To be a bit cliché, this shoemaker is a professional Web Developer and her child is this blog, but it was past time to launch what I have of a new design. All the content is still here, everything else is a work in progress (kind of like most of my sewing projects)!
I described this quilt pretty thoroughly in my last post, so I’ll skip the long paragraphs and just show you the finished, post-wash photos.
All of the Regal sections are feathered, most of the seams are stitched in the ditch, with the light fabrics free of quilting.
The strip block needed just a little something more, so I changed thread colors to give the large triangle a bit more color.
Now that it is washed, my feather stitching messiness isn’t quite as noticeable.
I’m not very happy with how the binding turned out. It is very limp. I made it so wide and un-mitered as a nod to Amish quilting, but I should have found a way to pad it. By the time I got to the binding, I was so done with this quilt, so I machine sewed the binding on. It worked pretty well with the serpentine stitch.
So, that’s that. Now I just have to decide which of Carl’s nieces is getting it. 2013 finish number three!
My studio space is finally clean, so of course I had to go back to a project and get it a bit messy again. Since I missed the last Sew You Want to Quilt (SYWTQ) meeting, which was talking about layout options, and we have almost a month in-between meetings this time because of Memorial Day, I figured I should go ahead and piece the top together.
The last glimpse I gave you of this quilt was on a Wednesday Wall post:
It’s another grouping of fabrics playing on the color scheme I used in “Shakespearian Bars”. Kona Regal, Moss, Berry, Peapod, and Bella Strawberry. It’s a bit closer to what I wanted for the first quilt. It would have been just about perfect with Kona Coral instead of Bella Strawberry, but I couldn’t get ahold of that in time to start piecing.
Because I made the first block undersized, but also made multiples, I had to come up with a way to include both it and the seven 12″ blocks. So, I set a few on point, and ended up with this, which is ~41″×52″:
Then, because a completed top always screams for quilting to start, especially when I’m only feeling lukewarm about the top to begin with, I managed to fit some quilting in. I quickly pieced a back using leftovers from the top and a yard of Kona Plum I’d bought to audition for the top. I’m using the same charcoal thread that I used on “Shakespearian Bars”.
Somewhere along the line, after stitching in the ditch around the major joins, I decided I needed to jump in the deep end and try feathers. For the first time. On a solid quilt. With very contrasting thread when viewed on the back.
Just don’t look too closely at it. I think this one is going to Carl’s niece, so I hope she doesn’t mind getting the guinea pig quilt. Or as Moof would say, his quilt, since he always tries to claim them.
More on this one as soon as I finish the quilting—FMQ goes way faster than straight line quilting! I just have to figure out how to quilt the remaining sections, as I don’t want dark feathering on top of the light pieces.
I’m currently working on three different sampler quilts (not to mention last year’s, which I still need to piece), and I oddly have the blocks up on the design wall for some reason (I’m usually good about putting them into their proper locations), so I took a (bad) photo.
One is with the Sew You Want to Quilt group, focusing on Amish blocks (I use the term loosely, based on research) in our own choice of colors. I have a few of those done, although I am still behind on one block from early February.
The other two are monthly Saturday Samplers (well, one is on Thursday nights) at the two closest LQSs. For those unfamiliar with the Saturday Sampler concept: you pay a registration fee ($10-15 seems standard) which covers a kit of the fabric for your first block at the first meeting. From there, if you continue to bring your completed block from the previous month to the next meeting, you continue to get the kit for the current month free of charge. If you can’t make it to the meeting, you typically have to purchase the missed month’s kit. Some shops give you a discount on the first kit you miss, some give you one free pass, some give you an incentive to finish the top before the next cycle starts, etc. Some give you all the individual pieces cut out, some give you strips and squares to cut and chain piece, some just give you chunks of fabric to cut everything out yourself. My two shops each have their own quirks, and sometimes the rules and procedures even change year to year.
Even though I’m not absolutely in love with the fabric choices and styles of either, I do greatly enjoy the social aspect—an hour each month to meet up with other local quilters, learn what the shops have to offer in the coming month, and see the creativity of everyone in what they bring to show and share.
I’m going to have to get creative with layouts for 12″ blocks though, that’s for sure!