Sunday, April 18, 2010

Happy Camper

Although it was gorgeous, sunny and warm today, I just wanted to get this little project all quilted, bound and finished for myself. I just love these 'minis'. For the purposes of the swap groups, a doll quilt measures 24" square or smaller and a mini is between 6" and 12" square.

Since I made this for myself, the size didn't really matter. It finished up at 11" X 14".

"Happy Camper" mini

I used a 3" wide muslin strip as a foundation and topstitched the selvage pieces onto it, over lapping each one and stitching a line really close to the bottom edge of each selvage. I tried to include as many sections of colour dots and fun words as possible, to avoid lots of blank white rectangles. That's how I came up with the name "Happy Camper" for this piece. See it there?

Quilting with embroidery stitches was no problem (Arctic bamboo batting) as long as I did the poke and pull method (one stitch at a time) in lieu of trying to load multiple stitches onto the needle.

"Happy Camper" embroidery detail

I have been collecting selvages since the fall. Cutting them with a generous 3/4 to full inch of the fabric keeps things colourful and provides a fun reference for the fabrics I've been using in my work over the past several months. I told someone the other day that I wasn't really a pink person, but seeing this quilt makes me realize that I so am a pink person. At least when it comes to fabric! Much of that has to do with my mystery quilt.

Speaking of which, I am a couple of clues behind on my piecing....perhaps that's what I'll work on tomorrow.

What are you up to this week?

10 comments:

Nina Lise@Mrs Moen said...

I'm glad to see that you have made a gorgeous doll/mini for yourself this time, Krista! The embroidery adds so much to the piece. Lovely!
I'll be making minis too if I can get my head together. We have ash from Iceland falling down here, so we will probably stay inside a lot. There has not been any official warning or anything, but the ash-mist that keeps drifting in cannot be very healthy..

randi said...

nice! i love selveges added to projects. so very eye-catching!

alobsiger said...

What a lovely quilt to keep all for yourself! Love the embroidery! I'm hoping to FOCUS this week but I may end up coughing all week. Apparently.

paulette said...

Gorgeous!! I am going to be looking at those selvage scraps with new eyes!! Thanks for sharing!!
Paulette

Jamie said...

This is awesome, Krista! It is so inspiring to see what everyone does with their selvages. I'm saving mine right now, but I haven't decided what to do with them just yet.

Amy Friend said...

I just love it! The embroidery is beautiful. Now, were you able to keep it neat on the back or is this a front only piece? I know if I tried such a thing it would be messy on the back but I can tell from your embroidery that you have more skill in that department! Where will you be hanging it? I love the binding too. Polka dot bindings are the best. Enjoy it!

Krista said...

This is so cute! And I love the embroidery. It looks fantastic!

Rachel said...

Oh it IS cute! The embroidery is so beautiful. I was cutting fabric the other day and thought about cutting off the selvedge for a project like this, but I figured I'd never amass enough of them to actually do anything. Seeing your sweet project makes me rethink that. Too late for that piece of fabric, but there will be more.

Darlee said...

What a great idea to add embroidery to the top and bottom borders!! The quilt is so cute.

Rhiannon said...

Wow, this one is gorgeous too, I love the polka dot binding!