Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Tula Pink for Olivia Violet

Pin It This is my Friday Sew & Tell for amylouwho!



When my friend from college, Erin, found out that baby #3 was a girl, I knew I wanted to make her a quilt.

Her shower was last weekend, and though sadly, I didn't get to go, I did get to show her a picture. :)

I promised you all a full process write-up, and here it is (the quilt and the write-up)

tula pink for Olivia Violet

Here's how I did it.

I had a Plume FQ bundle... so I pulled out the pinks, and left them folded as they come (I think I had to iron out a couple of them). 

I put it on the 4 1/2" square section of the die that came with the Go! cutter.

go in action

After wheeling it through...

go in action

...I had a lovely pile of 4 1/2" squares.  

cut with go!

A few of them were a tiny bit off where the fabric folded, but they were close enough, and I didn't have to do any prepping of the fabric (which was nice). :)  Using the pre-folded fat quarters really wasn't technically enough seam allowance, but to save time, I'd probably still do it again, and just adjust my seam allowance if necessary, for the pieces that were folded too small to cover the 4 1/2" die.

While I was making this quilt, I discovered one of my favorite features of the Go!

When cutting, I could fold up one side, and use my cutting mat. (Those are chubby star four-patch strips to the right)

the go in action

And while I was pressing, I folded up the other side to keep it out of the way.

go in action

Very handy.

For my white squares, I had cut 5" x WOF strips, and folded them so they were six layers of fabric deep.  It is a little harder to crank through six strips than four; however not as hard as using the ruler and rotary cutter on the cutting mat.

A couple blog friends had asked me about the accuracy of the squares.  Because I didn't have enough seam allowance for my pinks to give an accurate assessment, I decided to check with the whites, where I did have enough overlap.

I had two of my squares (out of 24) that were 4 3/8" instead of 4 1/2".  All the rest were a perfect 4 1/2" square.  Why those two weren't, I do not know, and should have paid better attention to what position they were in the cutting stack.

________________________________________

The inspiration:
Tula Pink for Olivia Violet

  • This little girl will be named "Olivia Violet Cosette."  So I had to go with Tula Pink... 'cause Pink and purple were always my favorite colors growing up.  Plume, with its little Fleur d' Lis, also emphasized the Parisian in her "Cosette."  (Yes, I was sad that Parisville wasn't available yet)
  • Olivia's room is hot pink and watermelon green... this fabric fit that scheme beautifully.
  • Olivia's mama is a very talented singer and song-writer; I figured her daughter might have a little bit of diva...so some glamour was a must.
  • Tula herself gave some of the inspiration, with this quilt design...


To start, I had some simple HSTs (half-square triangles), but wasn't sure how I was going to lay them out.  

Plume WIP

I decided to keep them all the same direction, and I added the little framed section because I wanted to put a piece of art in the middle (off to the side actually).

tula pink for Olivia Violet

I moved it off to the side because to me, it balanced the symmetry of the HSTs by being a bit asymmetrical (that's what I was thinking at least).  

The scalloped edge is that little bit of diva I was talking about.  I did it by putting a glass lid on the edge and tracing the edge in and out.

Olivia's label

For the quilting, I decided on simply echoing the movement of the triangles with long, diagonal straight lines on either side of the triangle seams.  I probably should have quilted some vertical lines too, but I'm happy with this look overall, and I was really excited to finish it.

__________________________________

tula pink for Olivia Violet

What I love about this quilt:
  • All those glorious pinks
  • The way the white anchors the design
  • The interplay of the really strong, masculine triangles, with the grandiose florals, and feminine curve in the border
  • The cute label (done with a couple selvage edges so the name of the fabric line and those cute little Fleur d' Lis could be shown off.)
  • Pretty much everything.


What I don't love about this quilt:
  • I'm not sure how I feel about the backing (it's a hot pink flannel from JoAnn's... it was on sale, and hey -- we're on a budget)
DSC_0902
  • I'm also not sure if I made the right binding choice.  I kind of wish I'd have gone with a solid green.  The binding is machine stitched, done on the bias, like in this tutorial.  With the bias binding, it was really easy to get around those curved edges.
  • That's about it. :)


(Oh, and Steiger's usually sleeping while I do my photo shoots, but sometimes he's not.  This is the kind of thing he does on those days). :)

what Steiger does while Mommy takes pictures

DSC_0896



23 comments:

Sara said...

OOOH I want some Tula Pink---if you have any scraps left over that you really don't want anymore I would be happy to take them!!

BEAUTIFUL quilt and I love, love, love the scalloped edge. It makes the quilt REALLY stand out wonderfully!

Lee Ann L. said...

This is one gorgeous quilt!

May I ask where you got the quilt label? or how you made it? I'm loving it.

I've been looking for ideas and whatnot on labeling quilts and I may end up just making a simple one out of twill tape as there are several tutorials out there in bloggy land.

Katie B said...

This is lovely, Tracey! Was the scalloped binding difficult? It looks like it would be! Then again, I have a hard enough time sewing a straight line...

Poppyprint said...

This quilt seems absolutely perfect for Olivia! Well done. I love that you scalloped the one edge - give the entire quilt so much interest. I think the colours are all fantastic and should look amazing in her bedroom!

Unknown said...

I LOVED the adorable little tag you made on it. I can't wait to wrap her up in this. It's just made with so much love and attention to who she is, or rather will be ;)

Gigi's Thimble said...

I love the quilt and that line of fabric and the tag you made! So cute!

AllieKatMom said...

Looks lovely, so does that GO!!

Natalia from Piece N Quilt said...

I love it Tracey! The scallop is my very favorite!! :)

Regina said...

So so pretty. I also LOVE that you put the selvage with the quilt label. What a great way to remember what fabric was used!

Oh thanks also for showing us how you used the Go!

Sarah Craig said...

You already know I love this quilt - it's totally spectacular!! But I love your pics with Steiger - at least he leaves your quilts alone! Lilli always wants to play peek-a-boo with them while I'm trying to shoot pictures!

randi said...

oh gosh, i just love this quilt! so pretty!

Diane said...

This is beautiful, I love it, did I mention that it is beautiful?

~Niki~ said...

you're welcome to come share this project on my linky blog :)
http://www.linkhandmade.blogspot.com
~niki

p.s.phyllis sews said...

Just love how you did this. Thanks for sharing your process and the final result is so beautiful!!!!

Haylee said...

The quilt is beautiful. I love the scalloped edge.

Nina... said...

Your quilt turned out lovely! Every detail is perfect. Great job!

Pokey said...

What a beautiful finish this is, gotta love that Tula Pink! Lucky Olivia! :-}pokey

Kim D. said...

Beautiful Quilt! Love the scalloped edge on just one side, very nice design.

Carla said...

Lucky mom and baby. This quilt is adorable and the pattern is really cool.

Rene' said...

This is a great use of those lovely Tula Pink fabrics! I absolutely love it. Thanks for sharing your method.

Deborah in Atlanta said...

Are you planning on doing a tutorial on this quilt? It is absolutely stunning. I'd love to have the pattern. So are you going to share? dmj53(at)hotmail(dot)com

katie@stvital said...

I love it! Thanks for showing it to me. This is a wonderful quilt to showcase a special fabric.

Miss Lee said...

I can't believe I just saw this quilt Tracey! It's gorgeous. I have been scouring for a piece of lime tail feathers for over two years for a special turning twenty quilt - I am about to throw in the towel and use my lone piece of mint. I have tried many options to now no avail even offering my lime original AMH Social Climber!!!! Your quilt is just totally amazing.....I bet it has had lots of love by now!!

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails