Thursday 12 April 2012

Ariana's Owls

My lovely cousin had a baby girl over Easter, and this afternoon we sent this quilt off to her. The fabrics were an easy choice, because I know she loves owls, although I can't say I'm completely satisfied with the overall colour scheme. My initial plan had been for blues and pinks, but somehow I forgot to take into consideration that the 'blues' had a lot of greens and aquas as well, and the 'pinks' had a lot of orange/yellow/peach. Lesson learned!


I was still stuck for a name for this quilt yesterday, so I asked James and Eleanor. They're quite taken with the little girl's name, hence their choice. They also like the fact that little Ariana also has the same middle name as me (for the curious - it's Louise).


I hope they like the quilt, and that Ariana gets plenty of use from it. It's mostly Valori Wells' 'Bliss' flannels and is beautifully soft and snuggly. I used a flannel backing too - which meant it was quite a job to cram it into the satchel at the post office this afternoon - where I was busily posting five quilts as the doors closed at 5pm!


I noticed as I was editing the photos that once again, I didn't get it quite straight on the wall, which is really frustrating, as I know it's properly squared. I  have plans to get some large boards to use for photos, which I want to mark with a grid to avoid distorting them. I also want to be able to pin the quilts to it, instead of going through miles and miles of double-sided tape. I've found a product at the hardware store which might work, but with the sheets at 1200 x 2400mm, I'll need Simon to bring them (I need 2 to accomodate wider quilts and will tape them together) home on the trailer. It's not a perfect product (I think it's plaster board, and it's a bit thin, and not overly easy to get the pins in, plus there's a risk of it crumbling - but at least it's cheap if it doesn't work out!) Ideally I want something foam-like (but still stiff to stand up vertically for photos) and about an inch thick to work properly with the pins - but a higher priority is the size - I don't want to need more than 2 to accommodate large bed quilts. Any suggestions welcomed.

3 comments:

Dresden Quilter said...

It is a beautiful quilt. I love all of the colours.

Frances Arnold said...

Hi Emma. In the US, most quilters use Insulation Board that is used when a house is being framed out. It comes in large sheets and can be easily cut. I covered mine with a layer of batting and then a layer of flannel.

I am sure that you have something similar!!

FlourishingPalms said...

You need 4-feet by 8-feet sheets of insulation! Here they're either pink or blue - Owens-Corning or Dow brand. Buy two. Duct tape them together. Cover with a flat white flannel sheet which can be duct-taped around the back. Works great! Lightweight and takes pins well. I took mine down for selling the house and will be getting "ingredients" to make a new one when we move. We've sold the house and are moving May 3!