A magic carpet

Please forgive a short diversion from knitting but I would like to tell you about the first real, grown up, Kaffe Fasset, quilt I have ever made.

When I mentioned to no2 daughter that I was intending to make presents for everyone this Christmas past she asked me if I would make her a quilt.  Years ago I made a very sorry apology for a quilt for No1 daughter (I think she was about 8 at the time) out of some very cheap poly-cotton, a small thing of the sort magazines say you can run up in a couple of hours.  Well despite it not being a quilting masterpiece it has become a permanent feature in said daughter's life,  living over the arm of the sofa to be drawn across the lap on a cold evening.

J wanted a similar quilt but I had grander ideas, I wanted to use good quality quilting cotton this time, carefully colour coordinated to her décor (soft browns, lime green and wine red) and use a simple but traditional pattern.

I came upon Kaffe Fassett's Quilt Romance on a browsing trip to John Lewis, (where else!) and decided to make this

A magic carpet - even the name sounds special.  I had loads of fun cutting and piecing all the squares

The quilting was the trickiest part.  I was very grateful for a tip I read somewhere on the blogosphere to use large safety pins to hold the three layers of patchwork, wadding and backing together.  They held the work firm and stable and did not stab me once.  About halfway through the work I discovered I had a 'walking' quilting foot for my machine but  it was still tricky. (Picture taken before discovery of the correct foot!)

I used the stitch in the gutter method for the main lines and around the small squares and free-form circles on the big squares.  It was all a bit uneven at first but I got better at it as I went along.

I had seen on one or two quilting blogs that people leave messages on the back of their quilts, I liked this idea

I tried to make it look like my handwriting but it's funny how it doesn't look quite the same when writ large.  I think I might have used one or two plains or some fabrics with a greater colour contrast (I will next time) but J is very happy with her present and I loved making it

xx

C