Positively Pink Lap Quilt

I greatly admired the quilt below, as featured in the magazine, McCall's Quilting. It was called English Garden, designed by Nancy Mahoney, and machine quilted by Dawn Kelly. I wanted to make one of my own, but Nancy's quilt was rather too large for what I wanted, so I reduced the size of blocks from twelve inches to nine inches. I was also inspired by Dawn's quilting, but didn't want to copy exactly all her designs, though I have used some of them. Since treating myself to a new, top of the range Bernina sewing machine last year, I wanted a project that would encourage me to make use of some of the great features this machine has, and I enjoyed every minute of the quilting. My thanks to Nancy and Dawn for their inspiration.

One of the pieced blocks, shoeing the free machine quilting, and, next to it, it is possible to see the McTavish style quilting that surrounds the flower buds and leaves.

Detail of quilting in the corner, with more heart shapes, as opposed to the original feather shapes. The applique square, below right, I adapted the original, changing circles into flower buds. The buds and leaves have had two extra layers added behind them (Trapunto) to make them stand out in relief. (As pioneered by Karen McTavish, with her style of quilting surrounding them)

The square below shows a detail of the free hand machine quilting.

I thoroughly enjoyed this process, having got over the initial nerves.

As I wanted a really warm lap quilt, I backed the top (after adding the trapunto layers) with one layer of batting, and did all the decorative quilting with just these two layers, using the Bernina Stitch Regulator. When this was completed, I added another layer of batting, and the fine fleece backing, then stitched in the ditch around the blocks, using a walking foot. This would provide large pockets to trap more air for warmth.

The back of the quilt, showing the second lot of quilting, just quilting in the ditch through all the layers. The backing is actually a fine fleece for extra cosiness.

The finished product (photographed pinned to my garden shed wall).