Finally... A Very Hungry Caterpillar!

I'm on a roll... this is the third quilt I've finished in the last three and a bit weeks!  I will be honest and say that the sandwiching, quilting and binding was all I had to do on the last two, but they still take time.  I'm relatively new to free motion quilting and as I'm using my home sewing machine it is a focused effort.

So here we go:

'A Very Hungry Caterpillar' Quilt.  Fabrics by Eric Carle from Andover Fabrics

K loves the Very Hungry Caterpillar book and can almost read it by herself.  She just gets caught up on the food names!  She will love sharing this quilt with others - I can see it visiting Playcentre and Preschool.

I started this quilt at least three years ago.  It is from a pattern in an 'Australian Patchwork and Stitching' (Volume 9, Number 4) that you might still find around (there is one on 'Trade Me' today but that is only good for New Zealanders).  The pattern was available singularly but I can't track one of those down as I borrowed the one I used from a friend.  The fabrics are still widely available.  I found them still sold at several online shops.  I did make this from a kit.

I used the same butterfly template (as my 'Papillon' quilt) to quilt single butterflies joined by long wandering wiggles.  I used a Mettler variegated thread on the top and white on the backing.  I marked the quilting lines on the backing and worked from that side.  My tension was really tricky to get right and I'm not completely happy with it - from the backing (white) side you can see lots of small dots from the variegated thread.  Otherwise I am very happy with my work, especially as once marked it only took a couple of hours to do.

I'm also getting much better at my bindings and am especially pleased with my corners on this quilt.

As I was out in the garden taking pictures of my quilt here is a gorgeous, huge, 'Mt Fuji' (we think) cherry tree in blossom.  It is right outside my sewing room (that is the square window in the centre).

K has a swing under this tree, but it is hung up higher to avoid the lawn mower - and you can also see my (or K's) quilt in the bottom pic.  We think the tree is at least 60 years old.

I'm linking up again to 'Finish it up Friday' on 'Crazy Mom Quilts' as well as 'FMQ Friday' on 'The Free Motion Quilting Project'.