Perseverance Prevails Quilt

While it's a little out of season, I am pleased as punch with my latest quilt. When I first started reading quilting blogs, the Internet was awash with red and neutral half-square triangle quilts, such as this one by Allison of Cluck Cluck Sew. When I signed up for Katie Pedersen's Half-Square Triangle class over two years ago, I figured it was the perfect time to get started. However, the local quilt store provided the class materials list for a different class, so I started off the project with the wrong yardage. Then I decided to make two different sizes of half-square triangle blocks, 2.5 inches and 5 inches. Between the itty-bitty blocks and the level of scrappiness that I was going for, the making of this quilt ended up taking longer than I would have liked. However, perseverance prevails and now it's finished! Even better, my little quilter-in-training loves it and was more than happy to help with the photoshoot. It took some time, but now I have a new quilt that the entire family can enjoy.

 

 

Wordless WIP Wednesday: November 27, 2013

Wordless WIP Wednesday: November 20, 2013

Wordless WIP Wednesday: November 13, 2013

Dare To Be Different Halloween Quilt

Yay! I finally finished my first ever Halloween quilt! The pattern for this quilt is “Dare-to-Be-Different” by Karrie Winters, and can be found in the Summer 2011 issue of Stitch magazine. I should call mine “Dare-to-Be-Difficult,” because I voluntarily made several changes to the pattern that resulted in a slightly more difficult and much more time-consuming quilt that the one laid out in the pattern.

 

Change #1: Instead of using five solid fabrics for the quilt top, I used upwards of two dozen prints (one purple, a dozen oranges, and a dozen blacks).

Change #2: I made the sashing scrappy instead of using the same fabric throughout.

Change #3: After machine quilting the sashing, I hand quilted the center of each block.

Change #4: The binding is scrappy as well.

 

To add to the difficulty of this quilt, we recently experienced a day-long power outage, so I ended up hand quilting by the light from our living room window, which resulted in some very unhappy shoulder and neck muscles.

 

The only easy part of this quilt was choosing the backing: Pearl Bracelet by Lizzy House in black, of course.

 

All in all, this quilt took me almost thirteen months to complete. I may have made this quilt unnecessarily complex, but that’s why I love it! I didn’t have to hand quilt it, but I am so, so happy with how it turned out. Even though Halloween has passed, this quilt will be left out until I decorate for Christmas.

 

 

Wordless WIP Wednesday: November 6, 2013

Fresh Sewing Day: October 2013

Well, October was definitely a departure from my normal sewing routine! Most of the time spent at my machine was for garment sewing, and all my quilting was done by hand. I’m really happy with the clothes I made, but am looking forward to focusing on my quilting again. I have several WIP that are close to completion.