Quack, Quack, Quack!!!

Oh My, It's Been A While!

First, a huge thank you to all of you—whether you're new here or returning after some time away. My plan is to fully resurrect this blog and, eventually, migrate it to a platform where I have more control over the design. But for now ... it's Blogger, and here's my latest project!

 

 

So, my niece, Katie, & her husband, welcomed a little boy back in November. Katies' older sister had a little boy in 2022 and I made the Elephant Abstractions quilt by Violet Craft for him to celebrate his arrival.

At that time, Katie had asked me, "can I get a quilt of a horse even if I don't have a baby?" 😂. [Well stay tuned for more posts—her wish is actually coming true.]

I thought the idea was fun and began looking for a horse pattern, but I struggled to find one that really clicked with me.  Instead of settling, I decided to learn how to create my own pattern. Fast forward to 2024:  I signed up for an on-line class through Crafty Monkies, taught by Scott Culley, where I learned how to create my own paper-pieced quilt pattern from an image.

When I learned Katie was having a baby, I reached out to see what she had in mind for the nursery. She sent over a few photos, and while I had initially thought about the horse quilt, I decided that a duck would be the perfect choice for the time being.  So, off to Etsy I went, looking for a pattern.

And, of course, in my excietment to find something that would work, I ended up purchasing a barn quilt pattern 🙄.

Oh well, what better way to test out my new found skills from the paper-piecing class?

Slowly but surely ... a 🦆 emerged on my design wall.

Lessons Along the Way

There was so much to learn throughout this quilt-making journey. Some things I thought would be easy turned out to be much more challenging than expected. Thankfully, my experience with the Elephant Abstractions quilt came in handy, as I could reference back to that pattern for guidance.

But halfway through, I remembered what I really disliked about the process of paper piecing—removing the paper from the back of the blocks. It caused torn stitches and ripped seams, and oh the time commitment; and I found myself dealing with similar issues this time around.

But then I remembered something I'd seen about using freezer paper for paper-piecing.  I had some on my hand from my days of self-printing labels for my awning business, so I decided to give it a try. After finding a helpful tutorial Bryan House Quilts (which, by the way, is now one of my favorite go-to blogs!), I used freezer paper for the head and tail portions of the duck. Game changer! It made the process so much easier, and having that prior paper-piecing experience definitely helped me succeed.

 

The Finished Quilt

There was a lot of learning and trial and error along the way, but I'm really pleased with how the quilt turned out in the end. The completed quilt is 48" square and I finished it off with 1½" cross-hatch quilting. In hindsight, I might have quilted a little closer together, maybe 1" or 1¼"—but I'm still happy with the end result.

The backing is a sheet I found at a thrift shop back in the US before I moved to the UK. It's incredibly soft, and the color is just perfect for the quilt.

As for the binding, it was a remnant I picked up at the 2023 Festival of Quilts at the Birmingham NEC. I cut it along the selvage (instead of selvage to selvage) to achieve the stripe effect.

 

 

 

 

And now, here it is, in all it's glory, in our garden (which, as. you can see, is still recovering from a bit of construction chaos!). We moved into a beautiful 1860's brick home in June 2024 and immediately started a major remodel (so much for "living in it for a year before making any changes!"). The garden is finally looking a bit tidier, and we're adding some raised beds in anticipation of spring.  I can't wait to share more pictures as the project progresses.

 

 

 

Thanks again for following along with my blog. I mentioned on a previous post that Instagram made me a bit lazy when it came to sharing more thoughtful content. Posting a few pictures and getting likes felt like enough for a while, but what I really want to do here is share the what and how behind the work. I want to highlight those that inspire me, share useful links and offer tutorials that might help you approach quilting in new and different ways.

Best,

Lisa