Last month,
I finished the Bulls-Eye Quilt in Carolyn Friedlander’s Savor Each Stitch book
as part of the Quilt the Book challenge. While the previous project, the Arcs Quilt, used only convex curves in the needle turn appliqué, the Bulls-Eye Quilt
features both convex and concave curves. I really liked how the Bulls-Eye Quilt
built upon the technique of the Arcs Quilt, although in the end I prefer convex
curves over concave ones. I was surprised to find that each quadrant had its
own unique template to trace, but since I was only making one block the tracing
and cutting was over quickly.
While the
main goal of the Quilt the Book challenge is to sew all the items in one book,
my own additional challenge is to use my stash for these quilts as much as
possible. Due to my year-long participation in Pink Castle Fabrics’ Cotton +
Steel club, I have more fat quarters than I know what to do with. For this
quilt, I picked four low volume prints for the background and paired them with
solids from my stash. While none of the prints is my favorite, I’m really
pleased with how they all work together. I left off the borders because nothing
in my stash felt right.
In two of
the quadrants I machine quilted vertical lines, and in the other two I quilted
horizontal lines. I really enjoyed the process and may use it on a bigger quilt
some time. It definitely makes for a nice crinkly quilt after washing.
The back of
the quilt is made entirely out of scraps from the front. I don’t usually like
making pieced backings, but at this small scale it was a breeze. I couldn’t let
the extra wedges go to waste, so I appliqued them on the back, after the
quilting was finished but before the binding was attached. A couple of them are
a little puffy, but it’s the back. The binding is another low volume Cotton +
Steel fabric from my stash.
If I liked
making this quilt so much, why did I include “Blood, Sweat and Tears” in the
title? Well, when I was pin basting the top, I pricked my finger something
fierce and bled on it in several spots. At the suggestion of a fellow quilter,
I used hydrogen peroxide to remove the stains. Then I threw it in the washing
machine for good measure, which had the added bonus of making it nice and
crinkly. The sweat came from the unusually warm summer we had in Seattle this
year. Turning on the iron without the benefit of AC was torture, so I was glad
to have a needle turn appliqué project to work on during the hottest days. The
tears were from the convergence of several icky things going on in my personal life
last month, most of which are better now. After that, I needed a pick-me-up and
finishing this quilt filled that need.
Quilting my
way through Savor Each Stitch has been immensely satisfying so far and I am
looking forward to the next project!
