Was it worth the effort?

OK, so I have mentioned that I made a quilt for my husband Chris – which neither of us liked once it was together. Well, the quilt pattern itself isn’t bad, but the fabrics are totally NOT him, so I decided to start over with the same pattern, different fabric. Here is the top of the one we didn’t care for much …

I made it on the suggestion of the owner of QuiltWorks, a local quilt shop close to home. She told me it was easy to put together and that it turns out beautifully – she even had two in the shop to prove what she said. What she failed to tell me was just how ridiculous the instructions are in the book, and how much I’d have to figure out on my own. It is indeed a simple quilt, but it’s NOT for the faint hearted nor the uninitiated quilter.

Written by Suzanne McNeill, the book is called Batiks Inspired by Bali. The quilts in the book are beautiful and I’d been wanting to make something using batiks, so I thought I’d give it a shot. I bought a “Bali Pop” – 40 fabric strips that measure 2.5″ by 44″, made by Hoffman Fabrics, one of my favorite companies. So I figured, good fabric, high recommendation from the LQS owner … what could possibly go wrong??

How about nearly everything? The instructions are horrible. It took me AGES to figure out McNeill’s “system” to sort the fabrics. Her quilt was made using the Bali Pop called Mint Chip. I used one called Cappuccino. I anticipated small issues based on this, but I’m not a new quilter; I thought I had this firmly in hand, NO PROBLEM! There were problems. Lots of problems. But once I got the sorting done, and started piecing the quilt, it went by quickly. And then I started to lay out the quilt. The instructions told me to cut six of the 14.5″ blocks into two pieces – one that was 7.25″ long and one that was 5.25″ long. But the layout diagram didn’t state which block was to go in what position. These “half” blocks were to go at the end of rows, and I couldn’t figure out why they should be different lengths when every other block was 14.5″ long and the rows were made of three full blocks and one abbreviated block. So I decided (wisely, I think) to cut the blocks in half. I could trim them if needed once I started sewing rows together but you certainly can’t add back fabric you’ve already chopped off.

I still don’t know why the cut blocks were to be two different lengths, because I saw no need for it. My blocks and rows went together very well and required no trimming. Eh … who knows?

So then I decided to make a second quilt using the pattern, thinking that I already had tackled the toughest part and I understood what I needed to do. This time, I thought (not so wisely), I’ll use yardage and cut my own strips! But I stood at my cutting tables for what seemed like days trying to figure out what to cut. As the minutes dragged by and nothing was being cut, the idea flitted through my head that I was losing my mind. I went to sit down and try to figure out what I needed to do. It took me some time but finally I figured it out and I started cutting. But again, I wasn’t using the exact fabric she did – this time I decided to use Moda marbles – one of my favorite fabric lines of all time. I did pretty well till I hit the “brown/green” print that she never called for in the yardage instructions. I have NO idea what fabric that should be … so now I’m stuck putting together all of the other color blocks until I figure out which one of these should be “brown/green” because “brown/green” is NEVER mentioned in the yardage requirements.

My head swims just thinking about it. And this is all from just ONE of the fifteen quilting patterns. I am terrified to look at any of the others for fear of what might happen next!

My suggestion to Ms. McNeill is to fire her proofreader/pattern testers and start over with someone who actually understands quilting. My suggestion to my readers is this – if you intend to make this quilt, I suggest you either be a strong quilter or else you find someone who can help you that is a strong quilter. This one could reduce even the stoutest quilter to tears …

 

Woven Ribbons

Have you been looking for an easy quilt block, either because you want to put together a quilt quickly, or because you want to learn to quilt? May I recommend the woven ribbons quilt block then ..

Find the pattern here … and don’t forget to browse the site. There are TONS of free patterns – just be careful of the copyrights!

 

More free quilting patterns!

I do believe I have mentioned before that I love free stuff, particularly when it comes to quilting patterns. This morning, I was perusing a quilt shop’s block of the month selection when I stumbled across a link to this beautiful quilt, Moonglow by Jinny Beyer. Never having tried paper piecing before, I’m not sure if I’ll attempt that quilt; it looks incredibly difficult. But that discovery led me to this wonderful collection of free quilting patterns on the RJR Fabrics website. Always a fan of the very talented Ms. Beyer, I was thrilled to find this set of quilting patterns.

Now to pick out a quilt and purchase the fabric for it!

 

Studio Time!

Anyone who knows me probably gets confused when I say “studio time” because not only do I like to quilt, but I am also an avid photographer. But the truth is, I don’t ever do “studio time” for photography; when I use that term, it’s all about the quilting. This weekend, I’ve had a fair amount of studio time … and that is what is on my mind now.

First of all, I haven’t really done anything in studio since I hurt my arm last June because just the act of extending it, then putting pressure on it to hold fabric in place while cutting, was very painful. It’s taken some time to regain strength in my arm, but now I think that I’m around 90-95% healed, and it’s definitely time to get back into the studio and start working on something new. Or rather, in this case, something old. Last year, just before my arm problem surfaced, my mom and I spent a glorious day shopping for quilting fabric, and we ran across this gem of a fat quarter bundle, which we split. This was my take from it.

I cut it up, getting ready to make a turning twenty around the block quilt. I’ve made this pattern before, more than once, actually, and it is so easy to go together. I can’t give details here, since it’s a copyrighted pattern, but I high recommend it if you need to put a quilt together in a minimum of time. Anyway, I’m about to start working on it again today (!) so maybe I’ll have pictures of the finished top for you soon.

Yesterday, I spent the day moving furniture around in the studio so I could get my computer in here (yes, I finally got it in here, after moving every single piece of furniture at least twice). Next weekend, which happens to be our first anniversary, I’m going to finally buy a chair I can use for both sewing and computing. For now, I have an inexpensive but very comfortable chair from Office Depot that will be Travis’s once I get my new chair.

Chris asked me yesterday what I want for our first anniversary. We decided to do non-traditional gifts this year (first year traditional is paper, just in case you don’t know) so I decided that I would like to get a start on my organizational plans for the studio. As you may recall, I wasn’t really thrilled with the way the plan turned out, so I plan to go back and have a new plan drafted, and I intend to be VERY specific about what I want this time. For example, I need solid shelving for books and knick knack type items, but I don’t need it for fabric storage. I know it’s going to take some time to be able to get it all done (IIRC, the closet alone was nearly $700) but I figure the anniversary gift will be a fairly decent start. I can then add a shelf or basket every payday, which occurs every week right now. So before long, I can have the entire studio done!

I am about to order the cutest fabric specifically for quilts for our game room. One quilt will be an “I Love Lucy” quilt, made from the Hollywood at Last fabric. The other is a “Gone With The Wind” quilt, which is one of my favorite movies of all time. You can find both fabrics – or at least some of the fabrics – at Hancock’s of Paducah. Thing is, if you don’t grab this type of fabric immediately, it’s gone before you know it. Fabric, like fashion, is usually a one season limited run. Most fabric is printed once and then … gone. So I’m grabbing mine while I can!

 

Don't forget!

Stitchin’ Heaven has released a new block for their Summer Block Party today. They also still have the first one posted so if you missed it, you can still get it as well.

Be sure to drop by and grab your blocks before it’s too late. I think this will be a rockin’ quilt!

 

Free Quilt Patterns

After my last post, I decided to check out the latest Moda fabrics, and stumbled upon a section on their website with free quilt patterns. I had to share!