This quilt is the result of a weekend of quilting with Stacia and Deloise. Our theme was donation quilts but this isn’t the pattern I originally planned to make. I did a lot of work getting everything cut out for a different quilt and then I decided that it was too much work (and too pretty) to give away. This pattern is one that Deloise has made often and Stacia was making it during our session. I think Deloise made one or two more over the weekend.
I had enough flannel in my bin that I had some choice in the squares I used but I think it is a pattern that could be put together without all the squares matching.
The top went together relatively quickly (for me) in spite of an obvious mistake.
I had a new stitch to use for my quilting pattern.
The quilt ended up very soft and cuddly and it will be donated to the Guild’s Community Quilts program.
Another sewing session with Stacia and Deloise and another mini completed.
The top went together very quickly. I thought of a couple of ways to quilt the project but in the end went with my tried and true eight-pointed star. I didn’t even need to do any marking on it.
I pulled out a few choices for backing but there was no logical colour for the binding based on the fabrics I used in the top. I delved into my small collection of binding ends. There was only piece that was long enough for the binding so then I had to go back and find a backing that would match the binding. This one worked out quite well I think.
This was a Guild Mystery Quilt that was done as a Block of the Month over ten months, starting in 2015. To say I am late with a finish is an understatement.
As with all mysteries you don’t know what the quilt will look like so picking colours can be challenging. Had I known the name of the quilt I’d have picked fabric that was a bit more calming – neutrals and maybe some light blues for a seascape. When I look back (online) at the pattern the designer used very bright colours as well so I wasn’t too far off the mark.
I fell behind with the blocks early on but I was able to put the top together at the Guild’s Spring Retreat in 2017. At that point I wasn’t too far behind. I sandwiched the quilt in the Texada workshop during the summer of 2019. The quilt sat in a bin there but eventually came back to Powell River (in a bin) until the quilt came up on my 2021 UFO Challenge for February.
In spite of having been sandwiched at least two years ago a good pressing was all it needed and I was ready to quilt. I outlined most of the elements of the blocks and was excited to try some ruler work around the blocks. I’ve never done ruler work on a large quilt and it didn’t work well; I broke a needle only a few stitches in. My next idea was to do some free-motion quilting in the blocks but I was even fewer stitches in when I broke another needle. I’m not stupid – I knew when to call it a day.
Switching back to straight lines I incorporated a few techniques that Stacia and Deloise mentioned. Deloise says she never does stitch-in-the-ditch; she stitches a quarter-inch away from the seam line. As Stacia says you only see stitch-in-the-ditch quilting if you mess up.
Stacia mentioned she had a project where she switched out the colour of thread to match the fabric and, after all the work, it really didn’t show. So, rather than switch from blue to beige (the orange was already done) I went with orange thread on everything.
I was initially disappointed in the quilting on the border. I had a much fancier plan in mind but since the quilting hardly showed on the side that I did it on I decided it wasn’t worth the extra work. I reverse stitched that one side and went with a simpler pattern that I’ve used often.
I’m so glad to have the quilt done – not that I have a particular spot for it, but it is always good to have a finish.
There were two heart-themed bonus blocks remaining in my Splendid Sampler series and this was the year to get them done.
These small hearts were meant to be pin cushions but I didn’t think my girls had much use for one. I enlarged the hearts slightly and made them into cards. The heart outline is made of French knots – a lot of French knots. Once the cards were put together I decided they would be too hard to machine quilt so I hand quilted them. I don’t hand quilt very often but on a small project I rather enjoyed it.
This was a larger pattern but there was something about the pattern I didn’t like so I changed it up and added a border. I had no problem making all those little blocks and it hardly made a dent in my string bucket. I struggled with the quilting but after ripping the stitches out three times I wasn’t changing it again. When I took a short break I thought maybe when I got back to it I’d be luckier – and then this thought came through my head – it isn’t luck, it’s skill.
