Caterpillar Quilt

I am continuing to work through my stash of projects.  This project was not high on the list until my good friend, Barbara offered to let me quilt a quilt on her Bernina quilt from with the Creative Touch.  I wanted a simple quilt top that I could put together quickly with an all over simple quilting design.  This quilt was a kit I purchased several years ago at the Dallas Quilt Show to go along with the book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar".  Thinking that this would make a great quilt for a grandchild and an opportunity to encourage reading, it came home with me.

I finished the top at the last quilt retreat I attended and sewed the back together.  Last Thursday, Barbara invited me to come over.  It was very exciting.

We loaded the back on the frame first, followed by the batting, and finally the top.

With everything rolled and snugged up, it is time to decide on a quilt pattern.  This took us more time than I would like to admit.  With so much available now, it is hard to decide.  In the end we decided on a circular simple pattern that showed off more of the quilt than the quilting.  I had selected a variegated thread that included all of the primary colors in the quilt.

One of the things I wanted to learn was how to nest the continuous designs together so that they looked continuous both directions.  While this quilting is not "perfect," I am very happy with how it turned out.  It also it not a show piece.  It was made for a child to drag around.

While you can not see the binding in this final picture, the binding is green with a red piping, my favorite technique for binding.

Barbara and I had so much fun quilting this quilt that she has invited me to quilt more at her house.  I had decided that my next project was going to be an embroidered quilt, the Hoopsisters double wedding ring.  If you are not familiar with their quilts, they are made entirely in the embroidery module and each block is quilted as you go.  With the invitation to quilt more on the quilt frame, I changed my mind to a pieced quilt.

This is a quilt my friend Cindy D. made and posted on Facebook.  I purchased fabric for it but was not thrilled with my selection.  A friend took me to The Old Craft Store on Saturday after our Quiltsetters program at the Bernina store.  I found a jellyroll I fell in love with.  I am now very excited about starting this project.

This book is made for jellyroll cut fabric so my cutting time will be greatly reduced.  I hope to get started on this this week.  Cindy's quilt turned out beautiful and I hope this one will also.