Monday 5 January 2015

Lucy's quilt

Earlier last year, a friend of mine was getting back into painting after a bit of a hiatus, and expressed an interest in doing a swap.  Now, I have no painting or drawing talent to speak of, so I have great admiration for those who do and I snapped up her offer very eagerly.

Lucy's quilt 

This is the quilt I made in exchange for an amazing painting, which I will blog about soon.  My friend asked for red, blue and pink to be used in the quilt, but otherwise gave me pretty much free reign.  She's a very sweet person, with a sense of style that's a mix of classic and quirky, and I wanted to try and bring those elements into the quilt as well.

The churn dash blocks are very traditional, and made in a combination of red, pink, blue and white 1930's prints, they were looking rather crisp and a bit preppy.  I wanted to add some softness and chaos, and as luck would have it, had just enough of the pale peach ditsy floral print to make sashing for the blocks.

Lucy's quilt 

The larger outer border is made from a print I've had in my sash for a long time, pretty much since I first started quilting.  It's a very small strawberry print on a dark navy background and is almost Liberty-esque (although it's definitely not true Liberty).

I wanted the quilting in this quilt to add to the traditional feel and leave the quilt soft and snuggly - perfect for a lazy afternoon nap.  I stitched in the ditch around each churn dash shape, and each churn dash block, and around the inner sashing.  The outer border was quilted in a fairly chunky diagonal crosshatch - I thought it might take forever with all that stopping and starting but it really wasn't that bad!  The quilt crinkled up beautifully when I washed it and put it through the drier.

Lucy's quilt

The binding is also from stash - a pink, white and red stripe that's been stowed away for a while but was just perfect for this quilt.  This quilt was quite challenging to photograph - I think it's the busy-ness of the sashing and border that makes it difficult.

Pink, red and blue cushion

I made a few extra churn dash blocks as I was making the quilt, and turned them into this pink, red and blue cushion to go with the quilt.

It was really fun to do a swap with a real life friend whose creative skills are quite different to my own.  I would highly recommend it if you get the chance, and I would do it again for sure.  Have you done any skills swaps lately?

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8 comments:

Annabella said...

It's lovely and has a sweet vintagey feel to it because of the '30s fabrics. Your friend is sure to love it.

Dominique said...

Hi Adrianne. I really love this quilt. Funny how what is old is new. Vintage-type fabrics, traditional block and setting, and yet, the quilt feels very fresh with a bit of modern flair. I love it!

Danette said...

Lovin' this churn dash block quilt! I'm sure your friend loves it!

magistra said...

Hi Adrianne!
I love this quilt and cushion! Sooooo pretty :)
Beth

Leonie said...

These swaps are the best! I have done it a couple of times with a couple of friends - it is rather lovely :) Love the quilt and think you did a great job of incorporating all the aspects you wanted. No doubt she loves it!

Leeanne said...

Swap quilts are so much fun. Your one has turned out fabulous!

Linda @ kokaquilts said...

It's a very pretty quilt! Excellent idea of exchanging of time & skills, what fun! Linda

leanne said...

that is such a lovely quilt and I love that you did a pillow to match ! look forward to seeing your painting - what a great idea !