The Lion - Ta Da!

Here he is, The Lion. The pattern for this quilt is by Violet Craft and the quilt is about 60" square. The entire quilt was paper pieced. I quilted him with randomly spaced straightish freehand drawn lines using my longarm machine. The thread is ivory 100% cotton King Tut by Superior Threads.



Given that this quilt was made for my youngest to take off to University and thus I wanted it to have some softness, I quilted the lines 1.5 " - 1/4" apart, just eyeballing it. I draw the lines freehand, I don't use channel locks. The irregular spacing and the wobbles give that industrial modern look that I love.



The wash and dry after I was done gave the whole quilt a rugged look, perfect for a lion. By the way, there is a mistake in this quilt, but I did not bother to fix it. I kind of like the fact that he is not perfect.



The eyes in the pattern are very effective, here is a close look.

Working on this pattern was interesting. There are a lot of paper pieced pieces to make up a 60" square and I sure got tired of just following instructions on the fabric to use and stitching along the lines. The pattern is lovely, with graphics on each section so you easily know what fabric to use, but it takes a lot of time to make it.

I ended up working on the pattern over several months, and used it when I wanted to sew but was too tired for decisions. So it was a perfect project to have on the go. And in the end, I made this fantastic quilt. So now I am trying to decide which of Violet's patterns I will start next, because I miss the handy, low stress but fantastic pattern project for those too tried days.



The back is simple. The one side is a Paris architectural print and the other is a Zen Chic black on black print. Both go well with the grey binding, intended to just blend into the front. As this is a dorm quilt, I machine stitched the binding on.



Here is a photo of the quilt before I put it into the washing machine. Lovely but oh so flat and boring. Also, I fully expect that it will need several washes as it is living in a young man's university dorm room now.



And the Lion did make it to the dorm and the bed. I have since seen photos and he is still there.

This quilt was also on my Q3 Finish A Long list, which is here, so I am going to share him in the Q3 link up before it closes - it is saying there are just over 9 hours to go now. If you have any other finishes, don't forget to link them up and if you are looking for some inspiration, the finishes that have been linked up are lovely.

Best,

Leanne