SIZE: doll size; ~ 15″ x 21″
FABRIC: from my stash… budget-friendly that I want to bust
DESIGN: maverick stars
QUILTING: free motion in a meandering design around the stars; straight line in the border; straight line outline (inline?) inside the stars
BINDING: red/green/pink dots on black background; machine sewn to front and back
INSPIRED BY: the many maverick star quilts on flickr
FOR: birthday gift for a three year old little girl
I had my own Saturday Sew day this weekend, in the spirit of the one the Dallas Modern Quilt Guild had. I wish I could have gone to the DMQG one but since Tessa really does not take a bottle, it makes leaving the house solo for hours not the best idea. Maybe when she’s eating baby food I can make the Saturday Sew events again. In the meantime, I plan on being there in spirit and make sure I sew/quilt/piece at home on those Saturdays.
- I got to put my new machine through the paces to see what it was like to make a whole quilt on it (LOVE IT!).
- I need a birthday gift for a three year old and this will be perfect for that.
- I still have a few lingering budget-friendly but not quilt-store-quality fabrics in my stash that I want to bust (these are from Hobby Lobby and JoAnn). Little doll quilts are a perfect way to use them up.
- I have been wanting to make a maverick stars quilt.
I know it has been doll/small quilt overload with me for awhile, but I really do love making them. Because of their small size, I get to try out a quilt design small-scale and with quicker turn around (= almost instant gratification). That helps me figure out if I like a design enough to make dozens of blocks and also lets me know if I need to tweak the design the next time around. I also get to practice every step in the quilting process, from start to finish… designing, cutting, piecing, basting, quilting, and binding. Surely by the time I finish many doll quilt, I will be a better quilter for doing so.
And then there’s the needle down setting which makes for cleaner looking starts and stops during the quilting process.
And also the knee lift. This makes it easy, and hands free and faster, to lift the presser foot without taking my hands off of the quilt sandwich. This was especially helpful in the way I straight-line quilted the stars and border.
The other thing that I really like about my machine is the extension table (many quilting machines come with one). The additional flat workspace means the fabric is more likely to feed through the machine evenly since gravity isn’t pulling part of it down.
I tried one new technique on this quilt… cutting the binding on the bias. Hmm… don’t think I’ll do that again unless the fabric calls for it or I’m doing curves. It took me a good bit longer to cut the fabric and piece the binding compared to the straight-grain way. I’ve read that bias binding is stronger, but I don’t anticipate my quilts going to battle and I think straight-grain binding will hold up just fine on my quilts.
In the end, I do love how this quilt turned out. The colors, the maverick stars and even the size (it is just the right size for a doll quilt; some of my others have been a bit big). I enjoyed making the maverick stars and got a good system going for piecing them. They are about 6″ square finished. If I were to make another maverick stars quilt, I’d probably go a little bigger .
And I do plan to make some normal size quilts next. Two, in fact. I hope to post a little something about them this week.
I think its the perfect gift for a little girl! I’m sure she’ll love it and I think you did a good job with the pillow.
Lucia, you continue to thrill! This is just so adorable, she will be the envy of the tea party’s! keep up all the fun…
Doll quilts are SO much fun. Go for it. It is the best way to use less than the best fabric. Placemats, too.
Lovely quilt!
I’ve just left a comment to answer your question about the map of the states quick sticks tutorial. Let me know how you go and if it makes sense.
Thanks, Kate
OH this is divine – adorable – precious – fun – amazing – and Really really CUTE!
What a gorgeous little quilt! Very girly! and what an awesome idea for a Birthday gift!!! I love that you used up your scraps. Perfect.
The little pillow is a great touch too. 😉
Love from Texas! ~bonnie
http://www.bingobonnie.blogspot.com