Finally! I finished Luke's quilt top. I'm very pleased with the way it turned out. I was a little unsure about all of the red at first, but now I really like it.
I used mostly David Walker's robots prints, along with some Heather Ross polka dots, Michael Miller sprockets, and Cogsmo by Cosmo Cricket. I was able to sneak in a few precious squares of Ariel's Robot Red Rover fabric too.
It's huge--63 x 88 inches. There's about a foot hanging over the fence too.
One thing I need help with: I'd like to applique a red letter L on one of the squares. Any tips? I've never appliqued anything before. Would I do it before the quilting or after? Good idea? Bad idea? Any help would be appreciated.
When I set this out to take the picture, I realized that the backing fabric is a different blue than the blue in the quilt top. Der. I'm going to be okay with it.
Here it is, all ready to go to the quilter. I got a little bored with all of the squares, but I think Luke is going to like it. I'm going to try something a little more ambitious next time! Also, with quilt #3, I'm going to try to quilt it myself. I just thought this one was too big to attempt. I'll post more pictures when it's all finished up.
Head over to Amy's blog to see lots and lots more quilts!
80 comments:
Impressive, Katie. I can't believe you've just finished #2 and are already talking about #3.
it's so cute. i love it.
WOW! So great, both the quilt and the bag from the last post--I am beyond impressed with your skills:) Keep it up!
Very cute. Love the robots! If you are sending the quilt out to be long-arm quilted, I might wait to applique the L on until after it's done.
love it, love it, love it. I am very impressed.
I know what you mean about the squares getting mundane...but it turned out great!
I love the colors, and how the fabrics go together. It is wonderful. I appliqued a large L on the back of my daughter's quilt, here I was unsure about quilting over it also. I emailed Elizabeth Hartman at "Oh Fransson!" because she does a lot of applique. I asked her if she quilts over her appliques, and she said she usually does because she doesn't like the hole it leaves on the other side. I was just quilting straight lines on mine, so I quilted over it and it looks fine. I think you should definitely do it, but I love appliques on quilts. It gives it such an interesting personal touch.
Oh, by the way. The finished quilt is here: http://maggieandjosephine.blogspot.com/2009/06/my-first-complete-quilt.html
Very cute, I really love all of the robots!
Wow. I am speechless. My mouth's hanging open. (That might be because I can't breathe through my nose though.) I am so super impressed. It looks Ahhhhmazing!!!
Love it - I need to work on my own robot quilt.
Applique is generally done before. That way your applique stitches are on the back of the top & not on the back of the quilt. (Especially since you have a light blue for the back.)
I think an applique would be fine - you might even try cutting out differently sized L's (on black construction paper if you are going ot applique a black L as an example) & maybe go for a bigger L that would be an accent to the whole quilt rather than a small one that could get lost on just 1 square...
terrific quilt! appliqueing the letter on is a great idea. there are several good how to tutorials on the web, just google it!
Very colorful. I'm sure he will love it!
Happy quilting, Rhondi
It's a beautiful quilt top. You did a great job. I love it!!!
Lovely quilt. I would do the applique before the quilting. Try it out with paper (make samples with different fonts and sizes) to get the size you want and then either by hand or even fusible. Just let the longarmer know if you want quilting over it or not.
Karen S in Edmonton
It is beautiful!
Do we have a Robot on the moon today or did I dream that? How Timely. Aunt Mary
Love the colors in your robot quilt!
Bright and fun...really cute quilt!
Katie, this is great. Love the colors. Thanks for sharing!
Lovin the robot red rover
Katie this is a lovely quilt, I think any little boy would love this! Beautifully made.
Rita
This is so adorable. I just love those robots. :)
I love it. I find it can be hard to come up with a great concept for a boy. Great fabric choices. I think adding the initial would be a great touch.
An initial would be great. Applique before quilting and it's not hard. There are lots of methods, but I would reccomend either fusible web, or freezer paper method. Both are fairly easy.
Wow! I love how you used the different fabrics. So is the backing the same fabric? I think it will be fine though. Are the squares 5x5? I can't wait to see it in person!!
Great quilt. I love the fabric. Thanks for sharing.
It's adorable. I'm sure Luke will love it.
I love all the happy fabrics! He's sure to love it.
Robots! Every boy's favorite thing, no? Fantastic colors. I've never seen that Red Rover Robot fabric before .. it's adorable.
I love your quilt! I actually find simple squares challenging b/c for the life of me, I can't get my seams to line up perfectly. I get so aggravated! Yours looks just perfect!
what fun! any boy will love that! good luck on the next ones!
The little guy in your life will love this quilt. What fun fabrics you used, great colors, and he's sure to enjoy cuddling with it & sleeping under it. Well done!
It's lovely; the red fabric makes it spark. The robot fabric is adorable. Nobody will ever notice if the backing is slightly different than the front!
LOVE that fabric line...I made a couple baby blankets and it is a fav! Your quilt is beautiful, love the placements of the red squares. My favorite thing about Amy's festival...all the amazing quilts and blogers! What a beautiful quilt and what a fun blog you have!
Cute quilt! My daughter made a baby quilt using some of the same robot fabrics. They are so adorable!
I had to check our your robot quilt... I love the HR with it! I have quite a bit of the robots left, I may have to get some of the HR to add to it as I think I have enough for a second quilt.
That's the exact colour combo I want to use for my next baby quilt.
