Raindrops Quilt

I had the most gorgeous bundle of Tilda fabric (Cabbage Rose and Memory Lane) that I had been given by the lovely Fiona at 2 Green Zebras (an Australian fabric wholesale distributor) , and now I had to find the perfect quilt pattern for it.

I searched the Quilt Pattern folder on my computer, looked through a number of quilty books, and then I found it – the Raindrops quilt in the new book, By the Bundle, by the very talented fellow Aussie, Emma Jean Jansen.

This was the perfect pattern – there was no background fabric so the whole quilt would be Tilda! I’d never tried curves, so this pattern would stretch my skills and I would learn something new. It was also quite a modern pattern for me.

I couldn’t wait to get started! Instagram tells me I chose the pattern on the 6th August and I finished it on the 15th September! That’s the fastest I’ve ever made a quilt!!

I made my own templates, and started cutting. I didn’t follow the pattern exactly for cutting out the curved parts. I just traced around the templates on the fabric, placing them as closely as I could. This way I saved on fabric so I had some left for other things! Also, I fussy cut the sweet bunnies, which took a wee bit more time and used up most of the fat quarter.

Sewing these blocks together was quite fast, and the whole thing came together very quickly!

The colours in these fabrics are so gorgeous – it was always going to be one pretty quilt!

I usually back my quilts in vintage sheets, but this fabric was so beautiful, and the fact that it had been gifted to me, made me want to go the extra mile and use Tilda for the backing. So I searched the internet and found an Australian Etsy shop (Stitch Fabric and Design) that sells older Tilda at a good price and got me some!!

Emma Jean quilted the quilt in the book with straight line quilting, 1/2″ apart. I started with the lines 1″ apart and decided that I really liked it (and the thought of going back and redoing the whole thing for 1/2″ lines was all too much!)

I chose my favourite fabric from these bundles, the Flowercloud in navy, for the binding, and it’s just perfect! I made straight binding (as opposed to mitred corner binding) for the first time. The instructions in the book are very clear and I really like how it turned out.

I took the quilt with me to Gosford when my sister and I went to have a girly weekend with my mum – and then put them to work holding up the quilt in various locations. So here are lots of photos of my beautiful quilt all around the central coast! Thanks sweeties!

I would highly encourage anyone who’s thinking of making this quilt to just do it! It is one gorgeous quilt!

Linking this blog post up to the Blogger’s Quilt Festival here and Keep Calm Craft On linkup here!

Till next time,