That's a week and a half for this novice quilter to put a whole quilt top together - to put that in context, my concentration only allows for stints of about an hour and a half at a time, I work full time and this includes the busiest weekend of the year in terms of my other hobby - not to mention the QAL and a visit to the Festival of Quilts.
There's so much in the instructions that has helped - from telling me that I will have a spare block left over to which way to press the seams at each step which means that everything all nestles together nicely to help get your points all matching up.
This all leads to stress-free quilting - exactly what you need if your new to the hobby. No throwing the instructions across the room with a plaintiff wail of 'what do you mean?!'
Moving this on, it was by chance (the Quilting Gods a-smilin' down on me again) that I have the perfect backing in a pair of curtains which I bought from the charity shop a month or so back - although I'll need to piece them together to get a piece large enough.
Another piece of good fortune is that when I measured the spare batting I have, the quilt will JUST (with about 3/4" to spare) fit widthways to leave me with a good usable piece left over.
And I found out why all my fabrics are in need of pressing before I use them - this is Domino doing a quick exit from the scraps basket where he had clearly spent much of the afternoon.
In other news, I am also VERY excited as there is a Special Event in blogland going on from the middle of next week for ten days which I am cock-a-hoop to be involved with! All I can say at the mo is that it may pay dividends for you to BE HERE next Wednesday!
You should enter that photo of Domino in the Pets on Quilts Show. Or one of the one's at the sewing machine. They are so cute. And the quilt top looks great. You do a good job of keeping things in line.
ReplyDeleteI do agree about entering in the Pets on Quilts show. You have until the end of the day (and there are prizes!)
ReplyDeleteNow, about the batting. I am sorry to rain on your parade, but you are cutting it very fine with the amount you have left. If you are planning to only quilt very lightly, you'll probably get away with it. One option might be to cut your borders back a little, even 1/2" from each one will help. I think if it were me, I'd start quilting and see what happens. If you end up after you've finished with a little more top than middle (like in a badly made sandwich, just trim the crusts off (the same amount on each side though.)
In my case it would be 'Pets on Quilt', of course, girls, only having done the one - but if I get time later today I might put a quick post together. I've looked at some of the other entries and they are lovely - pets and quilts alike!
ReplyDeleteNow about that batting - Sue, you are quite right - I certainly wouldn't have deliberately cut things so fine & would have prefered to have had another inch or two at each edge to be comfortable, but I thought that I might get away with it!
I'll start quilting from the middle out (I don't plan to quilt it to death anyway - I prefer a floppy quilt), and as you say, if it comes to it, trimming half an inch off each edge in case of emergency would be irritating, but not disasterous.
Sue is absolutely right about the batting - I'm afraid I tend to allow 2 - 3 inches on every side (but I probably quilt more densely than you which is how the batting gets "taken up").
ReplyDeleteWhat I'm really impressed with is your scraps basket .... you're only on your 2nd and 3rd quilt tops and you already have the makings of a good stash of "stuff" (and as a quilter, you can nev er have too much "stuff"!!!!)
*confession: I have another basket with the bigger fabric pieces in. It is full.
ReplyDeleteSnigger :} :} :}
ReplyDelete