The Bubble Quilt Is Finished

NOTE: This post originally dated 11/13/11.

     I finished the last of the binding the night of 11/6. It immediately went to the washing machine and dryer to start the fuzzing of the patchwork circles. The fabrics were preshrunk, but I did not preshrink the batting. The batting will shrink slightly in the dryer, causing the quilt to krinkle, giving it a vintage look. I can't wait for Emily to see it.

The binding turned out nice.

     The block design is called Bulls Eye. See my blog post from 7/10 showing the finished top. The process of quilting this quilt didn't happen like I envisioned, but still it's FAB. I hoped the colored bubble circles would be the quilting, but I couldn't free-motion stitch perfect circles. I decided to hand embroider the bubble circles, but didn't go through all layers. So for the quilting I made a spiral on the pachwork circles and machine stitched around them for additional quilting. I used white thread, not wanting them to be visible.

 A few of the many colored bubbles.

   

  These two pictures show the blocks after the quilt was washed. I used a 1/4" seam but maybe it was still too close for raw edge applique. Some of the fabric was thin-ish. A lesson learned: Be sure to use quality fabric. I think the fabric I used was fine, but all the fabrics were not of the same quality. I shortened the stitch length, but maybe it should have been even shorter. While taking these pictures, I noticed there are several places where the fabric "fuzzed away" when it was washed. I will plan on patching this a lot as it is "loved."

NOTE: I wanted to use clear monofiliment thread, but my sister, Kathi, instructed me that it's not advisable to use on anything for babies. If the thread should break or loosen, little fingers could become entangled and damaged; the unspeakable could happen. Thank you, Kathi. That's why I come to you.





These two pictures show the front and back of the same block, showing the spiral quilting.

This shows the quilting better, the white circle around each Bull's Eye block

and the multi color thread spiral in each block.

     I can't wait to see my new grandson wrapped up in it, or later dragging it behind him, dirty and well loved. Or better yet, dragging it off to college.

     Well, it's on to finishing another...