Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Happy Mardi Gras Quilt!!

 I finished binding my Mardi Gras Quilt just an hour ago, just in time for Mardi Gras day.  I'm really missing Mardi Gras this year, but at least I now have a fun quilt to hang up on our walls to celebrate in our own way.  I'm also linking up with "Quilt Story"'s Fabric (fat) Tuesday today.  Be sure to check them out!
I decided when I was quilting this that I wanted to try out using tracing paper to transfer a Fleur de lis design to each center square.  I found a design on the internet, sized it appropriately with our printer, which is also a copy machine, so I could enlarge the image.  I then traced it onto paper, pined it on, and sewed along the lines free motion style.  I absolutely LOVE the result!!  I did more free-motion quilting along the other batik prints as well, then did the binding, along with a sleeve on back to hang it with.
I find that as I get better and better at free motion quilting, I have gone from just trying to get a quilt done as fast as possible to not knowing when to stop!  I wanted to do some quilting in the black and white parts, but after doing the Fleur de lis, decided to stop there to keep that in focus.  I can always go back and quilt some more, but I doubt I will.  If anything, I'm tempted to sew on some "bling" in the way of bead crystals, or even rhinestones. Hmmm.

I set up my machine on the kitchen island / counter to do my free-motion quilting, and my family is so incredibly nice about letting me keep it there, but even I'm getting tired of it being there, so I need to make the next few quilts I'm going to do easy and fast.  It's funny how this small wall quilt took more time to make than the queen sized quilt on our bed!  I don't know why I thought a smaller project would take less time LOL!  But I'm so glad it's done, and hope you all have a happy Mardi Gras!  Laissez le bon temps roulez!

6 comments:

Susan said...

OMG, I love this! Sorry to sound like a teenage girl, but this quilt looks SO good. Love the colors and the Fleur-de-lis. I'm just about to make gumbo for dinner and gorge on sweets (not really) as I'm giving up sweets for lent!

Connie Kresin Campbell said...

Beautiful quilt! I love the fleur-de-lis quilting design. Did you have much trouble removing the paper? I've been thinking about doing it that way too.

Beth@IHaveANotion.com said...

An idea... you could do 4 smaller Fluers in the b/w squares. If you wash this quilt that area will really puff... or do straight line/ditch quilting.
Bling is always good, especially if it sparkles.

Becky said...

Thanks! Sparkles are always good! I love gumbo, but I wasn't planning well and we had stir fry tonight. But it was good! And the paper isn't too hard to remove in the bigger parts, but where there's a small space between lines it's a bit tedious. I used tweezers, but it really wasn't too bad! Not sure I'd want to do a whole bed sized quilt this way though!

LisaAnn said...

Hi Becky! I just found your blog from your comment to me! I love your quilt and your free-motion quilting is sooo nice! It has convinced me to keep practicing so I can finish mine this way!

Quiltstory said...

I love the fleur de lis. So pretty! Thanks for linking to Quiltstory!