I am so happy to be able to show you my finished Retro Flowers Quilt. It has been a long and sometimes arduous journey, which started in April, full of good times and bad. The making of this quilt would not have been possible without the kindness of my wonderful bloggy pals, Deborah, Kaelin, Susan and Jamie Lee who gave me the beautiful Denyse Schimdt fabric that I used for the petals. Thank you so much! I now have a quilt that will live in our house, made with fabrics I adore that will forever remind me how generous and giving people can be. Also thanks to Megan and Bianca for hosting the Retro Flowers QAL, although I took a lot longer to finish it was the kick I needed to get started!



This quilt was made using the fantastic pattern by Christina - The Sometimes Crafter, which you can get here.

I bought the templates from Tabslot and very glad I did. I didn't use the curve master foot though, I used my regular 1/4" foot and NO PINS, for sewing curves without pins I definitely recommend this youtube tutorial, it makes it so much easier.

I had some help deciding on the layout, in fact my daughter had the final say!


The wonderful trick of taking a black and white photo also confirmed the layout (I did take one at the layout stage but managed to somehow delete it but here's one when it was being basted)


Wouldn't this design look SO cool in monochrome?


The background fabric is Essex Linen in Steel, the binding is Prism Break by Hoffman and the backing is a vintage sheet that belonged to my beloved Great Auntie - so it really is retro flowers.


I quilted it using straight lines at random intervals and got a bit quilty happy - honestly it got to the point where I thought I'd try and use up all the lovely King Tut variegated thread (962) but that baby just kept going and the quilt was getting way too crinkly to add more lines so I stopped. It does have an amazing texture and is so snuggly. Check these out:

For the record my husband's head is not a macbook
The little girl happily chilling - the quilt fits the back of my sofa perfectly,
I couldn't have planned that.






This is an unexpected check off my Finish-A-Long list and I'll be so happy to link this up with Quilter In The Gap at the end of this quarter.

And just to give you an idea of how VERY grey it is here in Manchester:



Make sure you stop back on Tuesday because it's my turn for the Happy Little Pouch Hop!


Starting Monday, November 26, there are two weeks of pouch inspiration, pattern reviews and tutorials from some happy pouch bloggers! We've started a Flickr group too so that you can join in the fun, and we will have prizes that will be awarded each weekend of the blog hop.

Here are our Happy Little Pouch Blog Hoppers!

Emily from Mommy's Naptime
Elaine from Dashasel Sews
Courtney from Mon Petit Lyons
Lucy from Charm About You
Hollie from Undercover Crafter
Katie from Katie's Korner
Lindsay from Lindsay Sews
Michelle from I Like Orange
Sara from Sew Sweetness
Holly from Bijou Lovely
Heidi from Fabric Mutt
Elizabeth from Don't Call Me Betsy
Emily from Mle BB
Shruti from 13 Woodhouse Road
Beth of Plum and June
Kaelin from The Plaid Scottie

and of course, 
YOU!!!

Please join us in the fun and share your pouchy makes in our Flickr group

Prizes have generously been donated by:

     WhileBabyNaps


Linking up:




this week at Sewing by Moonlight


         
and Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts


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