Friday, June 26, 2015

Positive Hope: A Finished Quilt


I recently found out that one of my husband's cousins was diagnosed with cancer.  I wanted to make her a quilt, so I asked her what her favorite color was.  Turns out she loves pink!  I wanted to finish it before she starts chemo therapy, so I picked one of my favorite easy patterns.

This is a plus quilt made from sixteen quarter yard cuts of fabric.  Each quarter yard is then cut down to five eight inch squares, put on my design wall, and sewn into a quilt top.  That took me about five hours.

The fabrics I used are a mix of what I could find at my LQS including: Bandanna, Pam Kitty Garden, Summer Song 2, Timeless Treasures Sketch, and others.  I love how they all play together.  I decided to add aqua as an accent color, to break up the pink a little.  I was told that aqua is a very healing color.  :) So I chose four dark pink, five medium pink, four light pink, and three aqua fabrics.


The hardest part was deciding how I wanted to quilt it.  I ended up deciding to quilt with a large stipple and include simple flowers.  This design came from Christina Cameli's first book, First Steps to Free Motion Quilting.  The basting and quilting (on my Tiara) took less than three hours.


To keep the flowers evenly spaced, I decided to quilt one in each 7.5 inch square.  It looks so cute on the minky back.  (My boys were adamant that it NEEDED minky.)


Then I added the binding by machine which took a little over an hour.


I had a finished quilt in about 9 hours.  Of course that was broken up over a period of five days. (Quilting time is harder to find in the summer with all of our trips to the library and other fun places.)

I was going to call it "Positively Pink," but my husband wanted a more meaningful quilt name.  Together we decided to call it "Positive Hope."  I hope it brings his sweet cousin comfort during this difficult time.  


All of my five petal flowers are lopsided, but I think that is part of the charm.


The minky backing was hard to photograph.  It is a little too bright outside...


And then I had helpers testing it out inside.


I'm not the only one who likes the back more than the top.


Wolfie and Coconut even needed their own picture.  LOL.


Quilt Stats #143
Quilt Name:  Positive Hope
Pattern: Plus quilt from 8 inch squares
Fabrics Used: Bandanna, Pam Kitty Garden, Summer Song 2, Sketch, and more
Amount Used: 7 yards
Batting:  Hobbs 80/20
Size:  About 60 x 75
Date Finished: June 2015
What I learned:

  • When your backing is the same width as what your finished quilt top will be, it is okay to sew squares together with a generous quarter inch seam.  

I hope to deliver this quilt to her this weekend.  


XX,
Jasmine

P.S.  I will be linking up with some of the fun parties on my sidebar. Check them out to see what other quilters are up to.  :)

25 comments:

  1. What a great finish! She will adore this and I know it will bring her great comfort! So pretty Jasmine, I love it :) Best wishes go out to her as well.

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  2. Forgot to say I love the quilting!

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  3. What a lovely and thoughtful gift...with a perfect name! I agree with Angela Walters that "the quilting makes the quilt". It is proven again here. I can't tell the flowers are lopsided but if they in fact are I agree that just adds to the charm of the quilt. Cure children, too!

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  4. Gorgeous as always, Jasmine, but this time in more ways than one. Your thoughtfulness will be a treasure to her always.

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  5. Forgot to add: hope you are having a fun summer with your boys! It sure looks that way :)

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  6. I think this quilt will help get her through the hard times. So thoughtful of you!

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  7. It's a lovely quilt and I'm sure it will bring your husband's cousin comfort and hope, as the name suggests. As for the minky - I think your kids could be spokespeople for it! I hope you are having a great summer with your boys.

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  8. Such a pretty quilt. It's hard to imagine the squares are 8" in the pics; it seems like it's a baby quilt.

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  9. Such a pretty quilt and a thoughtful gift. I'm praying for your husband's cousin.

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  10. Beautifully done, Jasmine! The aqua really adds a great deal of interest to this quilt! And the quilting adds such amazing texture. I'm sure it will bring much comfort to your husband's cousin!

    Always good to see the boys are keeping up with their quality assurance jobs ;)

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  11. What a lovely gift for someone going through a difficult time. It will certainly bring warmth and comfort. Beautiful.

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  12. What a perfect quilt for someone needing comfort and hope. I really like the Aqua addition - it is really pretty with the pinks. Nice finish!

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  13. What a lovely gift, and of course your boys insisted on minky! I hope it provides her with much love and hope on her upcoming journey.

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  14. What a lovely thing to do. As a cancer survivor (we are everywhere) I'm sure your quilt will bring comfort and hugs to your family member. It will be a hard and difficult time for her, and your kind thoughts will mean so much.

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  15. I agree with the boys....minky was a must! So cute for them to think of that. This will be a quilty hug that will be appreciated!

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  16. Very pretty, and I love the name!

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  17. This is a thoughtful and touching gift she is sure to love. The name is so uplifting. The quilting is wonderful and I didn't see a single lopsided flower! :)

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  18. It's a beautiful quilt and so girly! I am sure it will bring great comfort to your husband's cousin, the quilting looks fabulous!

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  19. This gives me a huge lump in my throat, Jasmine: for your cousin (WHY oh why won't they find a cure, when they can do SO much...), for your sweet boys, insisting it have Minky, and for their poses and playing on the quilt, and for a dear friend of mine, currently in chemo for breast cancer...I need to make her a quilty hug and I think this plus/positive/kisses quilt is just the ticket. And fabric.com has Minky on sale this weekend.

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  20. Really like the aqua mixes in with the pink. It looks very cheerful and snuggly too.

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  21. It's absolutely perfect, and such a lovely gift at a difficult time. And your boys are right: it NEEDED minky!

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  22. Such a sweet gesture! Its a lovely quilt, and the meandering flowers are perfect with it! love that binding.

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  23. She'll adore it. The minky backing makes it the perfect cuddle quilt and those flowers take the stipple quilting to a whole new level. This is exactly what quilts were meant to do........let people know just how much we love them.

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  24. Jasmine, this simple quilt shows your inner beauty - your love, care and attention to detail is exemplary. Sending hugs to Cheetah and Panda. Too cute!!!
    Of course, the hardest part was deciding on a quilting pattern. That is a problem when you are good at so many designs. See, that is a problem I never have :-D

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  25. What a blessing this will be to the recipient!!!

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