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!
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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