Sewvivor Challenge Four - Lap Quilt

I'm absolutely thrilled to be here in the top three! I would have never guessed in a million years that i would have made it this far, i'm so very thankful for everyone's support, sweet comments and of course votes ;) 

This quilt is one that i've had in my head for some time now and making it this far in Sewvivor has given me the push i needed to get it out of my head and into reality! So without further ado, may i present...

Carrousel!

Carrousel is a mixture of bits and pieces from Melody Millers's first line for Cotton and Steel, Mustang. Such a wonderful variety of prints in this line and the colours are to die for!

 I also used one of my all time faves from her Ruby Star Polka Dot line for Kokka, the patchwork cheater print in blue, love this print so much! And i love how it works beautifully with her new work.

I also finally cut into this delicious stack of RJR Cotton Supreme Solids,

I spent a ridiculous amount of time fussy cutting images to feature in the Star Dresden wedges and even went so far as to piece three of them with little plus signs to mimic the little plus signs used in some of the Mustang prints. For the most part all the Dresden wedges were made by strip piecing sections of fabric and then cutting out the wedge shapes. I think most of my time with this project was spent mixing and matching the solids and prints together, the combinations were endless!

 I used up a lot of the little left over scraps to improv piece a strip for the top of the quilt.

I knew i wanted the giant Dresden to be the center of attention so i had planned from the beginning to bind it in the same fabric i used to applique the Dresden onto. So i thought a splash of colour along the top of the quilt would be needed!

The giant Dresden measures almost 50" across from point to point and i absolutely love the effect of having the one edge scalloped.

Basting it was slightly more difficult than a regular quilt due to the scalloped edge, which was sewn right sides together then turned right side out before basting. But not hard enough that i wouldn't do it again!

I made thirty six wedges, and tried my best with the fabric i had, to make three of each wedge.

Sorry for the rubbish night time cell phone picture! But i like how they look before they've been pointed. (I was stalling on making the last three, the +wedges!)

I used Carolyn Friedlanders widescreens for both the front and the back, grey on the front and black with a strip of grey for the back. Keeping it simple, just how i like my backs ;)

 I also used the grey for skinny binding. I cut the binding at only 2" and machine stitched it to the front and hand stitched it to the back. 

In an effort to keep this one soft and drapey i minimized the machine quilting and used the dresden wedges to guide where all my quilting lines went. I just did simple lines with Aurifil #2606 Mist through the centers of all the wedges from point to point and continued on in a straight line to the edge of the quilt. It creates a fantastic crossing of lines in the center! Where the lines reach the outer edges the quilt they were too far apart for my batting so i made the decision to do some hand quilting.

I love the little vintage pyrex looking starbursts on some of the Mustang prints and decided that they would be perfect to quilt all over the grey area of the quilt. 

 

I used Aurifil #2975 Brass, (surprise surprise!) for them and also for the simple stitches around the inner and outer edge of the whole Dresden. 

 The perfect amount of hand quilting!

The details:

Pattern - Carrousel by me!

Finished size - 64" x 80"

Fabrics - Star Dresden is all Mellody Miller Mustang, and Ruby Star Polka Dot and a selection of RJR Cotton Supreme Solids.

Front, backing and binding all Carolyn Friedlander Widescreens in grey and black.

Pieced with Aurifil #2600 Dove Grey and quilted with Aurifil #2606 Mist and #2975 Brass

High fives for a super fun quilt finish, and high fives to all of my Sewvivor friends! It's been a blast!

Voting is now over and the wait is on, Monday cannot come soon enough!! Be sure to visit Rach on Monday to see who the winner is!
And because it's been way too long i'll be linking up over at crazy mom quilts for finish it up Friday!