Cheeky Quilt from Diary of a Flutter.Kat

Today's feature is from Kat a very talented Australian quilter who blogs at Diary of a Flutter.Kat.  This feature is very much my style because I love COLOR!  She is very good at knowing how to use it too!  Check out her darling patterns, a scrappy quilted pouch, a zipper pouch pattern and her shop,  so cute!  Also go here for a tutorial on how to make the blocks in her Cheeky Quilt that we're feature today.  Thanks Kat!


**  Health warning to any colour phobes out there - this will not be the post for you... **

{Firstly a brief history about this quilt before I begin... In August last year I got it in my head that I'd like to make myself another Queen/King sized quilt for my bed. Only problem was I was determined, but severely lacking in time. Not just that but I don't have a very good attention span and 49 blocks of the same design is a LOT of repetition for this ADD crafty Mumma!
- I had nearly half the required blocks because I had used the block for my month in 2 rounds of a bee. But that still left 29 to go! So on a cheeky whim, I hesitantly blogged asking if any of my bloggy friends would like to make a block for me. Offering them an exchange of something if they liked.

To be honest I wasn't really expecting any response. But I got one. An amazing response at that! You will find the list of that wonderful group of ladies who helped me make this quilt at the bottom of the post. I will be forever grateful to them for their help.
Anyway; that is why this quilt is now called "The Cheeky Quilt" :) }

***

Oh what a day, what a day...
I can be a stubborn mule when I want to be!
And today's dose of stubbornness led me to finishing my cheeky quilt in time for Christmas...
YEAH BABY!

It was no small task though I have to say. And I really had to push myself to finish it towards about the last 3/4 LOL...
But it was SO worth the final push to get it finished because I could not be more in love with it!
(and I also knew that it was one of those jobs that if I stopped I'd put off starting again and shove it into the corner somewhere...)

***

First I'll show you the last 3 blocks I made which I haven't shown you yet.
 2 were made last night, then the last this morning...

Block 1 (or should that be block 47!?) was made from scraps from my own scrap bin, most of which have come from recent projects of mine and have fond memories attached. The fishies in the middle though I just chose because they were my favourite :) ...

Block 2 was made almost entirely with scraps sent to me by Karen my scrappy swappartner. The scraps which weren't from Karen are scraps that I used to make her a scrappy pouch with...

Block 3 was made using fabric selected by my local friend Megan. Plans were for Megan to make this, but we had to reschedule our sewing date, so I just decided to make it myself so that I could finish. I'm sure Megs won't mind hehehe...

***

Those 3, coupled with the 2 blocks that had arrived last week from Sarah left me 5 blocks left to quilt and trim to size today before I could get started.

I decided to be a bit lazy and I didn't baste them, just taking my chances to see how it went.
What a test for poor Miss Pfaff!
But luckily she coped with the job very well and in no time at all those 5 had joined the other 44 all ready to be laid out...

I decided to quilt the blocks just using straight line quilting of varied distances apart.
- Half of the blocks I quilted with vertical lines & half I quilted using horizontal lines.
Hence the two piles above!

After some fairly major reshuffling of furniture in my lounge room, we eventually discovered enough floor space in order to begin laying them out...

My "helpers" thought that this part was great fun. But I'm pleased to report that I more or less maintained my sense of humour as Abbie periodically nicked off with the blocks, running down the hallway with them in a fit of giggles. Oh what a fun game! ;)

Who me?...

Noooo... surely not me Mum!

Meanwhile Hannah thought they made a great mat for doing ballet on...

Using my two piles I laid them out like a checker board - vertically quilted block, horizontally quilted block, vertically quilted block... and so on and so on.

I more or less just laid them out as they came off the piles. A few times I reshuffled particular blocks to avoid having too many light coloured blocks in a row, or two by the same person in a row for example, but apart from these few exceptions they just got placed as they came off the piles. And it all seemed to work perfectly.

Then it was time to start sewing them together...

Top together check - must be time to baste.

Cue more dancing all over it by my "helpers"...

Basting done (200 pins later!) - check...

Time to stitch the back to the top...

Oh how immensely glad I was at this point that I had quilted as I'd gone and this stitching was minimal. Because at 49 x 15 inch unfinished blocks, boy was this baby big and h.e.a.v.y.

Quilting complete - time to stop for dinner & bathtime.
- Cue me sitting and removing the 200 basting pins while I watched the girls in the bath. No point stopping when the end is so close in sight right?! ;)

Girls in bed - check.
Time to bind...
Make way too much binding because you are too lazy to calculate how much you need - check.
Binding finished - check.

***  

Must be time to try it out on the bed in it's finished state...
eeeeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkkk

To coin a phrase from my daughter....
"I love it, I love it, I LOVE IT!"

And I certainly won't be able to complain that it's not big enough - because it's HUGE!

... When planning to do an extra row than I did on my last quilt, I also didn't take into account that I'd made the blocks an inch bigger in each direction as well.
Ooops.
So it's really really really big!

After it was finished I was a little nervous that it was so large it wouldn't fit into my washer & drier, but I'm pleased to report that it is currently in the tumble drier as we speak. So no problems there...

The Final Stats:
# of blocks:      49 x 14.5 inch (approx) finished squares
Finished size:          approx 101.5 inches square
Number of blocks made by me:        6
Number of other people contributing blocks:       25
Approximate number of different fabrics included:     980

Thank you SO much to: Susan, Shay, Marg, Anne, Linda, Jamie-Lee, Mona, Rachel, Mel, Sarah, Corrie, Lucinda, Juliet, Angie, Bec, Bron, Debbie, Sue, Suz, Allie, Caroline, Tammi, Ellie-Mae, Jill, Bree, (gosh I really hope I haven't missed anyone!)
...for your much cherished and appreciated contributions!!

As well as blocks gifted by these fine people above, I have also used fabric from many swaps I've had with other people. To name a few: Angela, Megan, Karen, Leona, Susan, Bec.

So this really is a very special and sentimental quilt with contributions from so many of my blogging, flickr & "real life" friends!

I am still hoping to name each block with who it was made by, but I'm still pondering the best way to do this and it requires waiting for my main sewing machine to get fixed in order for me to do some trials.

Oh and I have taken photos during my process to do a tutorial of the quilt as you go along process that I do, as promised, but I don't think that will happen until after Christmas now.

So on that note I'll leave you with a few shots of some of my favourite parts...

Love these musical love birds...

I've always wanted that yellow AH bird fabric in the centre but it was always out of stock when I went to make an order. But now I have some - thanks Jamie-Lee

How cute are those Laurie Wishrun donkeys in boots!

"Hey good lookin, what you got cookin" - I can't believe Lucinda fussy cut that saying into her block. It's one of Neil & my little sayings we say to each other regularly...

Gotta love goldfish in bags... And aqua scissors - perfect for a sewing Kat :)

I love every single block though, and it's amazing how well they all go together...

Just too perfect!
I couldn't be happier!!

And now if you'll excuse me I better go clean up my trashed house... It's amazing how much mess 3 people can make when all Mummy does all day is sew ;)

{Edited to add: You may now find my QAYG Process tutorial here...}