Sunday, August 26, 2012

A quilt top in an afternoon

Work MADE ME go home at noon on Friday because sections were moving around on our floor, and even though I personally wasn't moving I was in the middle of all the moving and for OHS reasons I wasn't allowed to be there.

Whatever. I am not one to look the gift horse in the mouth.

I saw it as the perfect opportunity to start the quilt I've been promising to the Mister's workmate since June last year. Her kid turned one the other week. I'm more than embarrassed. Admittedly in June last year when I made this promise I was still very, very sick and didn't quite have a grasp on reality. Also, I'm just plain lazy. I made lots of things in the time between then and now, but I just wasn't enthused about this project for some reason. But not any more.

Monique's quilt

It started out with a charm pack bought at the SCQuilters retreat in Townsville a couple of months ago.

Monique's quilt

On Friday after I got home, I start sketching the quilt I wanted to make.

Monique's quilt

I thanked my lucky stars I had a sandpaper board I'd made so many years ago. Very helpful for drawing lines on little squares of fabric.

Monique's quilt

I started sewing.

Monique's quilt

Then sewed some more.

Monique's quilt

And then I trimmed and pressed and moved over to the design wall.

Monique's quilt

I rearranged and rearranged and rearranged some more until I was happy with the combination. Then I sewed it all together, and by 8.30 that night, with lots of breaks and dinner and some TV watching in between, I had all the blocks sewn.

Monique's quilt

By 9.30 I had added borders (which admittedly I think are too big so I will trim them down 2 inches on each side), BUT GUYS!!  I had a quilt top!

Now for basting and quilting. I'm hoping to be able to give this to the Mister to give to his friend after we return from our holidays in mid September. But no pressure. This quilt will suit the kid till she's at least 10 years old.

13 comments:

  1. Love the quilt, simple but effective, the red border is perfect, don't think I'd shrink it :-)

    Have to ask, did you chop off the corner pieces and now have a lovely collection of small triangles or did you just fold the white pieces over along the sewing line? Inquiring minds are curious :-)

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    1. Thanks Leonie!

      As for the corners, I would normally just fold them back, pressed, and not worried about trimming, but my white fabric was still showing the main fabric even under two layers of white. So I trimmed them. It didn't take very long. If I was using a darker contrast for the star points, I wouldn't have bothered.

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  2. The quilt looks great. I really like the wide boarders and think they would look great with a lovely hand quilted perle thread design.

    I too, like Leonie, would like to know what your did with those little white trianges.

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    1. Thanks Lisa! As for your question, I ended up trimming them, for the reasons given in the reply to Leonie above. But normally I wouldn't bother.

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  3. Looks great - & what a good use of enforced time off!

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  4. So much inspiration from a charm pack! Sometimes you just have to wiat to a certain bit of fabric to get going. Super fast, and you sure should be proud of yourself! My motto is 'all good things come to those who wait' (as I am also a lazy arse!)

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  5. Well worth the wait Michelle, it is beautiful colours.

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  6. So lovely! For sure an arvo well spent =) x

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  7. It's just beautiful. What great satisfaction to have a tick off the list

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  8. It is posts like this that make me think I must attempt a quilt - a nice simple one - how good it would be to have a quilt top in a day! Must get some charm squares now...

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  9. Wow, all in one afternoon and evening!! I am amazed! I love the design you've used too, those little triangles in the corners look great.

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