In my last post I shared a photo of a quilt in progress. That quilt is now finished and I'm so happy to be able to share some photos with you. You can click on any of the photos to get a bigger view.
This quilt is now living in Queensland with somebody I have never met! You see, I made it for a swap run on Instagram. (The hashtag, if you'd like to look, is
#igminioz.) It was my first swap, and I had lots of fun making the quilt, despite a sore shoulder slowing me down with the quilting.
It is an interesting exercise, making a quilt for someone based on knowledge you gain of them through a questionnaire and 'stalking' them on social media. (It was a secret partner swap). I was very fortunate in that my partner,
@strange_stitches, commented on and 'liked' my progress photos, so I felt I was on the right track. Still, I was very nervous and so, so excited when it actually arrived and she got to see it in person. Her reaction was all I could have hoped for and more, and actually brought tears to my eyes!
I admit to being rather proud of this quilt, and completely smitten. The fact that it has gone to a fellow patchwork quilter is, I think, wonderful. I know that she knows what has gone into making this, and that makes giving it away so much easier. I also got to watch her progress on the quilt she made for her partner, all the effort she put in, which was fun.
The pattern I used for the star is called "Millennium Star" and is from the e-book included with the Craftsy Class "
Quick-Strip Paper Piecing" by Peggy Martin. I love that class. It has made paper foundation piecing so much more fun for me, and easier. I highly recommend it. I changed the orientation of the star to have more room to go to town with the quilting.
The quilt finishes at a touch under 25" square. The quilting is mostly done with Aurifil 50wt thread. The black quilting took a LOT of thread - I went through over four bobbins! I also used rather a lot of purple thread for the feathers. I used white cotton batting behind the star, and black batting of a cotton-polyester blend for the quilt as a whole. I pre-washed all the batting.
All in all, I'm very happy to have participated in this swap. Whether or not I will do another one remains to be seen. Though it was not all I had hoped it would be, I feel I was very lucky with the partners I was allocated, and the interaction I have had with them and a few others over the course of the swap. And the swap package I received from my partner... wow. I was, and still am, thrilled and touched. I will share that with you next time.
Bye for now,
Hope x
P.S. Have you participated in a quilt swap? What did you think?
