Quilt Finish: Houndstooth

You may have already seen this quilt top yesterday during the Sew Sweetness Tula Pink Sew Along. You can go here to see my full review of the pattern. A little bit of my original review got cut off. All it really said though is that Tula Pink rocks and her book is amazing. I absolutely recommend it!

So this is finally quilted and bound and I couldn't wait to show the final product here.

I struggled with how to quilt this (as usual). It's pretty large at 66"x72" (I showed a size reference on the other post) and therefore is bulky under my standard machine for custom quilting. So I decided to play off the way that Angela Walters quilted Tula Pinks version in her book. She did straight lines in the dark herringbones and then a wavy design in the light ones. I took that straight line and extended it through the quilt and spaced it out so it made more of a texture. You can see it more on this photo (apparently bright sunlight is good for showing texture!). I'm really happy with how this turned out and will probably do this again.

I totally miscalculated the fabric I needed for the front and wound up with a lot of extra. It worked out well for the back!

Close up of the fabrics and my labels. I also struggled with the thread choice because I had such contrasting colors. I wound up meeting in the middle and using a soft grey from Essentials Thread (silver, 50 wt). I'm really happy with how it turned out. And my machine was very happy with the thread. I had zero tension issues with this one which is rare for me.

One of the things I didn't talk about in my other post is the fabrics. Specifically that purple solid. My sister (who now owns this quilt) had a specific purple in her living room with the yellow and grey. She sent me a photo and I searched for just the right purple. I finally found it in Cotton Couture Venus. This was the first time I've worked with Cotton Couture (which is from Michael Miller) and I just have to rave about it. It is so soft and fabulous to the touch. It's almost reminded me of voile! But definitely not see-through. I had to be careful with it so it didn't pucker since it was softer/lighter(?) than the other fabrics) but once I got used to it, it was fantastic. I even did the binding with it. I can definitely see myself getting more of this to use for shirts.

I really love this quilt, but it's going to live with my sister in Florida. Guess I'll just have to make another one right??

Quilt stats:

Size: 66"x72" 

Pattern: Houndstooth by Tula Pink

Fabrics: Woodgrain from Joel Dewberry, Michael Miller Cotton Couture Venus, Kona white and I can't remember the dot fabric! 

Quilted by: Myself

Finished: 9/14/12