Ballycastle Twist

Wonderful Week!

I was so motivated last week, after the holiday break, that I couldn't rest until I finished this first quilt of the year. This one is for my sofa, to replace my early first attempt at feathers which looked rather like bananas!

Although it was a busy week in other ways I got it done in 10 days, putting that oh so satisfying final stitch in on Tuesday night! 

The layout is the same as the French General top I quilted for Janet S last year, which I thought was so striking with just two contrasting fabrics. My version, however, uses almost all the fabrics in Christopher Wilson-Tate's Regency Ballycastle 18th Century Chintz collection, in these delicious blues and yellows. I used most of 3 charm packs and 4 fat quarters to make the 144 half square triangle units, plus a couple of metres of the yellow print for the border. (That was the only one I bought on the bolt.)

The centre section is made up of 4 of these matching 24 inch quarter blocks. All the yellows and darker blues were placed on one side and the light blues, whites and creams on the other side. Then I rotated each section by a quarter turn, so that there is a sort of pinwheel effect in the middle, as you can see in the top picture. Hence the name I have given it: 'Ballycastle Twist'

I spent a whole day quilting the centre panel with waves of feathers with pebbled spines. They show up clearer from the back.

Then I spent all of Sunday finishing the border. Some ruler work for the semi circle outlines (filled in with freehand curled feathers) and curved cross hatching. Then lots of ruler work for the ribbed edge. 

I finally got a chance to try a double layer of wadding using my new wool wadding. I still think it could have more definition, again it looks better from the back. When I get some more time for myself I will experiment some more, and perhaps on a plain fabric.

But there won't be much chance of that for a while; I have had four requests this week to finish quilts for some other busy ladies. So I am really pleased to have got this one done - just for ME!

Happy Quilting Everyone!

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