Another colourwash quilt

I welcomed this quilt, although it was almost identical to the one I finished on 3 June, as an edge-to-edge design was just what I needed after spending nearly a full week on the previous chevron custom quilt.  This quilter had the quilt already quilted by someone else, was not satisfied, decided to unpick, for me to redo.

With hubby playing golf on Sunday mornings (in this bitterly cold weather we now have), I cleaned and oiled my machine and decided to spend a quiet morning by myself (and the pets) and do this one.

Queen-sized Chevron quilt

 I had a great deal of fun working on this one.  I recently joined Susan Smith from Stitched by Susan on one of her podcasts, and as usual with any new online class, video, or podcast, I learned something new.

Susan discussed many topics, but one thing stuck with me……” deliberate practice”.  She talked about how we won't all get some shapes or motifs correct and then get disheartened and give up, and she challenged us to do what we struggle with on an actual quilt and deliberately practise.

Now I was never satisfied with my pebbles in a straight line, random pebbles I manage perfectly, but oh dear, don’t have these lined up in a row.

With this quilt, it was now or never, and I chose to do heaps of pebbles, and I must admit it did get better.  Still not perfect, but way better than I used to do it.

Somehow, I also chose the perfect combination of motifs; it went fast, filled the spaces in the quilt and gave a pleasing end result.  However, in the border, I had a motif that I hated midway through the quilt and then simply had to plough on, which is never fun.  The rest of the quilt was a breeze.

No good deed goes unpunished

I’ve heard this saying so many times and didn’t quite get it until this quilt arrived.  This, along with the previous one, came when I already had enough quilts to keep me busy for a couple of weeks.  The quilter, leaving for Australia at the beginning of July, asked if I could quilt these, and initially, I refused, but later felt guilty, thinking how neatly she made them, how eager she was to gift them, and I agreed.

I did the previous one for her brother with no problems whatsoever, BUT instead of laying my 3 layers out, as I always do, I simply assumed this quilt could be loaded exactly as the previous one.  Big mistake!!  I got to roughly 2 inches of the bottom edge and realised the backing was too small.  I know backings can be joined on the longarm, but I didn’t want a seam in the backing.

I therefore spent a whole weekend and a day just unpicking.  No more feeling sorry for or pushing someone up in my quilting line-up.  I’ve learnt my lesson.

Quilt for Henri

This quilt was made by one of our younger generation quilters. She and her boyfriend will be leaving for Australia at the beginning of July. They’ll be living with their host family/employers on a farm, and I guessed this quilt was for the host family’s little son.

Squares in autumn colours

This quilt has a sad history. The maker quilted in a group with a good friend, but the friend died during COVID-19. The maker then decided to finish some of her projects. This was the first one I got.