Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people. Eleanor Roosevelt

Thursday, May 3, 2012

First Red House on the Right

 Isn't it a happy looking quilt! It make my whole room happy. It's no longer drab either.

This quilt was started in March of last year. I finished the blocks fairly quickly but allowed myself to get side tracked.
I have learned from this quilt that I am an impatient sewer. I may have already know that. But this quilt has a few issue that made me put it aside.
1. Not all my roof lines match up. But I decided to ignore it. I have regrets now.
2. While I was pinning the quilt, I noticed that the big 10 inch border was wavy. So I removed them before quilting all the houses, thinking that after everything was secured down that maybe it would be easier to find the true size.
Several years ago I found that Batiks make great borders as the fabric does not wavy, at all. I also cut my borders on the length. meaning I try not to piece the borders and I buy the fabric in longest length I'll need for the longest border.
But this border was cut correctly, it was the white sashing that was the problem. It was as if that fabric had been cut on the bias. And because I had waited so long to finish this quilt, I couldn't find any more of that white. So I just made do and made it work. It's not pretty in a few places.
3. DWQ, I also regret my wavy quilting lines. The ones that look like I was "drunk while quilting". What I learned from this, a queen or larger quilt doesn't work on my machine. I should just stick to smaller quilts.
 But besides all that, I'm very happy with my borders. I just free formed a bunch of crazy feathers and I think it looks rather nice. Maximus thinks so too!
 This is as good of a picture as we could get of the quilting. between the dogs and the light, it was almost impossible!
I started with an almost full spool of red. It looked like the beige when I started. It looks like I'll only get a small quilt done with what's left.
Then there was the pile of threads that were removed after quilting. These have been recycled for the birds. Someday I'll find a gorgeous nest of threads!

Take care, Brandie

7 comments:

Lynn said...

Brandie it's beautiful!

M and M plus 3 said...

Wow, it's gorgeous all the way around the block! And you put a lot of thread in that baby. Now lil Maximus...is too cute modeling his pretty little Batman vest!

Heather said...

Congrats on a fabulous finish!

Linda said...

Beautiful!!!! I didn't know that about the thread and birds. Hmmm...with all the wasted thread I have around here, the birds could have an apartment complex!!

Lori said...

Oh my word! What a stunning quilt that makes a big statement!! Congrats on the finish Brandie!!

Createology said...

Congratulations on finishing your fabulous quilt. It looks stunning on the bed. Good thing your quilt is priceless...especially at the cost of thread these days. Blissful quilting...

debbie m said...

You did great! Not all seams have to match. It doesn't need to be perfect, it just needs to be, and it is. It looks great on your bed. Congrats. I know large quilts are hard to quilt, but if you don't have the resources to "quilt by checkbook" you do what you can. I think your feathers are fantastic.