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Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Hand-sewn all it's cracked up to be?

Today we're featuring a quilt from Mary at Pin. Sew. Press. (I so wish I thought of that blog name, CUTE!)  It's a darling charm pack quilt that she made for her daughter, thus it's called Lauren's Quilt.  And I just love the backing fabric she used, perfect for a 2 year old (or a 20 something year old alike :)  Here's Mary:

It's a bit busy for my taste, but Lauren (my 2-year-old) absolutely loves the fabric as has lots of fun pointing out the owls, snails, turtles, trees, flowers and birds.

I used straight line quilting for this, mostly because I'm not brave enough to try free-motion quilting yet! I quilted straight lines 1/2" apart on the sashing, and eyeballed straight-ish lines approximately 1" apart across the blocks.


The fabric is Love U by Deb Strain for Moda, and I think it's perfect for a fun 2-year-old quilt.

I used this tutorial by Elizabeth from Oh, Fransson! for the quilt pattern. Since the tutorial is for a baby quilt, I modified it a bit by adding 1 1/2 more charm squares to the width, and two additional rows to the length. I wanted this to be large enough for Lauren to use at night on her toddler mattress, although she hasn't really gotten the hang of sleeping under covers yet!


I just love those owls!

 
I was also feeling particularly brave yesterday and decided to hand-sew the binding to the back of this quilt. I usually machine sew my binding, and to be honest the result doesn't bother me much. I guess I'm not a "binding snob" . . . yet! But I was intrigued by the romantic notion I seem to hear about from all the other quilters - of curling up on the couch with my husband for several hours, chatting and watching tv while hand sewing binding.

I found this awesome tutorial that finally made sense of the hand sewing process for me. And after a mere five hours, I can finally say that I get it! It really does look pretty good, compared to machine sewing, but it sure did take a LONG time! And it was kind of nice to spend time with my family while sewing, and be a bit more productive while watching tv . . . but did I mention that it took a long time?!?! Well, at least I overcame my fear of hand-sewing, but I can't promise I won't go back to machine sewing binding, at least some of the time!

Well coming from a "binding snob" :)  I can say I absolutely love the finished project!  And binding is my absolute favorite part of the process...looks like a fabulous job!  Thanks for sharing, and make sure to hop on over to Pin. Sew. Press. where she has darling projects and is just a straight-up fun read for any quilter!

Linking with AmyLouWho.

14 comments:

Denise :) said...

I love hand-sewing my binding on, as well! This is such a darling quilt -- I love all the fun prints! :)

Live a Colorful Life said...

Such a cute quilt!

shelia said...

darlin!

Jennifer said...

I love hand-sewing the bindings on my quilts. You did a great job! The quilt is absolutely adorable; your daughter is a lucky little girl!

Jennifer :)

becca said...

just beautiful!!

SewSara said...

The hand-sewing paid off for sure.
Love the colors and fabrics you chose. :) what a happy and bright quilt!

Kate said...

Love that straight quilting, and I do like a hand sewn binding!

Theodora quilts said...

I also love the owls, and the snails ,and the trees, and the flowers ,the fabrics are so cute and the results are eccelent.

Dee said...

love, love, love!

perfectly fun and fabulous Friday Finish!

Jessica Kelly said...

Oh thats simply perfect for any little 2 year old! I love all the bright fun colors and I think I need to have that owl fabric! So so cute

psphyllissews said...

I love those owls, too. I used the green fabric for a huge project earlier this year.
Great quilt!!!

Miri said...

Adorable quilt!

My DH jokes, "A Vermeer painting!" when he sees me sitting on the sofa hand sewing!

Larri said...

How sweet! I like the 'busy-ness' of this quilt. And the back is too cute! Thanks for sharing. Happy Sewing :o)

www.seamsinspired.com

Michelle said...

What a cheerful quilt! Yep, you gotta love those owls on the back. :-)