This is a pattern by Judi Madsen which is called 'Mama Gypsy' (I got it the wrong way around when I wrote my label, sigh) and Judi ran a quilt-along during 2019 for people to join in with, so I thought I would join in as I bought the pattern a year or two ago and this was good motivation to use it.
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| An inside photo - I only got this finished on Sunday 22nd Dec, which was cutting it extremely fine as I needed it washed, dried and wrapped up before Mum came to stay on Christmas Eve evening! |
I decided to make this 81" square quilt for my mum to have on her bed as hadn't yet made a large quilt for her. She is a fan of purple, and when I found the purple/teal batik, I decided to run with those two colours and a white background - so that all took a bit of working out as the pattern is designed for using with a larger range of colours.
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| As mentioned in my previous post, the weather here has been terrible (not summer-like at all) and I was lucky that the 23rd of Dec was not raining and I was able to hang it up on the line for a couple of hours to help dry it out. |
The photo doesn't do it justice, but every time I walked past the back door,
the colours of the quilt looked simply stunning in the light of the overcast sky.
For the quilting, I used a range of different free motion designs - simple 1 1/2" cross-hatching inside the outer ring of batik sections, wiggly straight lines on the centre batik blocks (using a set stitch on the machine), some FMQ side to side lines inside the purple or teal borders of the small white squares, some FMQ squiggly line 'stars' inside the small white squares, straight lines inside the large solid squares, an FMQ pebbled-leaf motif inside the large white centre border and then an FMQ double-bubble style of motif in the outer white triangles.
Phew! It was a big job on a domestic machine!
The backing is a purple minky (for which I just use flannel as the 'batting' as the quilt is massive and was heavy enough just with the minky backing).
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| Merry Christmas! |
The great thing about Judi's pattern, is that it also gives you a smaller pattern to use up the off-cuts from making this quilt. I didn't follow that but have got two small lap quilt tops made from the off-cuts, waiting to be quilted...adding to the to-do list!
Great to be sharing with my quilting friends via Wendy's Peacock Party , Kelly's Needle and Thread Thursday and Michelle's Beauties Pageant - make sure you check out the great work everyone
has been doing by visiting those links too!
Here is a photo of the quilt on mum's bed - a king single:
This is just fantastic! I had joined the quilt along, but, oh well, my top is still not yet completed. Hopefully, I will get it done by Spring. You have done an exquisite job on the quilting. One day I may learn FMQ, too, but now I only use my walking foot. Glad your Mom loves her quilt.
ReplyDeleteThe fabric and the pattern are very striking, this is so beautiful. You did such wonderful work with the quilting, it's perfect!
ReplyDeleteWhat a beauty...and the quilt too! Your mom looks quite happy with her quilt. The colors are a fantastic combination and your quilting...being someone who struggles with FMQ on a domestic machine with much smaller quilts...I give you huge props for this monster!!
ReplyDeleteGrrrrl you cut it close on completion. Such a gorgeous colorway! FMQ on a domestic machine bed-sized quilt - kudos to you. I liken it to wrestling with an octopus. I send all mine to the longarmer now, trying to quilt one that size for me is exhausting.
ReplyDeleteWow, the quilting is awesome. That was a big job on a domestic machine.
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