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finishes
Another finish to report, all this one required was a binding. Like my scrappy picnic quilt, I started this masculine-looking lap quilt ages ago. I was so inspired by a picture I saw on Design*Sponge (which I pinned to Pinterest) years ago, that I just had to recreate it.
However, I gave up on it, due to its imperfections. But it weighed on me. It wasn’t that bad. Certainly someone could use it, even if I donated it.
So I ordered some of the quilter’s linen in charcoal and finished it up. Now that it’s done, I’m not nearly as hard on it. It has a warm houndstooth flannel back and could really keep someone warm when the temperatures drop.
Linking up happily to The Littlest Thistle, as I am just squeezing this one in before the deadline!
I can’t remember the last time I sewed a binding on a quilt. It’s been that long. I’ve been plugging away at tops, but have not had any finishes to report — until now! And this one has been a long time in the making! This quilt, the first I ever started, sat in the bottom of my linen closet for so long that it needed sunglasses when it came into the light.
I didn’t even have much to do on it. I had to finish the quilting and put a binding on. That was it! But getting all of that fabric under the machine to finish up the chevron pattern had become such a chore as a brand new sewer, that I had given up. And I had built it up in my head for all of this time. But now that I have a few years of sewing under my belt, once I got back to it, I realized it really was not bad at all! And it feels like a tremendous burden has been lifted. . . isn’t that funny? You don’t realize that unfinished projects are causing mental stress until you finish them, and then you can let out a huge sigh of relief!
This quilt was made with all of my favorite fabrics at the time. There’s a good deal of AMH, some Amy Butler, Denyse Schmidt, and a couple of coordinating pieces from my mom’s stash. I had no idea how big the quilt was going to be when I started it. The chevrons are not exact. And I never would have picked the batik on the back. But I was just trying it to see if I liked quilting. Little did I know! Even without finishing it, this quilt would be the gateway to an addiction I never dreamed of! All I can say is, NO REGRETS!
Finishing this quilt was one of my goals for the 2014 Finish Along, so I’ll be linking up with The Littlest Thistle and to TGIFF and Crazy Mom Quilts !
Have a great weekend everybody!
My lattice love baby quilt (the one I shared here) is complete and already gifted away! I finished just in the nick of time, which is why the only photos I have were taken on a windy, stormy day! But we lucked out, because the day of the baby shower (the next day) was absolutely beautiful!
The tutorial from Bonjour Quilts was really easy to follow. While I’m not one to use a pattern, it certainly was easy to understand, and the graphic effect of the pattern has such great impact! I knew it would be great for the geometric nursery being planned for our nephew’s arrival.
Despite how clear and easy the instructions were, constructing this quilt had it’s ups and downs for me. I had a more difficult time than I expected trying to line all of those seams up! (Doesn’t that seem to be a theme in my quilting — I expect it to be simple, and I end up frustrated and challenged!). But even where the lattice lines aren’t perfect up close, it gives the illusion of a straight lattice when you stand back and look at the quilt as a whole. Somewhere along the way, I realized the cause of my struggle — the white Kona fabric was stretching. And even with straight pressing (careful not to iron), I found that precisely-cut pieces were no longer their original size once sewn and pressed. But still, in the end, the distortion was minimal. It was glaring to me, since I was on top of the quilt trying to perfect the seams. But to my sister-in-law and anyone else looking at the quilt, it really was not noticeable.
And this is the back! I had so much fun piecing it! I love improv piecing! No rules, nothing is right or wrong, just going on gut and instinct. So. Much. Fun! I added the elephants because my sister-in-law is in love with them, and the fabric had all of the colors of the nursery (which are echoed in the pattern on the front).
I am so happy to have completed this quilt by the deadline, in spite of the holiday, school vacation, and a few other hiccups along the way! And I can’t wait to meet that little baby boy who is going to call the quilt his own, in just a couple of weeks!
Hope you had a beautiful week! Now I’m off to make some granny-square blocks for do. Good Stitches! What are you working on this week?
Done! This finish has been a long time coming. I started this quilt as a “quick” project right at Thanksgiving – I think that’s what inspired me to pick the rusty-orange Denyse Schmidt fabrics at the time. And then before I knew it, the holidays were here and my sewing room (er, um, my dining room) was packed away until after the new year. Then — I’m sure you know how it is — once you stop. . . it takes a little effort to get back into the swing of things. . .and before you know it, your fall-ish quilt is being completed on the first day of March! But. . .alas, it’s done!
I’m really happy I decided to go with a white binding on this quilt. It keeps the mood of it happy and light. I was considering a dark grey, and it just looked so heavy and serious to me. Now, I feel like the quilt is still appropriate for a baby, given that the size is 36×36.
For the first time, I tried machine quilting the binding, and I’m so glad I did! It was so easy!! I used Rachel’s method from Stitched in Color. I made a couple of small errors at first. But then I made the important realization: if I don’t want the zigzag stitch to wander from the binding on the front side of the quilt, I needed to keep my zigzag stitch perfectly centered on the seam I made when attaching the binding to the quilt top. Once I made that connection, it was easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy.
I did a LOT of quilting on this little guy, and I used both grey and orange threads. It really gives the quilt a lot of texture, and makes the back even more fun to look to at!
Thanks so much for stopping by!
