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I started quilting in February of this year with a class at a local LAQ. I then decided to make quilts for all of our grandkids for Christmas.
The one in this post was # 6, and # 7 is in progress...the last one for this year! Two more grandkids have chosen to wait until next year for theirs. They're a bit pickier in what they get, so will involve them more in the fabric and pattern choices.
I finished this quilt yesterday for our oldest (turned 18 last week!) DGD's Christmas gift. Her favorite color is green, but she said she wanted to try a new color, orange! It's a difficult color to match other fabrics to, but the rusty orange floral fabric asked to come home with me, so I purchased the that and the near-solid rusty orange colors first, then pulled the remaining fabrics from my stash. The back is the same dark green as the binding. I would have thought the green would work with this, but tried several different shades and then the striped fabric seemed to tie it all together.
The pattern calls for SIXTEEN different fabrics, but I didn't want it to be that busy, so tried to match them up in groups before cutting and it worked out ok for the most part, except I would change the two innermost white rectangles to the solid rusty color if I had it to do over. Oh, well.
I did QAYG, making the quilt in four sections, then used the black/white dotted fabric for the 1" finished sashing. QAYG was fun to do, and I'll use that technique again, for sure!
I quilted feathers in all the thin rectangles, but wish I'd have used white thread in the white ones...live and learn. I've never done feathers on anything other than scrap, and it was fun to learn. I used chalk to mark them out, then put my machine on slow speed and took my time...not bad for the most part.
(Chalk lesson # 1: use chalk SPARINGLY in future...it was not easy to wash out. Had to use spray n wash in all three washings of it before it came out!
Yep, I was a bit worried after the second washing, but sprayed the areas a third time and used my thumb nail to work it in. I think it got into the batting, so was more difficult to remove. Um, yeah, well, now I know! lol)
I stuck with the dark green thread for the bobbin when quilting and used the fabric color for the top threads...yes, except for the white. Truth to tell, I was almost done with the white blocks when I realized I'd not changed the top thread. lol
I FMQ'd following the design in the rusty floral fabric, which was fun, and also followed the design in the green floral and the brown print. The striped fabric is just straight stitched every few stripes.
The pattern is free, located here:
http://www.benartex.com/page/tempo-351.htm It's a nice lap size.
This quilt has taught me a lot about FMQ. If I had one thing to say to others it would be to slow down! I read somewhere online recently that if you want to get a nice straight line when FMQ'ing, to hold the fabric firmly down when moving the sandwich. What a GREAT TIP that was! For some reason it puts you completely in control of that stitching line!
Thanks for looking!