Well, damn. I did it.
This group of quilt cottons came into the store last fall and I fell in love. In particular, it would be perfect for a present for my Dad (an archaeologist by trade.)
I was VERY intimidated by this project. Quilting is an arcane discipline full of its own peculiar rules and terminology, and while I’m familiar with the broad strokes after four years of working at a fabric store, the devil’s in the details.
To dip my toes in slowly (and to make the thing simple enough to do as a shop project with a tight deadline) I picked a fairly simple block for the corners, and built the rest of the quilt as a frame around the central panel, mainly with large blocks of the striped fabric. The block is called the Garden Path and is free on the McCalls website.
So, definitely a cheater quilt. This suits me very well. I actually am ridiculously happy with how that quilt top looks, I won’t lie. Don’t worry, there’s plenty of mistakes on the quilting to make up for it. It’s a decent throw size, about 2m x 1.5m.
And yes, that’s metric, because my lone quilting ruler is also metric. And may not actually be a quilting ruler. Fortunately, I am also good at converting inches to cm and vice versa. Also I totally get why the quilters love their rotary cutters. Someday, my precious, someday…
Piecing the back was fun.
It’s now sandwiched and the basic quilting is done.
Which means next I need to tackle the scary part—how much (if any) free motion quilting I can manage (or pull off) for the infill. I’ve only done FMQ once before, on my quilted skirt, and it remains a minor miracle that I pulled that off. This is much bigger and harder to wrangle, even if it isn’t a full size blanket. And I’m only just starting to appreciate the difference between working with a blank canvas like the skirt, and making the quilting work with the print and the blocks and everything.
Wish me luck!!!!
Tanit-Isis Sews 
Big table. You need a big table, and something to manage the quilt (works a little better rolled up) and now you know why people buy the circular clips (I never understood those things until this part of the project, which i did by hand because <<>> with someone else’s heirloom project). Do not let the quilters at the shop make fun of you; they will be happy to help soon enough.
Maybe you can trade a corset for some quilting….
I would need a bigger house to put a bigger table in. 😂 But, I have managed. And the ladies I work with are pretty nice so probably won’t make fun of me. Where I can hear. 😉
Good job for a first quilt, and as a professional quilter, I will tell you that it is definitely not a cheater.
🤗 thank you!
It’s absolutely fantastic. Love it
😊 thank you!!!!
What a beautiful, thoughtful gift. I am not a quilter but did take a free motion quilting class ages ago. The teacher routinely quilted king-sized quilts by rolling them up tightly and then unfurling them as she went. And did a beautiful job. All the best. I hope you’ll show us when you’re done.
Thank you! Rolling was definitely the key although this one isn’t too large so it wasn’t that bad. 😁
Success on the quilting. That is a great looking quilt for your dad.
Thank you!
Wow! I’m sure your dad will love this. Who wouldn’t?
Thank you! I love it, anyway. 😉
Wow oh wow! Who it the maker, what is the name of that fabric?!?!!
The group is called “Stonehenge Primitives” by Deborah Edwards for Northcott.
What you’ve done so far is gorgeous. I hope your Dad feels all the love you poured into it.
Thank you!
I normally don’t get excited by quilting projects, but this is so cool! Where did you get the fabrics? 😍😍😍😍😍
I got them at Fabricland (my local chain, if you’re not Canadian) but the manufacturer is Northcott, the designs are called “Stonehenge Primitives”
Very cool quilt!
Thank you!
This is absolutely brilliant. They better get more fabric in because people are going to want to make quilts with it…they will probably want to have you teach them how to make it just like theirs.
Sandy in the UK
Hehe! The fabric has gone on sale now so I’m guessing it will be gone before the quilt is done hanging. 😉 someone asked to buy it today, but I said no. 😂
I have no interest in quilting – but I do love a beautiful quilt!
I didn’t think I did—but this was surprisingly fun!
The quilt top is FABULOUS and perfect for an archaeologist! As a bonus, it is so masculine that paisly and feathers and flower fmq are so unneccesary. You could do just straight or wavy straight line all the way through, and it would look great. Dad is going to love it!
That would’ve worked! I like the idea of FMQ too much, though—i did a bunch of spirals and squiggles. I think it’s ok though.