01 February, 2013

Scrappy Tripalong top finished

Oh my god being a puppy-mummy is hard work! Getting easier but still, not a lot of time for sewing because if Ollie doesn't need attention then Hazel does! It's going to be much easier when she goes back to school on Tuesday, but also a bit lonely. She's really looking forward to it though, starting Year 3, up to the Middle school, new room, new teacher, and a couple of good friends to keep her company.

I finished up the Scrappy Tripalong quilt top last night. It had stalled a bit when I discovered that at least two of the blocks were too small in one dimension to be used so I decided it would be better to just make a few more and use them than try and sort out the old blocks and made 8 more. As it turned out (of course), it was just the two blocks I'd initially identified that were a problem, so I have 8 more blocks to do something with! Hazel has asked to have this so there's no point in adding more to the quilt for a single bed. It's not perfect, there are some seams with a big of a jag between blocks, but it's so busy you can't really tell. I think the problem was one particular fabric that must have been on more of the bias than I realised, and has stretched a bit. I'm really picky about cutting on the bias but with vintage sheets it can be quite hard at times as they are cheaply made, and sometimes super-wonky - the weave doesn't run perpendicular to the selvedge, or even straight across in many cases, so sometimes I just had to say "f**k it" and cut however.

Scrappy Tripalong finished

I enjoyed making it, now I just have to make myself keep going and get it quilted. Not sure how well my machine will cope with it, it's the biggest thing I've made so far. I know I can do a smaller single but this might just be a bit too big for the throat of the machine. Very simple quilting ahoy! Of course I had some help with taking the photos...

Ollie helping take quilt photos
Ollie helping take quilt photos

It's hard to get the colours to show up properly, it always seems to look darker than it really is. It's quite light and bright actually, more the top of the big photo than towards the bottom (which is probably a bit in the shade).

8 comments:

  1. This is so beautiful. Inspiring - it's huge!

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  2. I love the patterns you have created with your fabric choices.

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  3. It looks beautiful.

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  4. What a beautiful quilt top, and such a great use of vintage sheets. I can understand why your daughter wants it.

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  5. This is lovely! I love the suble overall pattern :) And that dog is just too cute!

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  6. I LOVE this!!, LOVE!!! Amazing work :)

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  7. So pretty!

    I've quilted a number of large things on my regular machine. It works, if you go slowly and you don't try to do it all at once. It takes arm strength to wrestle the quilt around! Straight lines are a little easier, but I've done lots of random big swoopy curves (a meander on steroids), too. I pin baste and it tends to help if the basting is pretty dense. I've also got a "Sew Steady" portable table thing that expands my sewing surface, which is a huge help when quilting something big and heavy since the support for more of the quilt means it isn't hanging out of the machine by the needle. Oh, and start in the middle and work outward. You end up spreading the bulky parts out over more of the process.

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