Tuesday, November 06, 2007

This picture started it all

These bed linens from Crate and Barrel are called Melody. What's a girl to do? Buy them? When I am a quilter? They are commercial for heaven's sake.




But it nagged at me and finally I decided I would make a quilt of my own, with my own design and my own fabric, which I added to by buying more from Kaffe Fassett.







Do you remember this scarf I knitted ages ago? I unknitted the yarn and made a sweater from it, but I always loved the random angles of the design.







So I sketched them out and thought about whether it would be horizontal in layout or vertical. I thought I would be safer going horizontal, since everything was bias edged. But just to be even safer, I would stitch the strips onto a base panel for stability.







And then I could make it as long as I like. I had a piece of 60x80" cotton so I ripped a panel from it (about 8") and cut some strips from my striped fabrics and my hand dyed cottons and began to sew.







I figure I won't get bored doing this, since there really are no repeats like in the drawing above. Nothing needs to line up and when each of these strips are finished I have another plan.




Instead of quilting them I plan to stitch them together into a duvet cover, like a giant pillowcase. Yup. An existing quilt will be inserted in the cover and buttons will hold it in place. That way I can easily wash the cover and use it both for warm summer nights and with the inserted quilt, for winter sleeping. It hasn't really gotten Illinois-cold here in Tennessee yet, or ever, so we'll see which weight will be used most often.



The reason I need to wash my bed covers often.


10 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:39 AM

    AWWW, a quilt just isn't a quilt without a kitty on it.
    What you need to do is make Popeye a smaller version of your quilt and put it on "his" spot on the bed. Then, just pop his quilt in the wash. Saves washing your quilt so often.
    Works with ours - but I've had to make SEVEN quilts!
    Denise and the Six-Pack + 1

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  2. Anonymous8:54 AM

    I have several duvet covers....Kaiser sheds a lot! Mostly he stays on the window side of the bed but, at night, he likes to drift over to my side to have his ears scratched. When I finally say "good night" he knows it's time to move back over and give me some space!

    teri

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  3. I love the stip piecing. My favorite way to use up scraps. Your's is a new inspiration!

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  4. Yummers... that is gonna be delish! I have the same problem, only mine has a dog added to the mix. I keep a coverlet on the bed that washes easily but I may change over to your idea.

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  5. Love this idea! Can't wait to see your finished duvet cover. The colors make my heart sing!

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  6. Anonymous11:51 AM

    Great idea for a duvet cover. Are you foundation piecing the whole strip or are only some of the seams actually stitched to the long strip of cotton?

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  7. Dear Anon,
    You are so smart. Yes only some of the strips are sewn directly to the foundation, and others are stripped first as a unit and then sewn to the rest of the strip. This allows me to change direction on a whim.
    Melody

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  8. I know just the doctor that would wear a tie made like this...LOL

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  9. Anonymous6:32 AM

    Your cat looks happier in his new home and your quilt makes me want to make one too!

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  10. I knew there was a connection! It was Kaffe Fasset's use of color that led me to you at the beginning of my journey! Do you know this artist? http://mergegallery.com/artists/morioka.htm

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Hello,
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