Friday 11 July 2014

I Heart Aneela Hoey

Here's my latest finish! I made the quilt top before I started blogging (so just over a year ago).  Pixel heart quilts were everywhere and I really liked the effect of the heart combined with a low volume background.  I had a layer cake of Posy and a friend had recently had a baby girl, so this quilt was born (you know how it is).



But when I finished piecing the top, I stood back, took a look at it, and ... well ... didn't like it.

I didn't think that the heart stood out enough.  The pinks and purples, were not deep enough, or the low volume wasn't 'low' enough.  So I scrunched it up and put it in a dark forgotten corner of the wardrobe in the spare room ... banished much?



With the recent announcement of Aneela's ill news, I started feeling guilty about my treatment of this talented lady's fabrics.  It's not the fabric's fault that the quilt top didn't work out ... it was my bad, or inexperienced, placement of the fabric.  



If I had my time again, I would have still used the same rage of fabrics but I would have graduated the colours a little better.  Starting with the darkest pink to clearly outline the heart and then graduate to the lighter colours towards the centre of the heart.



That being said.  I do like this quilt now.  Especially as I've finished it.  There's something magical that happens when you quilt a top, even simply quilted as I have done.



With my more (than then) experienced eye looking at this quilt.  I decided to keep the binding quite neutral to help the heart stand out more.  



I had originally picked a pink and white stripy fabric (which is now a piece on the back) to bind this quilt with.  But I think that the pink would have competed for attention with the heart.  So I chose something more low volume and I love the result.



I heart Aneela Hoey's fabrics and now I heart this quilt :)

Quilt Stats

Size - 60" Square
Pattern - None, I just made a pixel heart out of 5" squares
Fabrics Top - Aneela Hoey's Posy Range and Spotlight randoms
Fabrics Back - Bird fabric is Cloud 9 and Spotlight pink/white stripe
Quilting - Diagonal cross-hatch design on my domestic machine


Serena xx

I'll be linking up with: TGIFF and Crazy Mom's Quilts

17 comments:

  1. I like how the heart looks! Great finish! Thank for sharing on TGIFF!

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  2. It is pretty and that cute pillow caught my eye in first pic :-)

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  3. It's so cute and pretty! Those aren't your linen pants on the binding again are they? ;) I love the simple quilting too.

    My first quilt I ever completed was with this line. I love it! I still have most of it left too (I had a FQ bundle) so I should do something else with it (on the list with everything else... )

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  4. I think it looks great! I know what you mean about loving a quilt more after it is finished, though. It happens to all of us, I think.

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  5. I love that binding! And the quilting is quite lovely!

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  6. It's lovely and soft, and I agree a louder binding would have distracted the eye. The value of quilts like this is you see how much you have learnt in terms of colour theory over the last year. A graduated effect would have made the heart stand out more but the quilt top is still very lovely as it is.

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  7. I'm also a big fan of Aneela's work, and I love this quilt top! It's so sweet :)

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  8. I think the heart pops and you did a great job!

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  9. Sometimes a gentle heart can be more comforting and cosy that a loud heart.

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  10. beautiful quilt, i am glad you finished it and can gift it!! i think the recipient will look at it through different eyes and see all the love it was made with :)

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  11. I think it is beautiful, and I think the color mix is just fine!!!

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  12. Someone once said to me that restful quilts for babies and children are lovely. I can imagine two little blond children are clamouring to get their hands on this beauty!

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  13. I love Aneela AND your quilt too!!!

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  14. I love Posy - very cute, especially the little girl reading int he sunshine. This looks great!

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  15. Beautiful finish! I laughed so hard at "banished much" LOL

    I agree, quilting makes a quilt come alive! :)

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  16. That has happened so many times I hate a quilt top but completely change my mind once it's completed! This quilt came out awesome and I really love the low volume binding and simple quilting it adds so much :)

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  17. I really like the quilt top. I do see what you see, when you say it didn't stand out enough, and next time you would graduate the colours outwards. Isn't it amazing how much quilting improves a top and makes you love it all over again? I feel the same. I just found you throughout the new bloggers hop. I'm a couple weeks behind in my blog reading haha.

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