Hello, Everyone!
I’ve been so anxious to share this quilt with you! I’ve been working on it since the first of the year. I couldn’t post a blog because it was a gift and the recipient looks at my website. I didn’t want to ruin the surprise!
This is a custom designed, truly one of a kind creation. The gal I made this quilt for is a huge fan of the TV series “Friends”. In celebration of the show’s 25th Anniversary JoAnn Fabrics came out with several Friends themed fabrics.
Because I didn’t have a lot of time to spend on piecing I started out with standard blocks (8”f) of each of the 4 fabrics. I pulled colors from them for the solid sashings. I laid out all the blocks and sashing strips on my bed so I could see the way it would look. The blocks were placed randomly. I tried to get the feel of an old style film reel using the solid sashing strips and decided to arrange them so a diagonal color pattern emerged. I decided to make all the horizontal sashings the same color. I found a fun city scape fabric for the border.
The real fun came with planning the quilting. I decided to scroll each character’s name and the name of the show onto the quilt. I drew several styles of coffee and tea cups and pots and a cab. One of the teapots is a replica of my favorite teapot in my home. I had a lot of fun drawing the images. I’m not the best artist by far, but I can get it done.
In preparing for quilting I drew all the names and images on strips of freezer paper in the proper size. I then sewed through the freezer paper with a size 16 needle (no thread) and a short stitch length to create templates. I prepared my quilt sandwich and then used my stencils and a chalk pad to swipe chalk through all the holes in the stencils, transferring the image to the quilt top. I reinforced the lines with a chalk pencil. I put the quilt on my longarm and quilted it. I used curved and straight rulers to help with accuracy.
I chose a midnight blue shade of cotton for the binding. It brightened all the shades of blue in the city scape border. The backing fabric is a vintage coffee print. I added a custom tag- this is an important quilt to document!
Yesterday I gave it to Alyssa- she was so excited, and had fun exploring all the quilting. Please enjoy the pictures below- this is an incredibly special quilt!
Lisa is right.. I am a HUGE FAN of the Friends series. When she handed me the quilt I was speechless! This quilt is so unique in so many ways. The fabric, the design, and the quilting. Finding all of the names and images in the quilting was so much fun! The quilt is made so well I will be able to keep it for the rest of my life. I have seen many of Lisa’s creations and they are all so unique and fun. Thank you so much for the wonderful gift!