This Quilt top is quite incredible.
Because it was made completely from fabric I ALREADY OWNED.
Yes, over 30 fabrics from my stash, including a randomly large amount of light purple.
I really wanted to make a “practice” quilt. Especially after several friends and co-workers asked me sew a t-shirt quilt for them. I still feel like I’m at an advanced beginner level when it come to quilts. And the only way to get better at something is to practice, practice, PRACTICE!
![Flower Quilt Top](http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5441/9290058338_08aeeba671_z.jpg)
June 23, 2013:
- Thinks “I have some free time alone, why don’t I re-organize my fabric stash.” Organized just by color isn’t good enough?
- Lifts 2 huge boxes and several shopping bags of fabric (<— workout for the day)
- Hours later, sits amongst piles sorted by sizes ranging from 3 yards to little squares the size of a matchbook, wondering why I though this would be a good idea. Granted, I was watching a movie at the same time.
- Knew that, if I could find enough scraps big enough, I could make a quilt like I saw in Quilters World magazine (like this one), though it might wind up looking very chaotic.
- Noticed pile-o-big-scraps had a lot of floral prints.
- Leaves piles of fabric on the (sheet covered) floor and goes to sleep. Hopes dog doesn’t pee on them in the night.
June 24, 2013:
- Pick out all of the floral pieces. Measure them against 4.5″x8.5″ template made out of a cranker box to see if they’d work.
- Cut rectangles out of florals, creating yet another pile of big scraps.
- Re-count floral rectangles way to many times to make sure there are 35 total.
- Pack small scraps into plastic boxes. Bag larger pieces and strips. Leave on the ground because I got distracted doing something else.
Work for 8 days straight. I rarely get anything done during the work week.
July 3, 2013:
- Wash, dry, iron purple fabric.
- Celebrate 4th of July with the neighborhood. Snow cones, watermelon and fireworks!
- Cut purple fabric into 8.5″ strips.
- Realize the last strip cut was 7.5″ Curse silently to self.
- Do mental math and careful cutting to get correct number of pieces from remaining strips.
July 4, 2013:
- HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA
- Sew purple pieces to floral pieces.
- Realize some floral pieces are 1/4″ too short. Dig though piles to find coordinating scrap to attach to end. No one will ever know
- Completes 35 blocks. Knows one should measure each block and trim them to the size of the smallest block.
- Does not measure the blocks. Decides to wing it.
Goes back to work for 1 day. Seriously. A 1 day work week!
July 6, 2013:
- Puts floor fabric bags in large plastic totes.
- After rest of the family goes to sleep, decides to lay out squares and decide placement.
- Too lazy to change the channel on the TV. A cat “whisperer” show is on Animal Planet. I am not a cat person.
- Lay blocks 5×7. Photograph. Analyze color placement and rearranges.
- Repeat 5 times.
- Start attaching some blocks together.
- Gets tired, and sick of watching miss-behaving cats. Stacks blocks and goes to bed.
July 7, 2013
- Lay out quilt again. Continue assembling blocks.
- Remembers why you’re supposed to trim all blocks to the same size. Some 1/4″ seam are more like 1/8″ seems.
- But I must go on.
- Stitch, Reverse, Stitch again over the smaller seems. For strength. I hope.
- Again, too lazy to change the TV channel. Watches end of Terminator 3, Resident Evil (3?), and the beginning of a Star Trek TNG movie. Thanks SiFi Network.
- FINISHES quilt top! Relieved wonky seams will be trapped inside the quilt sandwich. NO ONE WILL KNOW!
And that is my quilt top adventure! Ever quilt is a learning experience. This one definitely taught me the importance of accurate measuring, both when cutting fabric and when comparing blocks.
This is also a sentimental quilt for me. Most of the fabrics in my collection were given to me by my late Grandma. She had a lot of scraps donated to her over the years. I am so happy to finally be putting them to good use.
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