Tuesday, December 1, 2015

A Christmas Quilt!

Aren't you pleased that I waited until December 1 to post a Christmas quilt? I do not appreciate the interwebs freaking me out about the remaining shopping/baking/decorating/crafting days starting in September. So I waited.  Just for you.

Pieced at Loon Lake 2014, basted shortly thereafter and finally quilted at Loon Lake 2015! I think this is one of the most clever log cabin quilts ever. The quilt was on the cover of Quilt Now magazine last year; the pattern is by Jessie Fincham of MessyJesse on Instagram.  Jesse was one of the lovely UK quilters I met when I travelled to London for the Fat Quarterly retreat a couple of years ago.

Evergreen Quilt by Poppyprint

I enjoyed using some treasured scraps for the blue and green logs and pearl bracelets for the cream background. This quilt was a great colour exercise for me. It turns out that I often chose fabric thinking it is green, when actually it is yellow. I had to carefully extract a few yellow strips from the middle some blocks and replace them with a more vibrant green in order for the contrasting blue/green sections to show up.  Jessie made her original quilt with solids and tone on tones, I think.


Evergreen Quilt by Poppyprint

I had a great time free-motion quilting this on my new Juki 2010. I had absolutely no issues which was so great for a change!  In the cream and green areas I did a fairly close stipple and in the blue areas I did the interlocking clam shell-paisley thingy.  It seems to be in every single FMQ'ing book with a different name in each one.  I think I'm gradually getting my FMQ mojo back with this machine that doesn't cause me as many problems as my old one.

Evergreen Quilt by Poppyprint

I took a poll at retreat and the washi print from Cotton & Steel's Tinsel line won out for the binding. It is a fun print to bind a cream border with because the washi tape colours show up as random little dashes in the binding.

Ok, so here's the thing. I thought I would try wool batting for the first time on this fairly small wallhanging (I think it is around 36" square). It definitely made FMQ a breeze. I'd been told that wool batts were totally washable by a few people who have used them before. I washed this little quilt in my front loading washing machine (no agitation) on the gentle cycle, squeezed the water out, rolled it in a towel and then blocked it on my carpeted floor to dry. After it was all dry, I picked it up, marvelled at how perfectly flat the blocking made it, then noticed that it's completely FUZZY. Like, it needs a shave, fuzzy. The wool batting is bearding all over the place, not just at seams (that are, as you might expect, pressed to the side) and stitches, but it's actually coming out of the fabric. I'm so happy I didn't put it in the dryer! Has this happened to you? 

Evergreen Quilt by Poppyprint

Isn't it the cutest wreath?! I'm excited to gift this for Christmas, fuzz and all.

13 comments:

Kristi said...

It's fuzzing? That's so weird and the thought of it doing that is kinda giving me the oogies! Which it totally shouldn't, that's weird, especially because the quilt is so pretty! I love the wreath and how fresh those green shades are.

Aliceart said...

Thanks for sharing this. I love that it is a bit modern looking even though it is a wreath. Love it!

Nicole said...

I had a wool duvet last year and it bearded right through the cover (which was a quilt. Yeah - ask me sometime about my quilted duvet covers, v. fun). Anyway, it wound up looking like a yellow lab rolled all over the bed ALL THE TIME. I sold that duvet and have no regrets!

I've never heard about the extreme bearding on a batt though. Are both sides equally fuzzy?

Oh and nice quilt too.

Rene' said...

Your wreath quilt is beautiful Krista!! Cool design of a log cabin! Hmmmm that's interesting about the wool batting. I have not used any yet, but just bought a few yards to give it a try on a future quilt. I researched and read where some wool batting is prewashed and some not, but had not heard about the fuzzy issue. Something to think about I guess....

Dianne said...

Perfectly beautiful!! Lucky will be the recipient!

Lisa in Port Hope said...

What brand did you use? I remember reading once that it's really important to get some battings right way up to avoid bearding. I am planning to use wool batting for the first time on a Christmas quilt.

Donna~~ said...

The bearding is frustrating. I've only used the wool once (and I doubt my mother-in-law has washed it, though I did once without issues. I think my brand was Quilter's Dream. Which brand did you use. I've another batt in the closet, and would love to know before I use it....have the quilt ready and thought it would be easier for doing it myself.

And bearding aside, very creative way to make a wreath. Looks nice and you are impressively done well before Christmas!

Anonymous said...

Such a gorgeous quilt! I have only had problems with poly bearding, it seems to do with static electricity, but have never had this with pure wool. I don't suppose it was a wool/poly blend was it?

boomerRose said...

I love wool batting- nice and warm in winter, and the quilting really shows. BUT I had two quilts quilted with Pellon wool batting around the same time, and once washed they both bearded very badly.. Pellon agreed that that particular batch probably had not been treated. Wool is either chemically or heat-treated to prevent this. It is heart breaking to see your quilts ruined in this way. I am going to switch suppliers, and will wash a small quilt sandwich before using it.

Elsa said...

Such a lovely quilt ~ almost makes me want to make one right now! Too much other stuff to do tho.
Sorry to hear about the batting. All that work ~

Kay said...

Absolutely stunning. x

Lisa J. said...

I really like this wreath because it doesn't scream Christmas.

Susie said...

LOVE it!! Festive, and cool.