WIP Wednesday - Pink Lemonade Quilt

In honour of Work In Progress (WIP) Wednesday, I thought I would pop in and give you an update on one of the projects I’ve been working on behind the scenes.

I’ve actually got quite a few projects in the works, but this one has been a big focus these past few weeks.

This quilt started back in September 2016. I had picked up some Kona Highlight, being colour of the year for 2016, and thought it would be fun to make a quilt using that bright pop of yellow. But it sat in my stash for quite awhile, until one day I was playing with fabrics. Do you ever do this?

Just pull fabrics from your stash and audition them for some potential project? No, just me?! It’s actually something I enjoy doing and find it to be a really calming process. That is, until I have to put it all away again 😉

Having picked up this half square triangle (HST) print at a fabric sale, it had been sitting in my stash just itching for me to put it to good use. I had been tempted to dip into it for other projects, but resisted the urge wanting to preserve as much of the yardage as possible. Boy, am I happy I waited! I had designed an HST quilt pattern way back in late 2015/ early 2016 and, during the fabric play session, I had visions of using this print as the backing to a baby girl quilt. I decided to keep the front fairly light and neutral – choosing only 3 main solids – Kona Petal, Kona Highlight and Kona White.

I had made quite a bit of progress when I initially got underway, but then ran out of my pink and yellow fabrics.  I had most of my pink blocks made, with the exception of 2 and had about half of my yellow HST squares prepped.

And so there the project sat for several months before I picked her up again earlier this year after deciding to add her to my FAL 2017Q1 list.

Once I received my restock of fabric, I made quick work of cutting my fabric, making my HSTs and trimming the squares down.

I was back in my happy place with lots of chain piecing 😊 The quilt top came together quite quickly once I was in piecing mode.

Once basted, I had to set her aside for a few days as I considered my quilting options. Right from the start of the project, I knew I wanted to do a combo of both machine and big stitch hand quilting. I just wasn’t sure how I wanted the two to compliment one another.

In the end, I decided to go with straight machine quilted white lines on either side of the blocks using my trusty Aurifil 50 wt thread in #2021. After the machine quilting, I hesitated whether I should add the hand quilting detail. I loved the simplicity of the quilt top and didn’t want it to get too fussy or busy with hand quilting. But I just couldn’t resist and decided to do a couple of blocks to see how it would look.

I decided to use Aurifil 12 wt in colours Pale Pink #2410 and Lemon #2115. The pink is used on the yellow HSTs and the yellow thread on the pink blocks. I love how subtle the hand stitching is and you barely notice it from afar. But it adds great detail and texture once up close.

Now I’m slowly working my way through the hand quilting detail, trying to not overdue it so my tendinitis doesn’t flare up.

What do you think. Do you love the addition of the hand quilting or do you feel it’s too much? Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

Hope to share this completed quilt with you soon!

Until then, happy quilting my friends!

xo

Shannon

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