Below are a list of the links to all the posts about Marilyns Quilt in the order of posting. I hope you enjoy reading them.
Marilyns Quilt: Pre-washing Fabric
Marilyns Quilt: Cutting the Fabric
Marilyns Quilt: Piecing the Friendship Braid
Marilyns Quilt: Printing the Text Panel
Marilyns Quilt: Piecing the Text Panel
Marilyns Quilt: Making the Sandwich
Marilyns Quilt: Hanging at the Show
Marilyns Quilt: The Judges Verdict
Thanks for stopping by….
Tracy
Because my objective was making the quilt for Marilyn and having it displayed at the Festival of Quilts I didn’t even think about the judging side of the exhibition until the quilt was returned and I found the feedback forms included in the box. I was quite nervous opening the envelopes but was pleasantly surprised by the positive comments.
The form below was from a judge named Tracey Pereira. The written comment reads ‘Very touching memorial quilt. Tastefully executed. Writing really adds a lot of emotive reaction to the piece.’
This form below was from a judge named S Lockie. The written comment reads ‘Lovely flow of colour could be improved if joins or plaits flowed through each block. Wonderful idea.’
What was interesting about this point was that I deliberately ‘deconstructed’ the Friendship block which was part of representing that our friendship had been ‘interrupted’ but given the limitation on the number of words you can include you can’t really convey every detail.
This is the last post in the ‘Marilyns Quilt’ series. I will create a single post with links to all the posts I have written.
Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read them and to those of you who have left comments, it is very much appreciated.
Many thanks for stopping by….
Tracy
I will apologise in advance for the quality of the photos but the lighting at the NEC in places can be quite poor which means the colours aren’t quite as true as they should be.
In addition to the text panel stitched in the front, I made another panel that hangs at the back from 3 coloured mother of pearl buttons and matching handmade cord. Yes you guessed it…the colours are pink, green and purple. In the photo below you can see one of the lovely ‘Quilt Fairies’ as I call them showing Janet (M-in-L) the back of the quilt for the first time and reading the panel. Although she knew I was making the quilt she didn’t see it at all, not even the fabric, until we arrived at the show. I also inserted the Friendship Braid piece cut from the front into the back.
I couldn’t really believe that people stopped to look at the quilt but I am very grateful that they did. 
The ‘Quilt Fairies’ did a wonderful job of looking after Marilyns Quilt and when I was leaving to go home on the Saturday I went to their office to say thank you. 
I hope nobody got a crick in the neck from reading the back! I did speak to Andrew Salmon about how double sided quilts are displayed at the show and we had a very interesting conversation which you can read more about here.
Thank you again to the ‘Quilt Fairies’ and to everybody who took the time to look at Marilyns Quilt – it was and is very much appreciated.
In the next post I will share with you the feedback the quilt received from the judges.
Until the next installment..
Many thanks for stopping by….
Tracy
The organisers of the Festival of Quilts (Twisted Thread) give you a number of options of how to get your quilt to them. Because I was so paranoid about sending it by post – I was convinced they would lose it – I decided to play it safe and drive to Birmingham and deliver it personally to the Crown Plaza Hotel.
If I am honest I was slightly late than I had originally planned delivering it and took the afternoon off work and drove there and back that day. I must mention that I didn’t have a clue of how to ‘package’ the quilt and Janet (M-in-L) came to the rescue with a box that was perfect.
I wrapped the quilt in a cotton sheet then in bubble wrap, then into the box it went.
I was really lucky that day as the weather was glorious and the motorway was behaving itself. After handing my prized possession to the reception desk I decided to stop and have a drink before heading back home. This was my view at the Crowne Plaza Hotel NEC which looking back, was the perfect ending to finishing Marilyns Quilt.
Now all that was left to do was to worry about what people would think at the show!! The next post will have some pictures of it on display.
Until the next installment..
Thanks for stopping by….
Tracy
Nearly finished….
I printed the label with pink text which you can see below drying on the washing line (apologies for it being in reverse). For some reason the sun was continually shining when I was making Marilyns Quilt…not that I am complaining!
I then used bondaweb to secure it to the back of the quilt. I really like the way the backing fabric can still be seen through the label. The paper label which is also visible below is one which the Festival of Quilts asks you to secure to your quilt for identification purposes.
I then stitched the hanging sleeve on made from the same backing fabric, which I might add took me FOREVER to slip stitch….this was not my favourite task! Making and attaching a sleeve was another first for me and although I had a vague idea of how to do I once again turned to the internet for guidance. I found a brillliant tutorial on youtube which I am sure I will use again and again.
Marilyns Quilt was now ready for sending to Birmingham. I have to confess that when I look at the quilt even now I am amazed I actually made it and even more amazed it was finished on time!
The next step was to get it to Birmingham. Until the next installment…
Thanks for stopping by….
Tracy
And now for the binding..
