Raevenfea

Maker of various fabric things

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To be a bit cliché, this shoemaker is a professional Web Developer and her child is this blog, but it was past time to launch what I have of a new design. All the content is still here, everything else is a work in progress (kind of like most of my sewing projects)!

Posts tagged: Q016DA

Pear Tree of Life

Posted in Quilting

  • Baby quilts
  • Fabric Designer: Thomas Knauer
  • Fabric: Pear Tree
  • Finished projects
  • Q016DA

Just as 2015 kicked off with a baby quilt, so has 2016. The recipient of Disappearing Seven Wonders is now a big brother to a baby sister who needed her own quilt.

"Pear Tree of Life", Rachael Arnold, January 2016, 48"x48"
“Pear Tree of Life”, Rachael Arnold, January 2016, 48″×48″

After pulling out a bundle of Pear Tree and coordinating fabrics a few months ago, all progress stopped. I couldn’t settle on a design for the quilt. Then I came across the Into the Wild pattern and was inspired to cut into the stack. I wasn’t incredibly faithful to the pattern (although it was great visual inspiration), but I like how it turned out with the fabrics I used.

"Pear Tree of Life" (detail), Rachael Arnold, January 2016, 48"x48"
“Pear Tree of Life” (detail), Rachael Arnold, January 2016, 48″×48″

The most obvious change to the pattern was adding a square in a square (in a square) to the center, highlighting a motif from the eponymous print in the line. I also added in a few more half-square triangles where the original pattern had squares, and dropped the top and bottom rows in favor of a square quilt due to the amount of fabric I had.

"Pear Tree of Life" (detail), Rachael Arnold, January 2016, 48"x48"
“Pear Tree of Life” (detail), Rachael Arnold, January 2016, 48″×48″

It’s backed with blush-colored, star-embossed Minky, using 70/30 Cotton/Poly blend batting in between. The batting is a bit higher loft than I normally buy—I bought it a few months ago for a different project, but decided to use it for this quilt instead, knowing that the high poly content works out fine with the polyester cuddle fabric. It gives the quilt a good texture in the looping quilting.

"Pear Tree of Life" (detail), Rachael Arnold, January 2016, 48"x48"
“Pear Tree of Life” (detail), Rachael Arnold, January 2016, 48″×48″

I quilted it with pink 40wt Aurifil in alternating free-motion patterns, building out from the center. My ability to free-motion stitch in the ditch has not improved since my first attempts, from what I can tell, but my consistency with feathers has improved. It’s bound in a textured green print. I’m very happy with how the quilting stands out on the back.

"Pear Tree of Life" (detail), Rachael Arnold, January 2016, 48"x48"
“Pear Tree of Life” (detail), Rachael Arnold, January 2016, 48″×48″

After a few months of not sewing (much), it was nice to jump back in with a relatively simple quilt. I hope it keeps the baby warm through her first winter and beyond.

February 4th, 2016

 

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