Skip to main content

Beveled Blocks Quilt Completed

Today was the first day this week that we didn't have rain or snow, so I headed outside to photograph the quilt.

Beveled Blocks Quilt

I'm quite happy with how it came out.  I hope I like it on the wall in our living room.  From a little more distance, you can see the different patterns in the squares/diamonds.  Almost like one of those Magic Eye things (that I have to admit I have never, ever gotten to work for me.  Not even once).

Beveled Blocks Quilt

The part of quilting that I like best is the precise piecework.  I just love all those neatly matched seams.

piecing closeup

I quilted the entire thing with a random meandering/stippling pattern in a medium gray thread.  For this quilt, I like the contrast of the curvy lines with all the straight seams.  It also gives the quilt a cool overall texture.  The stitching is most easily seen from the back of the quilt.

Beveled Blocks quilting from the back

When it came time to finish the binding, I was torn about whether or not to do it by hand.  I think that doing it by hand looks much nicer, but this quilt is 48" square.  That would be 192" of slipstitching.  Too much.  My inner voice was calling me a slacker the entire time, but I stitched-in-the-ditch to finish the binding.  It actually turned out really well (surprise!) so now my inner voice is now just calling me efficient.

stitching in the ditch

I added a strip of randomly pieced scraps to the backing.  It had to be pieced anyway - why not make it interesting?  The unquilted piece at the top is the hanging sleeve.

Beveled Blocks quilt back

I'm glad to have that finished and crossed off my list of goals.  Now we just need to hang it up.

Next up:  Sewing for charity - something I'm sorry to say I don't do very often.

Comments

  1. Very nice! This will certainly look wonderful on you wall.

    ReplyDelete
  2. A beautiful work of art. Love it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. WOW ~ you did an awesome job with this quilt. It will definitely be a conversation piece for anyone visiting. Your stippling looks perfect and I can appreciate how much work the stippling was to do. I made a much smaller wall quilt for my mother, and I also stippled it and it was at times awkward to do, I can imagine with this size.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow, you really achieved an amazing visual effect. I haven't seen too many like that.

    ReplyDelete
  5. My favorite part is the "stripe" you added to the back--you're absolutely right that you should make it interesting if you've got to put a seam!

    Was it difficult (machine?) quilting it yourself? I know a lot of people who piece, but no one who quilts her own. Do you need to use a special machine or any other technique to do so?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Berit,
    I wouldn't quilt anything bigger than this (48x48) myself. Some parts were awkward and difficult, but it helped to do it in sections, with any part that I wasn't working on being rolled up. My regular machine (Pfaff) has a special tension setting for free-motion quilting and a free-motion presser foot helps a lot, too.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Grocery Bags

More gifts! These are just like the still-all-too-ubiquitous plastic grocery bags, but they're fabric.  I followed this tutorial and you actually use a plastic bag as a pattern.  The instructions are very good and include a pocket so that the bag can be folded up and is easy to keep in a purse or a car's glove box. Mostly for the sake of the gift recipients, here's how to fold up the bag.... 1.  Lay the bag pocket side down and fold it length-wise using the edges of the pocket as a guide. 2.  Fold it in half, aligning the top of the handles with the bottom of the bag. 3.  Fold in half again and then reach into pocket with your hand and turn the whole thing (pocket included) inside out. Happy shopping!

Shopping Bags

Most stores in our town charge you a nickel for a plastic bag when you check out. I love this practice and the way that it encourages people to bring their own cloth bags or reuse their plastic ones. My habit of bringing along bags to the grocery store is well established, but I used to find myself stuck at places like the drug store or farmer's market or other impromptu stops. Then I picked up a bag at an upscale kitchen goods store that rolls up quite compactly. Now I keep that in my purse, so I always have a bag with me. I like my bag so much that I wanted to replicate it for the art sale. The final result is a hybrid of the bag I purchased and these that I made last year. The bag is a little bigger than the average plastic grocery bag. The velcro tab is used to keep the bag rolled up, but also can close the top of the bag when it is full. Most of the bag is a single layer of cotton, but the handles are faced. There is a double row of top-stitching around both edges of

The Burda Skirt Again

I'm not sure what prompted it, but awhile ago I decided that I needed a green skirt. The last time I was at Fabricland I saw this green wide-wale corduroy. I wasn't really looking for the skirt to be corduroy and the color was a little different than I was hoping for, but since I had my eyes peeled for awhile and hadn't seen anything better, I thought I'd try the corduroy. After looking for a suitable pattern, I settled on the Burda 2/2010 skirt that I've already used three times . Because of the weight and bulk of the corduroy, I didn't want to try to mess with too many details. I'll use another skirt pattern soon. Really, I will. One of the things I really like about this pattern is the pockets. This time I made the pocket facings and part of the pocket bag out of a cotton woven solid to reduce bulk. Since I'll be wearing this skirt with tights I added a lining. Adding the lining was really simple except that I cut the lining exactly the sam