Firstly, I sewed a zig zag or overlock stitch all the way around the edge of the quilt before adding the binding. I saw this recommended on one of the many websites/blogs that I visit and it really is worth doing as it makes it much easier to handle the edges when adding the binding.
To make the binding I cut the strips at 2 inch wide and then stitched them together to get one long continuous strip. I used the same fabric for the binding as I used for the backing. 
After putting one strip on top of another…
I cut the edge to make sure it is straight… 
then right sides together at 90 degree angle….
then I drew a diagonal line from top left to bottom right…
then pinned …
then stitched along the drawn line..
quarter inch seam allowance identified..
seam allowance removed.. 
opening the seam using my little roller gadget….
strips joined..
strips folded and ironed ready to use..
mitred binding stitched on the back first..
I then brought the binding to the front and machine stitched it on.
The next task was to make and attach the label.
Until the next installment…
Thanks for stopping by….
Tracy
As I said in the previous post, this really was the part that scared me the most because if I messed this up then there was no time to make a new one or any fabric to do it with and although I haven’t mentioned it before….the Deadly Deadline for submission to the Festival of Quilts was most definately looming!!!
So, with shaking fingers (quite literally!) my very first attempt at free motion quilting on a real quilt began………
text all stitched..
quilting the Friendship Braid….
how did all that fit through the machine..
nearly done…
done and squared up.
Phew panic over!!!! With the quilting done the end was nearly in sight! Binding it was the next step.
Until the next installment…
Thanks for stopping by….
Tracy
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I have to admit that this is my least favourite part of making a quilt. I am a bit of a perfectionist and I take forever to do this bit as I am scared of getting puckering if the layers aren’t basted properly. Janet (M-in-L) taught me how to sandwich and baste so I do as I was taught (which is another first!).
The other reason I don’t like this stage is my back was killing me by the time I had finished, from scrabbling around on the floor! Since then though I have come up with a solution (or think I have) which I will share with you some time soon. Anyway, back to the back breaking sandwiching….
I laid the backing fabric down and secured it with masking tape, then the same for the batting. I used 100% wool batting that I bought from Bambers in Eccles. I hadn’t used this before but wanted something a little more substantial than the 80:20 polycotton that I had used previously. It is lovely stuff and I would definately recommend it.
the batting was then smoothed out flat and secured with masking tape…
then the same with the top…
and then the lot was pinned to within an inch of its life which you can see the beginning of below…
I was really worried about this stage as I was concerned that the text panel wouldn’t look straight once it was basted and quilted. Although this stage took forever I think it was worth it as it doesn’t look too bad.
With the layers sandwiched and basted the next stage was to free motion quilt it which was the scariest part of it all!
Until the next installment…
Thanks for stopping by….
Tracy
Well the process continued on a ‘make it up as you go along’ kind of way and next up was deciding where and how to insert the printed text panel.
I moved the paper practice piece about on the Friendship Braid top until I decided on the best spot.
the top then went on the floor (of all places) to be squared up as it was too big to put on the table..
I then unpicked the top and bottom row, cut where the panel was to go, stitched it in place down one side…
stitched the rest of the braid on the other side and re-stitched the unpicked top and bottom rows.
With the top now fully pieced and squared up the next stage was to ‘sandwich’ the layers together.
Until the next installment…
Thanks for stopping by….
Tracy
As I said in a previous post, the whole design centred around including text but I had never printed directly on to fabric before, in fact it is fair to say that Marilyns Quilt was full of firsts.
I had done a bit of research and decided on the following
This was all well and good and I did indeed buy an A3 printer but there were certain limitations that I hadn’t expected.
I couldn’t print as long a piece as I had thought. The print drivers had a maximum size it would go to so although it was longer than A3, I still had to print onto 2 pieces of fabric and join them. Also, I discovered (once I had already bought it of course) that pigment ink cartridges were not available for my printer which meant I had to use dye based instead so I wasn’t even sure the ink would stay on the fabric when it was rinsed!.
I didn’t have any Bubble Jet Set solution but remembered having a conversation some time ago with a lady at the Festival of Quilts on the Computer Textile Design Group stand where she had told me that you could soak the fabric in fabric conditioner, let it dry, iron to freezer paper, print as normal, remove paper, rinse fabric, dry and iron….. so that’s what I did.
here are some sample printed fabric pieces drying on the line..
It’s also worth saying that I printed a number of copies on paper first to test the colours, work out which font was best and the spacing to use to fill the panel appropriately etc.
I also stitched onto a couple of practice text ‘sandwiches’ to test out different threads and also work out the best tension setting for the free motion stitching over the coloured text that I wanted to do.
printed practice sandwich pinned.. 
printed practice sandwich stitched..
With the text panel printed the next stage was piecing it into the Friendship Braid top.
Until the next installment…
Thanks for stopping by….
Tracy
