First finish for 2016! This is my version of Bonnie Hunter's Scrappy Trips Around the World. I call mine "Mod Trips."
Mod Trips, 60" x 60" |
My goal with this quilt was to make a version that was different from all the others out there. I think I succeeded!
It is straight-line quilted in a diamond pattern on my home machine with the walking foot:
I didn't mark it, just sighted along from corner to corner by eye. There was 28 wt white Aurifil thread in the top, and 40 wt in the bobbin. I used a longish stitch ("3" on my machine, and I usually piece at around 2 1/4), and I was happy with how that looked.
But it was not smooth sailing! I was very tempted to title this post...
Dratted Walking Foot
Three weeks ago I had about a third of it quilted, but the back looked like this:
You can see I originally planned twice as much quilting. But, why was it getting all bunched up like that? First, I thought I did a poor job basting it, because I had to do it on a smaller table than before. Or, somehow the fabric stretched out.
Eventually I realized the problem was the feed dogs. I had them on the highest setting, and they were pulling up the back as they worked. My machine has a pin feed, so I switched to that. Then everything flattened out and the walking foot chugged along beautifully.
But, I couldn't have half of it bunchy, and half of it flat, so I spent a day and a half pulling out all the quilting and re-basting it. I was very glad I'd used a longer stitch!
Except for a little cross in each corner, I decided to leave the quilting at every other row the second time.
It's been so long since I finished something, that I totally forgot how fun it is to sew on the binding! It really is satisfying to wrap up all the raw edges and close out the project.
I don't know how practical this scrappy white binding will be, but it felt like the right choice.
So, yay! One done. The pillows are also quilted, but still need backs and binding. To read all the posts about this project, please click here.
Although I didn't make any formal New Year's resolutions this year, I do kind of have one:
One old
One new
One flimsy
One quilt
Since this is an old project and now a finished quilt, I'm free to start something new! And yes, I already started today:
It is so nice to get the walking foot off the machine, and get back to regular sewing!