Saturday, April 23, 2011

African Safari Quilt


I finished my first quilt on my new HQ Sweet Sixteen.
I chose this machine because it is for "free motion quilting".  I love the "organic" look of this quilting method.

I searched online for some ideas for free-motion quilting.  One of my favorite sites is Day Style Designs.  Leah has made some fantastic tutorial videos for quilters, and given lots of sample ideas for free motion quilting.  She has a post for beginning free motion quilters here, with some trouble shooting solutions.  

Leah noticed that most of the filler quilting in her quilts was stippling or mctavishing.  So, she set out to create a new "free motion quilt filler design" for each day of the year.  Here is her post about that.  On her flicker site, you can find those designs.  I kept the above sample, blown up to full size, next to my quilting machine as I quilted, and used it for reference.  Leah shares her talents and ideas with us free of charge, but you can support her by making a small donation here.


I used fabrics from the URBAN CIRCUS collection by Laurie Wisbrun, as the feature fabric for this quilt.

This quilt went to my new nephew, Tsubasa.  Here he is with his darling mother, Maiko.

The back and binding are scrappy.


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5 comments:

  1. Linda at Roscoe's MaApril 23, 2011 at 2:58 PM

    I really love this quilt. It's perfect for a cute little guy. You and the Sweet 16 did a great job with the quilting!

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  2. MariQuiltsApril 23, 2011 at 11:17 PM

    Looks fantastic....I have a number of these fabrics, this simple pattern is a great way to showcase them. Are you loving the new machine??? The quilting looks great.

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  3. a maidenhair fernApril 24, 2011 at 11:25 AM

    Thank you, MariQuilts, I love my new "Sweet Sixteen". It rides very smooth and steady. I have more quilting control than on my regular machine. The only problem is that for each quilt, the amount of time I spend quilting compared to piecing is much smaller. It makes me want to piece faster, so I can get to the quilting.

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  4. ClaudiaApril 29, 2011 at 6:57 AM

    Beautiful quilt! I love your quilting ... great design. Thanks for the links, I'm going to check this out. I'm always looking for new and interesting quilting designs.

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  5. CharlotteMay 14, 2011 at 12:21 PM

    This quilt is gorgeous I love it. I've actually done something quite similar recently. Your nephew is also utterly adorable, i'm sure he will treasure this quilt forever

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