Quilts for my grandsons

 

It must be 5 years or more since I first net Vikki of Shute Lane Fabrics she is an incredible artist and she has used this skill to start a business creating beautiful fabrics.  When I first met Vikki it was at the stitching for pleasure show at the NEC and it was her first show at the NEC and she was both excited and nervous in equal measure.  She had her mum there for support and they were both lovely and they chatted to us for ages and myself and my friend gave her lots of encouragement and suggested other shows that she could attend such as the Festival of Quilts and she has been attending every year since and I was even lucky enough to win tickets to the FoQ pre pandemic from Vikki's lucky draw. As soon as I saw the penguins I fell in love with them and I kept telling Vikki that if I were ever lucky enough to be blessed with a grandson I would definitely want to make this quilt. Of course at the time the other obstacle was that I had no idea how to use a sewing machine, that situation has now thankfully been resolved so when I saw Vikki at the Festival of Quilts last year I immediately said I need to make this quilt now before my grandson is too old to appreciate the love of a penguin🐧😀.  The penguins come as a panel and I set about looking for a fabric to back the quilt with and I really struggled to find something I liked.  Eventually I had a little light bulb moment 💡 and asked my sewing guru friend who has made many quilts, What if I buy a duvet cover would that work?  She confirmed it would and I set about finding a seascape duvet cover and came up with one that has pebble design on one side and the sea on the other and I set about unpicking all the seams to ensure I got the most material.  I don't like to waste any fabric if I can help it.   This was my first attempt at a quilt of any description and some would say this was a cheats quilt because it came as a panel but in fact because it was pre printed if the lines were slightly off it could throw me completely and I am a bit of a perfectionist and I was trying so hard to have straight lines but in the end I decided what I needed to do was sew the panel by eye in creating the squares between each of the penguins.  Adding the border was a lot easier.  

My sewing guru friend was always on hand to help and told me about the merits of  505 spray

and,  although she made me do all the work otherwise how else do I learn, I did appreciate the fact that in doing so it meant I got to create a beautiful quilt for Freddie Bear for Christmas.

And having always been adamant  I wouldn't buy an embroidery machine I have to confess to you that I did succumb last November and brought a Brother Innovis V5 which I have named Brother Bert.

It meant I could add a personalised  label to the back of the quilt so when it is rediscovered in an attic in years to come and I am no longer on this earthly plane everyone will know who made this quilt and hopefully not have too many stories to tell about grandma Mitzi.

and look what I found a quilt panel that matches the fabric book I made for Theo.  It's part of the range of fabrics produced by Henry Glass called Whirly Gig Magic.  I added s black polka dot on red background as the border and the backing for the quilt and used navy blue cotton fabric as the bias. 

and of course I added a label with Theo's name and date of birth and another grandma label with the year it was made.   Just think in years to come when these quilts are unearthed in the attic somewhere and I am no longer on this earthly plane there will still be a little bit of me there, lets just hope that whoever comes across them they don't know all my other secrets 😀.

 For someone who was so against having an embroidery machine I have to confess I am rather in love with my Brother Bert. 

Mx