comments:

Megan said...

This is such a wonderful quilt - there's so much to look at and keep you interested but it comes together so beautifully as a whole as well. I've just started to get really interested in red work and am now thinking I may need to find a way to incorporate it into a quilt!

Katie Aaberg said...

Thank you, Megan! This was a lot of fun to put together, and really tested out a variety of my fibery skills!

Jennifer Fogerty-Gibson said...

I would like to make a much simpler version of this pattern for one of my pregnant friends from work, Erica. Do you have dimensions for the white strips in between, the small 9 blocks, and the individual piecing inside? That said, is this waaaayy to ambitious a project for me? If you think so, I can put it off, but I like the idea of the inside blocks being made up of more blocks. I want to do something more interesting than just a bunch of squares, which is the only kind of quilt I've ever done.

I guess I'm just looking for advice. And I suppose I could design a pattern, too. You're just so amazing and proficient at everything!

Jennifer Fogerty-Gibson said...

I hate typos. I meant "is this way too ambitious."