Re: your applique question. First, make sure you pick a high contrast colour. Maybe a navy blue? You have light and medium values, so you want to make sure it is a dark. Second, decide how you want to applique before you decide when. If you are going to fuse and satin stitch (or otherwise sttich) then I would do it before you quilt. You don't want to fuse on the uneven stitches of a quilting piece. You can do your outline sewing of the fused piece as part of the quilting, or outline the satin stitch. But if you want to needle turn the L then you can safely do that after the quilting is done. without without extra outline quilting then it will stand out. Good luck!
What a fun quilt- great robot fabrics - I like the idea of and L in one of the blocks.
Keep on enjoying your quilting journey.
Regards,
Anna
Love your quilt and the cute robot fabric. You've done a lovely job. I love the striped fabric you've chosen for the binding. Are you going to do straight cut binding or bias?
Very cute quilt. The fabrics are so interesting.
Thank you for sharing. I am really stumped in making quilts for boys - either in the design (looks like just squares) and the color combo.
A lovely quilt for a boy. I loved the robots.
Luke is going to love this quilt. Well done.
such a fun way to make a quilt--a theme full of contrast!
An applique would look great and I think it would be a lot easier if you do it before it's quilted since you'll have to move the top around a lot to do the edges. OhFransson did a great tutorial for Sew Mama Sew on appliques. here's the link (there's 2 parts)
http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/?p=518
http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/?p=519
The fabrics are very fun! Super nice quilt.
I have been collecting robot (and spaceship and alien) fabric for two years now. I just keep buying it and throwing it in a bin. I probably won't get to it until my son is an adult! Love the quilt!
Hi Katie! I just had to come back and leave another comment after you stopped by my blog. Thank you for the lovely comments that you left! I'm hoping that I'll get to make a quilt for myself soon too; what I didn't mention in that post is that the quilt I'm currently working on is actually my Mum's Christmas present. I just found out a couple of days ago that she reads my blog (I had no idea!) so I'll have to keep that one under wraps until the new year!
Its adorable!
Wow, this is so cute! I agree--the red does look great! I have never appliqued anything before, so I am of no assistance there. Good luck!
I think it
s a very nice quilt. Red is my favorite color. I'm glad to see you included it in this quilt. ; )
There are LOTS of ways to do applique! The letter L should not be difficult to do. Google applique and see what you get. I do have some tips and info on my blog or Yahoo Group if you're interested.
Anyway, thanks for the FuN! ; )
This is a great quilt! My daughter is in a robot phase at the moment and you have totally inspired me. Thanks!
Oh, wow. I love it! I love the way that the fabrics you've used look great from a distance and work really well together, yet when you see them up close they've got these funky robots all over them! It's got a nice balance about it too - not too much of any fabric. I think the binding will look great too :-)
I love that quilt. The fabrics are adorable and I love the pop of red in it. I think appliqueing the L on would be a very cute idea. I would probably applique the L on before it's quilted so that it will be secure on your quilt - no ripping that baby off! The quilter can either go around it (probably wouldn't want to if it is really big) or quilt something cool on it. Sounds very cute!
Katie,
Thanks for your comment on my pinwheel quilt! And I love your blog. Amazing you hand stitch everything. I'm so impressed! How do you find time with four kids?
On a side note, I grew up in Austin. Many years ago! The year I graduated from high school (1976) they had just completed MoPac all the way to Anderson Ln! I went to Anderson High the first year it opened as a sophomore.
To blow your mind, when I was a kid we had no malls there, just the Sears shopping center! We would drive to San Antonio to get school clothes!
Enjoy some TexMex for me!
Melanie
So cute and the little robot fabric was beyond cute. Thanks for sharing.
What a fun quilt, and what a coincidence, I've just made a Robot Quilt as well, just a baby one though, with some of the same fabrics ;) (http://cuttingedgequilt.blogspot.com/2009/10/oops-another-new-wip.html)
Hope Luke will love his quilt!
Cheers,
Christine from PEI
I love this quilt. It's like the perfect quilt. I love the simple straightforward design. I love the colors. I love the layout. Just plain love.
Very pretty!!
The robot fabric is sooo cute! You did a great job with all those squares! Thanks for sharing.
Very cute. Love the robots!
Jocelyn
http://happycottagequilter.blogspot.com/
Oh.My. That is such a boy quilt. I have a couple nephews who would go BONKERS over a quilt like that. =)
What a sweet whimsical quilt and any little guy would love it!
I have done applique before and after quilting. After quilting, you are dealing with more bulk in your hands but it can be done.
Cute. Love the colors.
very cute quilt! i love quilts with lots of squares! The robots are great! keep up the good work!
It's a great little boy quilt. It would be nice to do an applique of Luke's innital. I think you'd want to do it before it's quilted.
Your robot quilt is amazingly big and so cute!
Thanks for your visit and kind comment!
Such a great (big) quilt for your little guy! Love all the colors, they keep your eye moving. Thanks for sharing!
Very cute for your little boy!
super cute! I just love that fabric!
I really like this robot fabric! I'm sure this quilt is going to be well loved too.
Very cute -
barb
Ariel's designs are so sweet, and so perfect for this quilt. Love it!
Wow, I'm impressed! For your second quilt, it looks really beautifully done. Although a bunch of squares, those can be hard to line up so not so easy! Good job!
WOW it looks great, love the robots!
Great job; Luke is sure to love it!
Your son will love this! Well done!
oh i love all those squares. it is beautiful. the robots are too too cute
Bright and fun...really cute quilt!
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